Dear friends,
here is the video version of the interview with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad on the Palestinian BDS campaign.
In solidarity, Kim
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Interview with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad from the Palestinians Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign
Dear friends,
please find below my recent interview with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign in Ramallah. The interview has been published in Direct Action. I will also be uploading soon a video version of the interview in the near future, which will also be available on the Live from Occupied Palestine blog.
In solidarity, Kim
***
Home » Issue 29: February 2011
Direct Action
Palestinians speak on growing boycott of Israel
http://directaction.org.au/issue29/palestinians_speak_on_growing_boycott_of_israel
By Kim Bullimore, in Ramallah, occupied Palestine
In 2005, more than 170 Palestinian civil society organisations issued an international call for the boycott of Israel. Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign is conducted in the framework of international solidarity and resistance to injustice and oppression. It calls for non-violent punitive measures to be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law. Over the past five years, the BDS campaign has gone from strength to strength internationally, with trade unions, student groups and other sectors announcing support. Kim Bullimore spoke with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad in Ramallah about the growing international campaign. Barghouti is a Palestinian political and cultural analyst and a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). Awwad is the national coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC).
Omar Barghouti
“After five years of BDS, we feel that we have reached our ‘South Africa moment’”, Omar Barghouti told Direct Action. “We are on the offensive, and Zionist and anti-BDS groups are definitely on the defensive everywhere.”
Barghouti notes: “A few years ago we would have looked at where we are now as a dream that cannot come true except after many, many years. But after five years we have campaigns which are advocating BDS [and] working on BDS from the US to Australia, from Norway to South Africa, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Argentina and so on. So now we have very successful campaigns in corporate responsibility, divestment campaigns.”
According to Barghouti, who is one of the founders of the PACBI, since Israel’s all-out assault on the Gaza Strip in 2008-09, the BDS campaign, particularly the academic and cultural boycott, has grown by leaps and bounds. “Since Gaza and especially after the flotilla attack, academic and cultural boycott campaigns have spread throughout the world. Big performers, major artists like the Pixies, [Elvis] Costello, Gill Scott Heron and others have cancelled performances in Israel. We are getting more and more and the list of groups is growing; every month we are getting new performers that are cancelling.”
Barghouti points out that the cancellation of performances in Israel by such artists means that “millions and millions of fans of those big artists have been introduced to the boycott. So now BDS is a name that is known in the mainstream media, in Israel, the US and Europe and probably in Australia as well. So we think there is a lot of progress being made.”
Barghouti continued that the next step is to “increase the coordination of all BDS activists in specific campaigns”. He noted that not only is the BNC coordinating many global campaigns for BDS, but that “we are spreading BDS through local conferences and regional conferences.
“Our latest regional conference was in India, and it attracted many from South Asia and was an extremely important moment for us to spread BDS in that part of the world. The next will be Latin America. We will have a regional conference in Latin America in 2011, and that will be our biggest ‘new hit’, so to speak. So we are branching out. And of course the conference that happened in Australia last October was extremely important. So we hope there will be more coordination with BDS activists in Australia.”
Hind Awwad
Hind Awwad, the BNC’s national coordinator in Ramallah, explained that there is currently overwhelming consensus for BDS within all sectors of Palestinian society. “Within the three sectors of Palestinian society — this being Palestinians present in the 1967 areas, the 48 areas [Israel] and Palestinians in the diaspora — there is overwhelming consensus on BDS or the full boycott of Israel. This includes academic and cultural boycott.” She points out: “This consensus is represented by the BDS National Committee, which is a wide coalition of the largest mass civil society organisations within Palestinian society”. At present, the BNC represents the “largest coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations”.
Asked about the argument by Zionists and anti-BDS groups that BDS hurts Palestinians, particularly Palestinian workers, Awwad pointed out that when the BDS call was issued in 2005 it was endorsed by all major Palestinian trade unions, farmer unions and agricultural unions. In addition, the three major Palestinian trade union federations are now part of the BNC. “So there is consensus among Palestinian workers and agricultural farmers on the need for BDS”, she said.
Awwad added that the argument that BDS hurts Palestinians “is a very patronising argument. It makes it seem like Palestinians are not mature enough to decide what they want. The overwhelming consensus within Palestinian civil society is very clear on the need for full BDS. We are mature enough to make our own decisions; we are mature enough to know what we want and to know what tactics to use to wage our struggle, our resistance to Israel’s oppression.”
