Vrouwen In Het Zwart

www.vrouweninhetzwart.nl

lees ook onze nieuwsbrief onder de oproep houden een wake op vrijdag 2 mei 2008vanaf 12.45 uur op het SPUI in AMSTERDAM (Lieverdje) 40 jaar bezetting is meer dan genoeg! ISRAEL: Stop de invasies in Gaza en landconfiscaties in Palestijns gebied. The wall must fall - Weg met de annexatie muur Beindig de bezetting van de Westoever, omsingeling en uithongering van Gaza Ontruim alle sinds 1967 gestichte nederzettingen Jeruzalem, hoofdstad voor twee volken


Vorige maand gaven we jullie een overzicht van onze heel geslaagde 8 maart conferentie over 60 jaar Nakba en in solidariteit met de Palestijnse vrouwen. Ditmaal, zoals toen beloofd, de slotverklaring opgesteld door 5 vrouwenorganisaties: de Vereniging van Palestijnse Vrouwen (i.o.), Vrouwen in het Zwart Nederland, Vrouwen voor Vrede, WILPF Nederland, Vrouwen van het Nederlands Palestina Komitee en Multicultural Women Peacemakers Network Nederland met op- en aanmerkingen van het zeer talrijke publiek, de Palestijnse spreeksters en aanwezige politici van SP Groen Links en P.v.d.A.


Slotverklaring van de Dag van Internationale solidariteit met Palestijnse vrouwen ” 60 jaar Nakba”, 8 maart 2008

De organisatoren van deze Internationale dag van solidariteit met Palestijnse vrouwen roepen op tot ondersteunen van het Charter of Principles van de International Women’s Commission, aangenomen op 27 juli 2005, in Istanbul, in overeenstemming met VN Veiligheidsraad Resolutie 1325. Voorts vragen zij steun voor het volgende:

Israël moet
1) het aanbod van Hamas voor een wapenstilstand (hudna) aannemen
2) de belegering van Gaza beëindigen en
3) vrije doorgang verlenen aan alle Palestijnse burgers en goederen naar en van Gaza en de Westelijke Jordaanoever.

Europa moet
1) bijdragen aan de hereniging van het Palestijnse volk door alsnog de uitkomst van de verkiezingen in 2006 te erkennen, om daarmee een verschrikkelijke fout van de internationale gemeenschap te repareren.
2) het verkopen en doorvoeren van wapens naar Israël stoppen.
3) het Associatieverdrag met Israël opschorten zolang Israël de mensenrechten van de Palestijnen schendt, zoals beschreven in artikel 2 van het verdrag.

Nederland moet
1) de oproep van Palestijnse organisaties van 2005 tot boycot, desinvestering en sancties steunen, totdat Israel zijn bezetting en kolonisatie van alle Arabische gebieden opgeeft en de Muur ontmantelt.
2) de fundamentele rechten van de Arabisch-Palestijnse bewoners van Israël op volledige gelijkheid erkent.
3) De rechten van de Palestijnse vluchtelingen op terugkeer naar hun huizen en bezit zoals vastgelegd in VN Resolutie 194 respecteert, veilig stelt en bevordert.


De Palestijnse-Israëlische oorlog in 1948 wordt door Israëliërs de Onafhankelijkheidsoorlog genoemd. De Palestijnen noemen het de Nakba, de ‘catastrofe’. In 1948 werden bijna een miljoen Palestijnen verdreven uit hun huizen, burgers werden het slachtoffer van massamoorden en honderden Palestijnse dorpen werden verwoest. Anno 2008, 60 jaar na deze oorlog en het uitroepen van de Staat Israël worden eindelijk veel mythen over wat er toen gebeurde doorgeprikt [lees bijv. het op Israëlische archieven gebaseerde boek 'De Etnische Zuivering van Palestina' van de Israëlische historicus Ilan Pappe] Hieronder een bericht van een groot aantal organisaties, waaronder Vrouwen in het Zwart, die jullie oproepen om Zaterdag 17 mei naar de Dam in Amsterdam te komen voor de herdenking van 60 jaar Nakba

Twee bijeenkomsten op17 mei

1948 – 2008, 60 JAAR NAKBA


60 jaar verwoesting van Palestina, 60 jaar verdrijving van Palestijnen,
60 jaar onderdrukking van de Palestijnen, 60 jaar landroof
Een land met een volk wordt een volk zonder land
Herdenkingsceremonie op de Dam
60 minuten voor 60 jaar Nakba
Van 13.00 uur tot 14.00 uur
Verzamelen vanaf 12.30 uur
Solidariteitsbijeenkomst in de Doopsgezinde Singelkerk

Singel 452, vanaf 14.45 uur.
Start programma: 15.15 uur.

