Photos: Melbourne Against the Prawer Plan

The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Melbourne) opposes Israel's Prawer plan and supports the Prawer Won't Pass call to action. 

Visit CAIA Melbourne on Facebook: (click here)
Visit CAIA Melbourne's website (click here)

Stop Prawer Call to Action: 
DAY OF RAGE, 30 NOVEMBER 2013 #StopPrawerPlan

On 24th of June, the Israeli Knesset approved the Prawer-Begin plan, which if implemented will result in the destruction of more than 35 unrecognized villages in Al-Naqab and the forced expulsion and confinement of more than 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins. The Prawer plan is the largest Israeli land-grab since 1948. It epitomizes the nature of Israel’s policy; Israeli-Jewish demographic expansion and Palestinian-Arab demographic containment.

The International community has repeatedly called on Israel to halt the implementation of the Prawer Plan due to its discriminatory nature and the severe infringement it causes on the rights of Palestinian Bedouins in Al-Naqab. The UN committee on the elimination of Racial Discrimination called on Israel to withdraw the proposed legislation of the Prawer Plan. Also, in 2012, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on Israel to stop the Prawer plan and its policies of forced displacement and dispossession.

Injustice, humiliation and forced displacement are a recurring theme in Palestine’s history. This is lesson that we as a group of youth take to the heart. We will oppose, resist and work against the continuous assault that our communities, across Palestine face. Therefore, we launched the “Prawer will not pass” campaign with an eye to preventing this plan to be yet another chapter in Palestine’s long and tragic history.

Opposing the Prawer Plan is to oppose ethnic cleansing, displacement and confinement in the 21st century. 

Join us by organizing marches, protests, sending letters to those with positions of influence in your country or community, by doing whatever you can, in order to force Israel to stop the Prawer plan.

Join us on the 30th of Nov. in saying “Prawer shall not Pass”.
For more information, please contact us on: Facebook: (click here)

 

 

 

Dear friends,
please find below my latest article published by RED FLAG, which discusses why the "peace process" is a farce and why the Palestinians have no partner for peace.

The article is particularly timely given the Australian Abbott government's secretive change of position on Palestine and Israel's illegal colonies in the Occupied Territories at the UN - a change of position which they failed to announce to the Australian public. 

Australia is now one of eight nations to abstain on a United Nations general assembly resolution which called for an end to  illegal Israeli colonies in the occupied Palestinian territories.  While Australia abstained, 158 countries voted in favour of the UN resolution, which called for the "prevention of all acts of violence, destruction, harassment and provocation by Israeli settlers".

Australia also abstained on another draft resolution, which demanded that Israel accept the requirements of the Geneva conventions, and "comply scrupulously" with relevant provisions.  On this resolution, 160 were in favour, six against, Australia abstained.

According to Julia Bishop, Australia's Foreign Minister, the secret shift in policy is justified and support for Israel's illegal colonies is "balanced".  No doubt, we will hear pronouncements from Bishop and her Ministry of Truth soon that war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. (for more information, you can read more on Australia's secret policy change here, here and here)

As noted in my article, because the Palestinians have no partner for peace, Palestinian civil society in 2005 launched the non-violent Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.  Now more than ever, in light of both the failed peace process and Bishop's Orwellian logic and the Abbott govenment's support for Israel's illegal colonies, it is time support the Palestinian BDS campaign  (for more information click here)