International companies
Both Barghouti and Awwad note that a range of international companies are profiting from Israel’s occupation. Awwad said: “Within the Industrial zones that Israel is setting up, there are international corporations that are complicit in maintaining these zones and thereby they are directly aiding Israel’s occupation”. She noted that such companies are legitimate targets within the framework of the BDS campaign “due to their involvement in the Israeli occupation and due to their violations of international law”.
Asked about BDS campaigns against international companies profiting from Israel’s occupation, Barghouti cited the campaign against Veolia and Alstrom as one of the biggest success stories. The two French conglomerates are currently involved in building the Jerusalem light rail, intended to connect Israel’s illegal colonies to the city of Jerusalem. However, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which outlines the rights and responsibilities of an occupying power, it is illegal for an occupying power to transfer its civilian population into the territories it occupies. The Jerusalem light rail will aid in the transfer of sections of Israel’s population into the territories it illegally seized in 1967.
Barghouti said, “We have targeted those two companies because they were involved in this patently illegal project”. Since the campaign began in November 2008, “Veolia specifically has lost contracts worth billions of dollars, close to 10 billion in fact, and we think a lot of that can be attributed to BDS campaigns in Sweden, the UK, Ireland, France, Melbourne and other places”.
Barghouti also noted that two other BDS campaigns that have grown in strength internationally are the campaigns to strip the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a key Israeli and Zionist organisation, of its charitable status and the campaign against the Israeli state-owned company Agrexco. Barghouti said the primary reason for targeting the JNF was because “it’s a colonial entity, a very racist entity implicated in Israel’s war crimes and violations of international law”, while Agrexco is being targeted because it is Israel’s major exporter of settlement products and produce.
Barghouti noted that the campaign against Agrexco has been particularly successful in France, where close to 100 NGOs and five national political parties are working jointly on the campaign. The campaign is also strong in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Belgium and many other countries. Barghouti encouraged Australian BDS activists also to get involved in the Agrexco campaign.
Palestinian Authority
On the boycott against Israeli settlement goods launched by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Awwad noted that while this was a welcome move, it does not go far enough. “While this campaign is certainly a step in the right direction, I think it is a step that is incomplete and has come way too late.” Awwad noted that a boycott focused solely on Israel’s illegal settlements in reality lets the Israeli government off the hook. “According to international law, Israel is the liable party for the settlements. The settlements are not a legal entity on their own. So, if we are to hold Israel accountable for its settlements and occupation industry, we should target Israel as a whole, not just the settlements.”
Awwad pointed out that the PA campaign has come as a result of the overwhelming growth in the global boycott campaign. “The PA felt that they were behind on a boycott of Israel, that they had to take up some part of the boycott or some part of BDS that they could work on, given the agreements they have with Israel.” Awwad said that the constraints imposed on the PA by the Paris Protocol and the Oslo Agreement made it choose to focus on this part of the BDS campaign. She noted, however, that “the standards for Palestinian civil society of course remain much higher than the PA … with a full boycott of Israel, not just the settlements”.
Two important developments in the BDS campaign in 2010 were the increased support in both South Africa and Israel. According to Barghouti, “the developments in South Africa ... have been phenomenal.
“Now we have an Artists Against Apartheid in South Africa, and to us this is extremely relevant symbolically and practically. There are major campaigns supported by very key figures like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and major figures in the ANC, major cultural figures and many prominent academics are involved in the campaigns for BDS.”
Barghouti said that one particularly important campaign in South Africa was that at the University of Johannesburg to sever links with Ben Gurion University. “We hope that this may well be our very first success in the terms of academic boycott, not just passing a resolution supporting academic boycott as we have done for several years in the UK”, he said. “The new thing is that that the University of Johannesburg may actually sever links with Ben Gurion University, under pressure from its own academics, as well as many, many academics in South Africa. Two hundred and eighty academics, very prominent, some vice-chancellors of universities have signed this petition calling for severing the links. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has put his name to the cultural boycott. It is really spreading.”
