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Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Solidarity Campaign Launch

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On Wednesday, July 1 at 7pm the Workers Party’s Christchurch branch will be hosting the local launch of our national campaign of material support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The event will be taking place at the WEA, 59 Gloucester St.

The film “Leila Khaled: hi-jacker”, about one of the leading figures of the PFLP, will be shown and there will be a couple of short speeches about the situation in Israel/Palestine and a message from the PFLP will be read.

“This film about a Palestinian woman hijacker challenges our assumptions
about those who resort to violent means in response to oppression and gives us access to the politics of one of the most troubled regions of the twentieth century. It also complicates the current discourse on Islam and terrorism by its deliberation on the meanings of terms such as “terrorist”, interrogating and asking if one person’s terrorist could be another’s freedom fighter. Especially relevant in the context of today’s highly polarized conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine”

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Public Forum: Deir Yassin: The Bloody Beginnings of the Israeli State

Speaker: John Edmundson
April marks the 61s anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacres when up to 250 Palestinians, mainly old men, women and children, were massacred by Israeli forces during the establishment of the modern state of Israel. Come along and hear how and why the Israeli state was set up through the dispossession of the Palestinians, whats happening in Gaza at present and how we can support the Palestinians.

WEA 59 Gloucester Street (map)
Monday 30th of March 7:00pm

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“Two States” – a Zionist solution

Below we publish the text of a talk given by Mike Walker at a recent Workers Party public forum in Christchurch.

If we are to believe the hype true liberation and self determination for the Palestinian people will be forthcoming with what is commonly referred to as the “two state solution”. This supposed “solution” would leave the racist structures of the Israeli state in place and therefore the fundamental cause of the ‘conflict’ also in place. This proposal would confine Palestinians to less than twenty per cent of the land mandated by the British in 1947 and would leave the situation of Palestinians driven from their homes in what is now Israel unresolved. It would render invisible the alienated enclaves divided by checkpoints, barriers, the annexation wall and a brutal military occupation in the West Bank; combined with the Gaza strip, which has been called the largest concentration camp in the world. This represents the Palestinian Bantustan.

It is crucial as we look at the current situation in Palestine to keep in mind the “two state solution” and to contextualise the history with an emphasis on the history of Zionism and the conduct of Zionist leaders since the creation of the state of Israel.

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Two states no solution for Palestine

-Philip Ferguson

 The current brutal invasion and occupation of Gaza have raised, yet again, the question of the nature of the Israeli state.  For us in the Workers Party the horrors rained down on the people of Gaza are the logical result of an exclusivist-Zionist state set up at the expense, and through the dispossession, of the Palestinian people.  Campaigning for an immediate Israeli withdrawal is the chief priority right now, but such a withdrawal does not even begin to address the wider denial of the rights of the Palestinians as a people – the very thing which ensures that actions like the attacks on Gaza will continue. 

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A look at the opposition inside Israel

-Mike Kay

The carnage rained down on Gaza has had a profound effect on the activism of Arabs within Israel. Around 1.5 million Arabs remain living within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. They constitute about 20% of the population, but are treated as second-class citizens. The past few weeks have seen large anti-war demos by Palestinians and some Jews. Not surprisingly, these acts of defiance have been met with clamp-downs by the Israeli state. As Karl Marx put it, “a nation that enslaves another forges its own chains.”

At least 100,000 in people demonstrated in the northern Arab town of Sakhnin and in Tel Aviv against the assault on Gaza on 3 January. According to organisers, Sakhnin was the largest protest held by the Palestinians in Israel in many years. During the first two weeks of “Operation Cast Lead”, 471 protesters were arrested in Israel, including 149 minors. Almost all of those detained were Arabs.saknin

The Tel Aviv protest took place in the face of opposition from far-right Zionists and the police. Among other things, the police demanded that the organisers undertake to prevent the hoisting of Palestinian flags. The organisers petitioned the High Court of Justice, which decided that the Palestinian flag is legal and ordered the police to protect the demonstration from rioters. However, according to Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, the police disappeared towards the end of the march, allowing the far right to attack and disperse the protesters, preventing a planned rally from going ahead.

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Workers Party activist speaks at Dunedin Gaza protest

John Moore from the Workers Party spoke at a Gaza protest in Dunedin last Saturday.

About 100 protesters were present, with representatives from the Alliance, International Socialists, Workers Party and the local Muslim community. The following speech was given by John at the rally:

This protest and many others that are being held throughout the world serve two purposes. We are here to express our condemnation of the Israeli state’s attacks on Gaza and to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people.

This protest should not just be about calling for peace. There is a side to choose in this conflict. We should welcome the defeat of Israeli forces that are currently at war with Hamas and the Palestinian people.

Overall we need to start thinking about what tactics we use to oppose Israeli state aggression. Who is the enemy in this conflict, who should we be campaigning against, and what forms of solidarity should we give? Seeing this conflict through the prism of the Palestinian/Jewish divide offers no hope for a resolution. Painting all Jews as the enemy and all Arabs as the victims is both counterproductive and pointless.

A small but growing number of Jewish Israelis and larger numbers of Arabs in Israel have recently taken to the streets to show their opposition to the attacks on Gaza. This small but significant example offers hope for joint Jewish/Palestinian action. Seeing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in ethnic terms leads to misguided tactics.