 in solidarity, Kim 

**

Why the Palestinians don’t have a partner for peace

Kim Bullimore | 25-Nov-2013

US Secretary of State John Kerry in early November chaired the latest round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. His visit to the region was downbeat, highlighting once again the failure of the US-backed “peace process”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predictably blamed the failure of the negotiations squarely on the Palestinians. “[The] pressure has to be put where it belongs: that is on the Palestinians, who refuse to budge”, he told Kerry. Israel, its prime minister insists, does not have a partner for peace.
Netanyahu’s argument is not new. Similar claims have been made repeatedly by Zionist leaders – both before and after the creation of Israel. In 1923 Ze’ev Jabotinsky, in his essay “The iron wall”, acknowledged that Palestinians would never give up their homeland willingly:
“Any native people – it’s all the same whether they are civilised or savage – views their country as their national home, of which they will always be the complete masters. They will not voluntarily allow, not only a new master, but even a new partner.” Therefore, argued Jabotinsky, peace was dependent “not on our relationship with the Arabs, but exclusively on the Arabs’ relationship to Zionism”.
In the absence of Palestinian capitulation and “peace” on Zionist terms, it was necessary, he argued, to create an “iron wall [of bayonets] which the native population cannot break through”.
This view of “peace” and what to do in its absence has been the mainstay of Israel policy since 1948. The claim that the Zionist state had no partner for peace became further entrenched in the Zionist narrative in the wake of the failed Camp David Summit in 2000. At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak claimed that Israel had made a “generous” and “unprecedented” offer that had been rejected by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
However in a wide-ranging 2003 interview in Israel’s largest circulating Hebrew newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, Barak admitted that the so-called “generous” offer was a lie. “I did not give away a thing”, he boasted.
Major concessions
This was reaffirmed in 2011, when some 1,700 documents relating to the “peace process” between 1999 and 2010 were leaked. The documents, belonging to the office of the chief Palestinian negotiator, Sa’eb Erekat, revealed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had been willing to make extensive demographic and territorial concessions to Israel.
Not only had PA/PLO negotiators been willing to accept the annexation of all but one of Israel’s illegal colonies in occupied Jerusalem, they were also prepared to allow the annexation of parts of Palestinian neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.
The Palestine Papers also revealed that the Palestinian negotiators were prepared to allow “flexibility” in regard to Haram al-Sharif (the third holiest Muslim site in the world) and had been willing to negotiate away the right of return for the majority of the 6 million Palestinian refugees living in exile, while also acceding to Zionist demands that Israel be explicitly recognised as a Jewish state.
When these revelations became public, the PLO and the PA were widely condemned by Palestinians. However, the Palestine Papers also revealed Israel’s rejectionism. Even when the Palestinian negotiators were prepared to give what Erakat termed “the biggest Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] in history” and to accede to the majority of Israel’s demands, including surrendering Palestinian rights enshrined in international law, it had not been enough for the leaders of the Zionist state.
Despite these unprecedented concessions, Israel would agree to “peace” with the Palestinians only if they capitulated to every Israeli demand, accepted all Zionists goals and foreswore the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.
Illegal construction continues
The lack of an Israeli peace partner was again amply highlighted during Kerry’s recent visit, when Israel announced it would build 5,000 new Jewish only residences in occupied East Jerusalem and 20,000 new Jewish only residences in illegal colonies in the occupied West Bank.
In a 7 November interview with Israel’s Channel 2, Kerry was forced to admonish Netanyahu: “How – if you say you’re working for peace and you want peace and a Palestine … that belongs to the people who live there – how can you say ‘We’re planning to build in the place that will eventually be Palestine?’ … it sends a message that somehow perhaps you’re not really serious.”
Israel’s lip-service to the peace process should come as no surprise. Today, more than half a million Israeli settlers reside illegally in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem – double the figure of 241,500 prior to the Oslo agreement in 1993.
While Israel continues its widespread colonisation in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, it has also announced plans to ethnically cleanse more than 40,000 Palestinian Bedouins, who are Israeli citizens, from more than 40 villages in the Negev desert in southern Israel.
Gaza under siege
Israel’s actions in Gaza over the last seven years have also revealed that it has little interest in ending the conflict with the Palestinians. Since 2006, Israel has imposed a brutal blockade on the 1.6 million people living in Gaza. The coastal strip was transformed into the world’s largest open air prison. This siege is illegal; collectively punishing a civilian population is a war crime under international law.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel’s blockade has now resulted in 44 percent of Gaza’s population (more than 700,000 people) suffering from food insecurity, while 80 percent (just under 1.3 million people) are dependent on donor aid.
This month, Gaza’s Ministry of Health warned that the territory was on the brink of a “health catastrophe”. Not only is there a severe shortage of vital medicines; there is also a fuel shortage that threatens the 13 hospitals and 54 primary health care centres in the Gaza Strip. Since 2006, when Israeli bombing destroyed much of Gaza’s public infrastructure, including the only electricity plant, Gaza’s population, hospitals and essential services have been subject to frequent and lengthy power cuts.
Palestinian hospitals and other essential services have been forced to rely on emergency generators to power life-saving equipment, as well as intensive care units and neonatal units. The fuel shortage also impacts greatly on the ability to dispatch emergency outreach services and ambulances to those in need.
From its inception, the so-called “peace process” was doomed to failure because the Zionist state is not interested in reaching even a limited peace settlement with the Palestinians, let alone a just one. Israel’s actions over the last 20 years have confirmed that it plans to continue its apartheid and occupation policies, as well as ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
It is because Israel has demonstrated that it has no interest in peace that Palestinian civil society in 2005 launched the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, calling on all people of conscience to support the non-violent campaign until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law.
- See more at: http://redflag.org.au/article/why-palestinians-don%E2%80%99t-have-partner-peace#sthash.Gr16b33j.dpuf

Why the Palestinians don’t have a partner for peace

Kim Bullimore | REDFLAG: 25-Nov-2013

US Secretary of State John Kerry in early November chaired the latest round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. His visit to the region was downbeat, highlighting once again the failure of the US-backed “peace process”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predictably blamed the failure of the negotiations squarely on the Palestinians. “[The] pressure has to be put where it belongs: that is on the Palestinians, who refuse to budge”, he told Kerry. Israel, its prime minister insists, does not have a partner for peace.

Netanyahu’s argument is not new. Similar claims have been made repeatedly by Zionist leaders – both before and after the creation of Israel. In 1923 Ze’ev Jabotinsky, in his essay “The iron wall”, acknowledged that Palestinians would never give up their homeland willingly:
“Any native people – it’s all the same whether they are civilised or savage – views their country as their national home, of which they will always be the complete masters. They will not voluntarily allow, not only a new master, but even a new partner.” Therefore, argued Jabotinsky, peace was dependent “not on our relationship with the Arabs, but exclusively on the Arabs’ relationship to Zionism”.

In the absence of Palestinian capitulation and “peace” on Zionist terms, it was necessary, he argued, to create an “iron wall [of bayonets] which the native population cannot break through”.

This view of “peace” and what to do in its absence has been the mainstay of Israel policy since 1948. The claim that the Zionist state had no partner for peace became further entrenched in the Zionist narrative in the wake of the failed Camp David Summit in 2000. At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak claimed that Israel had made a “generous” and “unprecedented” offer that had been rejected by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

However in a wide-ranging 2003 interview in Israel’s largest circulating Hebrew newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, Barak admitted that the so-called “generous” offer was a lie. “I did not give away a thing”, he boasted.

Major concessions
This was reaffirmed in 2011, when some 1,700 documents relating to the “peace process” between 1999 and 2010 were leaked. The documents, belonging to the office of the chief Palestinian negotiator, Sa’eb Erekat, revealed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had been willing to make extensive demographic and territorial concessions to Israel.

Not only had PA/PLO negotiators been willing to accept the annexation of all but one of Israel’s illegal colonies in occupied Jerusalem, they were also prepared to allow the annexation of parts of Palestinian neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Palestine Papers also revealed that the Palestinian negotiators were prepared to allow “flexibility” in regard to Haram al-Sharif (the third holiest Muslim site in the world) and had been willing to negotiate away the right of return for the majority of the 6 million Palestinian refugees living in exile, while also acceding to Zionist demands that Israel be explicitly recognised as a Jewish state.

