JEWISH ACTORS IN SUPPORT OF THE ISRAELI ARTISTIC BOYCOTT

At the age of 86, Bikel, who fled his native Vienna for Palestine as a teenager after the Nazis’ takeover of Austria, still defines himself as a Zionist. But he no longer steers clear of criticizing the Jewish state, especially when it comes to its settlement policy. “Anyone who has strong feelings for Israel like I do, and that believes it is an absolute necessity to strive for peace, understands that the single most obvious obstacle are the settlements,” Bikel said.
Why Some Jewish Stars Support Israeli Artistic Boycott
By Nathan Guttman

Washington — Sixty-six years ago, Theodore Bikel, then a young actor in what would become the State of Israel, co-founded Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theatre. Today, Bikel is one of America’s iconic Jewish actors and folk singers, and is taking sides in a debate involving his fellow actors at the Cameri.

Known to many as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” Bikel has signed on to a letter expressing support for Israeli actors, directors and producers who declared that they would refuse to perform in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel.

“There’s an umbilical cord that ties me to Israel,” Bikel said in an interview with the Forward, “but I have to act according to my conscience.”

At the age of 86, Bikel, who fled his native Vienna for Palestine as a teenager after the Nazis’ takeover of Austria, still defines himself as a Zionist. But he no longer steers clear of criticizing the Jewish state, especially when it comes to its settlement policy. “Anyone who has strong feelings for Israel like I do, and that believes it is an absolute necessity to strive for peace, understands that the single most obvious obstacle are the settlements,” Bikel said.

That is why he joined the petition backing Israeli artists refusing to perform in the settlements. “I understand that art and politics should not mingle, but art also has to be part of the world,” he said.

The petition, published September 6, was signed by more than 150 showbiz figures, including Jewish artists who have long been involved in issues relating to Israel. Among them are Bikel, actor Ed Asner and playwright Tony Kushner. Other Hollywood and Broadway stars who signed the petition include composer Stephen Sondheim, Cynthia Nixon of “Sex and the City” and actor Mandy Patinkin.

“As American actors, directors, critics and playwrights, we salute our Israeli counterparts for their courageous decision,” the petition states. It goes on to praise the Israeli actors who “have refused to allow their work to be used to normalize a cruel occupation which they know to be wrong.”

Jewish Voice for Peace, a national left-wing Jewish group that refrains from defining itself as Zionist, organized the petition. The organization’s executive director, Rebecca Vilkomerson, said the idea was to provide support for the Israeli actors who were coming under attack at home after joining the Ariel Theatre boycott. “The first to sign on were the older ones, like Theodore Bikel and [Broadway producer] Hal Prince, because they remember the McCarthy times and the civil rights struggle,” she said.

Notwithstanding the stature of some of the signatories, Jacob Dayan, Israel’s consul general in Los Angeles and liaison to the film industry, said the letter heralded no shift against Israel in Hollywood. “I think our standing is really, really good,” he said.

The decision by several dozen Israeli actors, directors and playwrights to boycott the new theater hall in Ariel, a settlement in the central part of Judea that is home to 17,000 Jews, drew fierce reactions from the Israeli government. Limor Livnat, minister of culture and sport, accused the actors of creating a rift within Israeli society. She and other officials noted that the theater companies to which the actors belonged received state funding. Livnat added a veiled threat that mixing politics with art could lead to the government intervening in artistic content. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the government should not support financially “those who are trying to advance a boycott from within.”
Asner said he applauds the Israeli actors for “putting their necks on the line” and for their willingness to risk their careers. “I would like to see this kind of courage among American actors,” Asner said in a telephone interview with the Forward. The eight-time Emmy Award winner praised the Israeli actors for “taking a stand on an issue that no one else wants to touch.”

Asner’s views on Israel are skeptical at best. “I was an ardent Zionist at the beginning, but a lot of the fervor has cooled,” he said. Asner, 80, expressed his disappointment with Israel not becoming “a beacon for the nations,” but said he still believes “in Israel, but not in Israel with settlements.”

Bikel, too, said his vews of Israel have shifted over the years, beginning with the 1982 massacre committed by Christian Phalangist allies of Israel in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon. An Israeli government commission found that then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon bore “indirect responsibility” for the killings.

Today, Bikel is willing to state that he sees “some sort of similarities” between the situation in the West Bank and apartheid in South Africa, where he refused to perform until racial segregation was abolished. But he is ready to take on anyone who labels him anti-Zionist. “They are plainly wrong. I think I am more Zionist than anyone who thinks you should accept everything they say in Jerusalem as truth,” he said.
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/jewish-actors-in-support-of-the-israeli-artistic-boycott

"Anti-Israel boycott by Muslim shops goes Scotland-wide"

A nationwide boycott of Israeli goods is being launched across Scotland this weekend as activists target Muslim-owned shops in an attempt to stop them selling produce from the Jewish state.

