Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
Homepage: http://www.phr.org.il/phr/

Today, at 5 this morning, the israeli navy attacked the ship “Dignity”, that was sailing to Gaza, for one more shipment (the fifth since last August) of the Free Gaza Movement. On board there were about 4 tonns of medicine that were gathered by the cypriot public, as well as doctors and volunteers in order to defend human rights.

The attack took place at international waters, about 90 miles far from the israeli and Gaza waters. “Dignity” was surrounded from 6 israeli war ships who started firing on the sea and the air with real ammunition. One of the israeli ship attacked “Dignity” with its ram bow creating damage to it. Breaching every law of International Law and Sea Law, the israeli blocked “Dignity” from approaching Gaza or to find a safe shelter at Egypr or Lebanon. They demand that the ship must return to Cyprus, nommater the fact that it does not have enough fuel to return and must refill.

Everyone must condemn this attack, this unprovoced piracy. The greek government should react and demand from Israel to stop piracy. We call the greek public and anyone else to demonstrate against the genocity in Gaza. Thankfully, noone from the ones on board got injured. They are 15 citizents from 11 different countries. Their names are:

(UK) Denis Healey, Captain
Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years, beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while atschool and has been part of the sea ever since. He’s a certified yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza.

(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate
Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist. He has served as a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in August.

(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah
Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.

(Australia) Renee Bowyer
Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist. She will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.

(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly
Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza.

(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou
Ekaterini is a well-known and respected freelance journalist in Cyprus. She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.

(Sudan) Sami El-Haj
Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.

(UK) Dr. David Halpin
Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and ship’s captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.

(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa
Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.

(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi
Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.

(USA) Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict.

(Cyprus) Martha Paisi
Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist. She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with humanitarian relief efforts.

(UK) Karl Penhaul
Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogotá, Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking news around the world utilizing CNN’s new laptop-based ‘Digital Newsgathering’ system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing conflict.

(Iraq) Thaer Shaker
Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.

(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP
Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.

The only update I have is that the ship managed to get away from the israeli war ships and that is now approaching Lebanon.

You can also read a report here:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi…013463603.html

Eddited to add that I also found this from the Free Gaza Movement website

http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?mo…9fdee3&offset=

Below are images from photographer Fidaa Abuhamdiya’s coverage in Gaza “il massacro”

Monday 29th December 2008 against the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel.

‘Little Baghdad’ in Gaza – Bombs, Fear and Rage

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050636.html

PROTEST SHEFFIELD

Monday 29 December, 4pm, outside Town Hall

Protests organised and supported by PSC, Palestine Return Centre (PRC), Palestinian Forum of Britain (PFB), British Muslim Initiative (BMI), Stop the War, Friends of al Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Respect, Islamic Human Rights Commission, Association of the Palestinian Community in Britain (APC), the Israeli Commitee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (JBIG), the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN).

27th December attack on Gaza Strip -

bombing in Rafah

Israel has bombed supply tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip in a second day of intense air raids aimed at forcing Hamas militants to halt rocket fire.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says the operation has been a success so far and the aim is to “change realities on the ground” in Gaza.

Israel has threatened to launch a ground assault and is now calling up 6,500 army reservists.

Palestinians say at least 280 people have died in the air raids.

A major tunnel bringing fuel into Gaza from Egypt was among three destroyed, Palestinians say. But Israel says its jets bombed more than 40 tunnels.

Israel accuses Palestinian militants of using the tunnels to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

As jets pounded the southern Gaza Strip hundreds of Palestinians stormed over a fence on the Gaza-Egypt border, but Egyptian security forces fired shots to prevent them entering.

An Egyptian security official was shot dead and another wounded in the turmoil which followed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7801662.stm

Cane Hill was a psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon. (grid reference TQ291587) Built to handle patients unable to attend the Springfield and Brookwood Asylums, both of which were filled to capacity, it opened in 1882 as the Third Surrey County Lunatic Asylum. Following a gradual winding down of operations, it closed all but its secure unit in late 1991. It formerly housed up to 2,000 patients, but with Care in the Community and modern medication and sectioning laws, it was heavily underused by the time of its closure. The secure unit moved into what had been the Coulsdon Cottage Hospital building run by asylum. In 2006 it held 23 patients and was run by the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM). It closed in February 2008, with the patients and staff being transferred to other hospitals in the SLaM group.

The main buildings on the site were designed by Charles Henry Howell and built on a hill-top overlooking Coulsdon and Farthing Downs. It opened in two phases, in 1882 and in 1888.

Due to their immense size and relatively undamaged state, they became extremely popular among urban explorers in the 1990s. Fire and structural damage and increased security have reduced its popularity in the UK urban exploration scene recently. In recent years the interior of the buildings have deteriorated greatly. Damage and lack of maintenance has caused rot and water damage to the wooden floors, causing collapse in many of the out-lying buildings. The water tower of the asylum still houses a low-power analogue television repeater belonging to National Grid Wireless. This is now powered by a diesel generator, since there is no longer any mains power supplied to the site after the switchgear was destroyed following an arson attack.

There have been proposals to re-develop the site as a housing estate or a business or science park, and plans to convert some of the buildings into a modern medium-security hospital. However, the hospital is in the middle of the London green belt, so there have been lengthy delays and discussions about the exact nature of any re-development plans. This problem afflicts many former psychiatric hospitals in the UK, as they were often sited on land on the edge of towns in semi-rural areas that are now protected against unrestricted development. West Park Hospital in Epsom is still derelict for the same reasons.

During its lengthy operation, a number of notable patients passed through the hospital, including the mother of Charlie Chaplin, and brothers of Michael Caine and David Bowie. The original cover of The Man Who Sold The World by Bowie features the administration block of the hospital. The hospital’s motto was Aversos Compono Animos, which translates to ‘I bring relief to troubled minds’.

The hospital buildings are not listed. English Heritage first considered the buildings as part of their Thematic Review of Hospital Buildings in the 1990s, but listing was not granted. Croydon’s Planning Brief for Cane Hill of March 1998 suggested the retention and re-use of the Administration Block and Chapel but the buildings were not on the local list nor was any part of the site considered a Conservation Area. An attempt to list the buildings again in 2006 failed; it did have local interest (in particular the Administration Block and the Chapel) but better examples of early echelon asylums exist. Cane Hill is not an early echelon asylum; it is a unique example of a transitional type, best described as “Radiating Pavilion”.

In 2006, Hipposcope Films starting filming a documentary about the history of the asylum. The site’s owners, English Partnerships, who purchased the site in April 2007, have given permission for Hipposcope to access Cane Hill. Filming inside the asylum is due to start soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Hill

Three of us from Sheffield paid a visit on 26/12/2008 of course we was asked to leave by the friendly security having only been there 20 mins, a round trip of over 450 miles but we had done it then onto Battersea Power Station, only to be stoped by The Police..

Here are some images:

we are back more dave stood at the bar due soon, meanwhile c barcode has something he would like to add..

Don’t do drugs…….unless you must..

Seasons Greetings from sunny Athens!
If you would like to see more from the Greek uprising go to my web gallery:

http://jesshurd.blogspot.com/2008/12/athens-burns.html

All the Best of the New Year! Jess

From our Man on The Streets meanwhile Ian Bone and Martin Wainwright are

The English Anarchist on Athins Television plugging This

Here is the full Indymedia artical

Anger Around The World As Police Shoot Dead

Teenager In Athens