When these revelations became public, the PLO and the PA were widely condemned by Palestinians. However, the Palestine Papers also revealed Israel’s rejectionism. Even when the Palestinian negotiators were prepared to give what Erakat termed “the biggest Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] in history” and to accede to the majority of Israel’s demands, including surrendering Palestinian rights enshrined in international law, it had not been enough for the leaders of the Zionist state.

Despite these unprecedented concessions, Israel would agree to “peace” with the Palestinians only if they capitulated to every Israeli demand, accepted all Zionists goals and foreswore the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.

Illegal construction continues
The lack of an Israeli peace partner was again amply highlighted during Kerry’s recent visit, when Israel announced it would build 5,000 new Jewish only residences in occupied East Jerusalem and 20,000 new Jewish only residences in illegal colonies in the occupied West Bank.

In a 7 November interview with Israel’s Channel 2, Kerry was forced to admonish Netanyahu: “How – if you say you’re working for peace and you want peace and a Palestine … that belongs to the people who live there – how can you say ‘We’re planning to build in the place that will eventually be Palestine?’ … it sends a message that somehow perhaps you’re not really serious.”

Israel’s lip-service to the peace process should come as no surprise. Today, more than half a million Israeli settlers reside illegally in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem – double the figure of 241,500 prior to the Oslo agreement in 1993.

While Israel continues its widespread colonisation in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, it has also announced plans to ethnically cleanse more than 40,000 Palestinian Bedouins, who are Israeli citizens, from more than 40 villages in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

Gaza under siege
Israel’s actions in Gaza over the last seven years have also revealed that it has little interest in ending the conflict with the Palestinians. Since 2006, Israel has imposed a brutal blockade on the 1.6 million people living in Gaza. The coastal strip was transformed into the world’s largest open air prison. This siege is illegal; collectively punishing a civilian population is a war crime under international law.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel’s blockade has now resulted in 44 percent of Gaza’s population (more than 700,000 people) suffering from food insecurity, while 80 percent (just under 1.3 million people) are dependent on donor aid.
This month, Gaza’s Ministry of Health warned that the territory was on the brink of a “health catastrophe”. Not only is there a severe shortage of vital medicines; there is also a fuel shortage that threatens the 13 hospitals and 54 primary health care centres in the Gaza Strip. Since 2006, when Israeli bombing destroyed much of Gaza’s public infrastructure, including the only electricity plant, Gaza’s population, hospitals and essential services have been subject to frequent and lengthy power cuts.

Palestinian hospitals and other essential services have been forced to rely on emergency generators to power life-saving equipment, as well as intensive care units and neonatal units. The fuel shortage also impacts greatly on the ability to dispatch emergency outreach services and ambulances to those in need.

From its inception, the so-called “peace process” was doomed to failure because the Zionist state is not interested in reaching even a limited peace settlement with the Palestinians, let alone a just one. Israel’s actions over the last 20 years have confirmed that it plans to continue its apartheid and occupation policies, as well as ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

It is because Israel has demonstrated that it has no interest in peace that Palestinian civil society in 2005 launched the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, calling on all people of conscience to support the non-violent campaign until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law.

Amira Hass: In the real tally of violence, Palestinians have it much worse

Dear friends, 

please find below veteran Israeli report, Amira Hass's lastest article which looks at the balance of violence between Palestinians and Israeli.

The article is behind the paywall on Haaretz, so I have posted it here in full.

in solidarity,
Kim

**

In the real tally of violence, Palestinians have it much worse

There is no Palestinian without a personal and familial history of injustice that was caused by, and is still caused by Israel.

By Amira Hass | Nov. 21, 2013 | Haaretz

Palestinians gather around Hamas militants as they take part in a military parade marking the first anniversary of the eight-day conflict with Israel, in Gaza City November 14, 2013. Photo by Reuters

Anyone who has worn a uniform past or in present, whether speaking on the record or off, immediately “knows” that the latest terror attack and what looks to soldiers as the latest attempted terror attack does not signify the beginning of a third Intifada. Or, they "know" it does signify such a beginning, and it's all because of the peace negotiations or because of Palestinian incitement, or both. Relying on the knowledgeable military brass is a fixed Israeli reflex; it is part of the balance of power and part of how the Israelis exert control over their subjects. 

Whoever said 100,000 Palestinians have unfinished business with the Israel Defense Forces took it a step further creating the impression that he really knows and thinks, and does more than calculate tallies. But the starting point for calculation is somewhere else completely: There is no Palestinian whose score with the State of Israel is settled - whether he lives in forced exile or whether he lives within the borders of Israel, or in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. There is no Palestinian without a personal and familial history of injustice that was caused by, and is still caused by Israel. Just because the Israeli media does not report on all the injustices Israel causes day in and day out - even if only because they so numerous - does not mean they go away and neither does the anger they cause. Therefore, according to the correct calculation, the number of attacks by Palestinian individuals is relatively microscopic. This small number shows that for the vast majority of Palestinians - passing, murderous and hopeless revenge is not an option. 

But nonetheless, the fatal attacks in recent months are worrying. They point at the political and social bankruptcy of the Palestinian leadership and organizations, who have stopped serving as the national rallying point, and are unable to hold back the waves of despair. The Palestinian feels isolated against his attackers. New initiatives and other forms of leadership are still in their diapers. And in the meantime, the Israel's methods of injustice are becoming more sophisticated. To speak about the anger without linking it to the occupation and systematic discrimination is like discussing environmental pollution without reference to the polluter. 

Any Jew in the world who has never so much as set foot here, automatically enjoys the right to enter Israel, to find shelter here from economic distress (Argentina) or political distress (Russia), to tour the land, to settle down, to live and to work on both sides of the Green Line. These are rights that are partially or fully denied to Palestinians - whether they are citizens of the state or not, whether they live in Israel, whether their family comes from here and whether they lost land and property to the other. 