Thema: Historie, toekomstperspectieven en hoe het recht te laten zegevieren.

Sprekers: Omar Barghouti (Palestijns politiek analist uit Jeruzalem), Robert Soeterik (Midden-Oosten deskundige) en Hajo Meyer (Een Ander Joods Geluid)

Muzikale bijdragen: Jacob Allegro Wegloop (piano) en Jonathan Wegloop (hoorn)

Tevens wordt het 1e exemplaar van het boek “De Verwoesting van Palestina” van Robert Soeterik
aangeboden aan oud-premier Dries van Agt.
Organisatie: Nederlands Palestina Komitee i.s.m. Palestijnse Gemeenschap Nederland, Palestina Komitee Rotterdam, Al Awda, Vrouwen in het Zwart Nederland, Internationale Socialisten, Stop de Oorlog, Keerpunt, Haags Vredesplatform, Vrijwillige Internationale Aktie, Stop de Bezetting, TALLIQ, Palestijns Platform voor Mensenrechten en Solidariteit, Een Ander Joods Geluid

Aanmelden via www.palestina-komitee.nl Perscontact: Wim Lankamp 06 289 167 95
Nog genoeg te doen dus lieve vriendinnen en vrienden, maar kom eerst naar onze wake op 2 mei op het Spui [trek s.v.p. iets zwarts aan].
Graag al uw mails, reacties en sympathiebetuigingen sturen naar: info@vrouweninhetzwart.nl

Kijk op onze vernieuwde website, gemaakt door sympathisanten: www.vrouweninhetzwart.nl.
We zijn haast klaar met onze verbeterde site, met nieuwe foto's en binnenkort al onze nieuwsbrieven en achtergrondsartikelen. Nog niet helemaal af dus we hebben uw gift nog echt nodig; svp uw donatie op: Postbank: 9399562 t.n.v. Stichting Vrouwen in het Zwart Amsterdam. Met dank voor de gulle gevers in april.
We waren op de Multiculturele TV Nederland en op de NMO-TV. Beide goed gemaakte programma's.Voor tapes: mail aan info@vrouweninhetzwart.nl + uw tel.no. vermelden.
Het Internationale Netwerk Vrouwen in het Zwart, i.s.m. met Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, bestaat sinds 1990, maar is als beweging begonnen in Israël toen een aantal Israëlische vrouwen samen met de Palestijnse Vrouwen Vredesbeweging het initiatief namen om te protesteren.
In januari 1988, een maand na het uitbreken van de eerste Intifada, stonden de eerste vrouwen al in Jeruzalem te demonstreren tegen de Israelische bezetting van Gaza en de Westoever: De eerste wake tegen de Israëlische bezetting van de Westoever en Gaza was een feit.
In Nederland waren de eerste vrouwen al in januaril 1990 op het Spui aanwezig. 18 jaar nu al, op een periode na, toen de Oslo Akkoorden ons ten onrechte hoop gaven, houden we in Amsterdam wakes.
In ons land worden nu al in 6 steden maandelijks wakes gehouden.
[voor adressen zie hieronder]
In de hele wereld vinden wekelijks / maandelijks Vrouwen in het Zwart wakes en solidariteits-acties plaats. Kijk op de site: www.womeninblack.org voor de geschiedenis van Vrouwen in het Zwart internationaal
Organisatie Amsterdam:
Lily van den Bergh tel: 020- 62 23 661
e-mail: info@vrouweninhetzwart.nl
Iedere 1ste vrijdag van de maand
Tijd: 12.45- 13.45 uur Spui bij beeld Lieverdje
Organisatie Groningen :
Janny Beekman tel: 0595 - 57 25 95
e-mail: Groningen@vrouweninhetzwart.nl
Zaterdag om de veertien dagen
Tijd: 13 - 14 uur verzamelen op de Grote Markt

Organisatie Haarlem:
Heleen Witte: tel: 023- 532 50 25
e-mail: Haarlem@vrouweninhetzwart.nl
Eerste zondag van de maand
Tijd: 14-15 uur op de Grote Markt Verzamelen voor het Stadhuis.

