Some things are amazingly simple. In Sheikh Jarrah you can see pure theft in all its starkness. The Bible says “Thou shalt not steal,” and it – God, that is – was referring to Sheikh Jarrah. Any one can see it. The shocking thing, of course, is that the whole apparatus of the modern state – the municipality, its committees and master plans and grey bureaucrats, the mayor, the government, the Prime Minister, the cabinet, the courts, the police, the secret services – all these have colluded in actively perpetrating the theft.
Activism
A few weeks ago, human rights activist, Ezra Nawi, was released from jail after serving a month’s sentence following his attempt to prevent a bulldozer from destroying Palestinian homes in the South Hebron Hills… Today, his pickup truck is falling apart, and he desperately needs to replace it. Ezra cannot afford to buy a car, so a group of friends has decided to collect donations so that Ezra can buy a newer car, which will, in turn, enable him to continue his important work in the West Bank.
Hollywood actors Meg Ryan and Dustin Hoffman backed out of attending this year’s annual Jerusalem Film Festival, which is set to kick off this coming Thursday, following the international outcry over Israel’s attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.
A Palestinian music video.
This week we will join with other groups using the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign to pressure the Israeli government to respect human rights & international law, and to raise money for an important documentary film about Operation Cast Lead, the assault on Gaza.
Stuart Henochowicz: “I certainly don’t think Emily is a self-hating Jew … I think she is an ethical Jew of the highest order. I think she is what Jewish people should be about. I don’t think Emily should be a poster person for anyone … Emily is her own person … The Palestinians have been living in a cage for 43 years, so my heart goes out to them. … This is what Emily saw.”
IOA Editor: Emily surely isn’t a (self) hating person. The term “self-hating Jew” is a trick as old as the Occupation itself. Some of us continue to be subjected to it — for decades now — simply because we challenge the legitimacy of the Occupation. The same people using such name-calling also try twisting our criticism of the Occupation, calling us “delegitimizers.”
More on Emily and her artwork:
Images: Art – Emily Henochowicz
[B]anking sanctions impact quickly upon financial elites who have the clout to pressure governments to concede political change. Trade sanctions, by contrast, impact hardest on the poor or lower-paid workers, who have virtually no political influence. SWIFT will, however, only take action against Israeli banks if ordered to do so by a Belgian court, and then only in very exceptional circumstances. Such very exceptional circumstances are now well-documented by the UN-commissioned Goldstone report.
Five activists who caused £180,000 damage to an arms factory were acquitted after they argued they were seeking to prevent Israeli war crimes… The five admitted they had broken in and sabotaged the factory, but argued they were legally justified in doing so.
Israeli and Polish activists met in the ruins of Warsaw’s old Jewish Ghetto; they sprayed ‘Liberate All Ghettos’ in Hebrew, followed by ‘Free Gaza and Palestine’ in English on a wall of an original block in the ghetto…
The bill was introduced by 25 Knesset members, of both coalition and opposition parties. The bill would outlaw a wide range of BDS activities, both inside and outside of Israel and in the Occupied Territories, heavily penalize participants, and be applied one year retroactive to its effective date. Also, this proposed law would require the state of Israel to monitor the views and actions of activists abroad.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns aggressive measures taken by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in East Jerusalem, which are part of a series of measures aimed at ethnic cleansing and creating a Jewish majority in the city.
A Swedish Dock-workers union week-long blockade of goods to and from Israel is underway. The ongoing nation-wide blockade in Swedish harbors, based on the request of the united Palestinian union-movement, is the Swedish Dockworkers Union’s attempt to contribute to pressuring Israel on: Lifting the blockade on Gaza, and allowing an independent, international investigation of the Israeli boarding of the Freedom Flotilla.
Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement launched the first computer game of its kind in Israel: “Safe Passage” allows the user to experience interactively the restrictions on movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank through innovative use of animation, flash documents, video clips and a blog. The game includes an archive of dozens of legal documents.
My story is that the Israeli intelligence, “the Shabak”, assumed something without knowing and without any evidence. I was requested and forced to explain to them in a very detailed way how exactly I did what I didn’t do, ever. In case of any logical problem for them to complete the puzzle, they have the legal tools to fill it in by so-called secret evidence, which my lawyers and I have no legal right to know about.
A new bill, the third in a series of proposed laws seeking to restrict the activities of peace activists and human rights organizations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), has been proposed by a group of Members of the Israeli parliament.
“The Coalition of Women for Peace declares its support for Italian supermarket chains COOP and Nordiconad’s decision to suspend sales of Agrexco produce in their stores, and hopes that more supermarket chains will follow in their footsteps.”
Joe Sacco: “A singular achievement – both a stunning photographic essay of how Israel’s concrete wall has cut into Palestinian land and strangled whole communities and a powerful visual record of how local and international graffiti artists have battered it with their only weapons, paint and spray cans.”
In France, the campaign to boycott Ahava Dead Sea cosmetics has entered a new phase with boycott, divestment and sanctions advocates taking legal action against the Sephora cosmetics retail chain’s contract with the company.
Divestment is a nonviolent form of economic protest long-used… to encourage companies to end unjust practices. By selling its investments in Caterpillar, General Electric, and Terex, the NIC expresses its commitment to do no harm with its investments and affirms the call of the UMC Book of Discipline to “avoid investments that appear likely, directly or indirectly, to support violation of human rights.”
