People's Republic of South Devon » Jenny Linnell

Jenny Linnell, Totnes peace worker, in Exeter on her time in Gaza during the Israeli invasion

PRSD — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:13:15 +0000

Totnes peace worker Jenny Linnell kept the PRSD – and the world – informed of the plight of the people of Gaza during the Israeli invasion. She was in Exeter talking about her experiences, Richard Seaford reports

On Thursday, October 15 at the University of Exeter an audience of over 100, mostly students, came to hear Jenny Linnell on her year as a volunteer in the ISM (International Solidarity Movement) in Gaza, and Sameh Habeeb, a Palestinian freelance photo-journalist, on the Gaza massacre of last December January. Of especial interest was the first-hand witnessing of what does not get into the media.

For instance, we saw remarkable film taken from Gaza fishing boats. The Gazans have every right under international law to fish up to 12 miles out to sea from their own coast (and under the Oslo accords they have 20 miles). But when they go one or two miles out they are regularly harassed by Israeli gunboats. This takes the form of water cannon (laced with chemicals), shooting at the boat and nets, seizure and impounding of the boats (to damage the engine etc), and shooting at the fishermen. This last does not take place when there are international observers present (just one example of the vital work that these people do). Despite the great dangers, the fishermen continue to fish, as the only way of feeding their families.

This is of course all completely illegal. It shows what can happen when there is a complete ‘culture of impunity’, when the military know that whatever they do, they will not be held to account.

But why are they doing it? There is no security rationale. The idea that one of the most powerful militaries in the world is threatened by a few fishing boats is laughable. And anyway, security would require searching, not shooting etc.

Only two alternatives remain: either it is just collective sadism, or it is part of a deliberate policy of making life so intolerable for the Palestinians that eventually they will want to leave (slow-motion ethnic cleansing). It would be just one of innumerable comparable measures (like destroying the tanks in which Palestinians collect rain water).

Jenny’s first-hand account, together with film of the fishing boats being harassed by the gunboats, was very compelling. A lot of students went away with a much clearer idea of what the Israel-Palestine conflict is about. The meeting also included a call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions.

Advertise on the PRSD from 1p a click for text ads or from 25p CPM for display advertising

The PRSD is part of News and Media Republic, a not-for-profit independent media company. We believe communication helps build confident communities. We don't believe in paywalls or barriers to information, and we rely on advertising and donations. To help us keep doing what we're doing please donate (suggested donation 40p).

News and Media Republic: People's Republic of South Devon • the Devon Week • Arts+Culture • D+CFilm • SouthWestShows

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Jenny Linnell and Sameh Habeeb: Witness to War Crimes – Gaza Testimonies event in Exeter

PRSD — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:58:51 +0000

Totnes peace activist Jenny Linnell and photo journalist Sameh Habeeb will speak at the Witness to War Crimes – Gaza Testimonies event at the Arab and Islamic Studies Institute at Exeter University on Thursday, October 15 at 7pm.

Jenny reported what was happening in the Gaza strip during the Israeli invasion in January and February this year, when she worked as a volunteer peace observer for the International Solidarity Movement.

The event is organised by the Exeter University Friends of Palestine and Exeter Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Read Jenny’s reports on the PRSD

Advertise on the PRSD from 1p a click for text ads or from 25p CPM for display advertising

News and Media Republic: People's Republic of South Devon • the Devon Week • Arts+Culture • D+CFilm • SouthWestShows

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Peace activist Jenny Linnell is back in the UK

PRSD — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:00:55 +0000

Jenny Linnell has returned to the UK despite months of delays at the Egyptian boarder after her time as human rights volunteer observer for the International Solidarity Movement in the Gaza Strip.

She was having trouble returning home because Israel and Egypt wouldn’t let her cross the border, despite have all the correct documentation.

Her friends began an email, letter and phone campaign to put pressure on the authorities to allow her through the border controls.

Richard Taylor, a friend of Jenny’s in Totnes, said: “She’s back in the UK and we are all very relieved that she is safe and sound. She travelled overland after she received a call from the British consulate in Cairo telling her if she went straight to the border now she’d be able to go across.”

Jenny’s route home was via Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. She touched down in Heathrow on Satruday.

