Mazin Qumsiyeh

Please forward to media immediately and pick-up the phone and call media outlets immediately to condemn the atrocities being committed in Gaza (Using US taxpayer money and International and Arab Government Acquiescence). Demonstrations are ongoing throughout the West Bank. Here is the press release for the one in Bethlehem (عربي / arabic at Bottom).

A demonstration to condemn the massacres being committed in Gaza

Palestinian Civil Society organizations in the Bethlehem area, people of various political affiliations, Christians, and Muslims, and all people of conscience in the Bethlehem area are gathering at 5 PM in front of the Church of Nativity and Omar's mosque in Bethlehem.

Nearly 200 people were reported massacred so far by Israeli war planes bombings of the besieged Gaza strip. Hundreds were reported injured so far. The victims include men, women, and children and the number of victims are expected to rise rapidly. Join us today as we call for ending the massacres, ending the siege on Gaza, for reconciliation between all Palestinians, and for freedom.

For more information:

Khalid AlAzza 0545439263
Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh 0598939532
Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour 0599255573

A personal note: I was reading an open letter from a family from Gaza on my computer that talked of the hardships and the lack of food and electricity when my mother ran in to tell me that they are bombing Gaza. I watch a little on the TV and get sick to my stomach. I rushed to the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement and it is buzzing with activities. Thousands will come out today on short notice I am sure just in the Bethlehem area. Please spread the word.

Since this is an emergency posting, I had prepared to send tomorrow my weekly posting and to avoid flooding your inboxes, below is the draft of what I was planning to complete and send tomorrow but events are now likely to escalate beyond anything we all can imagine. May we all see peace.....

Mazin

It is amazing that CNN and some other media outlets who reported on the death of famous Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter mentioned he was Jewish and mentioned his criticism of the US policies but do not mention his persistent criticism of Israel and Zionism. Just in April he signed (with many other well respected Jews of Conscience) a letter that read in part “We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land. We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state that even now engages in ethnic cleansing, that violates international law, that is inflicting a monstrous collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza and that continues to deny to Palestinians their human rights and national aspirations. We will celebrate when Arab and Jew live as equals in a peaceful Middle East.” (see We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary, The Guardian, Wednesday 30 April 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/30/israelandthepalestinians

This is an example of self-censorship in some media. In parallel this same media fails to report the swindles of Zionists appropriately. An example of a story glossed over in its impact and relevance is the story of the way Zionists bilk donors and get rich (see Bernard Madoff: Wall Street Swindler Strikes Powerful Blows for Social Justice
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_29099.shtml )

And some editors (out of ignorance, shoddy journalism, or bias) in the West prefer not to report reality in Palestine. Few really explained Bethlehem under siege this Christmas and few reported on our candle light procession to demand end of colonization of the Shepherds’ field yesterday. Occasionally something does seep into Western Media like this article on reality in Gaza reported by the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7766509.stm

Below are two things on this reality we face here:

Genocidal settlers, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line, 18 - 24 December 2008
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/926/re71.htm

PRESS RELEASE
Free Palestine and Free all Political Prisoners

The One Democratic State Group urges the International community and people of conscience everywhere to demand that Israel respect International law by ending its illegal occupation of all areas occupied since 1967, by respecting and implementing refugees’ right to return, and by freeing all political prisoners including members of the Palestinian legislative council.

Since June 2006, Israel has kidnapped more than 64 elected Palestinian Legislative Council members and cabinet ministers, university lecturers, city mayors and health workers, including Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker, Professor Aziz Adwaik. Professor Adwaik is also Professor of Economics at An Najjah University in Nablus. Ahmed Saadat leader of the PFLP was just “sentenced” to 30 years imprisonment by the illegal military courts of the occupation regime. Israeli forces kidnapped Saadat two years ago from a PA prison in Jericho and kept him in solitary confinement since then. Saadat and other Palestinians refuse to recognize the authority of the court or to appeal to higher occupation courts. Israel currently illegally holds more than 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners. While Palestinians have different opinions on tactics of resistance to colonial occupation, we all share the same goals of freedom and self-determination and we all recognize the rights and obligations of occupied people to resist per tenets of International law.

The One Democratic State Group calls on the international community, all academic institutions, and all international civil society organizations to demand:
- The immediate release of Ahmed Saadat, Marwan Braghouti, Professor Adwaik, other elected legislatures and all Palestinian political prisoners.
- The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in international humanitarian law and international human rights law such as the Fourth Geneva Convention.
-An end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, Israeli apartheid and Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people.
-Implementation of International law including the rights of refugees to return to their homes and lands.

For Comments contact:
Dr. Asaad Abu Shark + 972 599 322636 (Gaza)
Dr. Haidar Eid + 972 599 441766 (Gaza)
Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh +972 598939532 (West Bank)
http://www.odsg.org/co/

اعتصام احتجاجي ضد المذبحة الإسرائيلية في قطاع غزة
بيت لحم – ساحة كنيسة المهد – الساعة 5:00 مساءً

منظمات المجتمع المدني والفعاليات والناشطين أصحاب الضمائر الحية في محافظة بيت لحم يستنكرون العدوان الإسرائيلي الآثم على قطاع غزة.

وندعو للمشاركة في الفعالية الاحتجاجية اليوم السبت الساعة الخامسة مساءً أمام كنيسة المهد في بيت لحم.

لقد أودت هذه الغارة الإجرامية على قطاع غزة بحياة حوالي 200 من أبناء الشعب الفلسطيني وجرحت مئات آخرين من الشباب والشيوخ والأطفال والرقم ما زال مرشح للارتفاع اذ أن جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي قد أعلن أن الهجوم هو فقط البداية.

ندعوكم للانضمام إلينا اليوم للدعوة إلى وقف المجزرة وإنهاء الحصار على شعبنا في غزة وإنهاء الاحتلال الإسرائيلي. كما ندعو بشكل خاص إلى المصالحة الفلسطينية – الفلسطينية وإنهاء حالة الانقسام.

لمزيد من المعلومات

خالد العزة 0545439263 (عربي)
د. عبدالفتاح أبو سرور 0599255573 (عربي)
د. مازن قمصية 0598939532 (انجليزي)