Organisatie Leeuwarden:
Joop Hoekstra: tel: 0513-633544
e-mail: joophoekstra@tiscali.nlIedere laatste zaterdag van de maand
Tijd: 13:00-14:00 uur op De Nieuwstad bij De Waag Organisatie Maastricht:
Frances Scarrott: tel: 06-11 30 74 10
e-mail: Maastricht@vrouweninhetzwart.nl
Iedere laatste donderdag van de maand
Tijd: 18.15-19.15 uur Op de Markt Geef je op: fescarrott@netscape.net

Organisatie Utrecht:
Tienta Verlegh tel: 030 - 241 36 46
e-mail: Utrecht@vrouweninhetzwart.nlIedere laatste zaterdag van de maand
Tijd: 13- 14 uur Op Stadhuis brug
Informatie over mensenrechten in Israel en de Palestijnse Gebieden:
Vrouwen in het Zwart: www.vrouweninhetzwart.nl
Amnesty Nederland: www.amnesty.nl
Nederlands Palestina Komitee: www.palestina-komitee.nl
Coalition of Women for a Just Peace: www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org
Vrouwen voor Vrede: www.vrouwenvoorvrede.nl
Sivmo: www.sivmo.nl
Stop the Wall: www.stopthewall.orgEen Ander Joods Geluid: www.eajg.nl

Weblinks:
The East Jerusalem YMCA
YWCA in Palestina

De Pro-Israel Lobby 68

De pro-Israel lobby is druk doende met de propaganda voor een oorlog tegen Iran dit keer.

"No lie too ridiculous to tell
the definition of a whore

Hamas serving as Iran's 'proxy warriors,' Rice says
30/04/2008 03h31
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
©AFP/GETTY IMAGES - Chip Somodevilla

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Palestinian Hamas militants are serving as the "proxy warriors" for an Iran bent on acquiring an atomic bomb and destroying Israel, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here Tuesday.

In a speech to American Jews in Washington, Rice promoted the US policy of isolating Hamas which she said refused to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and respect all previous Palestinian agreements with Israel.

"But perhaps of deepest concern, the leaders of Hamas are increasingly serving as the proxy warriors of an Iranian regime that is destabilizing the region, seeking a nuclear capability and proclaiming its desire to destroy Israel," Rice told the American Jewish Committee.

"How can any government negotiate with a group that sees every agreement, every choice not as a compromise to advance peace, but as a tactic to later advance war?" she asked.

"No, the only responsible policy is to isolate Hamas and defend against its threats until Hamas makes the choice that supports peace," Rice said.

She called for international support for president Mahmud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which she said had "the will to fight terrorism" and "the desire to govern effectively" but did not yet have the means.

Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June last year following bloody battles that ousted forces loyal to Abbas's Fatah faction, which remains in power in the West Bank.

Fatah and Hamas had served in a national unity government after Hamas won elections in 2006.

President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was still hopeful of a Middle East peace deal before he leaves office in January but warned that Hamas could "undermine" the effort."