The internationally agreed means to ensure ‘never again’ are the Geneva Conventions and Universal Declaration on Human Rights. These are the principles built by survivors of crimes against humanity, following the massacre, resistance and sacrifice of millions. These are principles that protect people from state violence. These are principles that are deliberately universal and not beholden to political party or ideological doctrine.
International statement concerning the legal consequences of the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla on 31 May 2010, with a special focus on the war crime of extensive appropriation of property.
AJJP joins the “Jüdische Stimme” (‘Jewish Voice’ for a Just Peace in the Near East, and Jews for Justice For Palestinians (UK) in sending the boat as a call to the leaders of the world to help Israel find her way to reason, to a sense of humanity and a life without fear.
Also: German Jews ‘inundated’ with requests to join new Gaza aid flotilla
IWPS is currently inviting applications from women who would like to join our team of long-term volunteers. Successful applicants will be invited to a 9 day training program in Portugal (Sept 11-19, 2010) and will serve a minimum of one 3 month term in the West Bank, Palestine, as well as supporting our work outside of Palestine. Application Deadline: 31 July 2010.
While pro-Palestinian activists and supporters of Israel lined opposite sides of South LaSalle Street outside the Northern Trust Building in Chicago on 9 June, James Owens, the outgoing CEO and Chairman of Caterpillar Inc., told a room full of shareholders the company was not responsible for the way Israel uses the bulldozers the company manufactures in the United States.
MK Haneen Zoabi (BALAD) faces death threats as the Israeli Knesset House Committee votes to revoke her parliamentary privileges for participating in the Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla and protesting against the blockade.
According to website of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Fahima converted to Islam in a mosque in Umm al-Fahm; Fahima served three years in prison for aiding the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.
IOA Editor:The Hebrew version of this story which, for domestic Israeli consumption, is entitled “Extreme Left-wing Activist…” states that Fahima served two years in Israeli prison. Interestingly, the more-detailed original Hebrew story leaves out the gossip about her “reported” affair with Zubeidil – and this is probably as gossipy an IOA story as you’d ever find, or so we hope.
A Swedish activist, Soren Johanssen who was reportedly standing near Henochowicz, was quoted as saying: “They fired many canisters at us in rapid succession. One landed on either side of Emily, then the third one hit her in the face.” Another protester, Jonathan Pollak, was quoted as saying that Border Policemen had intentionally aimed at the demonstrators.
IOA Editor: The extent of the demand made by the US embassy remains to be seen, especially since Israel Foreign Ministry says “We have not received an official request from the Americans on this matter.”
The myth of the brave and utterly infallible Israeli soldier is shattered. Now we can add: they are common thieves. For I was not the only one to be robbed of my money, credit card, clothes, MP3 player, laptop; the same happened to many others on the same ship as me, which was attacked early one morning by masked Israeli soldiers, who were thus in fact nothing other than lying pirates.
Israeli forces arrested the chairwoman of the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla at Friday’s demonstration in Bil’in, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, supporters said. Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American from Michigan, is a human rights activist who was on board the aid flotilla that came under attack Monday, in a raid that left nine dead.
An embargo on adequate food and medical aid can never be lawful, so those on board had the right to defend themselves. The attack by Israeli forces on the Turkish-registered vessel Mavi
Marmara in international waters was clearly unlawful.
US citizen Emily Henochowicz was shot directly in the face with a tear gas canister as she non-violently demonstrated against the Flotilla massacre.
June 5, 2010 marks 43 years since the Six-Day War and the beginning of the occupation. Three and a half million Palestinians live under Israeli occupation which denies their most basic freedoms. Gaza is hungry and under siege, no one is allowed in or out. Families are expelled from their homes; menacing walls keep apart families and friends, and separate farmers from their lands. Freedom to travel is denied to thousands who are forced daily to undergo humiliation and harassment at the checkpoints.
The Israeli navy this morning massacred at least 10 peaceful, unarmed citizens from many different countries sailing to Gaza with humanitarian aid. The massacre took place in international waters, 65 km off the coast of Gaza. Over 700 other participants have been abducted to Israel by the Israeli military.
READ MORE FOR DETAILS ABOUT DEMONSTRATIONS AND POLITICAL ACTIONS IN SCOTTLAND
LVMH-owned Sephora has been taken to court by the Palestinian rights organisation CAPJPO-EuroPalestine over the sale of cosmetics brand Ahava, according to press reports. Separately, the US women’s peace organisation, CodePink, organised a boycott of the products.
Adalah: “Trumped-up accusations made in indictments have become alarmingly common practice in security cases in Israel. They aim to justify the complete isolation and use of illegal methods of interrogation against detainees, and the imposition of gag orders on their cases.”
“I guess most Israelis would view me as a traitor… They would ask what right does someone who wasn’t born in Israel and who didn’t serve in the army have to criticize the state? But I came here out of great love, and I don’t intend to keep quiet just because I came from afar. I believe that there is no choice, that Israelis and Palestinians will live together. When I try to build connections between the two sides, I’m working for Israel’s good. The Bil’in people are very special… But they are not a rare species. There are many Palestinians like them.”