On support in Israel for BDS, Barghouti pointed out that the campaign had grown in strength since Israel’s all out bombardment of Gaza in 2008-09. The BDS campaign, he said, had been “launched inside Israel, predominately [by] Israeli Jewish citizens, conscientious citizens, academics, intellectuals, artists, students and other activists and queer activists. This campaign is really growing and attracting a lot of attention.” According to Barghouti, “The Israeli BDS group, called Boycott from Within, is helping us tremendously in many, many ways”.
Barghouti also cited the important contribution to the BDS campaign by Israeli groups such as the Alternative Information Centre and the Women’s Coalition for Peace. Barghouti noted that the Women’s Coalition for Peace was playing a particularly important role, having established the “Who Profits from the Occupation” web site. Barghouti noted that the site “documents almost all international and Israeli companies profiting from the occupation. This has been an extremely valuable resource for BDS activists everywhere, who want to select companies to target and want to select those involved in the occupation.” Barghouti added that while “BDS talks about comprehensive Palestinian human rights: ending the occupation, as well as ending apartheid and racial discrimination in Israel and most importantly the right of return for refugees …the occupation is clearly the most convenient and easiest practical target.”
Barghouti went on to say that there are Israeli activists working on the cultural boycott campaign, academic campaign and product boycotts and “they are involved in all the networks that the BNC is coordinating globally”.
[Kim Bullimore is a member of the National Committee of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and a volunteer with the international human rights and solidarity group, the International Women's Peace Service, in Palestine]
please find below my recent interview with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign in Ramallah. The interview has been published in Direct Action. I will also be uploading soon a video version of the interview in the near future, which will also be available on the Live from Occupied Palestine blog.
In solidarity, Kim
***
Home » Issue 29: February 2011
Direct Action
Palestinians speak on growing boycott of Israel
http://directaction.org.au/issue29/palestinians_speak_on_growing_boycott_of_israel
By Kim Bullimore, in Ramallah, occupied Palestine
In 2005, more than 170 Palestinian civil society organisations issued an international call for the boycott of Israel. Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign is conducted in the framework of international solidarity and resistance to injustice and oppression. It calls for non-violent punitive measures to be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law. Over the past five years, the BDS campaign has gone from strength to strength internationally, with trade unions, student groups and other sectors announcing support. Kim Bullimore spoke with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad in Ramallah about the growing international campaign. Barghouti is a Palestinian political and cultural analyst and a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). Awwad is the national coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC).
Omar Barghouti
“After five years of BDS, we feel that we have reached our ‘South Africa moment’”, Omar Barghouti told Direct Action. “We are on the offensive, and Zionist and anti-BDS groups are definitely on the defensive everywhere.”
Barghouti notes: “A few years ago we would have looked at where we are now as a dream that cannot come true except after many, many years. But after five years we have campaigns which are advocating BDS [and] working on BDS from the US to Australia, from Norway to South Africa, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Argentina and so on. So now we have very successful campaigns in corporate responsibility, divestment campaigns.”
According to Barghouti, who is one of the founders of the PACBI, since Israel’s all-out assault on the Gaza Strip in 2008-09, the BDS campaign, particularly the academic and cultural boycott, has grown by leaps and bounds. “Since Gaza and especially after the flotilla attack, academic and cultural boycott campaigns have spread throughout the world. Big performers, major artists like the Pixies, [Elvis] Costello, Gill Scott Heron and others have cancelled performances in Israel. We are getting more and more and the list of groups is growing; every month we are getting new performers that are cancelling.”
Barghouti points out that the cancellation of performances in Israel by such artists means that “millions and millions of fans of those big artists have been introduced to the boycott. So now BDS is a name that is known in the mainstream media, in Israel, the US and Europe and probably in Australia as well. So we think there is a lot of progress being made.”
Barghouti continued that the next step is to “increase the coordination of all BDS activists in specific campaigns”. He noted that not only is the BNC coordinating many global campaigns for BDS, but that “we are spreading BDS through local conferences and regional conferences.
“Our latest regional conference was in India, and it attracted many from South Asia and was an extremely important moment for us to spread BDS in that part of the world. The next will be Latin America. We will have a regional conference in Latin America in 2011, and that will be our biggest ‘new hit’, so to speak. So we are branching out. And of course the conference that happened in Australia last October was extremely important. So we hope there will be more coordination with BDS activists in Australia.”
