In the past week, Israel has mounted a massive offensive against the Gaza Strip. The attacks have claiming the lives of over 112 Palestinians, including many civilians. The clashes reached a peak on March 1st, when Israel sent in a regiment of ground troops killing 77 Palestinians in two days. According to Gaza health ministry statistics, 22 children were killed and more than 350 people were wounded.

Despite the large number of civilian casualties, Israel says the operation was aimed at rooting out the Palestinian fighters who have been firing homemade rockets at southern Israel. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal insists that Palestinian rocket attacks are a result of, not the cause of, ongoing Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people. "They [Israelis] do not want to end the occupation, stop attacks or lift the siege. What do people expect the Palestinians to do," Meshaal told a press conference in the Syrian capital Damascus.

On Monday March 4rd, Israel began to pull ground troops from Gaza, but Israeli aircraft continue to carry out bombing raids. The lull in fighting is perhaps due to a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday. Monday Rice called for "talks" but refuses to call for a cease-fire. A senior Israeli official told Reuters “This very limited (Gaza) operation was intended to show Hamas what could happen, what you may call a "prequel”. He went on to say “If they continue to fire the rockets, then there will be more operations like this one or worse.”

The Israeli assault has drawn worldwide protests for excessive use of force. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has formally suspended contacts with Israel. In Berlin, Germany's Foreign Minister insisted that Israel "must preserve the principle of proportionateness." United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also issued a condemnation of what he termed Israel's "excessive and disproportionate" response and called on Israel "to cease such attacks". Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the IDF attacks can have no humanitarian justification and added that Israel was rejecting a diplomatic solution to the dispute. Saudi Arabia called on the international community to stop the "mass killings" of Palestinians. In Egypt, thousands of students held protests at universities across the country calling on Arab leaders to stop Israeli aggression and support the Palestinians. In Lebanon, several hundred school children from 20 schools took part in a Hezbollah-organized demonstration outside UN headquarters in Beirut. In Syria, tens of thousands filled the central square of Damascus to protest ongoing Israeli attacks.

On March 3rd, Students for Justice in Palestine staged a die-in in Berkeley to protest Israel's actions.
Photos | Event Announcement

Israel mounts bloody offensive against Gaza | Over 112 Palestinians Killed in Five-Day Israeli Attack | US and Arab states clash at UN Security Council | Wounded Gazans Left to Die | UN Fails Gaza Children, Again | Killed in Cradle | Hamas claims Gaza 'victory' as troops pull back | PA suspends peace talks with Israel over Gaza violence | Gaza raids met by loud silence from the Arab world | Israel kills at least 31 Gazans today, including 8 children | All-out assault on Gaza looms as 54 die in Israeli incursion | End Aggressions, Rockets Stop: Meshaal | Israeli minister threatens "shoah" against Palestinians in Gaza | Third Intifada in sight | The Gaza Bombshell: Crisis Made in USA | Gaza a stain on world’s conscience | HRW: Gaza Strip/Israel: Civilians Bear Brunt of Attacks | Israel ignores peace

From Monday February 4th through Friday the 8th, Students for Justice in Palestine held a series of protests and teach-in as part of Israeli Apartheid Week at UC Berkeley.

On Monday, human rights activist Mark Turner spoke about the time he spent working in the Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus. In 2003, Mark founded the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI), an interactive program that provides tools to teachers and students learning about the Occupation.

On Tuesday, there was a "Right to Education" teach-in. The event featured presentations by "FRESH!" (Freshly Redefining Education for Students through Hip-hop) and other local community education activists and a screening of the short film "Lucky Ahmed" on barriers students face in trying to complete their education under Occupation, prepared by student activists in the West Bank.

On Wednesday, there was a rally on Sproul Plaza with Barbara Lubin from Middle East Children's Alliance and other community leaders. Photos
Also on Wednesday was the opening of the photo exhibit "Jerusalem Dispossessed" at Mudrakers Cafe on Telegraph Ave. with Dr. Hatem Bazian. "Jerusalem Dispossessed" is a collection of photographs put together by the photo collective ActiveStills and the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition.