What kind of feelings does the structural discrimination against Palestinians engender? It riles up and infuriates. The Israeli experts, those who keep stats on Palestinian violence, either ignore their own violence or else they are smart enough to cover it up. We must therefore cry out again and again: Every Palestinian, man or woman, poor and less poor, and also the very wealthy, refugees or not, and those who live in the Land of Israel (within the borders of the British Mandate) daily risk that the Israeli authorities and their representatives (soldiers, policemen, settlers, right-wingers) will harm them in some fashion. The situation jeopardizes their lives, livelihood, property, land, health, education, or the continuity of their family and social relations. 

In every area, there are additional varieties of harm and harassment particular to it. For citizens of Israel, it is the creeping racist legislation. In East Jerusalem, it is the negation of residency status and expulsion from Israel. In the West Bank, it is the wholesale arrests, the settlements, the settlers, land expropriations under a pseudo-legal guise, and lack of running water in many communities during the summer. And in the Gaza Strip? Unseen jailers, whose identity is known. They sequester its residents in the world’s largest prison camp, and there is no one who will say as God said to Moses during the crossing of the Red Sea: Wake up, compose thyself, my beloved ones are drowning in the sewage and in the sea of oblivion.

Milestone: Live from Occupied Palestine reaches 150,000 views

Dear friends,
I just wanted to take the time to say a big thank you to all of you who have take the time to visit and read my blog.  Today, Live from Occupied Palestine surpassed 150,000 hits (ie. views).

To be honest, when I started this blog six and half years ago, I never expected to have so many people from all over the world reading it. I expected that only a handful of people would check it out - mainly my friends, family and comrades.

Live from Occupied Palestine is actually my second attempt at a blog. I had previously started a blog called Palestine Eyewitness in 2004, chronicling my first visit to Palestine.  At the time I was new to blogging and didn't really have much experience on how to run blogs and I don't think I fully understood the important role blogs could play in solidarity and social justice activism.  I started Live from Occupied Palestine when I returned to Palestine in 2007.  Unlike the first time around, I had a much better handle on the important role blogs could play in solidarity and social justice activism.

The purpose of both Palestine Eyewitness and Live from Occupied Palestine was originally to chronicle my time living and working on the ground in Occupied Palestine and to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their struggle for freedom, justice and self-determination by providing news and analysis of what was happening on there. Unlike with Palestine Eyewitness, I decided to maintain this blog when I returned home.  My intention was to maintain the blog all year round and to provided news, information, updates and analysis from other activists - Palestinian, Israel and international - who were on the ground in Palestine when I was not there.

From its inception, I had hoped that Live from Occupied Palestine, in some small way, would contribute to cutting across the all to frequent distortions and/or media black in the mainstrea corporate press about the Palestinian people's struggle.   I was under no illusion that Live from Occupied Palestine could have the same outreach as the mainstream press, but I did hope that in some small way it would help challenge the all to frequent media black out on Palestine and that it would be a source of alternative information for those supportive of the Palestinian struggle or wanted to know more about what was really happening on the ground in Palestine. 

But while I had no illusion in what could be achieved with this blog, I also I had not  expected that it would attract as many readers as it has done, from all over the world, over the last few years. Nor did I expect that it would gain a small but steady following.  I am still surprised everyday that so many people are visit and read this blog and are interested enough to check out what I write. 

I think what this really reflects is the changing attitude towards Palestine and the Palestinian struggle.  Over the last decade, we have started to see a real shift in people's attitudes towards the Palestinian people and their struggle.  In Australia, a number of surveys have found that more and more people are supportive of the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom (see here and here)

People are hungry for news and information that they are not getting in the mainstream press and are looking to blogs and social media for the information the corporate press is not reporting. It reflects the growing support for the Palestinian struggle and the Palestinian BDS campaign.

So thank you to all of you have supported this blog over the years and who continue to visit it.  I hope that one day, in the not distant future, that there won't be a need for this blog and that the people of Palestine will have won the freedom and justice they have struggled so long for and that a Free Palestine will be a reality.
 
But until then Live from Occupied Palestine will continue to support the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom, justice and self-determination, both on the ground in Palestine and internationally.  As part of this, Live from Occupied Palestine will continue to be strong supporter of the Palestinian initiated Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign and hope you will also be an active supportive of the BDS campaign (for more information on the campaign, click here).  Thank you again! For a Free Palestine and an end to occupation and apartheid!

In solidarity, Kim

IN PHOTOS: Gaza without electricity - Israel's illegal siege 7 years on.

Dear friends, 

as you will be aware, since 2006 Israel has been illegally blockading the Gaza Strip.  This coastal region is one of the most densely populated regions in the world and home to more than 1.6 million Palestinians. Israel's land, sea and air blockade of Gaza intensified in 2007 when Hamas took control of the region and has seen Gaza transformed it into the world's largest open air prison. Israel's actions are illegal under international law with collective punishment such as this deemed a war crime.

On November 12, as a result of Israel's blockade, Gaza's Ministry of Health warned that the territory was on the brink of a “health catastrophe”. Due to Israel's illegal siege of Gaza, there is a severe shortage of essential medicines.  Every hospital in the world has list of essential drugs - in Gaza, this includes 480 essential drugs, of which 140 have completely run out. Of the remaing 240, there is only sufficient stock of 70 of them for another 3 month. 

Palestinian hospitals in Gaza are also being severely impacted by the severe fuel shortage in Gaza. Since 2006, the 13 Palestinian hospitals and other essential services in Gaza have been reliant, daily, on emergency generators to power life saving equipment.  This is due to Israel's bombing of much of Gaza's public infrastructure in 2006, which destroyed Gaza's only electricity plant. 

These fuel and power shortage impact on the entire Palestinian population as well. Talking with friends in Gaza, they tell me that they are still being subject to lengthy power cuts, daily, often for between 4 to 8 hours at a time.
 

The Gazan population is further at risk due to the lack of potable water, as a result of Israel's destruction of Gaza's only water purification centre in 2006.  As a result, fuel is also needed to run water purification systems and treat sewage.  On November 13, due to the short of electricity and fuel thousands of gallons of sewage overflowed onto the streets of Gaza. According to the Gaza City Wastewater Department, the spillage has caused widespread environmental and health hazards, affecting more than 20,000 people in the city.