Hind Awwad
Hind Awwad, the BNC’s national coordinator in Ramallah, explained that there is currently overwhelming consensus for BDS within all sectors of Palestinian society. “Within the three sectors of Palestinian society — this being Palestinians present in the 1967 areas, the 48 areas [Israel] and Palestinians in the diaspora — there is overwhelming consensus on BDS or the full boycott of Israel. This includes academic and cultural boycott.” She points out: “This consensus is represented by the BDS National Committee, which is a wide coalition of the largest mass civil society organisations within Palestinian society”. At present, the BNC represents the “largest coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations”.
Asked about the argument by Zionists and anti-BDS groups that BDS hurts Palestinians, particularly Palestinian workers, Awwad pointed out that when the BDS call was issued in 2005 it was endorsed by all major Palestinian trade unions, farmer unions and agricultural unions. In addition, the three major Palestinian trade union federations are now part of the BNC. “So there is consensus among Palestinian workers and agricultural farmers on the need for BDS”, she said.
Awwad added that the argument that BDS hurts Palestinians “is a very patronising argument. It makes it seem like Palestinians are not mature enough to decide what they want. The overwhelming consensus within Palestinian civil society is very clear on the need for full BDS. We are mature enough to make our own decisions; we are mature enough to know what we want and to know what tactics to use to wage our struggle, our resistance to Israel’s oppression.”
International companies
Both Barghouti and Awwad note that a range of international companies are profiting from Israel’s occupation. Awwad said: “Within the Industrial zones that Israel is setting up, there are international corporations that are complicit in maintaining these zones and thereby they are directly aiding Israel’s occupation”. She noted that such companies are legitimate targets within the framework of the BDS campaign “due to their involvement in the Israeli occupation and due to their violations of international law”.
Asked about BDS campaigns against international companies profiting from Israel’s occupation, Barghouti cited the campaign against Veolia and Alstrom as one of the biggest success stories. The two French conglomerates are currently involved in building the Jerusalem light rail, intended to connect Israel’s illegal colonies to the city of Jerusalem. However, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which outlines the rights and responsibilities of an occupying power, it is illegal for an occupying power to transfer its civilian population into the territories it occupies. The Jerusalem light rail will aid in the transfer of sections of Israel’s population into the territories it illegally seized in 1967.
Barghouti said, “We have targeted those two companies because they were involved in this patently illegal project”. Since the campaign began in November 2008, “Veolia specifically has lost contracts worth billions of dollars, close to 10 billion in fact, and we think a lot of that can be attributed to BDS campaigns in Sweden, the UK, Ireland, France, Melbourne and other places”.
Barghouti also noted that two other BDS campaigns that have grown in strength internationally are the campaigns to strip the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a key Israeli and Zionist organisation, of its charitable status and the campaign against the Israeli state-owned company Agrexco. Barghouti said the primary reason for targeting the JNF was because “it’s a colonial entity, a very racist entity implicated in Israel’s war crimes and violations of international law”, while Agrexco is being targeted because it is Israel’s major exporter of settlement products and produce.
Barghouti noted that the campaign against Agrexco has been particularly successful in France, where close to 100 NGOs and five national political parties are working jointly on the campaign. The campaign is also strong in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Belgium and many other countries. Barghouti encouraged Australian BDS activists also to get involved in the Agrexco campaign.
Palestinian Authority
On the boycott against Israeli settlement goods launched by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Awwad noted that while this was a welcome move, it does not go far enough. “While this campaign is certainly a step in the right direction, I think it is a step that is incomplete and has come way too late.” Awwad noted that a boycott focused solely on Israel’s illegal settlements in reality lets the Israeli government off the hook. “According to international law, Israel is the liable party for the settlements. The settlements are not a legal entity on their own. So, if we are to hold Israel accountable for its settlements and occupation industry, we should target Israel as a whole, not just the settlements.”
Awwad pointed out that the PA campaign has come as a result of the overwhelming growth in the global boycott campaign. “The PA felt that they were behind on a boycott of Israel, that they had to take up some part of the boycott or some part of BDS that they could work on, given the agreements they have with Israel.” Awwad said that the constraints imposed on the PA by the Paris Protocol and the Oslo Agreement made it choose to focus on this part of the BDS campaign. She noted, however, that “the standards for Palestinian civil society of course remain much higher than the PA … with a full boycott of Israel, not just the settlements”.
