Today's events in Gaza

[Comsatangel]

I've just been over to the BBC Have Your Say site to read the comments posted in regarding the events of the day in Gaza, and I am shaking with anger. I have been reading comments from the UK, USA and Canada containing phrases such as "three cheers for Israel" "About time" and, bizarrely, "This will make the world a safer place."

Now, I've been down on Galloway recently, and that view wasn't helped by his ignorant and ill informed comments on animal rights on xmas eve (where Karl from Plaistow wiped the floor with him, I thought.) But I really hope he is on fire tonight and shows no mercy when the inevitable pro Israel calls come through.

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It was quite a show tonight indeed, with the pro-Israel calls being crushed with as much empathy as the F16s had today...

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I'm off to the demonstration in George Square, Glasgow, at 4:30. I'll get some pics and video hopefully, though it will be dark so I'm not sure if they'll turn out.

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well I'm just back in and have to say it was fantastic. There were about 250 people there, including quite a few Palestinians, though there really was a wide range of people. There was one guy who I had to help bounce from the area after he started shouting that we were all anti-semites. The police ended up taking him away, which was a pleasant surprise.

I wonder if they'd have done that if there wasn't a contingent from the Scottish parliament... but it was good to see at least 2 msp's there.

I met 'Margaret' who phoned into last night's Galloway show. Her and her husband are a really nice couple and they actually invited me to go along with them to Palestine next year. After meeting the people today I'd love to, so that might happen in the next 6 months.

they run this site www.gphrc.org/main.html and have asked for a bit of help with that too, which is no problem at all. They've paid for 6 students to get through uni so far - which is tiny really, but not to those young people who have finally been given a chance.

I brought my camera, but the bloody battery was dead before I even took one pic - but I'm sure there will be some floating about before long.

[Comsatangel]

Nice one, face. I read that 2000 had turned up at the Israeli embassy in London, but that riot police had gone in heavy handed. I haven't listened to George's show yet as I will listen to it on my ipod tonight, bur is there anything that the rest of us can do to help the Palestinians?

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Here's the report about the trouble at the London demo. I wonder if they'd have mentioned it if not for the trouble? The cops in Glasgow were fine - but we didn't have a target such as the Israeli embassy to picket...

If you want to help in any way, you can send a donation via this link - or buy some of their products (made in Palestine). http://www.gphrc.org/main.html all profits from their work go directly to those in need without middle-men.

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Thousands protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza
28-12-2008

Crowds of thousands swept into the streets of cities around the Middle East on Sunday to denounce Israel's massive assault on the Gaza Strip.

Several of Sunday's protests turned violent. In Lebanon, police fired tear gas to stop dozens of demonstrators from reaching the Egyptian Embassy. Some in the crowd hurled stones at the embassy compound. Hamas representative in Beirut Osama Hamdan told the crowd that his movement had no choice but to fight. "We have one alternative which is to be steadfast and resist and then we will be victorious," Hamdan said.

In the capital of Syria, more than 5,000 people marched toward the central Youssef al-Azmeh square, where they burned an Israeli and an American flag.

In Amman, Jordan, about 5,000 lawyers marched toward parliament to demand the Israeli ambassador's expulsion and the closure of the embassy. "No for peace, yes to the rifle," they chanted. The U.S. Embassy in Jordan warned Americans to avoid areas of demonstrations.

In Dubai, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the Palestinian consulate.

In Egypt, more than 50,000 people took to the streets of a number of cities. The largest protest saw some 8,000 people demonstrate on the streets of Assiut, a city in southern Egypt, a security official said, with another 3,000 gathering in Minya, south of Cairo.

According to AFP, a security official said 4,000 people took part in another anti-Israel and pro-Gaza demonstration in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the security official said. Another 4,000 people rallied outside the Doctors' Syndicate in the capital against the Israeli onslaught.

Eight thousand people demonstrated at Cairo University, with another 5,000 involved in another demonstration at Ein Shams University, outside the capital.

© 2008 Al Bawaba ( www.albawaba.com )

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Britain's reaction to Gaza killings a danger to us
George Galloway
Dec 29 2008

THROUGH four decades, I've been saying to anyone who would listen that the problem of Palestine was the heart of the matter. The flaw at the heart of western relations with the east, the cancer within. For a time, only the accusatory lash about "terrorism" was the answer, and this long before al-Qaeda made the word as fatally venomous as it's become.

I was described on the front page of Scottish Field, a hunting shooting and fishing magazine, in a profile written by top Scots journo George Rosie, as "the most dangerous man in British politics". That was nearly 30 years ago, when I was in my early twenties. Such prescience. Rosie's prescience, I mean.

But I was right, too. That Palestine is a suppurating sore, poisoning the international political scene, is now a commonplace. After last weekend's massacre in Gaza, there can be few sentient beings in this or any land who doubt it.

The Israeli propaganda machine - in more or less perpetual motion for half a century - are good at what they do. Until it became impossible. Israel denied that Palestine had ever existed. Sixties PM Golda Meir actually said "there is no such thing as a Palestinian, there never has been".

