PSNA Newsletter No 27 - July 21 2020
21 July 2020
Newsletter No 27
Kia ora PSNA Supporter
The Israeli government has quietly shuffled their annexation plans to the side after a much stronger critical international reaction than they expected. For example, Jordan said it would result in serious conflict while the Belgium and Netherland parliaments threatened sanctions against Israel.
Meanwhile the Israeli government is embroiled in the Covid 19 crisis and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is on trial facing fraud and corruption charges.
Israel is slowly but surely losing the political battle to legitimise their theft of Palestine. Here in New Zealand we need to be ready to come out again quickly on the streets to fight these racist Israeli policies.
Two things you can do before you close this newsletter are in the first two items below:
Google - Put Palestine on your maps!
Google are helping Israel try to erase Palestine. Sign the online petition here and share it on social media.
Support the Humboldt 3 – email (or adapt) this letter to the German Ambassador to New Zealand
A Palestinian from Gaza and two Israeli Jewish activists were arrested in 2017 when they interrupted an anti-BDS propaganda speech by an Israeli Knesset (parliament) member at Humboldt University of Berlin.
They are due to appear in court in Germany on 3 August and an international campaign has begun to have the charges against them dropped.
You can read more about the case here.
You can help this international campaign by emailing the following letter to the German Ambassador to New Zealand.
Letter to the German Ambassador
Gerhard Thiedemann
German Ambassador to New Zealand
info@wellington.diplo.de
Kia ora Mr Thiedemann,
I am writing to you as a New Zealand citizen appalled at the German state’s prosecution of three activists who interrupted a propaganda speech by an Israeli Knesset member at Humboldt University in Berlin on June 20, 2017.
These activists are due to appear in court on 3 August and we ask that the German State withdraw the charges against them.
The three activists, a Palestinian from Gaza and two Israeli Jewish activists, were exercising their rights of free speech to denounce the racist policies of the Israeli regime. In particular they were protesting the support the Israeli government representative, Mrs Aliza Lavie, was giving to the Israeli military’s murderous 2014 invasion of Gaza.
These activists were speaking the truth. They were exercising their right to free speech. They were standing up for the voiceless Palestinians of Gaza who suffer under a brutal Israeli blockade.
The three activists are accused of “aggression” when video coverage of the incident supports no such allegation. This is clearly an attempt by the German state, presumably at Israel’s behest, to silence activists who call out the vicious brutality of the Israeli state against Palestinians.
I ask that you forward this letter to the German Government and I look forward to receiving your response.
(your name?
Election pledges for all parliamentary candidates
As we mentioned in an earlier newsletter we have prepared pledges to support Palestine which we will be sending to all candidates from all political parties ahead of this year’s general parliamentary election. We will include the text of the pledges in a future newsletter and we may need to ask supporters to follow up with the candidates in their local electorate to make sure they have received the pledges and to encourage them to sign.
We don’t want the next parliament here to sit on the side-lines where silence means support for the racist policies of Israel.
For three years Foreign Minister Winston Peters refused to speak out against the most egregious Israeli behaviour and only under serious pressure did he finally make a statement expressing “serious concern” at Israeli plans for annexation of Palestinian land.
Still miraculous – Covid contained at Gaza’s borders
If New Zealand is looking for places to form Covid-free bubbles with then Gaza should be high on the list.
The latest official figures from Gaza’s Dr Medhat Abbas this week show:
In quarantine: 271
Cases: 72
Recovering: 68
Active: 3
Deaths: 1
Gaza’s health authorities have kept the virus at the border and prevented any community transmission. It is a credit to their leadership. While further serious Covid 19 outbreaks have occurred in Israel, Gaza has enforced firm quarantine measures which have prevented its entry into the densely packed “open air prison” blockaded by Israel where it would lead to serious consequences.
Meanwhile the Gaza government is finding quarantine very expensive and they still face the same critical shortages of supplies, personnel, medicines and equipment. We have asked the New Zealand government to speak out but so far our appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
We are almost there – can you help Palestinians prepare cases of war crimes to take to the International Criminal Court?
We are now very close to our target of NZ$4,000 for the Gaza Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) to employ two additional people to collect and prepare evidence of Israeli war crimes for the International Criminal Court
Julie Webb-Pullman
The GCHR is the group which employs New Zealander Julie Webb-Pullman as a specialist investigator. Julie has been stranded in New Zealand during the Covid 19 pandemic but is due to return to Gaza shortly. In the meantime she has been able to help employ two additional temporary staff in Gaza to help with the evidence gathering. The $4,000 we need it to help the GCHR bridge the funding gap created when their promised funding source dried up through Covid 19 disruption.
We are nearly there – please help if you can.
We have met online with the two Palestinian women doing this work in Gaza and they were a delight to interact with. We were deeply impressed with their energy and drive and obvious competency for the work.
Please donate if you can and put GCHR in the particulars. Thanking you in anticipation…
Account name: PALESTINE SOLIDARITY NETWORK
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-02
Reference: GCHR
Israel’s secret list of officials likely to be implicated in war crimes investigations
For those who don’t think the International Criminal Court will impact on Israel it’s important to understand that Israel has prepared a secret list of 200 to 300 Israeli officials likely to be implicated in the International Criminal Court’s opening of war crimes investigations into Israeli conduct.