The boycott, which started in the south side of Glasgow last weekend, was deemed so successful that campaigners decided to expand it. Campaigners from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) are now targeting shops run by Muslims in the rest of Glasgow and in Fife, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

In Glasgow, the protesters asked shop owners to take Israeli goods off their shelves and warned they would “name and shame” any store that did not do so. The SPSC says every shop it approached on the south side of the city backed the boycott.

However, prominent figures in the Jewish community warn that the “divisive” tactics of campaigners risked driving a wedge between communities instead of fostering dialogue.

The pressure we bring to bear is moral. We use the threat of publicity. There is no threat of strong-arming.

Mick Napier, chairman, SPSC

Mick Napier, chairman of the SPSC, oversaw a “clean sweep” of all Muslim-owned shops near the Nicholson Street mosque in Edinburgh on Friday. About 40 protesters went door to door, asking store owners to support the campaign.

“All the shops we visited backed the boycott and are now displaying posters to that effect,” he said. “The support we received from customers and passers-by was overwhelming.”

He added: “It’s been 100% successful. We often met with a response immediately, with people saying they would not dream of stocking Israeli goods.

“The pressure we bring to bear is moral. We use the threat of publicity. There is no threat of strong-arming.

“The reality is that Israel makes it impossible for Palestinian farmers to export almost anything. Palestinians were kicked off their land to make way for the illegal settlements, but the good news is that the boycott is kicking back. It’s great to see small shops in Scotland standing up for human rights.”

Napier also added that every shop visited in Dundee backed the boycott. Shopkeepers backing the boycott have put up a poster in their stores saying: “This shop supports the Palestinians. No Israeli produce sold here.”

Khalid Bashir, owner of the Red Sea Food Store in Nicholson Square, Edinburgh, is already boycotting Israeli goods and has agreed to display a poster. He said: “People ask about it all the time, but I am able to tell them I have been boycotting Israel for years. It should be easier now that I can display this poster.”

In Dundee, protesters targeted shops in the city centre. In Kirkcaldy, the three largest Muslim-owned shops all agreed to take part in the boycott. Shops in Glasgow’s West End are taking part; in Aberdeen, campaigners are preparing to talk to shops in the coming days.

Today, members of all faiths will meet to break the Ramadan fast at the Woodfarm Educational Trust in East Renfrewshire.

Dianna Wolfson, a prominent member of Glasgow’s Jewish community and a former convener of the Interfaith Council, which promotes dialogue between religions, will be attending. She warned that boycotts could derail the relations between communities.

She said: “There are people on both sides who would like to see peaceful settlements. This boycotting is not helpful. More needs to be done to explore how we can have peace with each other, rather than emphasising the warring aspect and divisive aspect of it.”

She added: “If people of different faiths were getting to know each other, they would be more likely to listen and hear the other side of the argument … to emphasis what is good on both sides, and come together.”

Wolfson said she would not consider boycotting goods from a country “that didn’t like Israel. It’s just not my thinking and I find it hurtful.”

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/anti-israel-boycott-by-muslim-shops-goes-scotland-wide-1.1052960

By Carlos Latuff
http://www.blackcommentator.com/index.html

West Bank boycott campaign impacting settlement economy

Grassroots Palestinian boycott campaigns across the occupied West Bank to take Israeli settlement products off the shelves of local stores have made an impact on the Israeli settlement economy, to the unease of the Israeli government, noted the Israeli daily Haaretz this week ("Palestinians 'adamant about continuing boycott on settlement goods'," 8 August 2010).

From the tightly-packed communities in refugee camps, to the sprawling urban areas in major cities, to the rural countryside, Palestinians have galvanized around campaigns to promote locally-made products and locally-harvested food instead of a myriad of items made in illegal settlement colonies on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), for its part, has produced pamphlets listing Israeli settlement-made products and delivered them to thousands of homes across the West Bank, urging Palestinians to buy Palestinian products and warning that trading of settlement products risks legal prosecution. But grassroots, local community initiatives have been working independent of the PA for years as activists have organized to educate and support business owners in making responsible choices in purchasing and selling merchandise.

Haaretz reports that the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor has asked the PA to cancel the boycott, citing supposed violations of international trade rules and feigning concern for Palestinian laborers who work in the settlements.

International trade laws do not apply to consumer boycotts, however, and the Israeli settlements themselves are entirely illegal under international law, including Articles 46 and 55 of the Hague Convention; Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 465. The illegality of Israel's settlements was reaffirmed in the 2004 ruling of the International Court of Justice at the Hague ("Israeli settlements fact sheet," Palestine Monitor, 15 March 2010).

Irish artists pledge to boycott Israel

In international boycott news, more than 150 Irish artists helped to launch a broad-based boycott of Israel, pledging on 13 August to refuse to perform or exhibit their work in Israel, and to refuse to accept funding or grants from institutions connected to the Israeli government. Through this campaign, Ireland has become the first country to enact a nation-wide cultural boycott movement against Israeli apartheid.

In a joint action with the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), artists drafted a statement, published on the IPSC website, that "commits signatories to boycotting the Israeli state until it respects international law" and notes that the artists are responding to a call from Palestinian civil society for a cultural boycott of Israel ("Dublin concert sees launch of 'Irish Cultural Boycott of Israel' pledge," 13 August 2010).