Liz Snook said: “A big thank you to every one who put pressure on the Foreign office, the Egyptian Embassy and MP and MEPs. It seems to have worked. I’m so pleased she’s back.”

posted by Cptn

Read Jenny Linnells reports on the Israeli invasion of Gaza

Advertise on the PRSD from 1p a click for text ads or from 25p CPM for display advertising

News and Media Republic: People's Republic of South Devon • the Devon Week • Arts+Culture • D+CFilm • SouthWestShows

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Tips on calling campaign to get peace worker Jenny Linnell home

PRSD — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:06:42 +0000

The calling campaign to get Totnes peace worker Jenny Linnell home from Gaza began yesterday, Monday, July 6, and we’ve got some tips on what to do. Before you call, take a look at the letter detailing the events, which you can also use as part of your campaign.

Jenny Linnell was in the Gaza Strip as a peace worker for International Solidarity Movement and sent stories home from behind the scenes of the Israeli invasion of what was actually taking place there. At the moment she’s trying to return home, but is being refused entry into Egypt. The phone and letter campaign is to put pressure on the authorities to allow her into the country for the first stage of her journey.

“Ladies, for the Egyptian embassy in particular deploy your dads/other handy males as well as yourselves,” says Liz Snook.

“We’ve been playing it polite so far, but persistant and lengthy. Being reasonable but taking up loads and loads of their precious time is probably our best bet, but deal with as you see fit. Some bad cops to go with the good cops may help.”

The campaign aims to call daily until Wednesday (July 8), step back and assess, and then crank if up from there if there is no movement.

Numbers
The Egyptian Embassy in London
phone 020 7499 3304/2401
Fax: 020 7491 1542

The British Foreign Office
Middle East Desk
Tel: 020 70088784
Email: jill.bayliss@fco.gov.uk and trish.wise2@fco.gov.uk

Advertise on the PRSD from 1p a click for text ads or from 25p CPM for display advertising

News and Media Republic: People's Republic of South Devon • the Devon Week • Arts+Culture • D+CFilm • SouthWestShows

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Human rights volunteer Jenny Linnell stuck in Gaza – call to help her get home

PRSD — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Jenny Linnell, from Totnes, a human rights volunteer observer for the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza, who sent stories to the PRSD about what was going on inside Gaza during the Israeli invasion, is having trouble getting home.

She’s been trying to leave the Gaza Strip through Egypt, but she’s being denied entry. We got this message calling on people to help get her home.

Worker and Human Rights Observer, Totnes’ Jenny Linnell (OJ) is being denied entry to Egypt, effectively holding her prisoner in the Gaza strip. She has been trying to leave for over a month, having been working there for the past 7 months.

As a British Citizen she has a right toi leave and come home to the UK. We need to get her safely into Egypt to get her home as a matter of urgency, as this abuse of human rights needs to be nipped in the bud.

Please ring the numbers below to put pressure on the foreign office to act. She needs as many people as possible to phone to give her the best chance of getting out. Please help by phoning from Sunday, July 5 onwards (each day if possible)!

The letter gives you an idea of the situation – as well as being a potential letter to be personalised / and or simply signed from you for printing off and posting or emailing to the email addresses below. Please help us get OJ home to the UK – we are all worried about her.

The latest details re contacting embassies and other organisations are now:

London Palestine Solidarity Campaign, International Solidarity Movement, Jews for Justice For Palestinians, Amnesty International – Please contact these networks and organisations for their support too.

The British Embassy in Cairo
Tel: 0020 227916000
Email: Richard.Fielder@fco.gov.uk

The Foreign Office
Middle East Desk
Tel: 020 70088784
Email: jill.bayliss@fco.gov.uk and trish.wise2@fco.gov.uk

Office hours (for the British Embassy in Cairo) are 8.30am-3.30pm with a 2 hour time difference (Egypt two hours later than the UK) – (Start the phoning from Sunday, July 5… they are open!)

It’s cheaper to call Egypt via Telediscount on 08719994994, or obtain a phonecard for the Middlle East. Faxes will be better sent during office hours so there’s someone on the receiving end. Emails can probably be sent anytime.