I have included a range of photos below taken recently in Gaza, which highlight the dire situation faced by more than 1.6 million Palestinians living in the region. 

Israel's open air prison in Gaza is yet another reason why the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign should be supported.

In solidarity, Kim 

 

Jabalia refugee camp: Palestinian school boys light candles during a protest against the severe fuel cuts that lead to power shortages and the Israel's illegal 7 year siege.  Photo by:Mohammed Talatene, 7 November 2013.

Children protest power cuts and the impact on their ability to study and receive and education. 3 Nov 2013.

Palestinians in Gaza protest electricity cuts and fuel shortages due to Israel's blockade. Photo by Mohammed Assad, 14 November 2013

 

Palestinian ambulance and emergency service workers attend a rally in front of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on February 18, 2012.   The emergency crews and ambulance workers called on Egypt provide the Gaza Strip with electricity and diesel. Photo by. UPI/Ismael Mohamad

Premature babies receive treatment in Nasser Hospital as the hospital is in danger of running out of fuel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza on February 16, 2012.   Israel's illegal blockade has left Gaza with very little fuel rations for its citizen. Gaza hospitals, due to frequent electricity cuts are forced to rely on emergency generators to run life saving equipment, intensive care units and neo-natal units. Photo by: UPI/Ismael Mohamad

Palestinian worker carries a boy walking down the street flooded with sewage in the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City. Photo by Mohammed Talatene, 13 Nov 2013.

 

Palestinians walk on the side of a street flooded with waste water in Gaza City, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

A Palestinian rides his horse cart in flooded waste water at a main street in Gaza City, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013.  (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

In February 2013, Egypt flooded tunnels which bring goods and fuel into Gaza as a result of Israel's blockade with sewage: A Palestinian clearing a tunnel of sewage in Rafah, between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip. Photo by: Hatem Moussa/Associated Press

2010: Sewage flows into the sea as a result of Israel's blockade and destruction of water purification facilities.  Photo by: Anne Paq: Chroniques de Palestine, 21.08.2010.

Call to Action: Stop Prawer! Stop Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Bedouins

Dear friends,
as many of you will be aware, the Israeli state is seeking to ethnically cleanse more than 40,000 Palestinian Bedouin from their homes and land in the Naqab (Negev) desert.   For the last year or more, Palestinians both inside the Zionist state and in the Occupied Territories have been protesting against what will be Israel's biggest mass expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian since 1948 and 1967.  Several national days of actions have taken place and another national and international day of action has been called for the 30th of November, 2013. 

I have included below the call to action, as well as links to my previous posts on the Prawer Plan.  In addition, I have included a news report from the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz which reports on an Israeli cabinet decision on the weekend to ethnically cleanse a Palestinian Bedouin village which has existed since 1956 and replace it with a Jewish only community.  

The Palestinian village of Umm al-Hiran is one of hundreds of "unrecognised villages", many of which have existed prior to 1948 or were established by Palestinian Bedouin in the wake of the 1948 Nabka after they had been  ethnically cleansed from their original place of residence and had become internally displaced refugees.   Israel has refused to recognise these villages and while the residents of the villages pay taxes to the Israeli state they are not afforded the same facilities other Israeli townships are - ie. access to the electricity grid, water grid and public infrastructure (such as roads and public state funded buildings).

The cabinet decision to demolish Umm al-Hiran and replace it with a Jewish only community is a prime example of Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Join the international day of action against the Prawer Plan and Israel's planned ethnic cleansing of tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouins.  You can do a range of things to support the action: Organise a street action/Organise a public campaign stall/Write a letter to your local newspaper/Ask your union/church/community group to support the Stop Prawer campaign/Write a blog post/Share the call to action via twitter and facebook/Share information and articles about the campaign and what the Prawer Plan means via social media etc.

Please see my previous post of my article, "Israel to escalate ethnic cleansing", published by Red Flag which gives an overview of the Prawer Plan and its impact (click here)

For more information on the Prawer Plan and previous days of action please see my previous posts on Live from Occupied Palestine:

July 15th: Anger Strike to stop Prawer Plan (click here)

IN PHOTOS: Palestinian General Strike Against Israel's Prawer-Begin Ethnic Cleansing Plan (click here)

Photos: Stop the Prawer-Begin Plan: Day of Rage - 1 Aug 2013 (click here)

in solidarity, Kim 

**

Stop Prawer Plan: Call to action on November 30th

On 24th of June, the Israeli Knesset approved the Prawer-Begin plan, which if implemented will result in the destruction of more than 35 unrecognized villages in Al-Naqab and the forced expulsion and confinement of more than 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins. The Prawer plan is the largest Israeli land-grab since 1948. It epitomizes the nature of Israel’s policy; Israeli-Jewish demographic expansion and Palestinian-Arab demographic containment.

The International community has repeatedly called on Israel to halt the implementation of the Prawer Plan due to its discriminatory nature and the severe infringement it causes on the rights of Palestinian Bedouins in Al-Naqab. The UN committee on the elimination of Racial Discrimination called on Israel to withdraw the proposed legislation of the Prawer Plan. Also, in 2012, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on Israel to stop the Prawer plan and its policies of forced displacement and dispossession.

Injustice, humiliation and forced displacement are a recurring theme in Palestine’s history. This is lesson that we as a group of youth take to the heart. We will oppose, resist and work against the continuous assault that our communities, across Palestine face. Therefore, we launched the “Prawer will not pass” campaign with an eye to preventing this plan to be yet another chapter in Palestine’s long and tragic history.

Opposing the Prawer Plan is to oppose ethnic cleansing, displacement and confinement in the 21st century.

Join us by organizing marches, protests, sending letters to those with positions of influence in your country or community, by doing whatever you can, in order to force Israel to stop the Prawer plan.

Join us on the 30th of Nov. in saying “Prawer shall not Pass”.