Musician Eoin Dillon was amongst the Irish artists who signed the pledge. IPSC states that his brother was on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May of this year, and was kidnapped and arrested when Israeli commandos attacked the ships, killing nine and wounding dozens.

Dillon told IPSC, "I encourage all Irish artists to take this pledge and thereby honor not only their own dignity but more importantly, the dignity of the Palestinian people."

The pledge was recognized by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which remarked in a statement on 11 August -- anticipating the artists' boycott action -- that this represents a "groundbreaking strategy in supporting the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice" ("Irish artists make BDS history ...").

"In the last few years, many international cultural figures have come out in support of the cultural boycott of Israel," PACBI added. "A statement authored by John Berger in support of the boycott gathered dozens of signatures, including some celebrities. Montreal, Canada, witnessed a most impressive initiative in this respect, where 500 artists issued a statement this last February committing themselves to 'fighting against [Israeli] apartheid' and calling upon 'all artists and cultural producers across the country and around the world to adopt a similar position in this global struggle' for Palestinian rights. Yet, the Irish artists have raised the bar of solidarity by pioneering the first nation-wide cultural stance in support of the boycott of Israel."

This cultural boycott initiative comes on the heels of last month's consumer boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign by the IPSC to deliver more than 6,000 signatures to a national supermarket chain, as customers demanded that the Dunnes markets stop selling Israeli-made products. Trade union officials, Sinn Fein activists and members of the Palestinian and South African communities in Ireland presented the petitions to the Dunnes stores in multiple locations across the country.

IPSC says that this campaign only took two weeks to gather signatures, and "comes a quarter-century after Dunnes was at the center of a bitter two-year campaign of boycott and pickets, when it sacked a group of workers who refused to handle South African goods" ("Petition: Thousands demand that Dunnes stop stocking Israeli goods," 29 July 2010).

Canadian union supports boat to Gaza

Meanwhile, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) officially called on Canadians to support the Canada Boat to Gaza project. The Canadian boat is to be included in a flotilla led by activists with international human rights organizations planning to deliver humanitarian aid to the beleaguered Gaza Strip in the coming months ("Postal Workers' Union: Get Mail to Gaza on the Boat," 12 August 2010).

The union has a long history of solidarity actions in support of justice for Palestinians, including drafting resolutions calling for an immediate end to the illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Following an announcement by Canada Post that Israel Post has suspended mail delivery to Gaza, the union is encouraging people who wish to send mail to Gaza to get their mail onto the Canadian boat bound for the blockaded Palestinian territory," CUPW stated.

The CUPW says that its support of the Canada Boat to Gaza was elevated when Israel Post recently informed Canada Post that Canadian mail would not be delivered to the Gaza Strip due to circumstances "beyond their control," according to the Canadian daily Vancouver Sun ("Canadian postal workers put stamp of approval on bid to break Gaza blockade," 12 August 2010).

Receiving mail in Gaza has been irregular for years, as Israel's illegal blockade against the strip continues. But according to Gaza's Director General of the Communications Ministry, Jalal Ismail, the mail delivery system has been delayed and government mail has remained undelivered for at least four months. Speaking to news agency The Media Line, Ismail said that mail disruptions "are not new" in Gaza. The Gaza-based Palestinian postal employee responsible for mail transfer in Gaza was arrested by Israeli forces, and Israel continues to stall in their "vetting" of a new postal liaison.

Israel has also blocked mail between Gaza and the West Bank, according to Maan News Agency ("Israel blocks mail between Gaza, West Bank," 20 May 2010).

Denis Lemelin, the CUPW's national president, explained the union's move to back the Gaza-bound boat actions: "As postal workers, we know very well that cutting off mail creates suffering and hardship for people, who are isolated from their loved ones. How many more abuses will the people of Gaza have to endure?"

"We are heartened by the growing international response to Israel's cruel treatment of the Palestinian people," continued Lemelin. "We stand in solidarity with all efforts to break the blockade and end the indignities imposed on the Palestinian people by the state of Israel."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11474.shtml

Accusations of anti-Semitism must never discourage us from exposing Zio-Nazism

by Khalid Amayreh
n recent days and weeks, I have been attacked with unusual ferocity and vindictiveness by the usual shipyard dogs standing guard at the gate of Israeli Nazism. They have called me, inter alia, "anti-Semitic journalist," "pro-Hamas" and a "Muslim-brotherhood operative." Two recent articles I have written seem to have upset the ever-barking watchdogs of Zionism, first an article titled "Muslims need to tackle Jewish Islamophobia," and another exposing the pseudo-Muslim Zionist agent "Sheikh" Palazzi, a notorious liar and promoter of Israeli colonialism and apartheid.

The hasbara goons just couldn't bear seeing Zionism's victims fight back, by exposing the Nazi nature of Israeli behavior whether in Gaza, the West Bank or southern Lebanon. Well, I am afraid I have bad news for these fanatical liars. This is only the beginning, and soon millions of people all over the globe will be emancipated from Zionist lies.