Two important developments in the BDS campaign in 2010 were the increased support in both South Africa and Israel. According to Barghouti, “the developments in South Africa ... have been phenomenal.
“Now we have an Artists Against Apartheid in South Africa, and to us this is extremely relevant symbolically and practically. There are major campaigns supported by very key figures like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and major figures in the ANC, major cultural figures and many prominent academics are involved in the campaigns for BDS.”
Barghouti said that one particularly important campaign in South Africa was that at the University of Johannesburg to sever links with Ben Gurion University. “We hope that this may well be our very first success in the terms of academic boycott, not just passing a resolution supporting academic boycott as we have done for several years in the UK”, he said. “The new thing is that that the University of Johannesburg may actually sever links with Ben Gurion University, under pressure from its own academics, as well as many, many academics in South Africa. Two hundred and eighty academics, very prominent, some vice-chancellors of universities have signed this petition calling for severing the links. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has put his name to the cultural boycott. It is really spreading.”
On support in Israel for BDS, Barghouti pointed out that the campaign had grown in strength since Israel’s all out bombardment of Gaza in 2008-09. The BDS campaign, he said, had been “launched inside Israel, predominately [by] Israeli Jewish citizens, conscientious citizens, academics, intellectuals, artists, students and other activists and queer activists. This campaign is really growing and attracting a lot of attention.” According to Barghouti, “The Israeli BDS group, called Boycott from Within, is helping us tremendously in many, many ways”.
Barghouti also cited the important contribution to the BDS campaign by Israeli groups such as the Alternative Information Centre and the Women’s Coalition for Peace. Barghouti noted that the Women’s Coalition for Peace was playing a particularly important role, having established the “Who Profits from the Occupation” web site. Barghouti noted that the site “documents almost all international and Israeli companies profiting from the occupation. This has been an extremely valuable resource for BDS activists everywhere, who want to select companies to target and want to select those involved in the occupation.” Barghouti added that while “BDS talks about comprehensive Palestinian human rights: ending the occupation, as well as ending apartheid and racial discrimination in Israel and most importantly the right of return for refugees …the occupation is clearly the most convenient and easiest practical target.”
Barghouti went on to say that there are Israeli activists working on the cultural boycott campaign, academic campaign and product boycotts and “they are involved in all the networks that the BNC is coordinating globally”.
[Kim Bullimore is a member of the National Committee of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and a volunteer with the international human rights and solidarity group, the International Women's Peace Service, in Palestine]
Thursday, January 27, 2011
The Price of Dignity
Currently there are more than 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners locked up in Israel's jails. This week, I found out that my friend Hasan* (*not his real name) is one of them. When in Ramallah, I mentioned to a mutual friend that I had planned to ring him to let him know I was in Palestine. Our mutual friend informed me that Hasan was being held under “Administration Detention” and had been in prison for three months.
I last saw Hasan more than a year ago, when I was last in Palestine. A year previous to this last meeting, he had emailed me to apologise for not answering my phone calls and emails when I had tried to contact him when I was in Palestine. Unfortunately, he apologised, he had been in prison for seven months held without charge or trial by the Israeli military under an Administrative Detention order.
When I met him last year in a local Ramallah coffee shop, he looked the same but different. In his early to mid-twenties, Hasan, who I had met him several years before, had always had a lean but strong build, but now he was more thinner than I remembered him. He was also smoking more and his demeanour was different. He was still as politically sharp as I remembered him, but his youthful, upbeat enthusiasm had been tempered and he was much more cynical and world-weary than before. I could see that the seven months he spent in Israel’s prisons had taken a definite toll on him. Hasan told me that he had been repeatedly tortured while in prison but it had made him stronger and more committed to his people’s struggle.
Hasan with wry humour, also recounted the toll his imprisonment had also had on his family, particularly his mother. An atheist himself, Hasan, comes from a Christian Palestinian family and upon his release from Administrative Detention; he came home to find that his mother, a believer, had hung a crucifix on his bedroom wall and left a small crucifix on his study table. For the first few weeks, he told me, he out of love and deference for his mother he allowed the Cross on the wall to remain but would put the small one on his table away. However, every time he returned home from being out, he again would find the small cross had reappeared on his table, placed there by his concerned mother. Our mutual friend, when she told me of Hasan’s re-incarceration, also recounted to me that his mother after his release from his first imprisonment woke at 3 am every morning, the time the Israeli military had raid the family’s home to kidnap Hasan. His mother, terrified that the Israeli military would again raid her home and take either one or both of her sons, woke at this time each morning to check they were safely in their beds.
