I launched my blog some time ago but as you will have noticed I haven’t been very good in keeping it up to date. One of my New Year resolutions is to change that so this is my first entry of 2009.
How could I write about anything other than the terrible invasion of Gaza by Israel. Like you, I watched the horrific scenes unfolding on television as we were preparing to celebrate the New Year. I was very moved to see so many people in Cardiff on a freezing New Year’s Eve taking part in the vigil for Gaza. People in Wales care very deeply about Palestine. I have had many, many messages to prove that.
For me it has been difficult to watch even the very limited coverage we are getting (because journalists are banned from Gaza). Having visited Palestine several times I know the people and I have been to Shifa Hospital and met the medical staff there. The hardship was unbelievable before this attack started because of the Israeli siege which had gone on for eighteen months. Now people are being killed in their hundreds. The most vulnerable people are suffering – including children.
People all over the world are crying out for a ceasfire and for justice for Palestine. The European Parliament will be debating the situation in Gaza here (in Strasbourg) on Wednesday. Some MEPs have been in Gaza in the last few days and have told us of the heartbreaking scenes they witnessed. I am due to visit next in February but I don’t yet know what the situation will be.
There are many different campaigns going on to raise money for humanitarian aid and to bring about an end to the invasion and occupation. Please support them and support the many vigils and demonstrations around the country. If there is nothing in your area, what about organising one? Please get in touch with me if you would like more information. Everything we do, however small, will make a difference.
January 12, 2009 at 11:50 pm |
have you ever been to isreal to see the destruction?
January 13, 2009 at 1:20 am |
Jill.
Do you think there would be a siege or a war if Hamas had renounced its genocidal charter, and got actively involved in the peace talks?. Also do not forget that they have been supplied with Rockets (pity Iran could not have added medical supplies to those weapons going through those tunnels) I think you and your fellow politicos have a duty to pressurize this illegal Hamas regime to accept peace!
January 13, 2009 at 10:53 am |
Funny how people make assumptions, isn’t it? I read the reports in the local paper when Jill visited Palestine and Israel last year, and it was very clear that she visited places like Sderot in Israel to talk to people there.
January 13, 2009 at 2:45 pm |
These pro-Israeli apologists are such a pathetic bunch of individuals.
They occupy Palestine – West Bank and Gaza – plant thousands of illegal, mostly fascist, settlers, intimidate and kill Palestinians, steal their land, cripple their economy and blockade Palestine by land, sea and air with the 4th biggest military machine in the world. They deny free press access to Gaza. They also occupy parts of Lebanon and Syria.
They then blame the 5,000+ men, women and children whom they have massacred or maimed in Gaza in a premeditated invasion. People who have been besieged by Israel for years and denied medical equipment, education, jobs and freedom. Innocents who – if not killed or injured – are now suffering the effects of Israeli depleted uranium and phospherous weapons. Israel and its supporters are definitely war criminals who will be brought to book.
When did Iran last invade anybody? Which Middle East state has nuclear weapons? The same right-wing fanatics who assassinated Yitzak Rabin when he negotiated a two-state solution are now trying to drive the Palestinians into the sea.
But they will fail. The people of the world will see to that. And the criminals will be put on trial.
January 14, 2009 at 11:18 am |
Hello Jill.
Good to see you here once more.
No amount of Israeli press releases can cover-up the homicidal carnage that they are carrying out on the Palestinians.
No amount of revisionism can obscure the fact that Palestine was stolen by force, under a cover of political and populist untruths.
The question must be asked, why is it that NATO and all the members thereof seem incapable of even suggesting a military intervention against Israel?
As stated above by Iolo, the Israeli leaders need to face trial.
January 14, 2009 at 12:26 pm |
I’m just glad that Jill Evans is there as a strong voice to speak out on the awful things which are happening.
January 14, 2009 at 2:08 pm |
Once Bishop Desmond Tutu said: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
Jill your are just doing the work of the media who is turning a blind eye so that people are fully informed. The world desperately needs good people like Jill Evans to expose the truth, the whole truth.
How much more should Palestinian take for these atrocities to be stopped ? It is rather ironic that the victims of yeaturday are the oppressors of today.
The tragedy is not the brutality of evil but rather the silence of the good people.
Good work Jill.
February 21, 2009 at 3:46 am |
landsker ,
“Palestine was stolen by force” “military intervention against Israel?”
You sound like a jihadist propoganda.
Only folks like landsker can support folks who send suicide bombers into Israeli malls,schools and restaurantes.