The recent outburst of smearing and vilification reflects the serious predicament facing Israeli hasbara efforts as more and more people around the world, including many sincere Jews, are discovering the truth about this satanic entity called Israel . Indeed, the "only democracy in the Middle East" is now being exposed as it really is, a Nazi state par excellance, a state that very much thinks, behaves and acts like the Third Reich did.

Of course, I am not going to be intimidated by the raving and ranting bullies. After all, we are too familiar with their dirty tactics and arrogant behavior. They can keep barking for as long as they want while the caravan will keep moving as the old adage goes.

In fact, their stupid regurgitation of the same stale lies, the same stale canards, and same stale charges and insinuations prove- if proof were needed- that I am on the right track. Yes, truth hurts those fearing it, and the Zionists supremacists must be really dreadful of the moment the peoples of the world will know the truth about Israel. This is especially relevant in North America and Europe where the Zionist-controlled or Zionist-influenced media has effectively enslaved the collective mind of millions of people for ages.

This is the reason the guardians of the evil temple are fighting every sign, every gesture, every statement, and every slip of a tongue which might lead to exposing the mendacious kosher narrative to light. The recent encounters of Helen Thomas and Oliver Stone with the guardians of the un-holy tribe are only food for thought for those who have the guts and the courage to call the spade a spade.

We, the peoples of the world, must keep up opposing and fighting Zio-Nazism since not doing so would lead to the enslavement of our future generations by the Nazis of our time.

We must oppose Zionism with all our mental strength because Zionism represents evil in this world. Yes, Zionism is powerful thanks to its enduring stranglehold on the politics and policies of the United States, Israel's guardian-ally. As such, Israel uses and manipulates the American empire to further Israeli goals, including ethnic cleansing and territorial aggrandizement in the West Bank. However, the strong doesn't remain strong for ever. Where is the British empire? Where is the Soviet Union?

In short, Israel, a country based on genocide, ethnic cleansing, land theft and obscene mendacity, is using America's mighty but unjust sword to spread violence, terror, racism, and bloodshed in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was Israel and its neo-con agents who eventually cajoled the manifestly gullible Bush administration to invade, occupy and destroy two sovereign Muslim nations, namely Iraq and Afghanistan. Hence, responsibility for the death of over a million Muslims in these two countries, as well as thousands of American soldiers, falls squarely on the head of the Zionist snake, Israel, and its cohorts in the US. More to the point, tons upon tons of children blood in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in Palestine and Lebanon, are on the murderous hands of these certified war criminals in Tel Aviv, people such as Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, Gabi Ashkenazi and others.

It is not our responsibility, as Muslims, if the American people rise or not rise up to deliver themselves and their country from Zionist enslavement. If the Americans are happy and satisfied with being enslaved by a tiny, brutal and diabolic entity 10,000 kilometers away, that is their choice.

However, the world's 1.6 billion Muslims can't behave likewise because Zio-Nazism is after Islam and Muslims no matter how obsequiously some Muslim leaders behave toward the American monkey and its Israeli organ-grinder.

A few years ago, a Zionist supremacist named Benny Elon met some evangelical leaders in a "Bible-belt state" in the southern United States . After chatting with these Christo-Nazis for a few minutes, Elon reportedly proposed a world-wide Christian-Jewish crusade to wipe out Islam off the face of earth. By Jewish standards, Elon wanted to carry out 267 holocausts!!!

Elon's desire was not merely a freak rabbi's mental masturbation styled after the Old-Testament genocidal episodes. He was expressing the morbid dreams and sadistic impulses of many Judeo-Nazis who have made hostility to Islam their ultimate goal, strategy and even raison d'etre. He was also addressing a country that had murdered millions of native Americans and called the genocide "manifest destiny."

Judeo-Nazism is much more than just a reaction to legitimate Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonialism and racism. It is rather an existential antithesis to every thing Islamic, every thing human, every thing just. Otherwise, what would make Israel demand the alteration of the laws of war in order to allow her to commit genocide and escape unscathed?

In short, they want to destroy all other religions and all other peoples whom they openly consider "non-humans."

Given their evil discourse, all free peoples in the world must speak up loudly against this dark peril, called Zionism.

They will try to use their ultimate weapons, including the holocaust industry and anti-Semitism to discourage the free voices of the world from calling the spade a spade. They want to coerce you and me to shut up.

But we must not shut up because our life and our future as free men and women are at stake, hence, if we did cower and shut up, God forbid, we would shed the tears of remorse and regret later.

In the final analysis, if standing against global Israeli Nazism, and if supporting the just and legitimate cause of the Palestinian people is a form of anti-Semitism, then "anti-Semitism" it self should become a moral obligation incumbent upon all the peoples of the world. But anti-Zionism is not and will never ever be anti-Semitism since many Jews view Zionism as representing the ultimate antithesis of Judaism.

Again, and for the umpteenth time, we repeat we are not and we will not be against Jews for being Jews. More to the point, we will fight with vigor all those within our ranks who display Judeo-phobic tendencies.

