Despite the ceasefire coming into effect in Gaza, nationwide rallies and marches will take place tomorrow in 11 centres around Aotearoa New Zealand to maintain the momentum of support here and around the world for the Palestinian struggle.
Details of the protests are here
“With or without the ceasefire Palestinians continue to suffer from Israel’s racist, apartheid policies and brutal oppression” says PSNA National Chair John Minto.
“The protests tomorrow will again call for the New Zealand government to bring meaningful pressure on Israel rather than simply express sympathy for Palestinians”
“The government’s approach of tiptoeing around the issue to avoid false smears of anti-semitism from the pro-Israel lobby (who toss them around like confetti) is unprincipled and cowardly”
“We need concrete actions, based on international law and UN resolutions, to hold Israel to account”
“One such action is closing the Israeli embassy in Wellington. The David Lange-led Labour government of the 1980s put such pressure on the South African embassy over its propaganda against black South Africans that they closed their doors and left.
“This government must take the same approach to the Israeli embassy which peddles misinformation and lies about Palestine and Palestinians”
The protests tomorrow will be encouraging people to sign our petition on-line here to close the Israeli embassy.
Despite what the government says, the key to resolving the situation is not negotiations (the imbalance of power is too extreme for peace based on justice) but the implementation of sanctions against Israel to force it to abide by international law and United Nations resolutions.
We must take sides with oppressed Palestinians and against the racist Israeli state just as we took sides with black South Africans against the brutality of white South Africa under apartheid.
We encourage everyone to come out tomorrow and join the right side of history and stand with Palestinians against Israeli racism, apartheid and brutality.”
The steps outside Israel’s Toronto consulate were spattered in red paint by a Jewish anti-war group and other peace activists to symbolize “blood on the hands of Israel.”
https://www.rt.com/news/524502-israel-consulate-canada-protest/
Massive health emergency in Gaza
According to the Washington Post, about 70,000 people in Gaza sought refuge in schools, underground shelters, community centers, and other sites as residential areas were bombed and homes were destroyed. Thousands of people also crowded into relatives’ homes.
“People stopped [social] distancing,” Dr. Shadi Awad, head of respiratory care at al-Shifa hospital, told the Post. “They had no choice.”
As Common Dreams reported last week, Israel bombed Gaza’s only coronavirus testing facility and Dr. Ayman Abu al-Ouf, who helped lead the territory’s coronavirus response, was one of at least 248 Palestinians killed.
The loss of the testing lab will leave asymptomatic Covid-19 cases undetected, health officials told the Post, in a place where less than 2% of the population has been vaccinated—compared with more than 56% of Israelis.
On Friday, al-Shifa hospital was able to test 50 people and found that 40 tested positive for the coronavirus, leading to critical care beds being filled to capacity. Read more
Urgent need for emergency relief funding – UNRWA
In addition to the crowding of hospitals and shelters where Covid-19 has apparently been able to spread rapidly, water supplies have been cut by 40% in Gaza, leading to sanitation concerns.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) on Friday called for $38 million in relief funding for food, water, health needs, and sanitation and hygiene.
“Despite the preparedness of UNRWA staff and UNRWA facilities in providing shelter in conflict, UNRWA now also contends with the unprecedented circumstance of the Covid-19 pandemic which requires additional measures to be taken,” said the agency.
The International Committee of the Red Cross told the Post it was sending medical supplies including monitors, defibrillators, and a mechanical ventilator to Gaza, while the COVAX vaccine program planned to deliver a shipment of coronavirus vaccine doses to the territory.
The Israeli blockade, however, will make it difficult for the equipment and doses to reach overwhelmed hospitals quickly.
UNRWA said the surge in Covid-19 cases will only worsen Gaza’s already limited ability to recover from the latest Israeli bombardment.
“Every time there is a conflict in Gaza, intense air bombardment pulverises basic infrastructure, homes, hospitals, and factories,” Tamara al-Rifai, a spokesperson for UNRWA, said in a statement.
“It then takes UNRWA and aid agencies several years to rehabilitate their premises and many homes and livelihoods of Gazans are never rebuilt.” Read more
One such action is closing the Israeli embassy in Wellington
YES
The govt do have the power to take some form of meaningful action to SHOW that we in AO/ NZ are not and will not be a party to the horrendous abuse of humans that we are seeing in Gaza, not least, the unleashing of a Covid pandemic disaster by taking out the Covid testing station and the medics in charge.
By failing to take any such meaningful action, they are not only complicit by their silence, but are ensuring that all of us, our entire nation is similarly complicit.
Reminder:
Israeli airstrikes in the center of the occupied Gaza Strip on Monday caused severe damage to the territory’s lone coronavirus testing lab and the offices of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, an attack that was immediately condemned as a war crime.
Citing eyewitnesses to the bombing, Middle East Eye reported that Israeli war planes hit the six-story Ghazi al-Shwwa building with “at least three missiles, completely destroying the upper floors.”
MEE noted that the bombing damaged “dozens of adjacent buildings, including Gaza’s main coronavirus laboratory, an orphanage, a female high school, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health offices.”
“If the Ministry of Health is not safe, then there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip,” said Abu Hamed Abufoul, an eyewitness to the airstrikes. “This is a war crime and the world cannot remain silent.”
Speaking in front of the impacted buildings on Monday, Dr. Yousef Abu al-Rish—the undersecretary of Gaza’s health ministry—said the Israeli attack rendered the testing facility inoperable, badly wounded several health workers, and disrupted the territory’s ability to administer Covid-19 vaccines, compounding the difficulties caused by Israel’s blockade.
“Targeting the Ministry of Health building, al-Remal Clinic, and the medical staff is a heinous crime aimed at preventing the ministry from continuing its humanitarian work in saving the lives of the wounded and providing health care to citizens,” al-Rish said. “The international community must hold the occupation accountable for its heinous and ongoing crimes against medical personnel and health institutions.”
“Horrifying,” MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan tweeted in response to the bombing. “It was bad enough when Palestinians in Gaza weren’t able to get vaccinated, but now to reportedly lose their only coronavirus testing lab is… beyond words.”
The airstrikes came shortly after Israeli bombs killed two of Gaza’s senior doctors, including one of the officials leading the besieged territory’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the Washington Post reported last week, Israel’s latest assault—which has thus far killed more than 200 people and injured at least 1,300 in the occupied coastal strip—began as coronavirus infections and deaths in Gaza had started to decline after reaching record highs in April. Read more
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