For more information, please contact us on:
Email: PrawerWontPass@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prawershallnotpass

**

Cabinet OKs demolishing Bedouin village, replacing with Jewish town

Unauthorized village makes cabinet agenda even though its future is in the court's hands.

By Shirly Seidler | Nov. 10, 2013, Haaretz

 

Israel's ministers voted in a special cabinet session on Sunday to demolish an unauthorized Bedouin village and replace it with a religious Jewish community. 

The session was held at Midreshet Ben-Gurion at Sde Boker in the Negev. The new community on the site is to be called Hiran. 

The Bedouin village slated for demolition, Umm al-Hiran, is one of a number of Bedouin communities that were settled without permits. 

The cabinet had already approved a blueprint known as the "Prawer plan," which calls for the resettlement of large numbers of Bedouin from unrecognized communities to recognized Bedouin villages. 

In this specific case, the cabinet met to discuss the fate of Umm al-Hiran even though its future is the subject of a Supreme Court case, which is scheduled to be heard next week.

Residents of the village have been offered a number of alternative places to live, but they plan to demonstrate at the courthouse against what they claim is discriminatory treatment by the state. 

The proposed construction of Hiran and three other new communities in the Negev won cabinet approval more than a decade ago, in 2002. Late in 2009 the National Council for Planning and Building gave its approval to build Hiran on the northern Negev site east of Meitar.

The core group of families slated to move to Hiran are national religious Jews, who are to be joined by secular residents moving to the site from Meitar itself. 

The village of Umm al-Hiran was established in 1956 as a place of residence for Bedouin from the Abu-Alkian tribe who had left a site near Kibbutz Shoval in the northern Negev, apparently due to conflicts with a neighboring clan. Umm al-Hiran is now home to about 500 people, but like other Bedouin villages that lack official recognition as local municipal communities, it lacks infrastructure and electricity. 

Sources at Adallah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said Sunday that the establishment of Jewish communities in the Negev at the same time that the government is advancing the Prawer plan reflects a racist approach toward the Bedouin residents of the Negev. Instead of displacing the indigenous population of Bedouin, the sources said, the government should engage the community in a dialogue over an alternative to the Prawer relocation plan. 

The group organizing the demonstration at the Supreme Court, the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, called the proposed demolition plan for Umm al-Hiran a policy that promotes social inequality between Jews and Arabs instead of seeking to bridge social disparities

The REAL Truth about the West Bank: Visualising Palestine responds to Danny Ayalon's propaganda video.

Dear friends,

In 2011, Danny Ayalon, who was at the time the Israeli deputy foreign minister, produced a ridiculous propaganda video called “The Truth About the West Bank", which of course was far from the truth and full of untruths. The crew at Visulising Palestine have now produced terrific rejoinder to Ayalon hasbara video.

Please watch and please share widely with your social media networks!

You can check out other great infographics and videos from Visualising Palestine on their website (click here)

In solidarity, Kim

**

BDS and Lawfare in Australia: Shurat HaDin launch spurious case against Palestine activist

Dear friends, 
please find below my latest article published by Red Flag on the Zionist lawfare attack on Professor Jake Lynch and BDS in Australia by the Israeli group, Shurat HaDin. 

It should be noted that The Australian newspaper has run a concerted campaign against Jake Lynch and the BDS campaign for the last year or more, so it unsurprising that Shurat HaDin feel comfortable with attempting this legal intimidation of pro-Palestine activists.

For more background information on Shurat HaDin and the attack on Jake Lynch, please see my earlier posts:

• SpinWatch: BDS campaigner targeted by law firm with links to Israeli intelligence(click here)

• BDS, Lawfare & Free speech: Growing support for BDS campaigners (click here)

• The Australian newspaper and BDS: A case study in obsession (click here)

Asa Winstanley from Electronic Intifada also recently covered Shurat HaDin's lawfare attack on Jake Lynch and Stuart Rees (click here to read the article).

You can also sign on to the petition in support of Jake Lynch, to defend free speech and BDS by clicking here.

In solidarity, Kim 

**
Spurious case against Palestine activist

By Kim Bullimore: Red Flag: 2 November 2013

On 29 October, the Israel-based law centre Shurat HaDin filed a case in the Australian Federal Court against Professor Jake Lynch, the director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, over his support of the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.

The BDS campaign calls for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions that are complicit in the system of oppression that denies Palestinians their basic rights.

Lynch had been previously targeted by Shurat HaDin, along with Professor Stuart Rees, when the centre lodged a claim against them and the BDS campaign with the Australian Human Rights Commission on 31 July.

In both instances, Shurat HaDin has accused Lynch and the BDS campaign of breaching the 1975 Racial Discrimination Act, which deems it unlawful to discriminate against a person “based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin”.

The BDS campaign does not target individuals, businesses or institutions on the basis of religion, ethnicity or nationality. Businesses and institutions are boycotted on the basis of their contribution to human rights abuses, their contribution to the violations of international law by the Israeli state and military or their contribution to “rebranding campaigns” that attempt to whitewash Israel’s human rights abuses and war crimes.

Shurat HaDin claims that Lynch’s support for BDS and his refusal to sponsor a fellowship application for Israeli academic Dan Avnon from the Hebrew University violates Australian law.

In December 2012, Avnon approached Lynch for assistance to study civics education in Australia under a fellowship agreement between the Hebrew University and Sydney University. Lynch declined to assist Avnon because of Lynch’s opposition to the fellowship agreement between the two institutions, not because Avnon was Israeli or Jewish, as Shurat HaDin claims.