Having said that, I must also stress that all the insinuation about Muslim-anti-Semitism coming from Zionist mouthpieces will not make us rethink our strategic task of exposing the evilness of Zio-Nazism.

Zionism is evil even if it wears an outer Jewish or Judaic garment. And it must be fought relentlessly and fearlessly just as Aryan Nazism was fought relentlessly and fearlessly.
http://palestinefreevoice.blogspot.com/2010/08/accusations-of-anti-semitism-must-never.html

Don’t contribute at Israel Genocide at Gaza

http://artintifada.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/stand_against_the_war_ii_by_anitaru.png

At Berkeley, moral victory despite divestment vote loss

On 28 April, University of California, Berkeley's Student Senate narrowly missed an historic opportunity to divest its funds from United Technologies and General Electric which manufacture F-16 jets and Apache helicopters -- weapons sold to the Israeli military and used against civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

More than a month earlier, on 18 March 2010, the Student Senate approved a bill (SB118A) to divest from companies that provide military support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. UC Berkeley student body president Will Smelko vetoed SB118A a week later, and the bill was voted on again on 14 April and 28 April was the last debate considering the bill. However, the count was one vote short of the two-thirds majority (14 votes) needed to override the veto.

The battle at Berkeley -- part of a global movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions of apartheid Israel -- was closely watched. Speakers for the bill on 28 April and on 14 April included UC Berkeley faculty members Judith Butler, Daniel Boyarin, Hatem Bazian, law professor George Bisharat of UC Hastings and UN Special Rapporteur on human rights Richard Falk along with testimonies of Palestinian students living under Israeli occupation.

Notable personalities and dozens of activist groups on campus and around the world strongly supported the resolution. More than 40 student groups representing a variety of ethnic groups and political interests joined the call on the university to divest its funds from companies profiting from Israel's war crimes.

More than 100 UC faculty members, 45 from UC Berkeley, signed a statement supporting overriding the presidential veto. Prominent thinkers such as Naomi Klein, Alice Walker and five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates -- among them Archbishop Desmond Tutu -- supported UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine in their efforts to uphold the divestment bill.

Nobel Women Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Jody Williams issued a Statement of Support reading: "We stand united in our belief that divesting from companies that provide significant support for the Israeli military provides moral and strategic stewardship of tuition and taxpayer-funded public education money."

However, the tremendous amount of support for SB118A was not enough to override the veto.

According to a report in the Jewish Daily Forward, the Berkeley chapter of Hillel organized closed meetings for the student senators with representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Jewish Community Relations Council, J Street and Akiva Tor, the Israeli consul general of San Francisco ("How To Beat Back Israel Divestment Bill: Get Organized," 21 April 2010).

Some senators received threatening e-mails and Senator Emily Carlton told the Forward: "'There were undertones of intimidation'" during the meeting organized by Hillel. Three student senators reversed their votes over the course of multiple senate meetings and extensive lobbying efforts.

Waseem Salahi, a UC Berkeley student and senator-elect, questioned the influence of powers that be: "The senators knew what was right, but decided instead to cow to political pressure and intimidation." After the bill missed passage by one vote, international students expressed their dismay about attending a university that continues to actively support the oppression of their family members and friends overseas.

In support of the bill UC Berkeley alum Basima Sisemore told the student senators a moving story about her two-year-old cousin who died at an Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank because he was turned away while in need of medical attention.

The final speaker and visiting scholar from Palestine, Ibrahim Shikaki, drew a standing ovation from the audience by when he challenged the senators, saying: "the narrative that has captured you is the same that named Nelson Mandela and Malcom X terrorists. If that is the case, then I am a proud, indigenous, Palestinian freedom fighter, because that is what we are. Rethink your terminology, rethink your narrative, rethink injustice and rethink this veto."

Once it was clear the veto was going to be upheld, despite the wishes of the 700 students, educators and community members supporting the bill, the supporters exited the room with their mouths covered in tape in a gesture meant to convey that their voices had been silenced by the veto.

Senator Rahul Patel, who supported the bill from the beginning, invited student supporters to raise their left fist in the air and to walk out. Patel said their fists raised symbolized "The seeds of truth and freedom that we have sowed tonight."

Hundreds of students walked out of the meeting, and reconvened outside to share their feelings about the vote. UC Berkeley and SJP alum Sophia Ritchie said: "Something has shifted -- in the discourse, in the sheer numbers of people who are concerned, in the solidarity work and coalition building amongst a broad and truly diverse range of student and community groups, in the energy around Palestine -- that cannot be ignored. In this way, we are winning."