On Thursday, Anna Baltzer, a volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service, presented her experiences documenting human rights abuses in the West Bank and supporting Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent resistance to the Occupation.

On Friday, there was a "Apartheid and the Youth of Palestine" closing event. Ziad Abbas Co-Director of Ibdaa' Cultural Center (Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Bethlehem) and Journalist Nora Barrows-Friedman spoke at the Heller Multicultural Center.

Apartheid Week | UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine

The Israeli government’s tightening of a blockade against the Gaza Strip has deepened an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, plunging its 1.5 million people into cold and darkness and threatening to unleash both mass hunger and a serious health crisis. The Israeli cabinet voted last week to seal all border crossings into Gaza, cutting off food, medicine and fuel for the population and turning the entire territory into a vast prison. On Sunday January 20th, the cutoff of fuel forced the shutdown of the Gaza Strip’s only power plant.

US stymies Security Council action on Gaza | US-backed Israeli siege creates humanitarian disaster in Gaza | Israeli Victory over Asthmatics, Newborns in Gaza | Democracy Now: As Gaza Plunges Into Darkness, Israeli and Palestinian Fighters-Turned Peace Activists Speak Out | Gaza: No rights, little mercy | Siniora denounces Israel's blockade of Gaza | Israeli Atrocity on Gaza Civilians | Rights org: Gaza situation potentially disastrous | Israeli closure 'hits Gaza power' | Never against! European collusion in Israel's slow genocide | Israeli-Turkish relations tense

On January 22nd, dozens of Palestinian protesters stormed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, demanding it be opened to ease the blockade. Egyptian police opened fire in the air and used batons and water canons, as protesters complained that Gaza was under siege from both Israel and neighbouring Arabs.

On January 23rd, masked militants destroyed around two-thirds of the metal wall separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Tens of thousands of Palestinians flooded across the border to buy food and supplies. Egypt's dictator Hosni Mubarak says he ordered his troops to allow Palestinians to cross into Egypt because they were starving. Hamas' leadership has said it will be willing to work to resolve the chaotic situation on the border only if its is placed under exclusive Palestinian and Egyptian control.

On January 25, Egyptian border guards with riot shields formed human chains along the Egypt-Gaza border, but were unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a bulldozer wrecked another section of fence along the frontier.

Breaking out | Gaza scrambles for supplies as border forced open | Egypt rejects idea of Israel waiving responsibility for Gaza | The People in Gaza Challenge Sham Peace Process | Democracy Now: Tens of Thousands of Palestinians Seeking Basic Supplies Flood Egypt For Second Day | Mr. Olmert, Tear Down this Wall! | In face of Israeli repression, tens of thousands of Palestinians force their way into Egypt | Palestinians pour into Egypt after Rafah border wall destroyed

Emergency protests are being held around the world against the strangulation of Gaza, demanding an immediate end to the Israeli blockade and siege of Gaza. A San Francisco protest took place on Friday January 25th at the Israeli Consulate, 456 Montgomery Street.
Photos | US Indymedia Coverage | Event Announcement | ANSWER Announcement | JVP Announcement | Demand action to end the Gaza blockade! | Break the Silence on Gaza! | Updated listing of demonstrations to break the silence on Gaza! | Thousands protest in Amman against Gaza blockade | HAMAS-Iraq Launches 'Avenging Gaza' Campaign Against US Forces in Iraq

On November 27th, a "Middle East peace conference" was held in Annapolis,Maryland. Leaders of Fatah who rule only over parts of the West Bank attended but Hamas, which now rules over Gaza, did not. During the talks there was no mention of freezing Israeli settlement expansion, of halting construction of the separation/apartheid wall, of the question of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and borders. There was some vague reference to "core issues", without specifying what these are. There was no reference to the embargo against Gaza or the ending the occupation of the territories Israel seized in 1967.