Check out the letter you case use to help bring Jenny home
Read some of Jenny’s reports from the Gaza Strip

Advertise on the PRSD from 1p a click for text ads or from 25p CPM for display advertising

News and Media Republic: People's Republic of South Devon • the Devon Week • Arts+Culture • D+CFilm • SouthWestShows

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Images from the Gaza after the troops left by Jenny Linnell

PRSD — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:04:35 +0000

These images were taken by Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell in the Gaza Strip town of Jabalia after the troops withdrew from the area.

Read Jenny Linnell’s reports from Gaza:
• Jenny Linnell report from Gaza after the troops left (25.01.09)
• Update from Jenny Linnell in Gaza (25.01.09)
• Images of Gaza. Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell charts the escalation in the ground offensive. 14.01.09 (16.01.09)
• Jenny Linnell in Rafah, Gaza from 14.01.09 (16.01.09)
• News from Jenny Linnell in Gaza, 15.01.09 (15.01.09)
• Images of Gaza from Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell: Jan 12 (14.01.09)
• Jenny Linnell’s news from the Gaza Strip (14.01.09)
• Images of Gaza from Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell (05.01.09)
• News from the Gaza Strip plus protest in Exeter against Middle East violence (05.01.09)

Jenny Linnell report from Gaza after the troops left

PRSD — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:21:10 +0000

Jenny Linnell‘s report from the Gaza strip after the troops left. This report is dated Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Earlier this week, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, residents returned to some of the areas which had become no-go zones during the attacks, such as Jabalia just outside Gaza City. On Tuesday, January 20, ISM Gaza Strip volunteers joined a university professor as he visited his house in the east of Jabalia. We were shown from room to room around the bombed-out shell of what had once been a beautiful home. When asked if he and his family would continue to live there, he replied calmly that it was their right to and that they would never leave their land.

As we made our way up the hill through the orange grove beyond the professor’s house, we encountered evidence of where tanks had been positioned – churned up ground, tank tracks, uprooted olive trees. At the top of the hill, from where the Green Line was clearly visible, we began to see homes which had been totally destroyed, several stories concertinaed. Families sat together on the rubble of their homes. Children collected firewood from the dismembered limbs of fruit trees.

At first it seemed as though it was ‘just’ a cluster of 10 or 15 destroyed houses, which would have been bad enough in its own right. However, as we continued walking it became apparent that the devastation extended into the next street and the next, more and more destroyed and damaged homes following one another. This entire neighbourhood on this easternmost edge of Jabalia had been virtually wiped off the face of the earth. It resembled the site of some massive natural disaster. However ,this ground zero was entirely man-made.

The gouged-out windows of some of the homes still standing were filled with dark green sand bags. This was a sign these houses had been used by the Israelis as sniper positions. One could barely imagine how the situation must have been in this neighbourhood when it was under attack.

We met a blind woman who had been held prisoner for 11 days in one room of her home, along with a paralysed man, while Israeli soldiers used it as a base. Terrified and expecting to be killed at any time, they were given water twice during their ordeal. When the Red Crescent evacuated them, the woman said she could finally breathe for the first time since the soldiers arrived. The walls had been daubed with Hebrew graffiti, empty plastic food trays were strewn around and the stairway stank of urine.

In the wake of a Gazan holocaust, thousands of people are finding themselves in truly desperate situations. A traumatized but resilient population is somehow beginning to pick up the pieces. Merely continuing to exist is a form of resistance.

Read Jenny Linnell’s reports from Gaza:
• Update from Jenny Linnell in Gaza (25.01.09)
• Images of Gaza. Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell charts the escalation in the ground offensive. 14.01.09 (16.01.09)
• Jenny Linnell in Rafah, Gaza from 14.01.09 (16.01.09)
• News from Jenny Linnell in Gaza, 15.01.09 (15.01.09)
• Images of Gaza from Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell: Jan 12 (14.01.09)
• Jenny Linnell’s news from the Gaza Strip (14.01.09)
• Images of Gaza from Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell (05.01.09)
• News from the Gaza Strip plus protest in Exeter against Middle East violence (05.01.09)

Update from Jenny Linnell in Gaza

PRSD — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:18:41 +0000

News from Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell in the Gaza strip for International Solidarity Movement is that she is escorting visiting journalist, filming and interviewing, and trying to follow the cases of some of the children attempting to leave the country for treatment. The boy who lost his sister and grandfather and was burned by phospherous has made it to a hospital in Egypt, she says. Two other seriously injured kids were going to try and cross the southern border today.