Dina Omar
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11244.shtml

H&M Whitewashing Squatter Colonization in Palestine

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls for international protests leading to a boycott of Swedish fashion giant H&M, particularly in the Arab World, in response to its opening of its second store in Israel, this time in the “Malha Mall” in Jerusalem, at a time when Israel is intensifying its illegal colonization of the occupied eastern part of the city.
Malha is one of the Palestinian villages that were ethnically cleansed during the 1948 Nakba and whose original.Palestinian inhabitants are refugees denied their UN-sanctioned right to return to their lands. Israel, to this day, continues its policies of ethnic cleaning in Jerusalem by evicting Palestinians from their homes and replacing them with Jewish colonial settlers and by constructing tens of thousands of housing units for those settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory. All Israeli colonies are regarded as war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
In addition to opening stores in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, H&M has announced its decision to open additional stores in Haifa, Petah Tikva, Netanya, and Rehovot. While H&M is clearly not the only international chain that is operating in Israel, its decision to invest substantially in Israel after its criminal war of aggression on Gaza and in the midst of its intensified colonization of Jerusalem in contravention of international law can only be understood by Palestinians and supporters of just peace around the world as a form of support for Israels abhorrent violations of international law and human rights.
H&M claims to adhere to the UN Global Compact, a corporate social responsibility initiative that obliges it to ensure it is “not complicit in human rights abuses. The UN’s Goldstone report has recently condemned Israel for committing not just grave human rights abuses but also war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during its Gaza massacre. By ignoring this and investing heavily in Israel’s economy at this time, H&M is violating its own commitments to the UN’s principles of ethical investment.

Solidarity activists in London picketed H&M’s flagship London store on Saturday, 13 March, and gave shoppers information about the Palestinian call for BDS. Groups in H&M’s native Sweden also picketed stores and called on the firm, which made profits of USD 2.2bn in 2009, to end its Israeli operations .

It is worth mentioning that Sweden and other Scandinavian countries have taken serious measures in the last few years to exclude companies implicated in Israel’s occupation and illegal building of colonies and the Wall from their pension funds [4]. Most recently, Danske Bank, the largest in Denmark, decided to divest from Elbit Systems and other Israeli companies involved in systematic human rights violations.

The BNC calls on solidarity organizations and people of conscience around the world, particularly in Arab states, to escalate their civil protests against H&M, reaching a total boycott of the chain, until it has ended its complicity in Israel’s system of occupation, colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people. Conducting business as usual with Israel is not only unethical; it is detrimental to the pursuit of a just peace based on international law.
http://www.kawther.info/wpr/2010/03/20/hm-whitewashing-squatter-colonization-in-palestine#more-7596

Antoine Raffoul – Full-Circle of The Waiting Game: Total Boycott Against Total Occupation

Reading Rifat Kassis's Opinion: Moment of truth (e.i. 4 March 2010) we are inspired to put a halt to the arguments that call for a selective boycott of Israel, and to defy those voices which warn us Palestinians (and many internationalists, for that matter) who criticise Israel for fear of being labelled 'anti-semites' (although we are Semites). We challenge politicians who call for yet another round of talks (proximity or otherwise) on the Palestine/Israel question. Shall we count how many of these talks have we had in the last 62 years?

A boycott cannot be selective anymore. As Mr Kassis wrote: "The occupation is not a random onslaught of power, and it isn't conducted on some remote soil: it is a complete matrix of control, a strategic, consistent, deliberate, historically constructed, externally condoned…" and, lest we forget, perpetrated on Palestinian land.

The point being missed by many calling for a selective boycott is that the decisions being made inside Israel, inside the OPT and throughout historic Palestine, are made by the Zionist leadership and its collaborators, whose aim is the total annexation, occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territories, not just post UNRES 181, not just post the Armistice Lines of 1949, not just post the 1967 conquests, but throughout historic Palestine.

The last 62 years of illegal Zionist conquest and occupation, cannot be swept aside by simply agreeing to a temporary status-quo pending final status agreements. Those painful 62 years cannot be parcelled into some kind of colonial areas called A, B, C, Gaza or Jerusalem. They cannot be relegated to the dustbin of history by a ceasefire, a checkpoint or an Apartheid Wall. As the occupation is total and illegal, then the boycott must be total and legal.

We should not just boycott the olive oil produced in the 'West Bank' because it is produced in an illegal settlement on the West Bank, but also boycott all products produced in all illegal settlements. We should not just boycott an academic institution involved in state financed military projects, but also boycott others involved in state financed cultural, scientific and academic activities. We should not just boycott an Israeli sports team playing internationally under the Israeli banner, but also boycott an Israeli dance or theatre company sent abroad to whitewash the fascist image of a cruel fascist State. We should not just boycott Caterpillar for demolishing homes and uprooting Palestinian olive groves, but also boycott those companies that supply the sand and cement which make up the Apartheid Wall.

We challenge those who call for a mild and selective boycott to identify any Israeli institution, may it be large or small, which is not part of this 'matrix of control' that suffocates our Palestinian nation.

As this occupation is total and unmerciful, so must our universal approach to fighting it and ending it be. As Israel's occupation covers all of historic Palestine and not only selective parts of it, so must our call for a democratic state which includes all of historic Palestine. A Palestine for all its people: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Coptic, Atheists, and non-Conformists.