Hasan’s imprisonment, our mutual friend informed me, came at a time when he was finally getting over the horrors of his first imprisonment and torture and was much more like his “old-self”. As I write this article, I worry that my friend is being tortured and that his family is suffering, like so many other Palestinian families who are experiencing the same horrendous situation.
Since 1967, more than 650,000 Palestinians or twenty percent of Palestinian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been detained by Israel [1]. According to the Palestinian prisoner's support and human rights association, Addameer, most of those detained are male. Addameer notes that this translates to more forty percent of the total male Palestinian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories being incarcerated since 1967.
Since 1967, when Israel illegal seized and occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, more than 1500 military regulations have been issued by Israel’s military to “govern” the West Bank, while more than 1400 have been issued to “govern” the besieged Gaza Strip[2]. These military orders can be issued on the whim of an Israeli military commander and do not need to be publicised. As a result, the Palestinians and the wider public, including the media and legal services, only become aware of the existence of such orders when they are implemented. In 1970, Israel issued Military Order 378, which authorised the military commanders of regions to issue “Administrative Detention” orders [3]. These orders allow Israeli occupying forces to detain and arrest large numbers of Palestinian civilians without charge or trail. In 1988, Military Order 378 was amended by Military Order 1229 in the Occupied West Bank and Military Order 941 in the Gaza Strip, with these amendments allowing military orders to be issued for Administrative Detention without designating a maximum period of time for incarceration without charge or trail [4]
According to the first paragraph of Military Order 1229: “If a Military Commander deems the detention of a person necessary for security reasons he may do so for a period not in excess of 6 months, after which he has the right to extend the detention period for a further six months according to the original order. The detention order can be passed without the presence of the detainee...” [5]
Under this regime, 22% of persons held under administrative detention are held for less than 6 months, while 37% have been held between 6 months to 1 year. Another eight percent have been held for 2-5 years. The longest period an individual has been held under administrative detention without then being charged is 8 years [6].
Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem notes that the highest number of Palestinians held under administrative detention was during the First Intifada, with almost 1800 Palestinians detain in November 1989 [7]. During the early to mid 1990s, between 100-350 Palestinian political prisoners were detained under administrative detention at any given moment. By the second year of the Second Palestinian Intifada, approximately 1000 Palestinians were detained under Israel's regime. B'Tselem notes that as of August of 2010, 189 Palestinians were being held under administrative detention.
B’Tselm points out that while administrative detention is allowed under international law, it “can only be used only in the most exceptional cases, as the last means available for preventing danger that cannot be thwarted by less harmful means” [8]. B’Tselem notes, however, that Israel uses administrative detention in an arbitrary and regular manner in order to detain Palestinian civilians, denying them proper legal recourse, which is in violation of international law. Not only are Palestinians, who are detained under Administrative Detention orders, not charged with anything and denied the right to a trial, both the detainee and their legal council are denied the right to even know what the detainee is accused of. The detainee’s lawyers are also denied the right to access the military ‘evidence’ against those detained under the Administrative Detention regime. Addameer notes that the use of administrative detention by Israel is such a manner is in contravention of Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as other international and human rights law.
Nearly all Palestinian political prisoners, both male and female, as well as adults and minors, have suffered torture at the hands of their Israeli captors. According to Addameer, “Physical and psychological torture against Palestinian and Arab prisoners has been a distinguishing factor of Israeli occupation since 1967”, noting that “torture has taken different shapes throughout the period of occupation” [9]. According to Addameer since the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada in 1987, at least 30,000 Palestinians have been tortured by Israel.
Many of the Palestinian political prisoners detained under the Administrative Detention regime are minors. In the last week, the village of An Nabi Saleh, has been raided almost nightly and at least four Palestinian minors have been kidnapped by the Israeli military, including an 11 year old off the streets of the village. Under Israeli military law, Palestinian children age 14 years and over are tried as an adult in Israel’s military courts [10]. In practice, however, children as young as 11 and 12 have been brought before these courts and held under Administrative Detention. According to Defense for Children International, 213 Palestinian children are currently being held in Israeli prisons as of December 2010 [11]. The majority of Palestinian child political prisoners report that they have also been tortured by the Israeli military.