Angry start to Palestinian talks | Israel's Palestinians speak out | Backlash: Annapolis could mark the beginning of the end for Mahmoud Abbas | Blair's international donors' conference: Another conspiracy against the Palestinian people | Much European ado about nothing in Palestine | The next “generous offer”? | Getting to peace needs Palestinian security | Palestinian NGOs pull plug on Madrid forum | Why a Palestinian "State" is a Punitive Construct

Israel has revealed that money will be put aside to construct 740 new buildings on West Bank settlements next year. Palestinian officials in the West Bank say Israeli settlement growth plans will scuttle negotiations. Abbas has said talks over Jerusalem and refugees would not begin until settlement activity has stopped.

Israel snubs settlement criticism | Israeli military installations near Arab villages harmed civilians | Refusing to accept apartheid in Beit Jala | Immigration to Israel Lowest in 18 Years

Under seige, living conditions in Gaza continue to worsen. Israeli military incursions into Gaza and targeted assassinations of militants have become an almost daily occurrence since the Annapolis summit. Food imports into the Gaza Strip are only enough to meet 41 percent of demand, the World Food Program (WFP) has said, though critical UN humanitarian food supplies are being allowed in. The cost of many basic items, such as beef, wheat and some dairy products have increased significantly, while locally grown produce is fetching extremely low prices on the local market, as exports are banned, threatening the livelihood of farmers. Health officials in the Gaza Strip say they are also concerned about hundreds of patients unable to travel to Israel or other countries for vital treatment, and that local hospitals lack essential medical equipment, drugs and fuel.

Only 41 percent of Gaza’s food import needs being met | Building hope from rubble | Israel says strikes on Gaza will be ongoing | Israeli tanks push deep into Gaza | Israeli raids target Islamic Jihad | Gazans Mark `Eid in Zoo | Tearful `Eid at Rafah Crossing | “No fuel, no gasoline, no benzene” | Israeli ministers back Hamas truce | Gaza’s medical sector suffers Israeli sanctions, restrictions | Gaza: Building hope from rubble | PFLP seeks emergency Arab League Summit | Reuters Journalist Shot by Israel | Weekly Summary of Israeli War Crimes

George Cadman of Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM interviewed Dr. Paul Larudee, co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement, on December 4th about plans to set sail from Cyprus to Gaza in May of 2008.

The Free Gaza Movement's mission is to break the siege of Gaza. They want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation. They want to uphold Palestine's right to welcome internationals as visitors, human rights observers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, or otherwise.

Dr. Paul Larudee is a former Ford Foundation supervisor in Lebanon, a Fulbright-Hays lecturer to Lebanon, and a former contracted US government advisor to Saudi Arabia. He participates in Palestinian nonviolent resistance with the International Solidarity Movement. Listen to the Interview

see also: Darkening Gaza - Another Step Of A Dark State (IMC Israel) || Arrest at Nottingham University over Palestine Protest (Notts IMC) || Adalah-NY Responds to Leviev, Plans Additional Protest (NYC IMC) || Activists Open 10 Year-Old Roadblock, Again (Boston IMC / Palestine Solidarity Project)

On Friday, June 15th, Hamas militants seized the Palestinian presidential compound in Gaza City and took full control of the Gaza Strip. The Occupied Territories have now been effectively split into two separate entities with Hamas in charge of Gaza and Fatah controlling the West Bank.

On Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced the dismissal of the Hamas-led government and declared a state of emergency. Abbas said he would now rule by presidential decree until the conditions were right for early elections. However, Hamas leader and elected Prime Minister Ismail Haniya says his government will press on and impose law and order. "In practical terms [Abbas'] decisions are worthless. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. On Friday, Fatah fighters and activists stormed a Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah to protest the Hamas takeover of Gaza Abbas has announce he will appoint Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister and has asked hom to form a new cabinet. Haniyeh for his part has called for new negotiations with Abbas, urged calm from his own gunmen and granted amnesty to Fatah leaders. Haniyeh has also demanded the release of Alan Johnston, the BBC correspondent kidnapped in Gaza more than three months ago. Abbas adviser Yasser Abed Rabbo told a news conference on Saturday that the Abbas will not engage in any dialogue with Hamas.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave her backing to Mahmoud Abbas, saying he had exercised his “lawful authority.” It appears that the Bush administration will boost aid to Abbas while allowing Gaza to slip into further despair in order to weaken Hamas’ popular standing. Some analysts see the US intervention in the Palestinian affairs and categorization of Palestinian factions into moderates and extremists as partly to blame for the Gaza chaos, the intensifying power struggle between Fatah and Hamas and leaving plans for a unified Palestinian state up in the air.