The Hebrew University has a long history of complicity with Israel’s human rights abuses against the Palestinian people, part of the university’s Jerusalem campus and dormitories being built on stolen Palestinian land in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The university also has strong ties with the Israeli government and military establishment. A range of Israeli military colleges and training facilities are the responsibility of the university. It also has links to Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest military companies. Michael Federman, the chairman of Elbit Systems, is on the Hebrew University Board of Governors. A September 2012 report to the United Nations General Assembly named Elbit Systems for its complicity with Israel’s human rights abuses and war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Since its launch in 2005 by 171 Palestinian civil society groups, the BDS campaign has gone from strength to strength. In response, Shurat HaDin and a range of other pro-Zionist individuals, groups and organisations have launched a campaign of “lawfare” to undermine the rights of pro-Palestine activists to free speech and freedom of assembly.

Lawfare proponents such as Shurat HaDin regularly use SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuits against public participation) to try to damage political opponents by either financially crippling them or tying them up in court and/or to win public relations victories for the lawfare proponent.

In most instances, SLAPP suit proponents do not expect to win their suit. Their primary goal is to prevent public participation and political activism through intimidation and mounting legal costs.
Shurat HaDin has launched a range of SLAPP suits around the world and in Australia had previously threatened legal proceedings against both World Vision Australia and AusAID, the Australian government developmental aid organisation. It claimed that their support for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in Gaza violated Australian and US counter-terrorism legislation. After conducting an investigation into the claims, both organisations found that there was no merit whatsoever to Shurat HaDin’s claims.

Shurat HaDin since its inception in 2003 has claimed to be a “fully independent non-profit organisation, unaffiliated with any political party or governmental body”. However, earlier this month, the UK public investigation group Spin Watch revealed that Shurat HaDin in fact acts as a proxy for the Israeli government.

In a 5 October Spin Watch article, Tom Griffin and David Miller cited US government cables opened by WikiLeaks, which revealed that Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder and director of Shurat HaDin, had “privately admitted to taking direction from the Israeli government over which cases to pursue and relying on Israeli intelligence contracts for witnesses and evidence”.

On 31 October, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), one of the key Zionist lobby groups in Australia, which has opposed the Palestinian BDS campaign and falsely labelled it “anti-Semitic”, issued a press statement distancing itself from Shurat HaDin’s actions.

ECAJ’s executive director, Peter Wertheim, noted that Shurat HaDin’s campaign against Jake Lynch was being pursued “merely as a political tactic”. ECAJ’s attempt to distance itself from Shurat HaDin’s lawfare campaign against Lynch is no doubt informed by the fact that lawfare attempts against other BDS activists in France, England, Scotland, the USA and Australia have failed.

Shurat HaDin’s lawfare attack on Lynch, academic freedom and freedom of speech has also been condemned by more than 2,000 Australian and international human rights advocates from more than 60 countries, who have signed a pledge supporting BDS and offering to be co-defendants in any legal action taken against Lynch.

The case is scheduled to be heard in the Federal Court on 27 November.

Spurious case against Palestine activist

Kim Bullimore | 02-Nov-2013

On 29 October, the Israel-based law centre Shurat HaDin filed a case in the Australian Federal Court against Professor Jake Lynch, the director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, over his support of the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.
The BDS campaign calls for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions that are complicit in the system of oppression that denies Palestinians their basic rights.
Lynch had been previously targeted by Shurat HaDin, along with Professor Stuart Rees, when the centre lodged a claim against them and the BDS campaign with the Australian Human Rights Commission on 31 July.
In both instances, Shurat HaDin has accused Lynch and the BDS campaign of breaching the 1975 Racial Discrimination Act, which deems it unlawful to discriminate against a person “based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin”.
The BDS campaign does not target individuals, businesses or institutions on the basis of religion, ethnicity or nationality. Businesses and institutions are boycotted on the basis of their contribution to human rights abuses, their contribution to the violations of international law by the Israeli state and military or their contribution to “rebranding campaigns” that attempt to whitewash Israel’s human rights abuses and war crimes.
Shurat HaDin claims that Lynch’s support for BDS and his refusal to sponsor a fellowship application for Israeli academic Dan Avnon from the Hebrew University violates Australian law.
In December 2012, Avnon approached Lynch for assistance to study civics education in Australia under a fellowship agreement between the Hebrew University and Sydney University. Lynch declined to assist Avnon because of Lynch’s opposition to the fellowship agreement between the two institutions, not because Avnon was Israeli or Jewish, as Shurat HaDin claims.
The Hebrew University has a long history of complicity with Israel’s human rights abuses against the Palestinian people, part of the university’s Jerusalem campus and dormitories being built on stolen Palestinian land in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The university also has strong ties with the Israeli government and military establishment. A range of Israeli military colleges and training facilities are the responsibility of the university. It also has links to Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest military companies. Michael Federman, the chairman of Elbit Systems, is on the Hebrew University Board of Governors. A September 2012 report to the United Nations General Assembly named Elbit Systems for its complicity with Israel’s human rights abuses and war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Since its launch in 2005 by 171 Palestinian civil society groups, the BDS campaign has gone from strength to strength. In response, Shurat HaDin and a range of other pro-Zionist individuals, groups and organisations have launched a campaign of “lawfare” to undermine the rights of pro-Palestine activists to free speech and freedom of assembly.
Lawfare proponents such as Shurat HaDin regularly use SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuits against public participation) to try to damage political opponents by either financially crippling them or tying them up in court and/or to win public relations victories for the lawfare proponent.
In most instances, SLAPP suit proponents do not expect to win their suit. Their primary goal is to prevent public participation and political activism through intimidation and mounting legal costs.
Shurat HaDin has launched a range of SLAPP suits around the world and in Australia had previously threatened legal proceedings against both World Vision Australia and AusAID, the Australian government developmental aid organisation. It claimed that their support for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in Gaza violated Australian and US counter-terrorism legislation. After conducting an investigation into the claims, both organisations found that there was no merit whatsoever to Shurat HaDin’s claims.
Shurat HaDin since its inception in 2003 has claimed to be a “fully independent non-profit organisation, unaffiliated with any political party or governmental body”. However, earlier this month, the UK public investigation group Spin Watch revealed that Shurat HaDin in fact acts as a proxy for the Israeli government.
In a 5 October Spin Watch article, Tom Griffin and David Miller cited US government cables opened by WikiLeaks, which revealed that Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder and director of Shurat HaDin, had “privately admitted to taking direction from the Israeli government over which cases to pursue and relying on Israeli intelligence contracts for witnesses and evidence”.
On 31 October, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), one of the key Zionist lobby groups in Australia, which has opposed the Palestinian BDS campaign and falsely labelled it “anti-Semitic”, issued a press statement distancing itself from Shurat HaDin’s actions.
ECAJ’s executive director, Peter Wertheim, noted that Shurat HaDin’s campaign against Jake Lynch was being pursued “merely as a political tactic”. ECAJ’s attempt to distance itself from Shurat HaDin’s lawfare campaign against Lynch is no doubt informed by the fact that lawfare attempts against other BDS activists in France, England, Scotland, the USA and Australia have failed.
Shurat HaDin’s lawfare attack on Lynch, academic freedom and freedom of speech has also been condemned by more than 2,000 Australian and international human rights advocates from more than 60 countries, who have signed a pledge supporting BDS and offering to be co-defendants in any legal action taken against Lynch.
The case is scheduled to be heard in the Federal Court on 27 November.
- See more at: http://redflag.org.au/article/spurious-case-against-palestine-activist#sthash.dxiOXUTQ.dpuf

