Reportback includes video links of speakers, coverage of the rally, "Take Action!" and a FAQ on the current situation:

==> REPORT: Approximately 800 in Vancouver Protest Israeli Massacres in Gaza

Amidst a heavy snow storm and some of the coldest weather in Vancouver yet, approximately 800 residents of Vancouver gathered to express their outrage at the latest Israeli massacre in Gaza. With over 430 Palestinians killed and approximately 2200 injured (over 680 of whom are children) in a series of intensive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past six days, hundreds of thousands have been protesting worldwide, including a previous protest of over 350 people in Vancouver on December 29th, 2008. Demonstrations across Canada this weekend were held in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Windsor, London, Hamilton, as well as Montreal and Toronto where 10,000 people gathered in each city.

Protesters gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery and then marched along Vancouver's busy shopping district along Robson Street, including a stop at a Chapters-Indigo bookstore whose majority shareholders financially support the Israeli military. Just as the protest was beginning, those gathered received news that Israel had begun a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Speakers during the protest included Palestinians, Anti-Zionist Jews, indigenous elders, trade unionists, leaders within the BC Muslim community, community organizers, and students; all of whom condemned Israel's latest massacre, Israel's ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine, and the US and Canadian government's unconditional support of Israel including the siege and sanctions regime against Gaza.

Chants during the march included "Hey Gaza don't you cry, Palestine will never die", "Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea", "Occupation is a crime, from BC to Palestine", "Viva Viva Intifada", "Fight the Power, turn the Tide, End Israeli Apartheid", "Hey Hey Israel, Palestine will not kneel" and "Free Free Palestine".

The rally ended with tens of young people throwing their shoes at photo caricatures of US President George Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barack. It was also announced that $3500 was raised to go to Gaza directly.

The rallies this week in Vancouver were organized and supported by

Adala-Arab Justice Committee, Al-Awda-Vancouver, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Canadian Arab Federation-National, Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver, Canadians Against War, Canadian Islamic Congress BC, Canadian Muslim Union, Canpalnet, Code Pink Women for Peace (local chapter), Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), Indigenous Action Movement, Iranian Centre for Peace, Freedom and Social Justice, Jews for a Just Peace-Vancouver, Muslim Canadian Federation-Vancouver, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, Palestinian Islamic League-Canada, Salaam-Vancouver, Siraat Collective, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC, StopWar Coalition, Students for a Democratic Society (UBC), Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice, Vancouver Socialist Forum, Voice of Palestine-Vancouver, Communist Party of Canada (Marxist Leninist)

==> TAKE ACTION!!!

1) Email the prime minister, foreign affairs minister, and leaders of the opposition. Visit:
http://www.cjpme.ca/action_gaza_2008_12.shtml

2) Respond to biased media coverage. Visit http://letgazabeheard.wordpress.com to send sample emails to the BBC, CNN, and Fox News regarding their biased coverage and use those template letters to send to Canadian media outlets.

==> COVERAGE OF RALLY:

* Video footage:

* Mainstream media:

http://www.cknw.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=105...

http://www.news1130.com/more.jsp?content=20090103_201925_25452

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/01/03/gaza-protests.html

http://www.torontosun.com/news/2009/01/03/7911446.html

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090103/BC...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM...

==> FAQ ABOUT CURRENT SITUATION IN GAZA

1) Did Israel end its occupation of the Gaza Strip in 2005?

No. Despite withdrawing its illegal settlements and army bases from the Gaza Strip in 2005 it remained the occupying force according to international law.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territory, Prof. John Dugard, stated in 2008: “The test for determining whether a territory is occupied under international law is effective control, and not the permanent physical presence of the occupying Power’s military forces in the territory in question. Judged by this test it is clear that Israel remains the occupying Power as technological developments have made it possible for Israel to assert control over the people of Gaza without a permanent military presence.”

2) Did Hamas violate the ceasefire as Israel claims?

No. This is an Israeli myth. Hamas respected their side of the ceasefire, except on those occasions early on when Israel carried out major offensives against the civilian population in the West Bank. In the last two months, the Israeli military broke the ceasefire and killed 17 Palestinians.

Furthermore, Israel did not live up to any of its obligations under the terms of the ceasefire. This included ending the siege and allowing vital humanitarian aid to resume in Gaza. Rather than the average of 450 trucks per day being allowed across the border, on the best days only eighty have been allowed in – with the border remaining hermetically sealed 70% of the time. Throughout the supposed ‘cease-fire’ Gazans have been forced to live like animals, with a total of 262 dying due to the inaccessibility of proper medical care. Now after hundreds dead and counting, it is Israel who refuses to re-enter talks over a cease-fire. They are not intent on securing peace as they claim; it is more and more clear that they are seeking regime change – whatever the cost.

