Premier Showing of Simone Bitton's film about Rachel Corrie - 15 March 2013, Melbourne

PALESTINE FILM NIGHT

Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and Australians for Palestine proudly present:

PREMIER FILM SHOWING of

Simone Bitton's film

RACHEL

On 16 March, 2003, 23 year old American university student, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a steel plated Israeli military bulldozer as she non-violent attempt to stop the Israeli military from demolishing the home of a Palestinian family in Gaza.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of Rachel's death, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and Australians for Palestine are hosting the premier screening of Simone Bitton's film, Rachel. The screening is a one-off event. The film will be introduced by Michael Shaik, who worked with Rachel in the International Solidarity Movement, when she was killed.

Friday, 15 March 2013

6.15pm for a 6.30pm start

State Library of Victoria

Conference Centre (entry 2, via La Trobe St)

Full price $15 /Concession $12 (plus booking fee)

Book tickets online at: http://www.eventbrite.com.au/event/4361336876?ref=ebtnebtckt

For more info email melb.caia@gmail.com or call Jo: 0422 212 760

Facebook event listing: http://www.facebook.com/events/100151566836225/

http://ozcoalitionagainstisraeliapartheid.wordpress.com/

http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/

Australian activists produce new video in support of Palestinian BDS campaign

Dear friends,

please find below a new video by Australian activists in support of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.   The video features was produced by Rihab Charida and Aamer Rahman and features (in order of appearance):

Mutulu "M1" Olugbala; Peter Manning; Milan Ring; Lowkey (Kareen Denis); Tuva El-Shaikh; Kerrie McGrath; Fatima Mawas; Awate Suleiman; Antony Loewenstein; Anika Moeen and Aamer Rahman.

in solidarity, Kim

Israel's Apartheid

Dear friends,
please find below my lastest article published in Socialist Alternative magazine on why Israel is an apartheid state.

In solidarity,
Kim

***
Israel's Apartheid
by Kim Bullimore
Socialist Alternative magazine: 7 February 2013

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has been an openly racist and apartheid state, using both legally sanctioned discrimination and military force to ethnically cleanse and oppress the indigenous Palestinian people. It has imposed an apartheid system both inside the Zionist state and in the Palestinian territories that it seized in 1967.

What is apartheid?

The United Nations definition of apartheid was enshrined in the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. Article Two of the 1973 Convention identifies apartheid as not only being the denial of members of a racial group the right to life, the inflicting of arbitrary arrest, illegal imprisonment, serious bodily and/or mental harm (such as torture or degrading punishment). It is also identified with the exploitation of racial groups by forced labour and the imposition of living conditions aimed at destruction – in part or whole – of the group.

Article Two also identifies apartheid as the implementation of “any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country”. It also notes that apartheid is constituted by “denying to members of a racial group or groups basic human rights and freedoms”, with this including the right to nationality, education, employment, freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, freedom of residence and movement, including the right to leave and return to their country.

The Convention also recognises apartheid as “any measure including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriages among members of various racial groups, the expropriation of landed property belonging to a racial group or groups”.

Israel’s apartheid

Zionists (those who argue for a Jewish state in Palestine) and apologists for Israel have attempted to deny Israel’s apartheid nature. However, while Israel hasn't sought to impose exactly the same apartheid regime as existed in South Africa, it does bestow a system of rights and privileges according to ethnic and religious identity, which fits with the UN definition.

According to Israeli human rights organisation, Adalah – the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel – there are more than 30 laws within Israel which legalise discrimination against Israel's non-Jewish citizens. The laws cover areas such as marriage and family matters, employment, education, land, property and political activity.

In 2012, Adalah noted that there has been a sharp increase in these laws since 2011, with an additional 23 discriminatory laws and bills either being passed or tabled in the Israeli Knesset (parliament). Once such law which was passed in June 2011 legalised “admission committees” in approximately 700 Israeli towns built on “state land” in the Negev and Galilee. These committees, which include quasi-government organisations such as the Jewish Agency, have the full discretion to reject individuals if they are deemed “unsuitable to the social life of the community…or social and cultural fabric of the town”. As Adalah notes this is used to filter out Palestinians and other Arabs, as well as other marginalised groups, thus legally legitimising the exclusion of entire ethnic groups from Israeli townships.