Should any of these officials travel overseas they could be arrested for trial at the Hague.
In 2006 Former Israeli Defence Force Chief Moshe Ya’alon, the butcher of Qana, visited New Zealand and had a warrant for his arrest issued by the Auckland District Court on charges of war crimes.
It was only the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen at the time which saved Ya’alon from arrest.
Former Israeli Defence Force Chief Moshe Ya’alon – the butcher of Qana
This was a shameful betrayal of New Zealand’s support for the International Criminal Court. Ya’alon should have been sent for trial at the ICC.
Boycott Hewlett-Packard! Don’t buy HP!
PSNA will be joining the international campaign against Hewlett-Packard in a more strategic way in the future but in the meantime BDS Australia has taken on this campaign and have some excellent material we should read to get up to speed with it. Here are two important links to look at in the meantime:
The online HP campaign page is here: https://bdsaustralia.net.au/campaigns/dont-buy-hp-products/
And the online petition is here: https://bdsaustralia.good.do/boycotthp/individualpledge/
Dances with Death - Tuma Hazou
“In this book I recount my many 'brushes with death' reporting on hostilities in the turbulent Middle East. The on-going conflicts and upheavals in the region have their roots in the infamous 1917 British Balfour Declaration committing Britain to set up in Palestine a national state for the Jews, ignoring the Muslim and Christian majority population.
The book ends with an overview of the prevailing dire consequences of the 1967 June War.
Addendums to the book add further substance to the personal traumatic narrative and related historical facts”
Books can be ordered directly from the author at gandthazou@gmail.com
Still Lives – Marilyn Garson
Canadian-Kiwi Marilyn writes of her experiences working in GAZA under the Israeli blockade from 2011 to 2015. This is a book which brings to life the horrific brutality of the 2014 Israeli invasion of Gaza which left over 300 killed – including over 500 children. Marilyn documented her experiences as she worked through this horror. It is a MUST READ.
You can purchase this from your local bookshop or order your eBook here or order a physical copy at www.marilyngarson.com
Looking ahead – Palestinian political prisoners
PSNA is working on another on-line rally focusing on Israel’s brutality towards Palestinians imprisoned, often without trial (including Palestinian children). The tentative date is Sunday 26 July. More details in the next newsletter.
The tentative date is now in August. More details in the next newsletter.
New Merchandise
T shirt Free Palestine End Israeli Occupation medium size only $22
Kaffiyeh 110 x 110 $44 + postage
Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign?
We will need some serious money to make our campaign as effective as possible. For example, we will need somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000 to bring speakers to New Zealand over the next year and organise large public meetings to help spread the message.
You can help. Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign? In other words, can you afford to make an automatic payment of $5 per month to support the Palestinian struggle? (If you can afford more that would be great!)
Our account details are:
Account name: Palestine Solidarity Networt
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-00
Or Pay Pal account: admin@palestinesolidaritynz.net
We are happy to provide a receipt upon request (however, we are not a registered charity so this is not tax-deductible)
More ways you can get involved
Forward this Newsletter – If you know people who may be interested in this movement, please forward this Newsletter to them.
Join in local activities in your area monthly Rallies - In Auckland at 2.00 pm on the first Saturday of every month. Please consider doing the same in your community. Contact mailto:Secretary@PSNA.nz?subject=Flags and Banners if you would like to know where and how to get Flags and Banners
Help set up a Students for Justice in Palestine groups on your campus
Tell Your MP your opinions on Divestment and Sanctions of Israel.
Write Letters to Newspapers – Call Talkback Radio
Keep in touch with the campaign on social media
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network website: https://www.PSNA.nz
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/671376706283605/
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network email: Secretary@PSNA.nz
The Palestine Human Rights Campaign produces the In Occupied Palestine newsletter. It is a regular daily newsletter on the daily situation in Palestine, compiled by Leslie Bravery and emailed to subscribers. If you would also like to become a subscriber, please contact Leslie at “lesliebravery @ icloud .com” (remove the spaces to use as an email address) for further information.
Keep Updated on our Facebook pages and websites (listed below)
Regional Branches and Affiliates
Regional
Bay of Islands PSNA Bay of Islands (Email)
Whangarei PSNA Whangarei (Facebook)
Auckland PSNA Auckland – Tamaki Makaurau (Website)
Hamilton Palestine Human Rights Campaign Waikato (Facebook)
Tauranga Tauranga Moana 4 Palestine (Facebook)
Napier/Hastings Aotearoa Standing with Palestine (Facebook)
Palmerston North PSNA Palmerston North (Email)
New Plymouth PSNA New Plymouth (Email)
Wellington Wellington Palestine (Website)
Nelson Te Tau Ihu (Nelson) Palestine (Facebook)
Christchurch PSNA Christchurch (Facebook)
Dunedin Dunedin for Justice in Palestine (Facebook)
Invercargill PSNA Invercargill (Email)