Ha'aretz reports that Israel intends to release the Palestinian tax money it withheld since Hamas came to power, because the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has fired the elected government. Haaretz has also reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is planning to tell President Bush that that there is an urgent need to view the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as separate entities and prevent contact between them. The US isolation of Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, would have grave security and humanitarian consequences and backfire at the end of the day, American analysts, former and current US administration officials warned Saturday, June 16. "We could see Gaza be the font of a much more militant radicalism than we have seen in the Palestinian community so far," Jon Alterman told Reuters.

Arab states have thrown their support behind Abbas and urged a halt to infighting so that the unity of Palestinian lands can be preserved. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held preliminary talks on the idea of sending an international force to Gaza, but Hamas rejected the move, saying it would treat foreign troops as occupation forces. "We are supporting President Abbas and we are supporting the elected legislative assembly," Amr Moussa, Arab League secretary-general, said on Friday.

Democracy Now: What Next for Palestinians? | Denied Legitimacy by Vote, Hamas Wins it by Force | Awaking to a different Gaza | Robert Fisk: Welcome to 'Palestine' | Oslo's baleful legacy | Hamas hints at talks as chaos reigns in divided Palestine | US Meddling Blamed for Gaza Crisis | Ex-Fatahist Blasts Abbas-backed Dahlan | Abbas set to unveil new government | NPR: What's in Store for the Middle East? | Gazans loot Erez crossing into Israel | Israel prisons separate Hamas inmates from Fatah ones | Haniyeh Defiant, Crisis Deepens | Growing fear of West Bank retribution | Palestinian president declares emergency | Hamas declares victory | A setback for the Bush doctrine in Gaza | 36 killed, 250 wounded in 24 hours of Gaza fighting | Hamas uncovers CIA plots in Occupied Palestine

Following the killing of a senior Fatah leader on Sunday May 13th, violence erupted throughout the Gaza Strip. Two attempted ceasefires collapsed within hours and fighting between Fatah and Hamas has resulted in dozens of deaths, threatening to shatter the two factions' unity government.

On May 15th, seven members of Fatah security forces were killed near Karni crossing when their jeep was hit by a rocket alleged to be fired by Hamas militants. The following day, the home of Fatah security chief, Rashid Abu Shbak was besieged by Hamas gunmen and at least five of Abu Shbak's body guards were killed.

Tony Karon writes for Uruknet:
The Fatah gunmen who are reported to have initiated the breakdown of the Palestinian unity government and provoked the latest fighting may profess fealty to President Abbas, but it’s not from him that they get their orders. The leader to whom they answer is Mohammed Dahlan....[W]hile the hapless Abbas is little more than a reluctant passenger in Washington’s strategy...Mohammed Dahlan is its point man... Dahlan appears to have made his move when it came to the unity government's agreement to integrate the Palestinian Authority security forces (currently dominated by Fatah) by drawing in Hamas fighters and subjecting the forces to the control of a politically neutral interior minister. Dahlan simply refused, and set off the current confrontations by ordering his men out onto the street last weekend without any authorization from the government of which he is supposedly a part. The new provocation appears consistent with a revised U.S. plan, reported on by Mark Perry and Paul Woodward, that emphasized the urgency of toppling the unity government. They suggest the plan emanates from Abrams, who they say is operating at cross purposes with Condi Rice’s efforts to appease the Arab moderate regimes by reviving some form of peace process.