The Empire 373

'Black Hole in Bush's BrainBy Peter Chamberlin

Judging from the campaign rhetoric coming out of both camps, whoever wins the Oval Office will be inclined to continue the failed military policies in Iraq and to pursue a confrontation with Iran. Apparently it does not matter to either party what will follow those actions, or what these disastrous policies have produced as they played-out in Iraq and Afghanistan. It does not matter who gets elected, whether it is "bomb, bomb Iran" McCain, or "obliterate/massive retaliation" Clinton, nothing will change.
American researcher Suzanne Maloney spells out the results of the "successfully" surging American war on Iraq:
"Of the many American illusions and delusions surrounding this war, the Administration's calculations with respect to Iran were among the most wildly off base. Instead of generating a liberal, secular democracy whose reverberations would drive out Iran's clerical oligarchs, the disastrous Bush policies fostered a sectarian Iraq that has helped empower Iranian hardliners. Rather than serving as an anchor for a new era of stability and American preeminence in the Persian Gulf, the new Iraq represents a strategic black hole, bleeding Washington of military resources and political influence while extending Iran's primacy among its neighbors." http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2008/0321_iraq_maloney.aspx
In spite of the problems these policies have created for us and the world (including the deadly fuel inflation ignited by the chaos), and the devastating human toll taken so far, the Cheney wing of the co-presidency continues to pursue every possible avenue for expanding the failed war into a regional conflagration, which could only be settled with nuclear weapons. The bulldog drive to crush all opposition that has characterized every move of the Bush White House, is once again ignoring reality to envision a new America-dominated world order that can only be built upon the ruins of the demolished old order. If only some situation could be created which would provide the perfect pretext that would justify pushing the button on Iran. Would we be correct in judging Cheney to be a super-patriot, or is he really a secret neo-communist, hoping to forcefully overthrow the world order and enthrone his elitist neocon proletariat and their corporate state as a world dictatorship?
It is no coincidence that the nations that have been targeted are all enemies of Israel. Neither is it a coincidence that Israel has been the source of the "evidence" (much of it fabricated) that has been used, and is still being used, to authorize the war resolutions. For those who charge that it is "anti-Semitic" to maintain that Israel or its Jewish-American supporters have hijacked the "war on terror," serving as prime motivators for the war in Iraq and the coming conflict with Iran and Syria, the primary "evidence" that has been used by the Israel lobby to sell these wars was clearly "made in Israel." It is not anti-Semitic to point-out that no one wants these criminal wars to escalate except Israel and the war criminal Cheney faction, who are now looking to cover their own asses for what they have done. The only voices demanding the destruction of Iran are Jewish voices and their Zionist neocon supporters.'

Lees verder: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19829.htm

Het Israelisch Expansionisme 74

Why Did Israel Bomb Syria?Pepe Escobar: Real News Video Report
The real story behind the September air strike has not been investigated.

Zie: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19824.htm

Nederland en Afghanistan 161

Ik las vandaag een stukje in een van die gratis krantjes die elke reiziger krijgt. Het berichtte dat het goed ging in de Afghaanse provincie waar de Nederlanders zitten. 1 ding is zeker, de Nederlandse propaganda voor de commerciele massamedia werkt goed.

'Afghanistan's Insurgency Spreading North
By Anand Gopal
The Christian Science Monitor
Tuesday 29 April 2008

Militant attacks are increasing outside the Taliban's southern stronghold, such as Sunday's on President Hamid Karzai.
Kabul, Afghanistan - The attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai Sunday came as the latest sign of a trend worrying Western officials: that the insurgency is spreading from the Taliban stronghold of the south to the central and northern regions of the country.
The militant attack, the biggest in Kabul since mid-March, came during a public ceremony. Despite a massive security presence, militants managed to fire bullets and rockets at the president, killing two nearby lawmakers and a boy.
The insurgency in Afghanistan has not been "contained," Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell testified before a Senate subcommittee in February. "It's been sustained in the south, it's grown a bit in the east, and what we've seen are elements of it spread to the west and the north."
A recent study by Sami Kovanen, an analyst with the security firm Vigilant Strategic Services of Afghanistan, echoed this assessment. He reported 465 insurgent attacks in areas outside the restive southern regions during the first three months of 2008, a 35 percent increase compared with the same period last year. In the central region around Kabul there have been 80 insurgent attacks from January through March of this year, a 70 percent jump compared to the first three months of last year.
The numbers are part of a nationwide trend of rising violence. In the southern and southeastern provinces, including the insurgent hotbeds of Kandahar and Helmand, guerrilla attacks spiked by 40 percent, according to Mr. Kovanen's research.
Kabul itself has been largely free from the violence, but as Sunday's attack shows, there are signs that the Taliban's presence is growing here, too. On the sprawling, serene campus of Kabul University, where the nation sends many of its best and brightest, the Taliban has reached an unprecedented level of influence, students say.
Young men gather in campus dorm rooms and watch slickly produced DVDs of the latest insurgent attacks. One video shows Taliban fighters firing rocket launchers and shrieking, "God is the greatest!" as orange fireballs reach their targets, presumably Coalition forces, in the distance. The attacks are set to religious music, backed by a staccato drumbeat meant to impassion and inspire viewers.'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042908M.shtml

Iran 196

Het imperium kan alleen bestaan door permanent expansionisme. Het heeft oorlogen nodig om te kunnen bestaan.