3) Isn’t Israel acting in self-defence?

No. Israel has the most powerful military in the Middle East and is the largest recipient of US military aid in the world. In contrast, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have lived under military occupation since 1967 and lack any effective military capabilities.

According to United Nations statistics, from September 2000 to April 2008, the Israeli military killed 2677 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In the same period, 11 Israelis were killed by Palestinian home-made rockets. In November 2008 (the last month of the cease-fire), at least 14 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military. Not a single Israeli was killed. Over the last week, the Israeli military has killed over 400 Palestinians and nearly 2000 are critically injured. Five Israelis have been killed. These figures make it clear who is really under attack.

But in order to really understand the disastrous situation in the Gaza Strip we need to look beyond the fatality statistics and understand that Israel’s targeting of Palestinian civilians has a long history: For over 19 months, Israel has placed the Gaza Strip under complete siege. Food, medical supplies, fuel and other necessities of life have not been allowed into the area. Nearly half of the population in Gaza does not have enough food to meet its basic needs. A total of 262 Palestinians have died because Israel’s siege prevented them from receiving proper medical attention. The reality is clear: over 1.5 million Gazans effectively live in an open-air prison and are now being bombarded by the most powerful military force in the Middle East. To claim that Israel is acting in self-defence is simply to engage in 'blaming the victim' and to obscure where the real culpability lies.

4) Are Israel’s actions in compliance with international law?

No. Israeli indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory. The places that Israel has targeted include schools, mosques, a university that provides education to over 20,000 students, private homes, densely populated refugee camps, police stations, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, the Palestine Legislative Council. All of these are clearly not military installations, and targeting them is considered a breach of the Geneva Conventions.

Professor Richard Falk, an authority on international law and the current UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territory issued a statement accusing Israel of massive and severe violations of international law, including collective punishment, targeting civilians and disproportionate military response “[in] addition to the destruction visited on the Gaza Strip. Israel is also blocking aid and supplies from arriving to the Gaza Strip, leaving the Palestinians in the Strip on the brink of famine, and the already impoverished hospitals with little ability to provide heath services.”

5) What can people in Canada do?

First, we need to understand that peace is impossible without justice. Palestinians must be allowed to live free of occupation and those driven from their homes and lands in 1948 must be allowed to return. These are basic human rights and the essential preconditions for peace.

The renowned legal scholar and UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories, Richard Falk, recently wrote “I call on all Member States [of the UN], as well as officials and every relevant organ of the United Nations system, to move on an emergency basis not only to condemn Israel’s serious violations, but to develop new approaches to providing real protection for the Palestinian people.”

The Canadian government is doing precisely the opposite. The Canadian government has not condemned Israel’s clear violation of international law and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, which is consistent with their longstanding policy of unconditional support for Israel. There are historical precedents. In the struggle against South African Apartheid, the Canadian government placed sanctions on the South African apartheid regime until it complied with international law. Likewise, the Canadian government can do the same today and people in Canada must demand that this happen.

6) What does the UN say?

The overwhelming majority of the international community has strongly condemned the recent Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. In particular, the United Nations, has strongly condemned the attacks on a besieged population in Gaza.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed her grave concern and distress at the enormous loss of life in the escalating violence in Gaza. She called on Israel's leaders to uphold international humanitarian law principles, especially those relating to proportionality in the use of military force and the prevention of collective punishment and the targeting of civilians. She also called on Israel to lift the air, sea and ground blockade it is imposing on the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, and to allow humanitarian assistance and independent outside monitoring.

Richard Falk, United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the Occupied Territories:

“The Israeli airstrikes 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.”

“I note that Israel’s escalating military assaults have not made Israeli civilians safer; to the contrary, the one Israeli killed today after the upsurge of Israeli violence is the first in over a year. Israel has also ignored recent Hamas diplomatic initiatives to re-establish the truce or ceasefire since its expiration on December 26.”

“The Israeli airstrikes today, and the catastrophic human toll that they caused, challenge those countries that have been and remain complicit, either directly or indirectly, in Israel’s violations of international law. That complicity includes those countries knowingly providing the military equipment including warplanes and missiles used in these illegal attacks, as well as those countries who have supported and participated in the siege of Gaza that itself has caused a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; UN Humanitarian Chief:

John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator expressed shock at the living conditions in the Gaza Strip and deplored the current restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial goods in and out of the area.

“I have been shocked by the grim and miserable things that I have seen and heard today, which are the result of current restrictions and the limitations on the number of goods that are being allowed into Gaza,” said Mr. Holmes during a day-long visit to the Gaza Strip.