Another such apartheid law is the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Provision) which was first enacted in 2003. This law prohibits the granting of citizenship and residency status to Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, as well as Arabs from Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, who are married to Israeli citizens. According to Adalah, the law specifically affects Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up approximately 20 percent of the state’s population, preventing thousands of families being able to live together.

In March 2012, the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) called on Israel to end its systemic and legalised discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel. The Committee called on Israel to rescind all discriminatory laws and bills “to ensure non-Jewish communities' equal access to work and social benefits as well as political participation” and to “eradicate all forms of segregation between Jewish and non-Jewish communities”. In particular, the UN committee criticised Israel's enactment of the Admissions Committee Law and called for the revoking of the Citizenship and Entry law.

Israel refused.

Israel's apartheid regime is not a recent invention but has been in place since 1948. One of the first laws passed by the newly-established Israeli state was the “Absentees” property law. This allowed for the confiscation of land and property which had belonging to more 1 million Palestinians who had been forced to flee their homes by Zionist militias in 1948.

Of these refugees 750,000 became externally displaced in neighbouring Arab countries, while150,000 became internally displaced inside the newly formed Israeli state. The law prevents Palestinians from reclaiming their homes, property and land. This is true not just for those externally displaced, but also those internally displaced Palestinian refugees who subsequently became Israeli citizens. The Palestinian homes, property and land confiscated by Israel was immediately handed over to Jewish immigrants and ex-soldiers, with more than 170,000 resettled by the end of July 1948 in Palestinian homes.

In 1949, Israel introduced martial law and other “security” laws that only applied to the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Unlike Jewish citizens, Palestinians were subject to regular curfew and couldn't leave or enter their own towns without permits. In addition, restrictions were placed on their education and employment; political activity and organisations were banned. While Martial Law formally ended in 1966, Israel has continued its apartheid practices.

The brutality of occupation

Since 1967, Palestinians living the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem have been forced to live under military occupation. Since that time, Israel issued more than 3000 military regulations to “govern” Palestinians in these territories. These military orders, which can be issued at the whim of a military commander, don't need to be publicised. They affect every aspect of Palestinian daily life, including legal identity, education, employment, health care, housing, freedom of movement and political activity.

Palestinians don't have any recourse to challenge these laws. One military law enacted in 1970 (Military Order 378) authorised the use of “Administrative Detention”, allows for the detention and arrest large numbers of Palestinian civilians without charge or trail. In 1988, the military order was amended, allowing for Palestinians to now be detained under Administrative Detention without designating a maximum period of time for incarceration without charge or trail. Under this regime, detained Palestinians, along with the lawyers, have no right to know what they are accused of and no right to access the military 'evidence' being used against them.

According to Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, more than 40 percent of the male Palestinian population, including minors, of the Occupied Territories has been detained since 1967. According to both Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations, nearly all Palestinian political prisoners – both male and female, including minors – have suffered torture while imprisoned by Israel. Addameer notes that “Physical and psychological torture against Palestinian and Arab prisoners has been a distinguishing factor of Israeli occupation since 1967”. The Association estimates that since beginning of the first Palestinian intifada in 1987, at least 30,000 Palestinians have been tortured by Israel.

Palestinians are also subject to other forms of punitive punishment and restrictions under Israel's military apartheid regime in the Occupied Territories, including the regular destruction of Palestinian homes, land and agricultural crops, as well as the restriction of freedom of movement and the prevention of using roads or entering areas reserved only for Jewish colonial-settlers. In addition, under this apartheid regime Palestinians’ water resources and land are regularly confiscated and redirected for Jewish only use in illegal Israeli colonies.