Yesterday she had a brief chance to catch up with the fishermen that she had been accompanying before the shelling started. Despite the bombardment from the sea they survived, but have lost relatives.

The BBC has blocked broadcasting of the joint Disasters Emergency Appeal for aid to Gaza. They can be forced to do a U turn if enough people complain. This is a mass campaign. Use this web address to post your complaint: www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

Jenny’s latest report from Gaza, from January 20, will follow.

Images of Gaza. Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell charts the escalation in the ground offensive. 14.01.09

PRSD — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:07:07 +0000

Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell‘s images from the Gaza Strip charting an “escalation of the ground offensive”. Read the full report, Jenny Linnell in Rafah, Gaza from 14.01.09.

Jenny Linnell in Rafah, Gaza from 14.01.09

PRSD — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:03:19 +0000

“It was the hardest day of our lives.”
Wednesday 14th January, 2009.
The latest report of what’s happening in Gaza from 33-year-old Totnes resident Jenny Linnell.

In an escalation of the ground offensive in the south of the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces terrorised the population of Khoza’a, a small rural community east of Khan Younis. They entered the area at about 3am on the morning of Tuesday, January 13 in an incursion lasting until Tuesday evening. This follows heavy missile strikes on Khoza’a in recent days, notably on Saturday, January 10.

According to a local municipality official, approximately 50 homes were bulldozed along with farmland, olive and citrus groves. The scent of lemons could faintly be determined while navigating the wreckage, emanating from so many mangled trees. A family explained how their home was demolished with them inside it. They sheltered in the basement as the upper storeys were destroyed. Later they realised the basement itself was being attacked and narrowly missed being crushed to death by escaping through a small hole in the debris.

Iman Al-Najar was with her family in their home when military D-9 bulldozers began to demolish it. They managed to escape and Iman then encouraged some of her neighbours to try to leave the vicinity. The group of women were instructed by Israeli soldiers to leave by a particular street. They had children with them and carried white flags, yet when they reached the street Israeli special forces concealed in a building opened fire on them and shot 50 year-old Rowhiya Al-Najar. The other women desperately tried to rescue her but the gunfire was too heavy and they had to flee for their lives. An ambulance was also prevented from reaching her and she bled to death in the street.

Meanwhile, Iman and about 200 other residents whose homes had been destroyed had gathered near her uncle’s house which was protecting them to some degree from the shooting. However, this area in turn was also attacked. Iman described how the bulldozers began piling debris up around them, effectively creating a giant hole that they were standing in. They were literally about to be buried alive. By some miracle they managed to also escape from this situation by crawling on their hands and knees for about 150 metres. It was extremely difficult for them to move, especially with the injured and the elderly.

The terrified residents then sought sanctuary at a local UNRWA school. But when they got there missiles were being fired around it and they had to retreat. Finally they managed to leave the area entirely and walked several kilometres to where friends were able to pick them up. Iman’s 14-year-old brother Mohammed was missing for 12 hours and she feared he was dead. He had been detained by soldiers in a house along with a neighbour who had begged to be let out to find her children but was not allowed to do so. When the soldiers had shot Rowhiya Al-Najar, Mohammed said they had been singing and dancing and forced him to do the same. When he refused, they threatened to shoot him too.

“It was the hardest day of our lives,” repeated Iman over and over again. She had nothing left in the world but the clothes she was standing up in, but under the circumstances she was lucky to escape with her life. As in so many other parts of the Gaza Strip, the atrocities committed against civilians in Khoza’a amount to war crimes.

Missiles believed to contain white phosphor were deployed by the Israeli military during this attack. ISM volunteers photographed a fist-sized lump of flaming material found on the ground next to a burnt-out home. It was still burning from the previous day. The only way to extinguish it was to bury it, but it would instantly re-ignite if uncovered. It was giving off a thick grey smoke with a foul stench. Doctors at the Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which received 50 casualties that day from Khoza’a, described serious chemical burns and victims being covered in a white powder which continued to burn them. Many people were also suffering from serious breathing difficulties after inhaling smoke emitted by this weapon.

