Cairo Declaration, January 1, 2010.

Photo: Gaza Freedom Marchers in Cairo, Egypt.

(Cairo) Gaza Freedom Marchers approved today a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid.

Roughly 1400 activists from 43 countries converged in Cairo on their way to Gaza to join with Palestinians marching to break Israel’s illegal siege. They were prevented from entering Gaza by the Egyptian authorities.

As a result, the Freedom Marchers remained in Cairo. They staged a series of nonviolent actions aimed at pressuring the international community to end the siege as one step in the larger struggle to secure justice for Palestinians throughout historic Palestine.

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Foreign Policy Magazine by Stephen M. Walt, December 29, 2009

Photo: Palestinian amongst destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Did you know that the Gaza Freedom March — a group of over 1300 peace activists from 43 countries — is protesting the continued siege of Gaza, on the anniversary of the brutal Israeli assault that killed over a thousand people last year? (There is also a separate effort to bring a convoy of relief aid to the Gazans, under the auspices of the group Viva Palestina).

Did you know that the Freedom March is now stuck in Cairo, because the Egyptian government has denied them permission to travel to Gaza? The Mubarak regime has its own issues with Hamas, and it is also dependent on U.S. economic and military aid. Israel and the United States don’t want the adverse publicity that the Freedom March might generate and are perfectly content to let the Gazans suffer, so needless to say Washington isn’t putting any pressure on Egypt to let the convoy through.

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lettre ouverte de la Marche pour la liberté de Gaza, samedi 26 décembre 2009

Photo: Soldats égyptiens au Caire.

Cher Président Moubarak – Nous, représentants de 1362 personnes venues de 43 pays au Caire pour participer à la Marche pour la liberté de Gaza, nous faisons appel aux Egyptiens et à votre réputation d’hospitalité.

Nous sommes des artisans de la paix. Nous ne sommes pas venus en Egypte pour créer des troubles ou susciter des conflits. Au contraire. Nous sommes venus parce que nous croyons que tous les peuples – y compris les Palestiniens de Gaza – devraient avoir accès aux ressources dont ils ont besoin pour vivre dans la dignité. Nous nous sommes rassemblés en Egypte parce que nous croyions que vous accueilleriez et soutiendriez notre objectif noble et que vous nous aideriez à atteindre Gaza en traversant votre pays.

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Huffington Post Robert Naiman, Policy Director of Just Foreign Policy

Photo: Egyptian military watch tower on border with Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Cairo – Twelve hours before this writing, it appeared that 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza planning to march to the Erez border crossing with Israel on Thursday in protest of the continuing blockade on Gaza might not be accompanied by any of the 1400 internationals who had come to Egypt planning to join the Gaza Freedom March.

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report by Cindy Sheehan December 29th 2009

Photo: Angela Sevin Egyptian police cover camera at Gaza Freedom March in Cairo.

One of my friends, Joshua Smith, just texted me from Cairo and said that some U.S. citizens of the Gaza Freedom March went to the U.S. Embassy today there to try and implore the staff there to intercede on behalf of the March to help get them into Gaza–they were not so warmly welcomed.

Recently, almost 1400 people from around the globe met in Cairo to march into Gaza to join Gazans in solidarity and to help expose their plight after years of blockade and exactly a year after the violent attack in what Israel called “Operation Cast Lead” that killed hundreds of innocent Gazan civilians. So far the Marchers have been denied access (Egypt closed the Rafah crossing) and their gatherings have become increasingly and more violently suppressed.

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report by David Bleakney, Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Photo: Gaza City after Israeli bombing in January 2009.

The Gaza Freedom March has not made it to Gaza. Some might say this is a failure. But Gaza is in the hearts and other lessons will be learned here.

There is no question that Egypt faces intense pressure from other powers and forces, including Israel and the European Union. To a lesser extent, Canada whose government is now seen as an international climate change pariah, plays an apologist role for crimes against humanity while deserting, even aiding and abetting, the removal of the rights of Canadians while abroad.

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Agence France-Presse AFP – December 27th, 2009.

Photo: Smoke over Gaza rises during Israeli bombing last winter.

French protesters camped out in front of the their embassy in Cairo to protest a ban on them from travelling from Egypt to Gaza for a march in support of the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

About 300 protesters set up tents and blocked a road in front of the mission after buses they had rented to take them to El-Arish, a town close to the border with Gaza, never came.

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report written by Luciana Coconi from Palestina al Cor in Catalonia

Photo: Smoke rises over the Gaza Strip after Israeli bombing raid.

The aim of this report is to determine whether or not a crime of apartheid is being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. It adopts an outside, non preconceived side whatsoever and it analyses, on the one hand, international human rights legislation and international humanitarian law and, on the other hand, internal legislation and its application, both in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Throughout the study, we shall observe what is understood to be the crime of apartheid. We know what happened in South Africa, we suspect it could be occurring in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, but little has been researched about why apartheid arose and became a crime against humanity and exactly what its legal content is.

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Gamal Nkrumah Al-Ahram 10 – 16 December 2009.

Photo Skyline from the sea coast in Alexandria, Egypt.

Mustafa Tolba, president of the International Centre for Environment and Development and a key participant at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, warned that even though the Arab world produces a mere five per cent of global carbon emissions, several Arab countries are in disproportionate danger from the negative impacts of global warming.

At the Copenhagen Environmental Summit the overriding concern seems to be who is responsible for global warming instead of what to do about the negative impact of climate change.

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Haaretz 28/09/2009

Photo: Public train passing in Cairo, Egypt.

The London-based Arabic-language daily A Sharq al Awsat reported Monday that the board of directors of the powerful Egyptian media group Al-Ahram had decided to boycott Israel and Israelis of all positions.

The Al-Ahram group is considered the most powerful media body in Egypt. Al-Ahram publishes newspapers considered to be the official mouthpiece of the Egyptian government.

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