Hamas-Fatah ceasefire comes after bloody week | Palestinian Pinochet Making His Move? | Palestinians agree new ceasefire | Fatah claims Hamas ambush on camp | Fresh killings shatter Gaza truce | Democracy Now: How Recent Fighting in Gaza Has Paralyzed Civilian Life | Laila El-Haddad writing from Gaza City: As Gaza Burns | Rising death toll in Gaza | SOS from Palestine

Israel is intervening in the factional strife with the explicit aim of eliminating Hamas as a military and political force; a senior Israeli cabinet official has even called for all Hamas leaders to be killed. Israeli air strikes have killed over thirty civilians in the past few days, with some of the attacks appearing to be assassination attempts. Hamas has fired one hundred and forty Qassam rockets into Israel in the past week, but so far only one person has died as a result.

More civilian deaths in Gaza | Hamas has learned from the Second Lebanon War | Israel stokes up Hamas-Fatah strife in Gaza, considers ground invasion | Israeli minister issues death threat to Hamas leaders | 13 killed in 6th day of Gaza offensive | Israel hits Hamas politician home | Israel's Offensive in Gaza: 23 Palestinians Killed and 86 Wounded | Israel hits Gaza security compound | Western officials ask Israel to help Abbas fight Hamas | Israel continues Gaza air strikes | Gazans: Death Strikes from Everywhere

Palestine Awareness Week is taking place at UC Santa Cruz from May 7th through May 10th and began with a Check Point established in the Baytree Plaza. At that check point, five Palestinians were being detained for no apparent reason while two Israeli soldiers mentally and physically abused the detainees and prevented them from leaving the prison cell. One Palestinian women plead over and over to be released because she was pregnant and worried should would lose her baby. Unsympathetically, the solider told her to keep quite and replied that he was also pregnant. The two Israeli soldiers communicated to each other in Hebrew while speaking English with Hebrew accents to the blindfolded, handcuffed and detained Palestinians. View Photos and a Listing of Events

related audio: Phyllis Bennis speaks in Santa Cruz about Challenging Empire

Feryal Abu Haikal and Mohammed Khatib live in communities that are immediately threatened with destruction and expulsion by the Israeli military and settlers. They will be in the Bay Area from February 25th through 28th to tell of their personal experiences mobilizing their communities to nonviolently resist these measures. Events will be held in cities such as Alameda, San Rafael, Moraga, San Jose, and Berkeley. Flyer Largely unreported by the media, thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis are waging a grassroots, nonviolent campaign of resistance to Israel's apartheid system of military occupation and discrimination against Palestinians.

Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of the Bil'in Village Popular Committee Against the Wall and the Secretary of the Bil'in Village Council in the West Bank. He has been an organizer of the two-year, creative nonviolent struggle in Bil'in to prevent the construction of Israel's Wall on Bil'in land and to block the expansion of neighboring Israeli settlements. Feryal Abu Haikal recently retired after 11 years as the headmistress at Qurtuba School in the ancient heart of the West Bank city of Hebron. Despite settler attacks on students and staff, the Qurtuba School continues to function, serving as a model of nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation. A lifelong resident of Tel Rumeida, Feryal remains in her home with her family despite continual Israeli settler attacks.

Palestine-Related Events from Indybay's calendar | | International Solidarity Movement

Scott Kennedy of the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz co-led a delegation to Israel and the West Bank of Palestine from November 4–18, 2006. Ken Carlson of Santa Cruz was also on the delegation which was cosponsored by the Washington, DC based Interfaith PeaceBuilders and the Middle East Program of the national American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

The delegation joined in the Palestinian olive harvest — generally a time of great community activism, as people of all ages from Palestine, Israeli peace and justice groups, and international groups join farmers as they reap their harvest. International support for the harvest in many cases makes the harvest possible. Delegates also visited Israeli and Palestinian peace and human rights activists and Northern Israeli areas impacted by the recent war. Listen to an interview with Scott Kennedy

see related: “Five killed in clashes in West Bank and Gaza”: Language and the crimes we permit || “Pariah State”: Meeting with the Prime Minister of Palestine