The claim then was that God, the famous estate agent, had given Palestine to the Jews and, though this was thousands of years ago, this promise had now been redeemed. The truth was more prosaic. It was Britain wot done it. In 1917, British minister Arthur Balfour made a move, unprecedented, even in imperial times. On behalf of one people (us), he promised a second people (the small group of Atheistic Jews who called themselves the Zionists) the land of a third people (the Palestinians). The rest, as they say, is history.

The new Israeli narrative - taken up with cow-like docility by most British television commentators - is that the Palestinians are merely a part of the worldwide "terror" problem, and that as Britain and the US did in Iraq and Afghanistan, so Israel must do in Gaza and, if necessary, the West Bank. It's all just another theatre of the "war on terror".

Judging by the flurry of protests around the country from Leith Walk to Kensington High Street, and the unprecedented level of calls and texts and emails to my weekend radio shows, this narrative is a busted flush. France, Russia and the UN agencies, whose duties include feeding 80 per cent of Gaza's population thanks to the Israeli siege, all condemned this cowardly act of state terrorism - dropping bombs on to schools and into densely packed civilian areas.

But two dogs didn't bark. London and Washington, no doubt co-ordinating their statements, waited hours and then promptly blamed the victims. In so doing, our own Government, yet again, has imperilled the safety of our people including our servicemen and women. The axis of evil, for billions of people in this world - yes, that's billions - is the US, Britain and Israel. Its bloody footprint is smearing our television screens all over again.

The claim was God had given Palestine to the Jews and this promise had now been redeemed. The truth was more prosaic. It was Britain wot done it.


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Here's a video from the Belfast demo - all very peaceful...

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I got an alert earlier which said that Galloway's daughter, Lucy, had been assaulted by the cops, but there were no more details than that.

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this is another video of the same protest

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Singer Annie Lennox, human rights activist Bianca Jagger, comedian and author Alexei Sayle, Ken Livingstone, Jeremy Corbyn MP, writer Tariq Ali and musician Brian Eno are among the prominent politicians, musicians, activists and writers attending a press conference on Friday 2 January to urge people to join Saturday's demonstration in London.

All the signs are that this will be a very large demonstration, reflecting the anger and outrage at Israel's barbaric devastation of Gaza and its people. Please do all you can to encourage friends, relatives, work colleagues, fellow students, etc, to join us. (For those unable to join the national demonstration, see details of local protests below).

NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION: SATURDAY 3 JANUARY
HANDS OFF GAZA: STOP THE BOMBING: FREE PALESTINE
ASSEMBLE 12.30 PM EMBANKMENT, LONDON WC2
Nearest tube Embankment or Charing Cross
MARCH TO TRAFALGAR SQUARE

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Here's some photos of the demo in Glasgow on Sunday - I'm in at least one of them, but I'm not saying which!

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Here are some more dates for demos around Britain tomorrow.


Glasgow
12 noon outside Lloyds TSB St Vincent Street then Blythswood Square 1pm.

Exeter
Bedford Square from noon to 2 pm.

Edinburgh
12 noon. Foot of the mound, Princes Street.

Bristol
opposite the Hippodrome, 2pm

Liverpool
12 noon steps of St Lukes Church at the top of Bold Street.

Norwich
12 noon-1pm, opposite the forum.

Nottingham
12 noon, Market Square.

Preston
Preston Flag Market, 1.30 pm.

Southampton
12 to 2pm, West Quay entrance, High Street.

Portsmouth
11am, Guildhall Square

Hull
11am. Queen Victoria Square.

Bristol
The Centre (opposite the Hippodrome) at 2pm.

Tunbridge Wells
12 noon outside the Royal Victoria Place shopping centre

Leeds
12.30pm for 1pm outside Leeds Art Gallery, Headrow, Leeds.

Manchester
12 noon All Saints Park, Oxford Road/Cavendish Road

Newcastle
12noon-2pm, Grey's Monument, Newcastle

Swansea
1pm, Castle Sqaure

York
1pm St Sampson's Square, Parliament Street.

Caernarfon
11am -1pm, Morrisons, Caernarfon.

Bradford
1pm Infirmary Fields, Bradford

Sheffield
12pm, Town Hall

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I was at the march in Glasgow today, along with about 2000-2500 other people, and it was a great example of how many people actually support the people of Gaza. There were a few bemused looks on the faces of some passers-by, but almost everyone else showed support.

All apart from one old boot who came down to complain about 'the noise' to the police. This was in one of the busiest places in Glasgow, where at night it's noisy till at least 6am - and suddenly she doesn't like the noise? I must admit though, it was a top quality sound system and was probably at least 3k... I was actually glad that Galloway wasn't there because he'd have burst windows, let alone ear drums.

One of the speakers read out a list of the children who have been murdered by the Israelis in the last week - that was a sad thing indeed.

If anyone wants to give some support directly to the people in Gaza, please do so through this site:

http://www.gphrc.org/main.html

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Here's a load of videos posted today from around Europe - I'm sure that more will turn up and I'll add them in too. I've noticed that one video on youtube was posted by a White Power freak whose plan seems to be to support the Palestinians because they are attacking 'the Jews'. I've noticed this insidious attitude in other places too. Watch out for it...