Resistance

Palestinians, however, have continued to struggle against Israel apartheid and racist regime both inside Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as internationally. In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a called for an international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. The campaign, inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, calls for international solidarity and resistance to Israel's oppression of the Palestinians by enacting non-violent punitive measures against Israel until it complies with international law and recognises the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.

In the last eight years, the campaign has grown in leaps in bound and has been supported by people of conscience all over the world. In particular, it has gained widespread support in South Africa, with many former activists and opponents of South Africa's apartheid regime calling for an end to Israel's apartheid system.

All anti-racists should support the struggle of the Palestinians against apartheid. As the US civil rights leader Martin Luther King famously said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Palestinian political prisoner, Bassem Tamimi, freed from Israeli prison

Dear friends,
wonderful news.  Bassem Tamimi from Nabi Saleh was freed from Israeli prison on Sunday, 10 February 2013.

Bassem was arrested four months ago after participating in the first Palestinian BDS action in an illegal Israeli colony.  Bassem was arrested on October 24 during the demonstration inside Sha'ar Benyamin colony in the Occupied West Bank.  During the non-violent demonstration, Bassem was violently detained by Israeli occupation forces, who broke three of his ribs.  He was subsequently interrogated for participating in an "unauthorised" demonstration and falsely accused of assaulting a police officer.

Bassem's arrest came six months after he had been released from Israeli prison. He had been previously jailed for a year for playing a leading role in Nabi Saleh's non-violent popular resistance to Israel's occupation and apartheid.  During his one year impisonment, Bassem was recognised as a human rights defender by the European Union and a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International.

At the time of his arrest in October, Nariman Tamimi, Bassem's wife, stated: "According to military law, Palestinians do't have the right to demonstrate - all protest is illegal.  An Israeli military judge told my husband that if he exercises his right to protest again, he will spend 17 months in prison.  Well, he wouldn't sit quietly at home, and now they want to try and punish him for that".

I have included photos below of Bassem's welcome home reception in Nabi Saleh.  I am so very happy to hear that my friend is home with his family and friends.

in solidarity, Kim

**

Bassem and Nariman - Photo by Abir Kopty

Bassem greets his wife Nariman - Photo by Keren Manor, Activestills

Bassem with wife, Nariman, at welcome home party - Photo by Oren Ziv, Activestills

Bassem with his children - Photo by Ashira Hakan 

Welcome home party for Bassem - Photo by Ashira Hakan

Palestinians establish fifth protest village, Canaan, in South Hebron

Dear friends,
as you may have heard, Palestinian activists established a fifth protest village called Canaan on Palestinian land over the weekend in south Hebron.  The protest village was immediately attacked by Israeli Occupation Forces.

Please find below the call to action to support the village, as well as a statement on the establishment of the protest village. Also included is the Maan News report on the village.

In solidarity, Kim

***

Call for participation in direct action: South West Bank Committee

We are the sons and daughters of Canaanites will establish Canaan Village (Canaan) on endangered Canaanite Palestinian land. We declare that it is our natural right to develop, reclaim, improve, use, and live on all our lands free and without threats from occupiers/colonizers.


Beginning Saturday 9 February, we will have several days of direct work to help farmers in the South West Bank reclaim and improve their agricultural lands


We call on people of conscience and media to join us as we work our lands and thus defend it against attempts by foreign colonizers to usurp it.


If interested to help, meet us at Bab Zqaq in Bethlehem at 7 AM Saturday when we will move to the location/s of the work.


South West Bank committee against settlement and apartheid wall


****
ACTIVISTS BUILD NEW VILLAGE, CANAAN, SOUTH HEBRON - FEB 9, 2013


A group of activists Saturday put up a new tent village near Yatta, south of Hebron in the south of the West Bank to protest Israeli land expropriation to expand nearby illegal settlements, according to activists.

Tens of activists arrived in Yatta during the early hours of the morning to put up the tent village they named Canaan on land surrounded by the illegal settlements of Sussia and Karmiel

A first attempt by Palestinian and foreign activists and residents of Yatta to build the tent village of Canaan was quickly foiled when the soldiers, who surrounded the area, removed them and took them away. Activists later returned and set up tents on the same location, but the army removed them again.

