Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Marchers to Converge on Two Sides of Gaza Checkpoint


The Israeli Coalition Against the Siege will mark the first anniversary of the Gaza December 31, at 10.30 am by joining the rally at Beit Hanoun (Erez) Checkpoint initiated by the Monitoring Committee of the Arab Population in Israel. They will be met at the opposite site of the checkpoint by citizens of Gaza The group is made up of a variety of Israeli peace, left, anarchist, human rights and women's groups. An international group of solidarity activists will also be marching into Gaza on the 31st. So far the Egyptians have only allowed one hundred marchers to cross the border.

The following is from WAFA.


Rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday to Call for Ending Siege of Gaza

TEL AVIV, December 30, 2009 (WAFA)- To mark the first anniversary of the destructive offensive on Gaza, and protest the ongoing siege which causes terrible suffering to the inhabitants of the Strip, the Israeli Coalition Against the Siege will hold a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, December 1, 2010 at 6.30 pm. The Coalition said in a press release that the procession will leave the Rabin Square (corner of Frishman and Chen) and march to the Tel Aviv Museum Plaza, where a rally here will take place. Tomorrow, Thursday December 31, at 10.30 am, Coalition activists will join the rally at Beit Hanoun (Erez) Checkpoint initiated by the Monitoring Committee of the Arab Population in Israel. This action will take place simultaneously with a mass procession by inhabitants of the Strip in the direction to the checkpoint, initiated by the civil society organizations in Gaza. The press release said a year has passed since the Israeli offensive on the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, in which more than 1,400 people were killed, an additional 5,000 were injured and tens of thousands were left homeless. The blockade on Gaza continues and becomes ever tighter, making Gaza into an isolated enclave, whose inhabitants are cut off from their family members, from possibilities of study and livelihood and from the cultural, social and political life of their people. The press release added that those responsible for war crimes have not been prosecuted. They continue to walk free among us, as if they were not responsible to systematic and well-planned crimes against millions of human beings. The press release said that Coalition Against the Siege is composed of: Ahoti , Indymedia , Anarchists Against The Wall, Balad, Banki , Bat Shalom, Coalition of Women for Peace, Gush Shalom, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Social TV, The Alternative Information Center, The Campus is Not Silent, The Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow , Hitahabrut-Tarabut, Zochrot, Hadash, Yesh Gvul, Combatants for Peace, The Highscool Refusers' Letter , Israeli Communist Party, Women In Black, Sadaka-Re'ut, New Profile, Student Coalition – Tel Aviv University, Ra'am-Ta'al, Movement of Democratic Women, and Ta'ayush.

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