Spurious case against Palestine activist

Kim Bullimore | 02-Nov-2013

On 29 October, the Israel-based law centre Shurat HaDin filed a case in the Australian Federal Court against Professor Jake Lynch, the director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, over his support of the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.
The BDS campaign calls for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions that are complicit in the system of oppression that denies Palestinians their basic rights.
Lynch had been previously targeted by Shurat HaDin, along with Professor Stuart Rees, when the centre lodged a claim against them and the BDS campaign with the Australian Human Rights Commission on 31 July.
In both instances, Shurat HaDin has accused Lynch and the BDS campaign of breaching the 1975 Racial Discrimination Act, which deems it unlawful to discriminate against a person “based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin”.
The BDS campaign does not target individuals, businesses or institutions on the basis of religion, ethnicity or nationality. Businesses and institutions are boycotted on the basis of their contribution to human rights abuses, their contribution to the violations of international law by the Israeli state and military or their contribution to “rebranding campaigns” that attempt to whitewash Israel’s human rights abuses and war crimes.
Shurat HaDin claims that Lynch’s support for BDS and his refusal to sponsor a fellowship application for Israeli academic Dan Avnon from the Hebrew University violates Australian law.
In December 2012, Avnon approached Lynch for assistance to study civics education in Australia under a fellowship agreement between the Hebrew University and Sydney University. Lynch declined to assist Avnon because of Lynch’s opposition to the fellowship agreement between the two institutions, not because Avnon was Israeli or Jewish, as Shurat HaDin claims.
The Hebrew University has a long history of complicity with Israel’s human rights abuses against the Palestinian people, part of the university’s Jerusalem campus and dormitories being built on stolen Palestinian land in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The university also has strong ties with the Israeli government and military establishment. A range of Israeli military colleges and training facilities are the responsibility of the university. It also has links to Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest military companies. Michael Federman, the chairman of Elbit Systems, is on the Hebrew University Board of Governors. A September 2012 report to the United Nations General Assembly named Elbit Systems for its complicity with Israel’s human rights abuses and war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Since its launch in 2005 by 171 Palestinian civil society groups, the BDS campaign has gone from strength to strength. In response, Shurat HaDin and a range of other pro-Zionist individuals, groups and organisations have launched a campaign of “lawfare” to undermine the rights of pro-Palestine activists to free speech and freedom of assembly.
Lawfare proponents such as Shurat HaDin regularly use SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuits against public participation) to try to damage political opponents by either financially crippling them or tying them up in court and/or to win public relations victories for the lawfare proponent.
In most instances, SLAPP suit proponents do not expect to win their suit. Their primary goal is to prevent public participation and political activism through intimidation and mounting legal costs.
Shurat HaDin has launched a range of SLAPP suits around the world and in Australia had previously threatened legal proceedings against both World Vision Australia and AusAID, the Australian government developmental aid organisation. It claimed that their support for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in Gaza violated Australian and US counter-terrorism legislation. After conducting an investigation into the claims, both organisations found that there was no merit whatsoever to Shurat HaDin’s claims.
Shurat HaDin since its inception in 2003 has claimed to be a “fully independent non-profit organisation, unaffiliated with any political party or governmental body”. However, earlier this month, the UK public investigation group Spin Watch revealed that Shurat HaDin in fact acts as a proxy for the Israeli government.
In a 5 October Spin Watch article, Tom Griffin and David Miller cited US government cables opened by WikiLeaks, which revealed that Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder and director of Shurat HaDin, had “privately admitted to taking direction from the Israeli government over which cases to pursue and relying on Israeli intelligence contracts for witnesses and evidence”.
On 31 October, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), one of the key Zionist lobby groups in Australia, which has opposed the Palestinian BDS campaign and falsely labelled it “anti-Semitic”, issued a press statement distancing itself from Shurat HaDin’s actions.
ECAJ’s executive director, Peter Wertheim, noted that Shurat HaDin’s campaign against Jake Lynch was being pursued “merely as a political tactic”. ECAJ’s attempt to distance itself from Shurat HaDin’s lawfare campaign against Lynch is no doubt informed by the fact that lawfare attempts against other BDS activists in France, England, Scotland, the USA and Australia have failed.
Shurat HaDin’s lawfare attack on Lynch, academic freedom and freedom of speech has also been condemned by more than 2,000 Australian and international human rights advocates from more than 60 countries, who have signed a pledge supporting BDS and offering to be co-defendants in any legal action taken against Lynch.
The case is scheduled to be heard in the Federal Court on 27 November.
- See more at: http://redflag.org.au/article/spurious-case-against-palestine-activist#sthash.dxiOXUTQ.dpuf