Gaza Media Aid Project

Barefoot Workshops recently (Oct/Nov 2008) led media training workshops in the West Bank and Israel, working closely with Civil Society Organizations on both sides of "the wall". Ours was a diplomatic mission contracted by the U.S. Government. We arrived open-minded with little knowledge about the conflict. After witnessing the daily injustices suffered by the Palestinians and seeing the power of media to give voice those under occupation, we decided to purchase and dispense 50 video cameras that will be used by "citizen journalists" to report back to the international community about what daily life is like, and how we can help. The idea is also to create more awareness and dialogue within Israel about their heavy-handed policies and tactics. The Palestinian people have long been asking for the support of internationals to turn the tides of their despair. We must be willing to hear the "other side"of the story (that our news media seldom airs). UN General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann likens Israel's policies to South Africa's treatment of blacks under apartheid. "We must not be afraid to all something what it is," he says. For those of us who stand for change, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one area where our actions will speak louder than words.

This project aims to support CIVILIANS involved in the conflict by allowing them access to media tools. It does not in any way support a political agenda on any side of the conflict, especially NOT Hamas. We strongly support and agree with the MANY Jewish and Arab Israelis who agree that every person is entitled to an opinion and should be heard.

We hope for support from Palestinians, Israelis, Americans, Europeans, other Arab countries and anyone else in the world interested in the basic right to be heard.

Please help to give these people a voice through the purchase of cameras.

All cameras purchased by Barefoot Workshops will be donated to the Israeli human rights organization, B'tselem (http://www.btselem.org/English/), who will be responsible for giving out the cameras to the receiving communities.

Barefoot Workshops is a nonprofit 501(c)(3). http://www.barefootworkshops.org/

$85.00 buys a Flip Cam video camera (at sponsor discount rate)

Make a contribution :
http://gazavideoproject.chipin.com/gaza-media-aid-project

January 10, 2009
Westwood, California, USA
Rally to Call for Cease Fire in GAZA!

VIDEOS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPO7buKgTko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWYwojF5OUY
Theother interviews will be available on YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/knewways and http://thechangechannel.ning.com/in the coming days. To subscribe go to http://www.soulsecretservice.comand subscribe or join The Change Channel.

PHOTOS:
http://www.terihitt.com/LADemonstrationJan10.html

*a report brought to you by:
Brian David Hardin, Teri Hitt, and Paula Montondo
http://www.soulsecretservice.com
http://thechangechannel.ning.com/
http://www.knewways.com

While the purpose of this project is to support Gazan civilians tobe heard through the distribution of small portable cameras, Ireceived this comment from an Israeli staff member from a humanrights organization we trained there, and feel obliged to put it outthere- inthe spirit of creating a democratic dialogue.

"I amagainst the killing of civilians on both sides. Israel isn't trying hardenough to reduce the number of civilian casualties though there musthave been a reasonably strong likelihood that a rocket was fired from itfor Israel to have bombed the UNRWA school.

Personally, Ifeel there is too little sensitivity for the suffering of Israelis inthe south (1 million people now under threat of rocket attacks),especially in the foreign media. Hamas has been deliberately aiming atcivilian targets for eight years and yet Israel gets all of the flack.

I applaudyour initiative to distribute video cameras in Gaza. I think the"people" in Gaza definitely need to be heard. I was a bit surprised byyour wording, though. Israel's actions are disproportionate and oftenunfair (with regards to humanitarian concerns) but that doesn't meanIsraelis are not suffering. Hamas is a terrorist organization and assuch is not easy to deal with. Also, it's not accurate to say that 99%of Palestinians are not terrorists. That is exactly the problem: Hamas, a terrorist organization has entrenched itself in every aspectof life, making it impossible to distinguish between combatants andcivilians in many cases. I don't know what percentage are terrorists.It's hard to calculate because many are involved in directly and manyreceive social and other services from Hamas.

In any case, I hope it all ends soon because all of this fighting is not benefiting anyone."

