Eva Bartlett, The Electronic Intifada, 30 June 2009

“There was an explosion, maybe 20 meters away. Then another immediately after. I realized I had been hit,” said Saleh Ahmad al-Medani, pulling aside the collar of his T-shirt to show one of three places where he was punctured by the metal darts known as “flechettes.” The razor-like flechettes are dart-shaped bits of metal packed by the thousands into a single shell that are approximately two inches long.

At just after midnight on 3 June, the 17-year-old was walking home from a friend’s house in Umm al-Nassir, a collection of tents and dilapidated houses in the northwest Gaza Strip, just more than 1 kilometer from the northern boundary with Israel.

Days after being pierced by the flechettes, al-Medani’s wounds not only haven’t healed, the darts are still lodged in his neck, shoulder and leg. “The doctor told me that if I don’t feel too much pain, he won’t operate to remove the darts,” the youth said. “I feel light pain still, but what can I do?”

This is not an unusual situation in Gaza, where Israel has repeatedly used the dart bombs. Due to their design, flechettes dig deeply into their target — flesh, cement and metal alike — with their “tails” frequently breaking off, leaving multiple injuries and rendering them nearly impossible to extract without inflicting more injury in the surgical search. In most cases, doctors opt against surgery, leaving the darts inside the victim’s body.

[Read the report]

By Claire Messud | June 29, 2009

I RECENTLY returned from a literary festival that was to have opened and closed in Jerusalem; but which, to our surprise, opened in France and closed in the United Kingdom.

Some 20-odd writers from the world over – including the popular British travel writer and comedian Michael Palin; Sweden’s preeminent thriller writer Henning Mankell; and Canada’s Giller Prize-winning M.G. Vassanji – found our events at Jerusalem’s Palestine National Theater shut down by machine-gun toting Israeli soldiers in flak jackets. On the first evening, with a Gallic flourish, Jean-Paul Ghoneim of the French Consulate opened the French Cultural Center impromptu, and hosted our event on nominally French soil: we paraded through the streets in our party clothes, bearing trays of canapés and looking, I’m sure, very threatening indeed.

By the festival’s closing night, the British Consul General Richard Makepeace had made plans to welcome us at the British Council – which was fitting because the British Council was the festival’s primary sponsor.

You might well ask how a bunch of novelists and nonfiction writers could be so dangerous as to require a military-ordained ban in a democratic country. I can’t tell you; except that our literary festival had the word “Palestine’’ in its title, and the use of this word in Jerusalem apparently constitutes a security threat. The city has been declared the Capital of Arab Culture for 2009, and according to Palestinians we met, the Jerusalem police have shut down more cultural events than they have permitted – including the timed release, by schoolchildren, of colored balloons in celebration of Al-Quds. Balloons are also a security risk.

[Read the article | view more photos]

Dolores Michelsen
LAW OFFICES OF HANLON & RIEF
179 11th Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103

The government, through an informant, originally alleged that Mr. Bell was the shooter of Sgt Young. However, it is difficult to believe that the Attorney General of California, who prosecuted this case, would have allowed Mr. Bell to plead to a lesser charge with a sentence of only informal probation if there was credible evidence he had shot Sgt. Young.

Bell and his co-defendants have always maintained that, because of the torture used by the New Orleans Police Department to gain alleged confessions and the lack of new evidence, these charges should never have been brought.

The government tortured him for two and a half years to get this guilty plea. Justice?

SF County Jail’s cruel and unusual punishment of Herman Bell of the San Francisco 8
by Nancy Jacot-Bell, Bay View, 24 October 2008

Introductory note by Kiilu Nyasha: Herman Bell and Jail Muntaqim (aka Anthony Bottom) have been unjustly incarcerated in New York prisons for 35 and 37 years, respectively, are currently eligible for parole and by rights should have been returned to New York for parole hearings in July. Instead, they have been kept in solitary 24/7 lockup in the SF County Jail for nearly two years now on still more charges stemming from a “cold case” of the murder of a police officer in August 1971. For more information, go to www.freethesf8.org.

Herman Bell arrived in the Bay Area from New York in late May 2007 to face this extremely unjust prosecution of eight former Black Panthers and community activists from the late 1960s forward.

This prosecution is based on revenge and intimidation of anyone who attempts to change things for the better in this steadily devolving society – not to mention throwing California and San Francisco taxpayers’ resources down the toilet in a very big way.

Every day since May ‘07 has been a complete nightmare for Herman and our family. Confinement in the San Francisco County Jail has been devastating to what little quality of life Herman – as well as Jalil Muntaqim, who is also confined there – has experienced in New York prisons for three decades.

[Read the article]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1 July 2009

We are NOT the “Story”
It’s Not Just Our 21 Kidnapped Passengers

On June 30th 2009 Israeli Occupation Forces forcibly boarded the Free Gaza boat, SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, and kidnapped 21 human rights workers and journalists who were on their way to deliver much needed humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to besieged Gaza. Those abducted by Israel include Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

Since their kidnapping, tens-of-thousands of people around the world have mobilized to demand their immediate and unconditional release. The Free Gaza Movement would like to thank everyone who has made a phone call, sent a fax or email, written a letter, or organized a demonstration on behalf of our 21 imprisoned friends.

With respect, it is not enough. We are not the story. Since its founding in 1948 the State of Israel has regularly kidnapped and tortured Palestinians, throwing them into forgotten prisons where they can languish for years. Today, over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners without benefit of due process, some never even charged – men, women, and children – endure torture and isolation in Israeli jails, outdoor prison camps, and secret black sites. They come from all walks of life: doctors, journalists, parliamentarians, workers, resistance fighters, homemakers, students and others. They are our sisters and brothers.

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Dear Friends,

Earlier today, Israeli Occupation Forces boarded the Free Gaza boat, SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, and kidnapped 21 human rights workers and journalists who were on their way to deliver much needed humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to besieged Gaza. Those kidnapped by Israel include Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

So far we have not been able to contact any of our people, but we do have a team of attorneys working for their immediate and unconditional release. Please help us. Please contact your local newspapers and TV stations, government officials and embassies. Please call the numbers below and demand that Israel free the 21 innocent people kidnapped today, as well as the over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners currently held in Israeli jails. They all need your help.

CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Justice
tel: 00972 2646 6666 or 00972 2646 6340
fax: 00972 2646 6357

CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
tel: 00972 2530 3155 or 00972 2530 3111
fax: 00972 2530 3367

CONTACT Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office at:
tel: 00972 2670 5354 or 00972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

CONTACT the International Committee of the Red Cross to ask for their assistance in establishing the wellbeing of the kidnapped human rights workers and help in securing their immediate release

Red Cross Israel
tel: 00972 3524 5286
fax: 00972 3527 0370

Red Cross Switzerland:
tel: 0041 22 730 3443
fax: 0041 22 734 8280

Red Cross USA:
tel: 001 212 599 6021
fax: 001 212 599 6009
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