Campaigns against Israeli Jews, whether in Kebab shops or at Western universities, will only be counterproductive and distracts us from who is the real enemy. The enemy is the Israeli state, not Israeli Jews. All working class people in the Middle East are oppressed by despotic regimes, from Saudi Arabia, through to Iran and including the Zionist Israeli state. All Middle East workers have an interest in a fight for the destruction of these states.

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500 march in solidarity with Gaza in Christchurch

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Yesterday around 500 people marched in central Christchurch protesting the Israeli invasion of Gaza which in the past few weeks has claimed the lives of over 1 200 Palestinians (but only 13 Israelis).

Chanting “Occupation is a Crime – Free Free Palestine” the protesters through the main tourist precinct Worcester Boulevard and past the yuppie sports bars on Oxford Terrrace to Cathedral Square in a colourful and energetic display of solidarity with the people of Gaza.

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Workers Party members marched behind a banner with the slogan “Resistance is not Terrorism” and also carried placards calling for victory to the Palestinian intfidada,  an end to Israeli apartheid and the creation in its place of a single secular state in Palestine.

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The protest was organised by the group “Justice for Palestine”, which brings together a diverse coalition of groups and individuals including Muslims, Quakers, anarchists and revolutionary socialists.

A meeting to discuss plans for future action is being held on Tuesday, January 20 at 6.30pm in the WEA building (59 Gloucester St).

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“Close down Rakon, open up Gaza”

Around 200 people protested outside the Rakon factory in Mt Wellington, Auckland today.

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Rakon produces crystal oscillators for targeted bombs used by the Israeli air force in their attacks on Gaza. The Rakon parts are supplied to the US which provides the bombs directly to the Israeli military.

As police tried to push the crowd off the Rakon carpark demonstrators pelted the building with red paint bombs shouting “Rakon: blood, blood, blood on your hands”.  A fair bit of red splatter ended up all over the police.

(http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=9p47L9INLAw)

Police seized a demonstrator on the top of the building who had painted Rakon kills.

The demonstration finished with the crowd giving three cheers to the painter-protester.

Rakon was clearly rattled by the demonstration – which got coverage in all the main media – and within a matter of hours they had painted over the paint bombs. But the word “kills” could still be seen through the whitewash.

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Nationwide actions against invasion of Gaza

PROTEST AGAINST RAKON HELP IN ISRAELI BOMBING OF GAZA – 3PM SAT JANUARY 17

Assemble Outside Sylvia Park Carpark Entrance 1, Mt Wellington Highway

Rakon Industries in Mt Wellington will be targeted in a protest this Saturday against the massacre of Palestinian civilians.

Rakon provides crystal oscillators for targeted bombs used by the Israeli air force in their attacks on Gaza. The Rakon parts are supplied to the US which provides the bombs directly to the Israeli military.

CHRISTCHURCH MARCH ON SATURDAY

Protest march against the Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza. Saturday the 17th of January. 12pm. Meet at the Canterbury Museum on Rolleston Avenue. This has been organised by Justice for Palestine Christchurch and is a protest march against the Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza. We will be marching in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right for self determination. We will march from the museum to Cathedral Square where there will be speakers.

Please come and express your protest at the latest actions of the Israeli Government.

From more information contact: palestinesolidarity@katipo.net.nz or garage.collective@gmail.com or phone Dan 377 6290. If you would like to help organise this march then you are welcome to come to the next Justice for Palestine meeting which is this coming Tuesday night (the 13th) 6.30pm at the Quaker House ( 72 Creswell Avenue, off New Brighton Road). We will also be making banners for the Saturday march. Thanks, Dan. If you want further colour or black and white posters to distribute then contact: garage.collective@gmail.com 

DUNEDIN PROTEST SATURDAY

Peace and Justice for the Palestinian people of Gaza: The Dunedin Coalition against War is organising a Rally in the Octagon at 12 midday this Saturday, 17 January. Speakers will include members of churches, the International Socialist Organisation and the Muslim community.

There will be a Die-In, in which as many people as possible are asked to take part, to represent the 1000 Palestinians killed in the conflict. Please bring a piece of ‘bloody’ clothing or rags if possible. This will be followed by a Prayer Vigil. There will be an opportunity to make a donation to the Christian World Service Appeal for Gaza, and to sign a letter to the Prime Minister John Key and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully.

WELLINGTON PROTEST TUESDAY

Stop the Massacre in Gaza! End the Occupation! Tuesday 20 January 2009 12:00 Midday. Meet Cuba Mall (near Bucket Fountain) March to Parliament. Make or bring a Key* (*The key is a symbol of Palestinian Dispossession from their homes and land. This dispossession continues in Gaza as Israel commits another massacre.)

Wellington Palestine Group, P.O.Box 642, Wellington, wpgnz@clear.net.nz 

http://wellingtonpalestinegroup.blogspot.com/ 

WHAKATANE MEDICAL AID FOR GAZA FUNDRAISING

Two fundraising film evenings: Wednesday Jan 21st, Opotiki Theatre, Church St. Thursday Jan 22nd, REAP House, Pyne St Whakatane. Times the same for both evenings: 6.00 pm – Occupation 101 – The current and historic root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; 7.30 pm sandwich and refreshment break; 7.45 pm – The Iron Wall (45 mins) Israeli settlements and ‘the Wall’ inside the ocupied territory of the West Bank. Whakatane/Opotiki Peace Group contact Lynne 07 315 4646