Gaza Freedom Flotilla Aid Worker's Brother Speaks Out In Edinburgh

Update: Ali El Awaisi has been confirmed alive: he had been held in a desert prison by the Israelis and then put on a plane to Turkey. His family have lived in agony over the last few days fearing he was dead as the last they had heard was that he had been captured by the Israelis, and although he was not killed on the Freedom Flotilla there was a strong possibility that they would kill him afterwards, especially as he was of Palestinian origin and once people are sent to an Israeli jail for Palestinians they often don't come out again. They are "disappeared." This is not the first time Ali's family have had to undergo this type of wait. He was in primary two in Dunblane in 1996 when disturbed gun enthousiast Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 primary ones and their teacher.
Mass demonstrations took place all round the world on Saturday 5 June 2010 in protest at Israel's killings of unarmed civilians in international waters who were bringing humanitarian aid to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza where Palestinians are starving to death. Khaled the brother of Ali El Awaisi spoke at an Edinburgh rally after a demonstration which lasted all day and started and finished at the foot of the Mound after passing the American consulate and the Scottish First Minister's house. Khaled described how his grandfather's home was seized by the Israelis after the 1948 partition of Palestine and how his grandfather lived and died in a refugee camp all his life. Walled in in what has been described as the world's biggest open air prison, Palestinian families have no access to building materials to rebuild or repair their homes which have been destroyed by the Israeli military, they have inadequate rations of food. Half of Palestinian children are anaemic. There is no access to materials for maintaining a sewage treatment plant. Israel has also added high levels of nitrates to the Palestinian water which is causing birth defects. This is nothing short of genocide. Any outsider who tries to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes is killed themselves if they get in the way of Israel's plans e.g. American woman Rachel Corrie who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer. Journalists and international observers who try to monitor or report on the situation also become targets. Now these international humanitarian workers on the Freedom Flotilla convoy of aid ships have been attacked with 19 suspected /9 confirmed dead on the Mavi Marmara and many more injured without even setting foot in Gaza. They were 80 miles away from Gaza and not in Israeli waters but their boat was shot at, then the IDF marines stormed the boat and shot unarmed humanitarians at point-blank range in the head, heart and lower back to kill or disable for life. The remaining survivors were captured, had their video footage confiscated by the Israeli authorities and were beaten up. Only one video clip managed to be uploaded live at the time before all the signals were completely blocked. The Israelis then edited the videos to show only the victims defending themselves with sticks and not the invasion and shootings but the one clip which survived has been duplicated throughout youtube and can easily be found by doing a search.
Frère de travailleur humanitaire flottille Freedom Flotilla lors d'un rassemblement après la manifestation à Edimbourg 5 juin 2010.
شقيق اسطول عامل اغاثة في اجتماع حاشد بعد مظاهرة في ادنبره
Ο αδελφός του ένας από τους ανθρώπους σχετικά με την ανθρωπιστική βοήθεια στολίσκο μιλά έξω σε ένα συλλαλητήριο, μετά τη διαδήλωση στο Εδιμβούργο.

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• Palestine
• Gaza
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• Khaled
• Ali
• El
• Awaisi
• Dundonian
• protest
• rally
• Edinburgh
• demo
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[thezone1000]

what has this got to do with edinburgh???

[TrishMaryHill]

@thezone1000

An injury to one is an injury to all.

It doesn't matter whether you're from Edinburgh or anywhere else: anyone with half an ounce of humanity in them must be outraged at the genocide being committed by the Israeli state on the people of Gaza, and Israel's piracy and murder of international civilians bringing humanitarian aid to the victims who are slowly being starved and poisoned to death, squeezed into a small area with high walls like an open-air prison.

[thezone1000]

@TrishMaryHill Ya i understand but if you have to do this then don't block half the street. their were hundreds of people who are piss off and still are cause you done this march down Princes Street and it took us longer then usual to get home or to where we had to be at the time. Why not of just done you're Speaks Out in a church and if people wanted to come they would of.

[houn1971]

well done glasgow well done.