Dion Nissenbaum, Checkpoint Jerusalem, 25 January 2009

It is Day Five of the cease fire, and the Israeli gunboats are booming off the Mediterranean coast.

It’s barely dawn and the Israeli warships off the Gaza Strip coast are opening fire on the small Palestinian fishing boats a few hundred yards off the shore. The Palestinians pulling in their meager hauls from the cloudy, sewage-saturated waters try to ignore the incoming fire that splashes in the waters around them.

The Israeli ships enforcing a Naval blockage of Gaza have been firing on the fisherman every morning in an apparent attempt to keep them from getting too far from shore.

But this morning, Thursday, Jan. 22nd, the Israeli fire blasts through the morning all along the coastline. Then the Israeli fire gets closer to shore. By late morning, five Palestinians, including a little girl, have been wounded by the Israeli cease fire shelling.

This is post-war Gaza.

[Read the report]

Public asked for information on travel plans and whereabouts of top Israeli leaders

By Redress Information & Analysis

26 January 2009

An international human rights organization has submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court for the arrest of top Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza and has called for information about the travel plans and whereabouts outside Israel of the suspects.

A human rights organization has called for the arrest of a number of senior Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Ashraf Khalil: Gaza family recounts day of horror

Agence France-Presse
24 January 2009
Excerpt:

Around 400 people gathered for a rally outside BBC offices addressed by speakers including former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn and lawmaker George Galloway, who accused the BBC of bias against the Palestinians.

The crowd chanted “BBC, shame on you” and a few threw shoes at the BBC office.

The numbers later swelled to at least 5,000 for a march through central London.

The Stop The War Coalition, which organised the march, estimates that the ban on broadcasting the appeal could cost up to 10 million pounds (10.5 million euros, 13.6 million dollars) in donations.

The group has organised big rallies opposed to the violence in Gaza in London for the past few weekends.

Around 5,000 people also took to the streets of Britain’s second biggest city, Birmingham, for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, while around 100 Cambridge University students have occupied the law faculty there in protest at Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

[Read the report]