In order to achieve this goal, we need a total boycott of the Zionist State. In order to achieve this aim, we need to identify that State. In order to identify that State, we need to untangle the politics of intrigue which produced the 181 UNRES which paved the way for the creation of that State. In order to untangle the tangled politics of that Resolution, we need to sit down, dust-off and read the official archives that go back to the 1917 Balfour Declaration. We need to dig deep into the dark politics and personalities that gave one nation, Palestine, away to one small foreign group against the will of over a million indigenous Palestinian people. We must go the full circle.

It is a trip which will take us full circle. We have come full circle now,a so our boycott must be a full boycott.

Therefore, let us not read the pages of only one chapter of this saga and leave others unturned simply because it is easy to 'let bygones be bygones'. Israel has never compromised its aims, its goals or its aggression against the Palestinian people. It has never compromised its defiance of international law. It has never compromised its arrogance towards its most powerful ally, the United States. It has never compromised its military campaigns against innocent civilians to achieve all its Zionist goals. The initial cure to all this is a total boycott.

Total boycott against a total occupation. Nothing less will do.
http://palestinethinktank.com/

Protestors speak out against aggression

Last year, more than 40 cities participated in Israeli Apartheid Week, and this week, Students for a Democratic Society of UH are observing it in Houston.

Israel was established as a sovereign state in 1948, after the holocaust and World War II. As a result, Palestinians were forced to move out of their homes and into the West Bank and Gaza regions. This attracted much international attention, and the conflict is still going on today.

The week-long SDS events have included lectures, demonstrations and film screenings aimed at raising awareness about Israel’s controversial policies toward Palestinians and to gather support for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

Lecture attendees said the testimonies of people who have been to the region supplied a lot of insight. This includes stories from Houstonian Sally Tawfik, who shared her experience of traveling to Israel and the Palestinian regions.

“It went pretty well,” political science sophomore Dana El Kurd said. “There was an American perspective because a year ago Sally Tawfik didn’t know anything about Gaza. She didn’t even know where it was, and she went this summer with Palestine Summer Encounter, which is a program with the Middle East fellowship.”

El Kurd said Tawfkin’s offered unique insight, as she is someone who recently witnessed the controversy in Gaza.

“We had both support and obviously opposes there, but I think we had an OK discussion of it,” El Kurd said.

SDS also put together a demonstration in the Butler Plaza in front of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library on Tuesday. Members set up a mock barrier wall, replicating the Israeli government-approved 400-mile wall in Israel that limits Palestinian movements.

The U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s construction of the massive wall through the West Bank.

According to the Democracy Now Web site, before the wall was built, the Israel government argued that the wall is needed for security reasons but Palestinians view it as an apartheid wall.

During the UN reporting period — September 2008 through March 2009 — the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported 634 physical obstacles in Israel. Physical obstacles include checkpoints, roadblocks and the wall barrier.

“Israelis have a couple different kind of checkpoints. They set them up in towns and roads, some are called flying checkpoints,” El Kurd said. “An Israeli Jeep can just drive by and set up a checkpoint wherever.”

History senior Robinson Block said that although people tend to have the perception that the West Bank is run by Palestine, there are military checkpoints run by the Israeli army spread throughout the region.

“It’s just a bad situation. You have folks trying to get places, and it’s basically up to the discretion of the soldiers of what they want to do,” Block said.

He said that at a checkpoint, people must wait in a line and present proper identification. But Israeli soldiers decide who is searched.

“We feel like this is on racial terms and a racial segregation because Palestinians aren’t allowed through, but Internationals and Israelis are…it separates (Palestinians) from their families, from their lands, from their homes and from jobs,” El Kurd said. “It’s a pretty tragic situation. There’s a lot of disrespect that happens at these checkpoints.”

Another complex issue involved in this region is settlements. Many UN resolutions and policies have attempted to resolve this issue, but it still remains a problem.

“The far right in Israel basically thinks that all of Palestine, and even other Arab countries, (are) land that should belong to the Jewish people for religious reasons,” Block said. “That’s extremely controversial, even in Israel. A lot of people in Israel oppose this, but they basically are trying to buy land in the occupied territories and build settlements. And the parties in power have alliances with them and help them fund (the purchase) of land from Arabs.

“They’re basically trying to ethnically cleanse the West Bank — to put enough settlements in there that try to force the Palestinians who live there out.”

Block said that roadblocks and checkpoints are to defend the settlements and there are a lot of Jewish-only roads.

El Kurd said she sees a lot of similarities between Palestine and South Africa. She said both have been involved in racial segregation, and both have had Boycott Divestment and Sanction movements.

“That’s what got rid of Apartheid in South Africa, and that’s what’s going to be a part of the solution in Palestine,” El Kurd said. “Being in the 21st century, we’ve learned from Ireland and we’ve learned from South Africa, and we’re still doing it.”

El Kurd said she hopes Palestine will receive the same benefits as South Africa did from BDS. She also said the media is to blame because they haven’t properly educated people about this situation.