Dr Ahmed Almi, a member of the delegation of Egyptian doctors who finally gained entry to the strip to support Gazan hospitals during the crisis, outlined some of the most serious cases. Four of them died in the hospital after doctors battled to save them. He commented that some of the injuries were so horrific they must have been inflicted by abnormal munitions. He gave the example of a man who had been shot and sustained a small entry wound but massive exit wound, 40-50 cm wide. Thirteen people were killed overall during this incursion according to medical sources.

Before the Israeli war on Gaza began, the ISM team here had been working with the farming community in Khoza’a, accompanying local farmers as they succeeded to access their land to plant winter wheat. The IOF had prevented them from reaching their fields, in some cases for over five years. Israeli soldiers shot at them, even during the ceasefire. The same ceasefire which Israel claims was broken by Palestinians.

• pictures and video to follow

News from Jenny Linnell in Gaza, 15.01.09

PRSD — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:46:03 +0000

Lou Brown spoke to South Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell, who is in the Gaza Strip. This is the report of their conversation:

“Yesterday they went to a rural area nearby where she worked last time she was in Gaza. There was an incursion there on Tuesday, troups entered and left again. They started bulldozing her friend’s house while she and her family were still inside.

“When she and another group of women and old people tried to escape the area troops proceeded to directly attack and nearly kill them four times in one day. OJ documented the remains of a white phospherous flare and did interviews. Fida is currently writing a piece about it for the Guardian Weekend. Jenny is writing a short factual report out soon on ‘palsolidarity’ (website).

“Then they went to the hospital in Kahn Younis and interviewed one of the doctors who has been seeing injuries that are made by weapons he’s never encountered before, including bullets that create 50cm wide exit wounds. OJ said that she hadn’t slept for a couple of nights, or eaten that day, and collapsed when she saw the intensive care ward. I mention this because I doubt she will in her report. But she says she was so knackered last night she slept through the shelling, and today they have some electricity so are getting on with phone interviews to Russia and other places, and report writing.”

• The emailed message included some graphic pictures of killed and injured children, as Jenny said: “Very shocking photos of children at the end. The type you’re not likely to see in mainstream media. The type that show the truth.” We have not reproduced them.

• Is the media guilty of skewed reporting of the attacks on Gaza?

Images of Gaza from Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell: Jan 12

PRSD — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:43:11 +0000

Jenny Linnell told the PRSD: “At approximately 3am on Sunday, January 11, Israeli F-16 fighter jets bombed the buildings of the Dar al-Fadila Association for Orphans, which included a school, a college, a computer centre and a mosque, on Taha Hussein Street in the Kherbat al-’Adas neighbourhood in the north-east of Rafah.”

Read her full report, of the event’s on the Gaza Strip.

These images feature the ‘A’ and ‘B’ Boys Preparatory Schools close to Rafah city centre, which have become temporary homes for nearly 2,000 people. And below the images of the destroyed mosque.

People's Republic of South Devon » Jenny Linnell

Jenny Linnell, Totnes peace worker, in Exeter on her time in Gaza during the Israeli invasion

Jenny Linnell and Sameh Habeeb: Witness to War Crimes – Gaza Testimonies event in Exeter

Peace activist Jenny Linnell is back in the UK

Tips on calling campaign to get peace worker Jenny Linnell home

Human rights volunteer Jenny Linnell stuck in Gaza – call to help her get home

Images from the Gaza after the troops left by Jenny Linnell

Similar Posts:

Jenny Linnell report from Gaza after the troops left

Similar Posts:

Update from Jenny Linnell in Gaza

Similar Posts:

Images of Gaza. Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell charts the escalation in the ground offensive. 14.01.09

Similar Posts:

Jenny Linnell in Rafah, Gaza from 14.01.09

Similar Posts:

News from Jenny Linnell in Gaza, 15.01.09

Similar Posts:

Images of Gaza from Devon peace worker Jenny Linnell: Jan 12

Similar Posts: