{"id":5990,"date":"2009-01-17T21:25:16","date_gmt":"2009-01-18T02:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=5990"},"modified":"2009-01-17T21:25:16","modified_gmt":"2009-01-18T02:25:16","slug":"rachels-words-urgent-from-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=5990","title":{"rendered":"Rachel&#8217;s Words: URGENT, FROM GAZA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As Gaza is under horrific attack, Fida Qishta and other volunteers are working to send stories and pictures out to the world. Fida breaks the siege  virtually, every day, as a citizen journalist. This is crucially important now while the international press is denied access to Gaza. Please help us support this important work. We will supply cameras, tapes, and equipment. Please <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rachelswords.org\/donate\/\">consider making a $5 donation now<\/a> to Rachel&#8217;s Words. (Tax deductible info below.)<\/p>\n<p>March 16th will be the 6th anniversary of Rachel Corrie&#8217;s death. Fida says the six-year-olds in Rafah have never experienced anything as terrifying as what is happening now. We&#8217;ll provide background information below, and additional links with many different ways to support Gaza. Please act now &#8211; but don&#8217;t forget Gaza when the current crisis is over.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Donate through Paypal\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rachelswords.org\/donate\/\">here<\/a>. Tax deductible checks of any amount can be made out to our fiscal sponsor, &#8220;The Brecht Forum,&#8221;  earmarked &#8220;Rachel&#8217;s Words&#8221; and mailed to Rachel&#8217;s Words, PO Box 1125, New York,  NY 10276. We will send you confirmation of receipt.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your support.<br \/>\nRachel&#8217;s Words<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rachelswords.org\/\">www.RachelsWords.org<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:info@rachelswords.org\">info@rachelswords.org<\/a><br \/>\n(Please mark emails clearly in the subject line to help us sort through the inordinate amount of spam we receive.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong>:<br \/>\nFida Qishta is a 23-year-old teacher and independent journalist who lives  in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Fida knew Rachel Corrie. When Fida organized some women to  be on call around the clock &#8211; to help salvage people&#8217;s belongings from their  homes before demolition &#8211; she named the group &#8220;Rachel&#8217;s Way.&#8221; \u00a0As the local ISM  coordinator in Rafah, Fida continues the work that Rachel was engaged  in.<\/p>\n<p>Fida founded the Lifemakers Center, providing several hundred children with a place to learn and play in Rafah. Her greatest concern is the collective  trauma of Gaza&#8217;s children. When she&#8217;s not at the Center, Fida documents events  at the hospitals, schools, homes, fishing boats &#8211; and in her own neighborhood.  Fida writes a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sunshine208.blogspot.com\/\">blog<\/a> from her home. Her  previous house was demolished; for over a year her family lived in a rented room  connected to a building outdoors, with no facilities. During this period she was  invited by the Rachel Corrie Foundation on a U.S. speaking tour.<\/p>\n<p>In the last year she formed &#8220;Gaza Eyes Open,&#8221; networking with other citizen and professional journalists, sharing skills, and bringing us news of  daily life in Gaza.\u00a0When we compiled a list of equipment to start the project,  Fida added &#8220;chalk,&#8221; for the Lifemakers Center &#8211; there was no chalk in Gaza because of the siege.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Videos by Fida:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K2tDQmz69Gc\">Bombing of pharmacy in Rafah, Gaza Strip &#8211;  28th December 2008<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zK21qajm4lM\">28  December, attack in Gaza Strip &#8211; bombings in Rafah continue<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aZBwcPcAeFA&amp;feature=related\">Israeli Navy attacks Gaza Fishermen and Internationals<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Articles by Fida:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/2009\/jan\/11\/gaza-israel-fida-qishta-diary\">We love the sun. So we sat outside to see the F16s bombing Rafah<\/a><br \/>\n<em>The Observer<\/em>, January 11, 2009<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/2009\/jan\/03\/eyewitness-bombing-southern-gaza\">EyeWitness:  Fida Qishta on the Crisis in Gaza<\/a><br \/>\n<em>The Guardian<\/em>, January 3, 2009<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2008\/12\/29\/israeli_attacks_kill_over_310_in\">Fida on Democracy Now!<\/a><br \/>\nDecember 29, 2008<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/imeu.net\/news\/article008105.shtml\">Gaza&#8217;s &#8220;bigger holocaust&#8221;<\/a><br \/>\nIMEU, March 9, 2008<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fida&#8217;s Blog:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/sunshine208.blogspot.com\/\">http:\/\/sunshine208.blogspot.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freegaza.org\/\">Free Gaza Movement<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/palsolidarity.org\/\">International Solidarity Movement<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/\">Electronic Intifada<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>DONATE TO ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING EMERGENCY RELIEF:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.grassrootsonline.org\/\">Grassroots International<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifrc.org\/docs\/news\/08\/08123003\">Red Crescent<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/unrwa\/emergency\/donation\/index.html\">United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) emergency appeal<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>SIGN PETITIONS FOR GAZA:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.avaaz.org\/en\/gaza_time_for_peace\/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1\">http:\/\/www.avaaz.org\/en\/gaza_time_for_peace\/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.petitiononline.com\/freegaza\/petition.html\">http:\/\/www.petitiononline.com\/freegaza\/petition.html<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ceasefirenow.org\/\">CeaseFireNow.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>THE NEXT STEP:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/doc\/20090126\/klein?rel=hp_picks\">Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction<\/a><br \/>\nBy Naomi Klein, <em>The Nation<\/em>, January 7, 2009<\/p>\n<p>For support and contacts of people in Gaza or to volunteer, please contact the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, via <a href=\"mailto:gaza@imemc.org\">gaza@imemc.org<\/a>, or call 989-607-9480 (from the  US and Canada) or 972 2277 2018 (from other  places)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;~&#8211;~&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;~&#8211;~&#8212;-~&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;~&#8212;&#8212;-~&#8211;~&#8212;-~<br \/>\nFor  more information, actions you can take to spread Rachel&#8217;s words, and updates on  efforts to bring the play &#8220;My Name Is Rachel Corrie&#8221; around the world, visit  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rachelswords.org\">http:\/\/www.rachelswords.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Please consider a financial donation to the effort. You can donate online securely at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rachelswords.org\/donate\">http:\/\/www.rachelswords.org\/donate<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY As Gaza is under horrific attack, Fida Qishta and other volunteers are working to send stories and pictures out to the world. Fida breaks the siege virtually, every day, as a citizen journalist. This is crucially important &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=5990\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdXTf-1yC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5990"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6002,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990\/revisions\/6002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}