“A majority (of people) don’t know about the realities of the occupation. They have a lot of misconceptions which the media has perpetrated,” El Kurd said. “People don’t understand exactly what’s happening in Palestine and Israel, so that’s why (SDS) is here trying to get the word out. That’s the point of IAW, is to bring attention to Israeli policies of racial segregation,” El Kurd said.

The BDS National Committee has reserved March 30 for a global day of action in solidarity with the Palestinians against Israel.

“The local events help to sort of raise this issue at UH, but are also a part of global week of action,” Block said. “Our voice here is important. But it’s even more important because we’re part of a global movement that’s pushing for justice for the Palestinians.”

The group is hosting a screening of the film To Shoot an Elephant, which is about Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2008, with a discussion led by activist Greta Berlin at 7 p.m. today in the Baltic Room of the University Center.

Members of SDS such as El Kurd said they always encourage alternative perspectives.

“Research more, learn more (and) don’t take our word for it,” El Kurd said. “That’s the first way to know what the truth is, to research by yourself. We’ve given you sources, but you can use any sources — both pro and con — and come to your own conclusion.”
news@thedailycougar.com

Hang Up on Motorola

Join thousands of other human rights advocates demanding accountability from Motorola for its support of Israeli human rights violations. There are several ways that Motorola and their wholy owned subsidiary, Motorola-Israel, profit directly from violations of international law:

* Motorola has the exclusive contract to provide the Israeli military with encrypted mobile phone technology. This means that every Israeli boarder guard manning a checkpoint inside of Palestinian territory and every Israeli soldier committing war crimes in the assault on the Gaza Strip takes their orders through a Motorola device.
* Motorola "virtual fences" and surveillance systems are used at dozens of illegal Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land. These Jewish-only settlements are a potent symbol Israeli apartheid and are illegal under several international laws, including the 4th Geneva Convention. Settlements use high-tech Motorola equipment to ghettoize Palestinian communities as confiscate their land.
* Motorola's subsidiary, MIRS communications has mobile phones and service plans exclusively for the use of Jewish settlers. These discriminatory practices are despicable, but even worse MIRS service towers are often built on stolen Palestinian land.
* Motorola also has close ties with Aeronautics Defense Systems (ADS), which makes drone aircraft that the Israeli military used during Operation Cast Lead (the most recent assault on the Gaza Strip). Last April Motorola sold their bomb fuze division to ADS, just after Human Rights Watch reported finding debris from Motorola bomb components in the rubble of civilian buildings in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=209

Boycott Israeli Diamonds

An Israeli Blood Diamond is forever…on your conscience

The Israeli diamond industry is one of the main arteries sustaining the Zionist military occupation of Palestine and subjugation of the Palestinian people. In 2005 the Israeli diamond industry accounted for 30% of Israel’s total manufacturing output.

Israel is the world’s No.1 exporter of cut and polished diamonds. Israeli gemstone exports were valued at over €16 billion US dollars in 2005 and are expected to approximate $20 billion in 2007. The Israeli Ministry of Defense budget in 2007 is approximately €12 billion.

Most people are unaware that the majority of diamonds on display in Jewellers’ windows are likely to have been manufactured in apartheid Israel and that their purchase helps to fund Israel’s illegal occupation and Zionist crimes against humanity. Israeli diamonds are de facto Blood Diamonds.

Significant revenues from corporation and personal taxes accrue to the Israeli state form the diamond industry each year. This helps to fund the 60 year long illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and associated crimes including murder, ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, destruction and theft of land and collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Boycott Israeli DiamondsThe UN-based Kimberley Process which seeks to eliminate the trade in diamonds from conflict zones only applies to uncut or rough diamonds. It does not control to trade in polished diamonds from conflict zones. This has allowed jewellers to continue selling Israeli diamonds, conveniently ignoring the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by Israel, the world’s No1 producer of cut and polished diamonds.

Consumers and jewellers presently have no way of distinguishing which diamonds are cut and polished in Israeli and which are crafted in countries that respect human rights and international law. Consumers have a right to know not only where the diamond was mined (as certified by the Kimberley Process) but also the country where it was cut and polished.

Diamonds can be microscopically laser inscribed to identify where they were crafted. A number of manufacturers already employ this technology to brand their diamonds making them readily distinguishable. Some Canadian manufacturers inscribe a maple leaf on their diamonds.

Israel’s appalling record of crimes against humanity, breaches of international law and disregard for the norms of civilised behaviour provides ample justification for an international campaign to isolate the Israeli diamond business. Consumers should be given the information necessary to make a fully informed decision when they purchase diamonds. People may be unwittingly supporting the apartheid regime in Israel if the purchase gemstones with out knowing where they were crafted.

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign is calling for the introduction of a hallmark system for all diamonds which will inform consumers where they were manufactured, giving them the right to choose Israel-free diamonds. Consumers should have the right to know that when they purchase gemstones they are not funding the murder and oppression of innocent men, women and children in Palestine or elsewhere.
http://boycottzionism.wordpress.com/2010/01/

" 'Boycott Israel!' was one of the most popular chants, and there was broad support for strengthening the international BDS movement."