- Melanie

On thatnote, we urge those who are thinking about taking action to urge a ceasefire and to support moderate voices on both sides of the conflict.

There is an urgency at the moment felt among those directly affected by the violence.

Please urge people to call on Obama's transition team to take immediate action and disallow this offensive to continue-

Obama Transition Team 202-540-3000 (then press 2 to speak with a staff member).

There are people on his team who will talk with you directly.

Thanks for the support, and continue to spread the link:
http://gazavideoproject.chipin.c...

Alison

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3075

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/world/middleeast/07media.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/rules-of-engagement-from_b_154669.html

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian areas issued a statement that "The Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war."

1) ) First get the facts and then disseminate them. Here are some basic background information
http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4933.shtml
http://www.mepeace.org/forum/topics/the-true-story-behind-this-war
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/If%20Gaza%20falls.pdf
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml

2) Contribute to Barefoot Workshops' Gaza Media Aid Project and disseminate this link:
http://gazavideoproject.chipin.com/gaza-media-aid-project

3) Contact local media. Write letters to editors (usually 100-150 words) and longer op-eds (usually 600-800 words) for local newspapers. But also write to news departments in both print, audio, and visual media about their coverage. In the US http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/ You can find media listings in your country using search engines like google.

4) Contact elected and other political leaders in your country to urge them to apply pressure to end the attacks. In the US, Contact the State Department at 202.647.5291, the White House 202-456-1111
the Egyptian Embassy 202.895.5400, Email (embassy@egyptembassy.net) and the Obama Transition Team 202-540-3000 (then press 2 to speak with a staff member).

5) Organize and join demonstrations in front of Israeli and Egyptian embassies or when not doable in front of your parliament, office of elected officials, and any other visible place (and do media work for it).

6) Hold a teach-in, seminar, public dialogue, documentary film viewing etc. this is straightforward: you need to decide venue, nature, if any speakers, and do some publicity (the internet helps).

7) Send direct aid to Gaza through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). http://www.un.org/unrwa/

8) Initiate boycotts, divestments and sanctions at all levels. See Palestinian call http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10056.shtml

9) Sign petitions for Gaza, e.g.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1

10) Work with other groups that do not share your political views (factionalism and excessive divisions within activist communities allowed those who advocate war to succeed).

For support and contacts of people in Gaza or to volunteer, please contact the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, via gaza@imemc.org, or call 989-607-9480 (from the US and Canada) or 972 2277 2018 (from other places)

• Israel has been occupying the the West Bank and GazaStrip since the 1967 War, ignoring the Fourth Geneva Conventions andover eighty United Nations General Assembly Resolutions.1
• TheIsraeli military controls the movement of the nearly four millionPalestinians through a system of checkpoints, roadblocks, andsegregated roads.
• The Israeli Army exercisesvirtually unchecked freedom to detain, threaten, arrest, imprison,torture, and even kill Palestinians, often without charge or trial.
• TheIsraeli government sponsors the transfer of Jewish Israeli citizensfrom Israel to Israeli colonies in the Palestinian Territories known assettlements.
• Israeli settlers suffer no legalconsequences for building new settlements or expanding existing ones oninternationally recognized Palestinian land, or for threatening orphysically attacking Palestinians.
• The Wallâ??or "Security Fence"â??that is currently under construction by Israel in the name of preventing terrorism in fact weaves through,not around, the West Bank, with the primary effect of separatinghundreds of thousands of West Bank Palestinians from their land andfrom each other.
• Denied legal citizenship anywhere,Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories are nonethelessrequired to pay taxes to Israel, which has an annual GDP over fiftytimes that of the Palestinian Territories, and an average annual incomeof more than US$20,500 compared with $750 in the West Bank and $550 inGaza.2
• Everyyear, billions of American tax-dollars are funneled to the Israelimilitary, which uses most of the money to purchase American-madeweapons.

Visit Anna in Palestine: http://annainpalestine.blogspot.com/