7) What are some talking point to counter the media incorrect information:

Gaza is the world's largest open-air prison. 1.5 million residents are packed into an area 45 km long x 10 km wide, while Israel controls Gaza's air space and borders. Over 80% of the population are refugees denied their legal Right to Return to the homes and lands from which they were expelled in 1948. Israel also illegally restricts Palestinian freedom of movement into and out of Gaza. For example, in August 2008, Israel denied three Gazan Fulbright Scholars their basic right to education by having their American entry visas revoked.

Gaza has been under complete siege since June 2007, during which time the 1.5 million people of Gaza have been cut off from sufficient fuel, food, and medicine. Two weeks ago, the UN reported that Gazans were living without power for up to 16 hours each day; half of Gaza's population was receiving water only once a week for a few hours; 80% of the water in Gaza did not meet World Health Organization standards for drinking; the unemployment rate had risen to almost 50%; only 23 of 3,900 industrial enterprises were operational; more than 79% were living below the poverty line; more than 56% were food insecure; and patients with chronic illnesses such as cancer or diabetes could not be adequately treated or cared for. (See: http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_gaza_situation_rep...)

Since 2001, fewer than twenty Israelis have been killed by Qassam rockets. In three days, nearly 400 Gazans have been killed by Israeli state violence. This is a ratio of 20 Gazan lives for each Israeli life, with the death toll in Gaza certain to increase. In January 2008, UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard stated, "a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror, such as acts committed by Al Qaeda, and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation. While such acts cannot be justified, they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation." Israeli and Palestinian violence can in no way be viewed as symmetrical -- individual Palestinians have chosen to resist their occupiers with largely ineffective home-made rockets, while the Israeli state, which boasts the fourth most powerful military in the world, has responded by collectively punishing the captive population that it illegally occupies. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, collective punishment is a war crime. As the occupier, the burden is on Israel to end its state violence.

Israel is an apartheid state. Canada must sever diplomatic ties with Israel and implement sanctions against it until Israel complies with international law. UN General Assembly President Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann recently called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel, similar to the one that ended apartheid in South Africa.

9) WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION?

* Live from Palestine diaries:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/diaries.shtml

* The Gaza Crisis Talking Points by Phyllis Bennis:
http://www.zmag.org/zspace/commentaries/3727

* Democracy Now interviews:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/29/israeli_attacks_kill_...

* Gaza: Colonial Violence and Flawed Justifications:
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/2373

* If Hamas Did Not Exist: Israel Has No Intention of Granting a Palestinian State by Jennifer Lowenstein:
http://www.counterpunch.org/loewenstein01012009.html

* Gaza: the logic of colonial power in The Guardian:
http://tinyurl.com/8sp9bf

* Israeli Slaughter, International Culpability:
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20075

* Gaza massacres must spur us to action by Ali Abunimah:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml

* Israel's Wanton Aggression On Gaza:
http://countercurrents.org/lendman291208.htm

* Current Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza:
http://www.freegaza.ps/english/index.php?scid=100&id=555&ext...

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Statement from Dr. Gabor Mate, an anti-Zionist Jew who spoke at a rally in Vancouver on Jan. 3, 2009 to protest the latest Israeli assault in Gaza:

Without endorsing every tactic and action of the Palestinian resistance, we have to understand that Israeli government policy has never been one of defense, only of domination. They supported Hamas when it suited them, they will try to crush Hamas when that suits them.

The real crime of the Palestinians are not the rockets, not the suicide bombers, but resistance itself: whether peaceful or violent. Non-violent protests have also evoked brutal and even murderous responses from the Israeli army. The Palestinian's very existence denies the legitimacy of the Zionist claim of Palestine having been “a land without a people.” That they don’t agree to being exiled forever, to being denied their human, civil and political rights, that they don’t agree to disappear—that is the real crime of the Palestinians.

And if some of my fellow Jews assert that after 2,000 years we still have an attachment to the land and claims on it, do we really believe that the Palestinians will, after mere decades, surrender their rights, no matter how many of them are killed, jailed, tortured, and humiliated?

Peace is possible, and both Palestinians and Israelis have a right to lives of security, to an existence where they don’t have to fear their children being killed nor their children being compelled to kill others. It’s good to recall that there is another Israel, not just that of the politicians and the generals and the settlers. It’s the Israel of those thousands—that saving remnant--who demonstrate in Tel Aviv against this latest atrocious war, and of those young people who choose jail and social opprobrium rather than serve as jailers, oppressors and murderers of Palestinians.

As the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has said, "In the name of the holocaust memory let us hope the world would not allow the genocide of Gaza to continue." Pappe, himself the son of Holocaust survivors, uttered those words in 2006. Not much has changed since then, only for the worse.