“This is a monumental and historic step in the struggle for Palestinian equality, self-determination and peace in the Holy Land by non violent means. I see what these students have accomplished as a replica of the support of their College of our struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Hampshire College’s decision to divest should be a guiding example to all institutions of higher learning.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s statement in support of Hampshire’s divestment.
British MP George Galloway on the blockade: “Almost every window has been broken but Israel refuses to allow glass across the border. So, in the bitter winter, 61,000 families whose homes have been destroyed are living among the rubble and the rest are freezing because they’ve got no windows.”
Statement by US Congressmen Keith Ellison and Brian Baird after visiting Gaza: “Inquiring about the status of relief efforts, the Congressmen learned that some aid material has been allowed in since the intensity of the attacks lessened a month ago, but much is still being blocked by the Israeli defense forces.
Examples of aid that has been banned by the Israeli Government include: macaroni, tomato paste, lentils and other food. Basic building materials, generator fuel and parts to repair damaged water treatment equipment have also been kept out.”
Juan Cole accuses Olmert of continuing war crimes and collective punishment: “Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled out allowing needed goods into Gaza, which Israel has virtually surrounded from land and sea, until Hamas releases captured Israeli soldier Sgt. Gilad Shalit. Olmert is thereby committing a war crime. You can’t collectively punish the general Gaza population if you are the occupying authority. It is not allowed to torture that wailing child in the video above by keeping out painkillers, just because some adult somewhere from the same territory captured an Israeli soldier.”
“If this had happened in our own country, there would be national outrage and an appeal for urgent assistance…the arbitrary and unreasonable Israeli limitations on food and repair essentials is unacceptable and indefensible. People, innocent children, women and non-combatants, are going without water, food and sanitation, while the things they so desperately need are sitting in trucks at the border, being denied permission to go in”
“It’s hard for anyone in our country to imagine how it must feel to have a sick child who needs urgent care or is receiving chemotherapy or dialysis, then be forced to take a needlessly lengthy route, walk rather than drive, and wait in lines as long as two hours simply to get to the hospital. As a health care professional myself, I found this profoundly troubling, no, actually it’s beyond that, it is outrageous,” said Baird.
5. Next Israeli Government likely to be formed by Likud and Yisrael Beteinu (led by outright racist Avigdor Lieberman ). Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, does not recognize the Palestinian state’s right to exist. Netanyahu has stated that he would like to see the “West Bank divided into a collection of disconnected economic zones with dedicated business projects.”
6. Mustafa Barghouti speaks at Columbia University and publishes an opinion in The Nation.
7. Stephen Walt writes about the prospect of a 2 state solution dying.
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