Soldiers at one point attacked the activists at least 2 people including one woman and sprayed skunk water at the tents to keep the activists away and declared the area a closed military zone, said activists.

Soldiers cordoned the area and prevented more activists from reaching Canaan village, which was set up only a week after a similar protest tent village, al-Manatir, was put up on land near the village of Burin, south of Nablus, also to protest Israeli settlement expansion.

"We began building the tents and were surprised when a large force of the Israeli army began attacking us and destroying tents and hitting us ... We will try and build Canaan village again," Younis Arar, coordinator of the popular committees in the southern West Bank said.

Several activists were arrested during forcibly eviction and taken to the Hebron police station, according to army. Three journalists were detained at the scene, a Ma'an reporter said.

Yatta popular committee spokesman Ibrahim Rabee told Ma'an the protest camp was a stand against Israeli policies in the region.

"We are establishing Canaan on our land after our homes and water wells were demolished, and our people displaced," he said.


*** Activists establish new protest village in South Hebron
by Maan News: 9 February 2013







HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Palestinians and foreign solidarity activists on Saturday set up a new protest village in the south Hebron hills, and vowed to remain there despite Israeli forces moving to dismantle the structures.

Early Saturday, activists set up steel-framed tents near the Palestinian village of al-Tuwani, calling the encampment "Canaan".

Younis Arar, coordinator of the popular committees in the southern West Bank, told Ma'an that soldiers assaulted the 30 activists who had gathered in the area.

"We began building the tents and were surprised when a large force of the Israeli army began attacking us and destroying tents and hitting us ... We will try and build Canaan village again," Arar said.

A military spokeswoman said soldiers evacuated illegal structures, and responded with riot dispersal means when around 100 Palestinians "rioted" in the area.

A Ma'an reporter said three journalists were detained, and the military spokeswoman said five Palestinians and five Israelis were arrested for entering the area after it was declared a closed military zone.

Yatta popular committee spokesman Ibrahim Rabee told Ma'an the protest camp was a stand against Israeli policies in the region.

"We are establishing Canaan on our land after our homes and water wells were demolished, and our people displaced," he said.

The south Hebron hills lies in an area of the West Bank under full Israeli military control, and its residents say Israel does not allow any building permits and demolishes homes and infrastructure, while supporting Israeli settlements in the area.

Just south of al-Tuwani, Israel has established a closed military zone where the state wants to evict eight Palestinian villages to make way for a army training ground.




The Canaan protest camp is the fifth such initiative in recent weeks.

In January, the Bab al-Shams village was set up in an area where Israel plans to build the "E1" settlement, severing the West Bank from Jerusalem.

Then, locals established the al-Karamah (Dignity) village in Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, which is set to be tightly encircled by Israel's separation wall.

A week later, activists set up the Al-Asra, or prisoners, protest village in the village of Anin, northwest of Jenin.

Last Saturday, Palestinians established the "Al-Manatir neighborhood" encampment in an area of Burin village that activists say is slated for confiscation by a neighboring settlement.

Israeli forces have moved to evacuate each of the camps and dismantle their structures.

Palestinians establish 4th protest village, Al Manatir at Burin village near Nablus

Dear friends,
200 Palestinian activists yesterday established a fourth Palestinian protest village called Al Manatir on land belonging to Burin village near Nablus.  The village was built on Palestinian land which has been slated for confiscation to enable the extension of an illegal Israeli settlement.

Within hours, Israeli Occupation Forces and settlers violently attacked the village.  At least 20 Palestinian were injured and many arrested.

Please find below Maan News report on the establishment of Al Manatir.

In solidarity, Kim
 
***
Activists set up new protest village near Nablus, shoot teens.
 
by Maan News: 2 February 2013

NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Palestinian activists and farmers on Saturday erected a new tented protest village south of Nablus, sparking clashes with settlers which left one teen injured.

Around 200 supporters from across the West Bank set up tents in an area of Burin village that activists say is slated for confiscation by a neighboring settlement.

Israeli forces immediately moved to shut down the area, and blocked traffic at the nearby Zaatara checkpoint, stopping several buses of activists destined for the village, witnesses told Ma'an.

Soldiers fired tear gas and sound grenades to disperse the activists, and detained five Palestinians, they said.

Israeli settlers also raided the village and fired at the Palestinians. Zakariya Al-Najjar, 16, was hit by bullet in his thigh, a Ma'an reporter said.
Settlers managed to seized a trailer in the encampment, activist Salah Al-Khawaja told Ma’an.

He said fistfights broke out between Palestinian men and Israeli soldiers trying to remove them.

An Israeli military spokesman said forces used riot-dispersal means when Palestinians threw rocks at them.

Residents said the new village was established to protest Israeli land confiscation for settlement building. Burin is squeezed between the Bracha and Yitzhar settlements, and the target of regular settler violence.

They are calling the new encampment the "Al-Manatir neighborhood" after the traditional stone huts built for watchmen in Palestinian agricultural land.

It is the fourth such initiative in recent weeks.

In January, Palestinian activists started a new wave of tented protest camps in the West Bank.

The Bab al-Shams village was set up in an area where Israel plans to build the "E1" settlement, severing the West Bank from Jerusalem.

Then, locals established the al-Karamah (Dignity) village in Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, which is set to be tightly encircled by Israel's separation wall.

Last week, activists set up the Al-Asra, or prisoners, protest village in the village of Anin, northwest of Jenin.

Israeli forces have moved to evacuate the camps and dismantle their structures.

**

Israel evacuates Nablus protest village, dozens injured.

By Maan News: 2 February 2013

A Palestinian activist runs from teargas after Israeli forces evacuate a
protest camp in the West Bank village of Burin, south of Nablus,
Feb. 2, 2013. (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces evacuated a protest tent set up earlier on Saturday by Palestinian activists in Nablus, leading to clashes which injured at least 20 people.

Earlier, around 200 people from across the West Bank set up the "Al-Manatir neighborhood" encampment in an area of Burin village that activists say is slated for confiscation by a neighboring settlement.

Burin is squeezed between the Bracha and Yitzhar settlements, and is the target of regular settler violence.

Israeli forces raided the area and forcibly removed all activists from the site. Soldiers fired multiple tear gas canisters at the protest village, injuring at least 20 Palestinians, witnesses said.

Palestinian Authority official Ghassan Daghlas told Ma'an that during the clashes, settlers attacked Burin with fire-bombs and rocks, damaging homes, cars and setting fire to olive trees.

Earlier on Saturday, 16-year-old Zakariya Al-Najjar was hit in his thigh by a bullet fired by settlers in Burin, a Ma'an reporter said.

Groups of settlers also gathered near Yizhar settlement and threw stones at passing Palestinian cars.

Palestinians Diyaa Bani Audah, Ashraf Abu Rahmah from Bilin, Wahib Qadus, Barakat al-Najjar, Bakir al-Najjar, Ibrahim al-Najjar and Udayy Ahmad from Burin were detained by Israel's military during the clashes.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that seven people were arrested.

Fatah official Mahmoud al-Aloul told Ma'an that Palestinians will continue to confront settlers and illegal settlement expansion.

"If they demolish a protest village, we will erect a new one, and we will continue until the Palestinian people retrieve all their rights," he said.

Burin protesters said they had been buoyed by a report issued on Thursday by United Nations human rights investigators who called on Israel to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all settlers, adding that the practice could be subject to prosecution as a possible war crime.

The "Al-Manatir neighborhood" is the fourth such initiative in recent weeks.

The Bab al-Shams village was set up in an area where Israel plans to build the "E1" settlement, severing the West Bank from Jerusalem.

Then, locals established the al-Karamah (Dignity) village in Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, which is set to be tightly encircled by Israel's separation wall.

Last week, activists set up the Al-Asra, or prisoners, protest village in the village of Anin, northwest of Jenin.

Israeli forces have moved to evacuate the camps and dismantle their structures.