The children kidnapped and detained in An Nabi Saleh are now being imprisoned under the same barbaric and illegal regime that my friend Hasan is imprisoned under. Their freedom is denied and the Israeli military will attempt to break their spirits and their resistance to the brutal military occupation which Israel is intent on perpetuating. While the Israeli state and its military machine may break the bones and tear the flesh of its captives, it will fail to break their resistance because these young boys, men and women understand the struggle in which they are engaged is not just a struggle for a homeland, but a struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. And no man or woman or child, no matter how hard pressed by their oppressor, will ever give up the struggle for such basic and inalienable human rights.
[1] http://www.addameer.org/index_eng.html
[2] http://www.addameer.org/detention/admin_deten.html
[3] http://www.addameer.org/detention/admin_deten.html
[4] http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article9
[5] http://www.addameer.org/detention/admin_deten.html
[6] http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=2218
[7] http://www.btselem.org/english/Administrative_Detention/
[8] http://www.btselem.org/english/Administrative_Detention/
[9] http://www.addameer.org/detention/admin_deten.html
[10] http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article9
[11] http://www.dci-pal.org/english/Display.cfm?DocId=902&CategoryId=11
Monday, January 17, 2011
To Exist is To Resist
Dear friends,
please find below my first "on-the-ground" report from Palestine. Since arriving in Palestine things have been extremely busy, so please accept my apologies for not sending any reports through earlier. I hope to make up for this in the next week and write up much more from my experiences here this time around.
Upon arriving after being away for sometime, it is clear to me that Israel's illegal occupation continues to deepen. While there is some economic prosperity evident in cities like Ramallah, it is clear that there is a growing class divide, with the disparity particularly noticeable between the rural areas of the Occupied West Bank and cities like Ramallah. At the same time, however, it is clear to me that the Palestinian people continue to resist.
Meeting with old friends and new acquaintances and contacts over the last little while, it is very evident that the Palestinian initiated Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign enjoys a lot of support amongst ordinary Palestinians, with many of the families and friends I know actively engaging in or supporting the campaign. When discussing BDS with my Palestinian friends and acquaintances here, they have been heartened to hear about the support for the campaign in Australia.
Please feel free to distribute the reports to your networks.
Wishing you all the best,
In solidarity,
Kim
****
TO EXIST IS TO RESIST
by Kim Bullimore -16.01.2011
On Tuesday, the Israeli military demolished the dreams of a family of five in the Palestinian village of Azzoun Atma. At 8.30am, on January 11, more than 100 Israeli soldiers surrounded their home, forced them onto the street and then locked them in the neighouring house for the next three and half hours. As “the most moral army in the world” stood guard around the neighbouring house, ensuring the family could do nothing to stop what was about to happen, a heavily armoured Caterpillar bulldozer smashed down the walls of the home they had lived in for more than 8 years. The Israeli occupation forces then made their way to the other side of the village and demolished a farm house belonging to another family, along with their agricultural pens.
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
The day after the demolition of their dreams, myself and my team mates from the International Women's Peace Service visited the family to take a report. As we walked around what was once the home of the family we could see, even among the destruction and rubble which lay before us, the loving care they had put into their home. The trees in front of their home were pruned, shaped and manicured. Stepping through the rubble, their garden which was located at the back of their small home, was neat, green and well cared for. In the drive way of the neighbouring house, where they were locked and which belonged to the parents of the husband of the family, there was well-worn, but well-cared for modern style furniture which has subsequently been rescued from the demolished wreckage nearby.
The family’s “crime” was that they built their home on their own land without the permit of the Israeli military occupation administration, which is known in the Orwellian parlance of the Israeli state and its occupation forces, as the “Israeli Civil Administration”.
