Grassroots International Board Member Marie Kennedy and staff member Salena Tramel visited partners and allies in the West Bank and Israel prior to joining a delegation to Gaza, co-sponsored by Code Pink. This entry is from Marie's notes from her meetings in the West Bank.
Feb 26th, 2009 – Meeting with the Union of Agriculture Work Committees (UAWC)
With thanks in part to $80,000 dollars in generous donations made to Grassroots International in response to the Gaza Crisis, our partners in Palestine have begun the process of rebuilding their communities.
For a Grassroots International staff member and Board member, this International Women's Day offered a real glimpse at global solidarity. The two women, along with 58 other activists, writers and thinkers stepped across the rarely penetrable border into Gaza. Delegates hope to meet with their counterparts, including a number of Grassroots International partners, visit to the urban gardens of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), and meet with the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP), whose building was severely damaged during the Israeli attack.
The information below is adapted from a press release by Code Pink.
GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - A 60-member aid delegation was allowed entry into war-torn Gaza today through the Egyptian border crossing today. Two Grassroots International staff and board members (in the middle of the photo above) are part of the delegation, which includes Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker.
Former deputy speaker of Israel's Knesset and current president of the New Israel Fund Naomi Chazan described her perspectives on the Gaza war and the state of Israeli politics and the peace process in a recent article published in The Nation. "Reflections of a Troubled Israeli" courageously puts forth the vision of a woman who refuses to give up on a more progressive and just Israel, the country she loves; or a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
Twelve days ago the United States, and the world, celebrated the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the country's first African-American president. That the world celebrated as well was evident to many of us even then, but it's even more clear to me here in Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará, where I am for the World Social Forum, where numerous people from around the world have repeatedly greeted those of us from the United States with a thumbs up sign and shouted "Obama!" celebrating not only his becoming president but, especially, the end of the Bush Administration. Bill Fletcher, Jr., a former Board member of Grassroots International, reflected on this historic moment in the shadow of Gaza - Nikhil Aziz.
Grassroots International's partner, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) has long played a crucial role in defending the Palestinian people's human right to land, water and food. One of their goals is to contribute to the achievment of sustainable and integrated rural development in Palestine, and they have been a key actor in building a secular and democratic civil society. Since 1983, they have worked tirelessly with rural and refugee (from the war of 1948) farmers.
Grassroots currently funds PARC's innovative Urban Agriculture program in Gaza, which encourages food sovereignty and security by establishing networks of rooftop and backyard gardens.
For the most part, Gaza has been quiet for the past 10 days. News coverage from the region has faded from headlines as direct conflict between Hamas and the Israeli military halted in the eve of President Barack Obama's inauguration and the subsequent transitions of power.
The surge in solidarity with Palestinian people in Gaza is still strong. And I hope it will never wind down. My inbox is flooded with op-eds and solidarity messages from all over Latin America. Indigenous communities from Mexico speak about the similarities between the unjust occupation of a sovereign territory and their situation as peoples whose right to land is ignored. Messages from Brazil call on people to increase support to Palestinian farmers.
All morning I have been talking to people in Gaza City while they were helplessly watching the United Nations headquarters and millions of dollars of much needed food and medicine go up in flames. The UN plays a critical role in Gaza as it is the primary vehicle for feeding more than 80% of Gaza's 1.5 million people who depend on food aid. A UN distribution coordinator in Gaza City explained to me that they had allocated scant reserves in three supply warehouses in Gaza City, Karni, and Rafah. All three have been incapacitated by Israeli attacks.
B'Tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) has joined eight other prominent Israeli Human Rights organizations in calling on their government to put an end to their actions in Gaza. B'Tselem is Hebrew for "in the image of" and used as a synonym for human dignity. Since 1989, they have worked tirelessly to educate the Israeli public and policymakers on the reality of human rights violations in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Today-as the death toll in Gaza has just passed 1,000-B'Tselem's voice is needed more than ever to bring an end to the violence.
You already know that the news looks grim:
Direct updates and news make it out of Gaza only in short bursts, when there is sufficient power to feed cell phone batteries and computers. Grassroots International's locally based partner organizations within Gaza continue to send us word as they can about how they are responding to the crisis and facilitating relief and reconstruction. Because of their ongoing commitment to social justice and human rights in the region, their efforts stand the greatest chance of having a lasting impact.
Again raising both legal and moral questions, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on January 6, 2009. Below are both his introduction to the letter and the text itself. Please write to thank Rep. Kucinich for his leadership on this issue.
From Dennis Kucinich:
In light of press reports that Israeli forces fired on a United Nations school where civilians were taking shelter, I sent notice today to Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, that Israel's actions in Gaza since December 27th, 2008 may constitute a violation of the requirements of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (AECA).
On the evening of January 3, we residents of Gaza realized that if there is any truth to Ehud Barak's words, it is that this invasion will be a long one. At approximately 9:15 pm local time Israeli forces entered the strip from three locations. From the east of Gaza City, tanks rolled into the Palestinian residential areas while Israeli F16s provided cover from the sky. At the same time, Israeli tanks and infantry troops entered Rafah from the south east, while tank shelling and artillery fire rained on the Mintar area of Gaza City. Israeli warships were simultaneously barraging Gaza City from the sea. The entire strip was surrounded and being heavily pounded by Israeli missiles and artillery fire.
As the death toll rises in Gaza to over 650 with thousands more wounded in
the 11 days since the Israeli military campaign began, mainstream U.S. media
outlets are toeing the official Israeli government line, scarcely mentioning
statements from the international human rights community, progressive Israelis,
or Palestinians.
Yesterday, I was on the phone with a friend in Gaza when we were cut off by a loud noise. When I reached her a few minutes later, she politely apologized for the interruption, explaining that a missile had just hit a target next to her apartment building for the sixth time that day. "It's already totally flattened," she said, "I don't know what more they want."
Grassroots International's long time grantee, the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) has been hit by extensive shelling in the now weeklong military campaign against Gaza. GCMHP provides mental health services, with special emphasis on vulnerable groups such as children, women and victims of trauma and human rights violations. They are also the lead organization of the International Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza, which Grassroots International has supported in coordination with alies such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Global Exchange.
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Press Release
The Israeli shelling caused massive damage in GCMHP Headquarter in Gaza
Sixty years after the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we at Grassroots International recognize that more often than not the reality has failed the vision put forth in that document. Our commitment to defending land, water, and food as the most basic of human rights is reflected throughout the 30-article treaty. Globally, people in all corners of the world currently experience a quadruple crisis that includes food, finance, energy, and the environment. From Latin America to the Middle East, our partners and allies are facing serious threats to their lives and livelihoods. Policies and actions of governments and corporations represent the grave violations of the core principles of the treat
We salute Representative Dennis Kucinich for his compassionate and courageous letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to use her influence to press the Israeli government to honor international law and end the blockade against Gaza. (Click the link below to read his letter.)