'Iraq Jumps Into US-Iran Tussle
By Tina Susman
The Los Angeles Times
Tuesday 29 April 2008

Baghdad says it agrees that Iran has supplied militants with weapons, but the Iraqi government seems to want the US to back off threats of military action and let it pursue diplomatic solutions.
Baghdad - In echoing the Pentagon's latest accusations of Iranian meddling, the Iraqi government has placed itself firmly where it has long said it does not want to be: caught in the middle between Washington and its neighbor to the east.
Baghdad says it agrees with the United States that Iran has continued to supply weapons to anti-government militants in southern Iraq, including arms with markings indicating they were produced this year. On the other hand, the Iraqi government seems eager to send a message to the Bush administration to back off threats of military action and allow Baghdad to pursue diplomatic solutions more quietly with Tehran.
"We are worried about any escalation between the United States and Iran for a simple reason: We are the weakest party in this game," said Sadiq Rikabi, an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. "Our policy for our neighbors is to go to them, face to face, speak with them in a planned, frank and direct way about any problem."
In recent days, Iraq's government has followed the United States in stepping up claims that new Iranian-made weapons have been found in the southern city of Basra. The allegations appear to come at a convenient time for both the Shiite-led Iraqi government and its ally, the United States.
With Baghdad still suffering the violent aftereffects of Maliki's offensive against Shiite militias last month, Iranian interference would help explain why Iraqi and U.S. forces have been unable to bring the fighting to a standstill. In the latest clashes, four U.S. soldiers were killed Monday in two separate rocket and mortar attacks in Baghdad.
At the same time, Iranian involvement allows U.S. officials to deflect blame for the fighting from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, whom they are counting on to sustain a frayed but officially intact truce he called in August for his Mahdi Army militia. Though privately many soldiers here say the Mahdi militia is involved in the current fighting, publicly, the allegation is that "special groups" who have broken away from Sadr and receive training and aid from Iran are causing the troubles.
Iran, meanwhile, dismissed the latest accusations as "ridiculously false" in a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Monday. "It is not the first time that the international community is witness to the United States' baseless allegations," it said, referring to Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042908A.shtml

Iran 195

'Bomb Bomb Iran by Summer's End?
By Steve Weissman t r u t h o u t Perspective
Tuesday 29 April 2008

When Senator John McCain serenaded reporters last April with his "Bomb Bomb Iran," I had to wonder. Was this a taste of his aging flyboy humor? Or was he telling us what to expect should he ever become president? We may never find out. If Vice President Dick Cheney has his way, he will beat McCain to the punch, possibly as soon as late May, after President George W. Bush returns from celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israel's creation.
The evidence is surprisingly public, though in several bits and pieces that fit together like a jigsaw. I hope that I'm wrong in how I've put the puzzle together, but here's how it looks to me.
On February 25 of this year, Cheney made a surprise visit to the Sultanate of Oman, a longtime military ally just across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran. He had come, an Omani official told The Associated Press, "to discuss regional security issues, including the US standoff with Iran over its nuclear program."
A little over three weeks later, Cheney returned to Oman as part of a ten-day visit to several countries in the region, including Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. While in Oman, he gave an interview to Martha Raddatz of ABC News. "Can you foresee any point where military action would be taken?" Raddatz asked. Cheney tried to downplay the question, but Raddatz persisted, asking specifically about the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which concluded that Iran had shut down its nuclear arms program five years ago.
Cheney read the NIE differently. The Iranians definitely had a program to develop a nuclear warhead, which they apparently stopped in 2003, he insisted. "We don't know whether or not they've restarted." Cheney emphasized that the Iranians were continuing with their uranium enrichment, which - he said - would give them the fissile material to make nuclear weapons. He offered no evidence that the Iranian program would or could produce the highly enriched uranium they would need to make a bomb.
"VP: Iran May Have Resumed Weapon Program," the headlines ran. "Cheney: Iran might be next US target." The Israeli web site DEBKA added that Cheney was specifically talking about possible US military action in the region to shut down Iran's nuclear program.
Punctuating Cheney's remarks, the US Navy continues to build up its forces in the region, which now include two nuclear aircraft carriers and strike groups capable of attacking Iran or defending against missile attacks from Iran. America's military brass are also chiming in. The Pentagon is considering "potential military courses of action" against Iran, warns the nation's top military officer - Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "It would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability."'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042908J.shtml