David Cameron: Gaza is a prison camp

UK's PM David Cameron drew the ire of Israel and its friends today as he labeled Gaza as a 'prison camp'. Most Israeli defenders who were 'shocked' by Cameron's statement agreed with it. However, they seemed to hold Hamas as the sole responsible for the situation in Gaza, ignoring that Palestinians voted for Hamas and accrediting the thesis that Israel's treatment of Gaza amounts to a collective punishment of a million and a half people.

I don't know if Cameron's statement is tactical or if it is a genuine courageous political act. I don't care. Kudos to David Cameron!

Now Available: Full 60' Raw Footage From The Mavi Marmara Tells Israel's Lies

The whole story is still missing but a core story has emerged that contradicts Israel's spin. Israeli soldiers fired at the ship and wounded activists before boarding illegally the ship. Also, activists had no weapons but only sticks and slingshots.  


The sticks were used when activists were expecting the soldiers to force the cabin door where activists and wounded (some of them probably already dead) retired leaving the deck after the shots were fired by the soldiers.  


They used the slingshots to shoot marbles at the Israeli soldiers who were trying to descend on the ship from the helicopter and that was before the soldiers boarded the deck. 

Slingshots and marbles are elementary and essential items for children in the ME growing in a rural or a poor environment. And it was notably childish to direct slingshots at Israeli soldiers armed to their teeth. Slingshots are very popular children items in the ME, even for girls. As a child you have to be able to use them and even some time to make them. As a girl myself growing in rural Lebanon, making a slingshot was part of my childhood initiation. It is a ritual. You have to find the correct wood part, most of the time from a tree, symmetrical. Then you carve out the part and tie an elastic into it. And to practice, you use stones and you practice under the guidance of other children who acquired the skill. The slingshot is used bychildren to hunt some birds, and then to play...If you are a child in rural Lebanon and other parts of the ME and you don't know about slingshots you risk loosing face. It is the same for marbles, a child doesn't leave the house if he doesn't have his little bag of marbles, he won't be able to play with other children...How many marbles a child possesses and how rare and nice they are is a sign of the child's place and influence among his peers...


Haroon Siddique, The Guardian: Activist releases new footage

On Democracy Now: Interview with Iara Lee who shot the video and later smuggled it from Israel.

US Senator says 'it makes sense to strangle Gaza' economically until it votes the way Israel wants

SCHUMER:The Palestinian people still don’t believe in the Jewish state, in a two-state solution. More do than before, but a majority still do not. Their fundamental view is, the Europeans treated the Jews badly and gave them our land — this is Palestinian thinking [...] They don’t believe in the Torah, in David [...] You have to force them to say Israel is here to stay. The boycott of Gaza to me has another purpose — obviously the first purpose is to prevent Hamas from getting weapons by which they will use to hurt Israel — but the second is actually to show the Palestinians that when there’s some moderation and cooperation, they can have an economic advancement. When there’s total war against Israel, which Hamas wages, they’re going to get nowhere. And to me, since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see that’s not the way to go, makes sense.

Link to the source article where you can also watch a video of Schumer speaking before a Jewish audience.

Finally US visual media are asking: what's life like under the Israeli blockade in Gaza?

It is the equivalent of the French legendary movie 'Les enfants du Paradis' finally dubbed in English. Better late than never...

Watch this short documentary from NBC...

Spontaneous Boycotts of Israel Flourishing...

A French movie distributor refuses to air an Israeli movie.

Israelis banned from Madrid's gay pride march.

Usually, Israel's response is a legal challenge. However, this time my impression is that the boycotts will be numerous. If we are many to show our indignation at Israeli brutalities, ugly occupation and impunity, Israel will need an army of lawyers to challenge the boycotts...We therefore need more initiatives along this line, civil boycotts, peaceful resistance and perseverance...This is the only thing that will bring peace to the ME...The countries who support Israel will not be able to keep their allegiance under international civilian outrage. Let's repeat the campaign against the Apartheid...

What Is Not Allowed In Gaza: A Poem

BY RICHARD TILLINGHAST For The Irish Times
Richard Tillinghast is an American poet who lives in Co Tipperary. He is the author of eight books of poetry, the latest of which is Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2010 ), as well as several works of non-fiction.

No tinned meat is allowed, no tomato paste,

no clothing, no shoes, no notebooks.

These will be stored in our warehouses at Kerem Shalom

until further notice.

Bananas, apples, and persimmons are allowed into Gaza,

peaches and dates, and now macaroni

(after the American Senator’s visit).

These are vital for daily sustenance.

But no apricots, no plums, no grapes, no avocados, no jam.

These are luxuries and are not allowed.

Paper for textbooks is not allowed.

The terrorists could use it to print seditious material.

And why do you need textbooks

now that your schools are rubble?

No steel is allowed, no building supplies, no plastic pipe.

These the terrorists could use to launch rockets

against us.

Pumpkins and carrots you may have,

but no delicacies,

no cherries, no pomegranates, no watermelon, no onions,

no chocolate.

We have a list of three dozen items that are allowed,

but we are not obliged to disclose its contents.

This is the decision arrived at

by Colonel Levi, Colonel Rosenzweig, and Colonel Segal.

Our motto:

‘No prosperity, no development, no humanitarian crisis.’

You may fish in the Mediterranean,

but only as far as three km from shore.

Beyond that and we open fire.

It is a great pity the waters are polluted –

twenty million gallons of raw sewage dumped into the sea every day

is the figure given.

Our rockets struck the sewage treatments plants,

and at this point spare parts to repair them are not allowed.

As long as Hamas threatens us,

no cement is allowed, no glass, no medical equipment.

We are watching you from our pilotless drones

as you cook your sparse meals over open fires

and bed down

in the ruins of houses destroyed by tank shells.

And if your children can’t sleep,

missing the ones who were killed in our incursion,

or cry out in the night, or wet their beds

in your makeshift refugee tents,

or scream, feeling pain in their amputated limbs –

that’s the price you pay for harbouring terrorists.

God gave us this land.

A land without a people for a people without a land.

From France to Gaza With Love

We were 43 nationalities spread all over Cairo, but the largest group was French. We kept having to change hotels because of the police, and we were followed all the time by plainclothed tourist police, which made it very hard to meet up. Read the rest here...