Looking for Trouble

Protesters continue fight to break Israeli blockade of Gaza

The morning email brought more news on activists who have been attempting to go to Gaza from Cairo to protest the Israeli blockade, which has been in effect since 2007 and has had a disastrous effect on the people living in Gaza.

Sara Roy, who teaches at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, provides a good description of the Israeli blockade in the January 2009 issue of the London Review of Books:

“Israel’s siege has two fundamental goals. One is to ensure that the Palestinians there are seen merely as a humanitarian problem, beggars who have no political identity and therefore can have no political claims. The second is to foist Gaza onto Egypt. That is why the Israelis tolerate the hundreds of tunnels between Gaza and Egypt around which an informal but increasingly regulated commercial sector has begun to form. The overwhelming majority of Gazans are impoverished and officially 49.1 per cent are unemployed. In fact the prospect of steady employment is rapidly disappearing for the majority of the population.

“The Israeli government sealed all the ways into and out of Gaza. Food, medicine, fuel, parts for water and sanitation systems, fertiliser, plastic sheeting, phones, paper, glue, shoes and even teacups are no longer getting through in sufficient quantities or at all.”

A Democracy Now report Dec. 30th on the march can be seen here:

According to this morning’s news release from the Institute for Public Accuracy, a high-stakes standoff continues today in Cairo, where unprecedented protests have been taking place.

“On New Year’s Eve – shortly after the Egyptian government had prevented buses from taking them to Gaza – hundreds of people, including scores from the U.S., who were attempting to march in Cairo were kicked, punched and dragged into a holding area by plainclothes
Egyptian government forces,” the IPA release said.

Video of some of the arrests can be seen here.

The video was taken by IPA communications director, Sam Husseini, who has been blogging and posting videos about the protest at: http://husseini.posterous.com

The IPA said: “Beginning Dec. 27, 1,300 activists from over 40 countries had been in Cairo attempting to go to Gaza, which has been under siege. Israel has prevented free movement to or from Gaza on its border crossings and has prevented the Gaza port and airport from functioning.

“These 1,300 activists – roughly equal to the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza during the Israeli bombing last year (about 13 Israelis were also killed) – have been prevented by the Egyptian government from going to Gaza through the Rafah crossing in the south of Gaza.

“Protests in Cairo have been ongoing; one took place Monday in front of the Prosecutor’s Office, roughly the equivalent of the Justice Department. This protest included about 40 Egyptians and 40 internationals. On New Year’s Day, several hundred people protested in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo; protests there are virtually unheard of – prohibited by the Egyptian authorities. During protests, people have almost always been penned into areas to prevent their being seen by the general public.”

Recently there have been people marching in protest worldwide over the crippling blockade, including hundreds of Israelis in Tel Aviv. But, so far, Israel has refused to lift its siege.

The IPA is a nonprofit organization that tries “to broaden public discourse… (and) promotes the inclusion of perspectives that widen the bounds of media discussion and enhance democratic debate.” The IPA provides a vital link between journalists and policy analysts and activists.