Press Release: Digging Tunnels into Gaza Prison

Today Monday, June 8^th 10:00 am Erez checkpoint

The besieged Gaza Strip is now globally known as:  ”the biggest open-air prison in the world.” 1.5 million people are crowded in a confined and walled space they cannot leave - unless they receive a special permit from their jailors or a temporary pardon from a body that is NOT their chosen government.

The residents/prisoners of Gaza (over 750,000 of whom are children) are subject to the rules and edicts of the prison warden - the Israeli Ministry of Defense which decrees what goods and merchandise can be brought into the Gaza prison. The list of contraband items often changes according to the whim of all-powerful rulers - the Israeli security/defense forces.  Among the latest items on the sanctioned list of essentials are: pumpkin, tea, coffee, chocolate, clothes and shoes, books, hair conditioner, wood, plates and glasses, furniture, light bulbs, toys, iron, cement, paper, candles and matches, sheets, blankets, musical instruments, animals, silverware, threads and needles, semolina, sesame/tahina, jelly/jam, nuts and fuel.

The Coalition of Women for Peace, and the international feminist organization Code Pink decided that the ‘black list” should be wiped clean. They will arrive today (Monday, June 8^th) with the clown doctor Patch Adams and with boxes of contraband at the prison gates, the Erez checkpoint. We will ask the soldiers manning the checkpoint and their commanders to use their common sense and their sense of decency to allow the representatives of Code Pink to pass these harmless and vital goods to the “Red Crescent Society” in Gaza.

However, as of yesterday (Sunday) the army has refused the delivery into Gaza of playground facilities such as slides, swings, and kites, so it is apparent that this will not be a simple task. If the items cannot be passed through the regular channels we will be obliged to make use of the methods commonly used today to bring vitally necessary commodities into Gaza: by digging tunnels.

While working for active penetration, the precise nature of the location will be exposed by means of signs stating clearly “This is Gaza prison”.

After the disillusion we experienced today, we will make forceful and creative efforts to succeed in our goal to smuggle at least some of the forbidden goods into Gaza.

Contraband to Gaza Prison, Monday, June 8^th, Erez checkpoint, 10:00 am.

In the Media

Article in Ynet News (English): Protest against the siege on Gaza: chocolate and a playground

Dozens of peace activists belonging to Israeli, US groups erect playground on Israeli side of Erez crossing to send message that ‘Gaza is the biggest prison in the world.

“We came here despite knowing that the chances of transferring these ‘goods that threaten Israel’s security’ were slim. We want to send a message that Gaza is the biggest prison in the world,” activist Lana Haskiya (24) told Ynet.

“The Israeli army won’t allow children to play on a swing set because it’s a security risk? It’s just a playground,” she said. “We want the entire world to see what the IDF is preventing us from transferring to Gaza.”

Code Pink cofounder Medea Benjamin said, “The US allots $3 billion worth of the taxpayers’ money to the Israeli army each year, and as citizens it is our responsibility to see what is being done with this money and document it. Keep reading

Ynet (Hebrew): Left activists constructed a playground next to Erez crossing

Dozens of left activists constructed a playground on the Israeli side of the Erez crossing, in protest that IDF prevents them to pass humanitarian supplies to the children in Gaza strip.

“In this action we are trying to send a message that Gaza is the biggest prison in the world”, said Lana Khaskia, the Coordinator of the Coalition of Women for Peace. “The Israeli army does not allow children of Gaza to play with swings because it is a threat to security? This is just a playground”, she added.

Press Release: A Summer Camp in Gaza?

Playground for bombed Kindergartens and Checkpoint Circus

Sunday 7^th June, 10:00, Erez checkpoint

More than 750,000 children are incarcerated without a trial in Gaza - the largest prison in the world.  It is forbidden to send toys and playground equipment into Gaza.

The Israeli authorities define even paper and crayons a “Security Hazard”. In defiance of this obituary and cruel regulation, a delegation of Israeli and American feminists, residents of neighboring towns, the clownish doctor Patch Adams and the Israeli Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (ICIRCA), will travel on Sunday to the Erez Checkpoint. We will come to the sealed crossing armed with Slides, Swings, Kites, Magic castles and similar deadly weapons, in order to pass them through to the besieged and bombed kindergartens in Gaza.

The action is organized by the Coalition of Women for Peace (Israel) and Code Pink (USA). The Code Pink activists have already achieved the construction of one kindergarten playground in Gaza, and staged a rally during President Obama’s speech in Cairo, demanding the president put his money where his mouth is, and cut the US funding of the siege on Gaza.

Patch Adams, the protagonist of the 1998 Robin Williams film, will stage a border-line clown show deflating the ballooning cruelty and arrogance of the siege and highlighting the absurdities robbing the children of Gaza of their right to a life of safety, freedom, and laughter. The Clown Army will be aiding and abetting.

Code Pink will attempt to traffic the playgrounds through the border.  If apprehended by the Israeli army, insistent on denying the children of Gaza -  hundreds of whom have been killed and thousands orphaned in the long years of siege -  the fundamental right of PLAY, the Playgrounds will be erected on the border.

Kindergartens for Gaza - Sunday, June 7, Erez Checkpoint, 10:00 am.

For details and interviews please contact Tamara