Izvor i link na peticiju: Government: Open the Rafah crossing permanently and unconditionally
Izrael je smrtonosnu opsadu 1,6 milijuna ljudi koji žive u Pojasu Gaze nametnuo još 2006. Nakon svrgavanja Hosnija Mubaraka s vlasti u Egiptu opsada Pojasa Gaze je nakratko prekinuta, no danas svakodnevno na granici na prijelaz čeka oko 35 000 ljudi.
Egipatske su vlasti 25. svibnja 2011. najavile da će trajno otvoriti prijelaz Rafah, ponovo uspostaviti nekadašnja pravila i omogućiti Palestincima s putovnicama da iz Pojasa Gaze ulaze u Egipat svaki dan između 9 i 17 sati, osim petkom i praznicima. Egipatsko je ministarstvo vanjskih poslova tada tvrdilo da će Gazu moći napustiti sve žene i djeca bez ograničenja, no da muškarci u dobi između 18 i 40 godina trebaju dobiti vizu kako bi ušli u Egipat. Na ovaj bi način više od 60% stanovnika Gaze moglo prijelaz prijeći bez viza.
Ova je odluka bila provođena samo 2 dana – 28. i 29. svibnja 2011, a zatim je povučena bez ikakve službene najave. Trenutno kroz prijelaz dnevno može prijeći između 160 i 300 putnika.
Sve se ovo odvija u trenutku kada Gaza prolazi kroz najgoru krizu u zdravstvu do sada. Mnoge su operacije odgođene zbog nestašice potrebnih osnovnih medicinskih potrepština. Izraelski su zračni napadi prošli tjedan u Gazi ubili najmanje 15 osoba, uključujući 2 djece, a ranjeno ih je najmanje 50. Tisuće studenata izgubile su prava na studiranje u inozemstvu jer im je onemogućeno da otputuju na svoja sveučilišta. Dozvole o prebivalištima koje su tisuće stanovnika Gaze imali u arapskim i drugim stranim zemljama istekle su za vrijeme dok njima nije bilo dopušteno da napuste Gazu.
Trenutno od lipnja na prijelaz granice čeka više od 20 000 osoba. Oni koji žele otputovati kroz prijelaz Rafah suočavaju se s nečovječnim uvjetima: satima stoje na vrućini, zatim ih policija prati do zračne luke u Kairu, gdje na polazak čekaju zatvoreni u ćeliji. Samo su Palestinci na cijelom svijetu izloženi ovakvom ponižavanju, nesigurnosti i vrijeđanju od strane neke druge zemlje kad žele u skladu sa svojim ljudskim pravom otputovati iz vlastite zemlje.
Peticiju za trajno i bezuvjetno otvaranje graničnog prijelaza Rafah koju su egipatskoj vladi uputile organizacije palestinskog i egipatskog civilnog društva, i podržale brojne mirovne, propalestinske i druge organizacije diljem svijeta, te istaknuti aktivisti, intelektualci i umjetnici, možete potpisati na linku, gdje također možete pročitati cijeli tekst peticije na engleskom, arapskom, francuskom i španjolskom, kao i popis organizacija i pojedinaca koji podržavaju zahtjev da se trajno i bezuvjetno otvori granični prijelaz Rafah.
Za potpisivanje peticije potrebno je upisati Ime, Prezime, Email adresu, Kućnu adresu, Grad; kliknuti na Outside the U.S. i odabrati Zemlju; upisati Poštanski broj; ukloniti kvačicu iz kućice ispred teksta „Display my signature publicly“ ukoliko ne želite da vam potpis bude vidljiv na internetu; i kliknuti na SIGN
Izvor i link na peticiju: Sign the call from Gaza. Open the Rafah crossing permanently and unconditionally
DODATNI LINKOVI:
PALESTINA/IZRAEL:
Hold Israel accountable with Leahy law
The “Leahy Law,” as it is commonly known, prohibits the United States from providing any weapons or training to “any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible evidence that such unit has committed gross violations of human rights.” In the past, this law has been invoked to curtail military aid to countries as diverse as Indonesia, Colombia, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Along with other provisions in the Foreign Assistance Act, of which it is a part, and the Arms Export Control Act, it forms the basis of an across-the-board policy that is supposed to ensure that U.S. assistance does not contribute to human rights abuses. Ha’aretz reports that the Senator is looking to invoke this prohibition regarding “Israel Navy's Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover Duvdevan unit and the Israel Air Force's Shaldag unit.” The inclusion of specific units in the story may indicate that Leahy already has findings from the Secretary of State that these Israeli military units have committed human rights abuses. If so, then this could be a much-overdue watershed in holding accountable Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, for its gross misuse of U.S. weapons to commit systematic human rights abuses of Palestinians living under Israel’s illegal 44-year military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. During the last decade, on at least five occasions, Members of Congress have requested the State Department to investigate Israel’s misuse of U.S. weapons; to date, the State Department has failed to notify publicly the Congress about any such violation. The State Department also has refused to disclose documents related to these investigations in response to a long-standing Freedom of Information Act request filed by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. It is time to end Israel’s impunity and hold up to the light of day the devastating impact that U.S. weapons transfers have on Palestinian civilians.
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Islamic Jihad: Ceasefire with Israel agreed at dawn
Islamski džihad tvrdi da je u zoru dogovorio prekid vatre s Izraelom (26. kolovoz 2011.)
U izraelskom zračnom napadu u četvrtak (25. kolovoza) oko 21 sat ubijena su 2 pripadnika vojnog krila Islamskog džihada. Izraelska vojska tvrdi da je u četvrtak u noći na zapadni Negev u Izraelu palo 5, a u prethodnih 24 sata ukupno 12 raketa. Islamski džihad je u 1 sat u noći 26. kolovoza objavio da na snagu stupa trenutačan prekid vatre i da je dogovor postignut uz pomoć Egipta. Prethodni dogovor o prekidu vatre, koji je također dogovorio Egipat, propao je nakon 2 dana, u utorak (23. kolovoza) kad je u izraelskom zračnom napadu ubijen jedan zapovjednik vojnog krila Islamskog džihada i nastavilo se raketiranje južnog Izraela iz Gaze. Prethodni je dogovor o prekidu vatre pokušao primiriti napetosti nakon što je u izraelskim zračnim napadima na Pojas Gaze u 4 dana ubijeno 19 Palestinaca, a na izraelske gradove na jugu zemlje ispaljeno 150 raketa i mina i ubijen 1 Izraelac, a ranjeno njih 20, uključujući 1 teško. Sukobi su izbili nakon što su nepoznati naoružani napadači napali nekoliko vozila na jugu Izraela 18. kolovoza i ubili 9 Izraelaca. Izraelski čelnici odgovornost za napade pripisuju palestinskim političkim organizacijama u Gazi.
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PAKISTAN:
More Than 160 Children Killed in America's Drone War in Pakistan
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has identified credible reports of 168 children killed in seven years of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas. These children would account for 44% of the minimum figure of 385 civilians reported killed by the attacks. ... It is one of the worst incidents of the entire drones campaign, yet one of the least reported. A CIA strike on a madrassa or religious school in 2006 killed up to 69 children, among 80 civilians. ... A week after the attack, The News published the names and home villages of 80 victims. 69 were reported as children aged 17 or under. According to the paper’s sources: "It was claimed that one of the deceased was only seven-years old, three were eight, three nine, one was 10, four were 11, four were 12, eight were 13, six were 14, nine were 15, 19 were 16, 12 were 17, three were 18, three were 19 and only two were 21-years-old."
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SAD:
Appalling: BART Shuts Down Cell Service to Quash Protest
Thursday night, a protest was planned in the Bay Area Rapid Transit to protest the latest police shooting of an unarmed man. But protesters found themselves without cell service, and now a BART official admits that cell service was shut off to quell the action—violating citizens' First Amendment rights. ... But isn't digital jamming exactly the same thing governments in Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere this Spring were doing? Is the BART acting like an oppressive regime? Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, thinks what BART did was dubious. He told the Monitor, "it's a very disquieting development. Here you have a government agency indiscriminately closing down all kinds of speech in order to prevent a perceived possibility of violence."
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