The administration which was established by the Israeli military to administer the Palestinian territories that Israel illegal seized in 1967 claims to administer the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the interests of the Palestinian population. According to Israeli Military decree 947 which established the administration: “We hereby establish a Civil Administration in the region [West Bank and Gaza]. The Civil Administration shall run all regional civil matters, correspondingly to this [military] degree, for the wellbeing and for the sake of [the local] population and with the purpose of providing and operating the public services, considering the need to maintain a proper governance and public order”. [1]
However, rather caring for the “well being” of the Palestinian population or governing in their interest, the Israel military occupation administration has actively enacted policies which seeks to ethnic cleanse the people they are occupying, an act which is illegal under international law. Not only has Israel, as an “Occupying Power”, violated the Fourth Geneva Convention (which outlines the role and responsibilities of an occupying power) by engaging in illegal detentions, extra-judicial killings, the transfer of settler populations in to an Occupied Territory and the transfer of the resident indigenous population out of the Occupied Territory, it has also systematically violated Article 53 of the Convention, which prohibits an “occupying power” from destroying the personal property of the people they occupy [2]
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
Since its 1967 seizure of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, Israel has systematically demolished between 18,000 and 24,000 Palestinian homes [3 & 4]. The majority of these homes have been destroyed under the guise of an Orwellian system of “building permits”, which seeks to establish a faux legal system which prevents the Palestinian population from building homes and infrastructure. This system allows the Israeli military occupation administration to establish a “legal” precedent to demolish any Palestinian house and infrastructure built without its permission, in order to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1967 war, the Zionist state demolished more than 600 Palestinian homes in the Mughrabi Quarter in order to build a plaza in front of the Western (Wailing) Wall in Occupied East Jerusalem. The Israeli state went onto demolish more than 6,000 other homes, including four entire villages in the Latrun area, which is now known as “Canada” Park [5]. The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) note that in 1971, another 2000 homes were demolished in Gaza under the instructions of Ariel Sharon, who was at the time, the Commander of the South Command. The houses, which were located in the different refugee camps in Gaza were demolished to enable military control of the region. According to ICAHD, Israel destroyed another 2000 homes during the first intifada (1987 – 1993) and another 1700 during the Oslo Peace process between 1993 and 2000.
Since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, ICAHD documents that Israel has carried out numerous military operations which have destroyed Palestinian residential homes. This has resulted in up to 5000 Palestinian homes being destroyed in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and other cities, while at least 2500 were destroyed in Gaza. According to a 2010 survey done by the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (UN OCHA oPt) between January and July 2010, 199 Palestinian structures, including 59 homes were demolished, leaving 242 people homeless [6]. UNOCHA notes that in 2009 the demolition of homes by the Israeli military left 891 Palestinians homeless, including 499 children. In 2004, international human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 50,000 Palestinians have been made homeless by military home demolitions since 1967.
Since 1967, Israel and its military occupation administration have made it almost impossible for Palestinian families to obtain building permits to build or extend their homes. This has been particularly noticeable in Area C, where Azzoun Atma is located.
Azzoun Atma is a “seamline” village located in “Area C” between the 1967 Green Line and Israel’s Apartheid Wall. Under the terms of the Oslo Accords “Area C”, which covers 62 percent of the Occupied West Bank, is under full Israeli control. Area C is home to up to 150,000 Palestinians and contains not only the area necessary for the expansion of Palestinian population centres (more than 270 communities) but also contains the bulk of Palestinian agricultural and grazing land. However, according to UNOCHA oPt, the Israeli Civil Administration (ie. The Israeli Military Occupation Administration) have continually refused to allow Palestinians to build in 99 percent of region covered by Area C, only allowing construction in only 1 percent of the region.
Similarly, according to a 2008 study by Israeli group, Peace Now, between 2000 and 2007, 94% of all Palestinian permit applications for Area C were rejected by the Israeli “Civil Administration”. [7]. During this period only 91 permits were granted. However, Peace Now noted that during that same time the number of building permits granted to settlers in illegal Jewish settlements located in Area C totalled 18, 472. According to Peace Now, during this period, the Israeli occupation forces demolished 33 percent of almost 5000 supposedly “illegal” Palestinians houses and structures, while in contrast only 7 percent of the 2,900 cases of illegal settler construction which had been place under demolition orders were torn down.
Second house demolition by Israeli occupation forces
The demolition of the home belonging to the family in Azzoun Atma on January 11 had nothing to do with the lack of a “legal” building permit. Instead, it was the act of settler-colonial state which seeks to permanently cleanse the land they have occupied of its indigenous inhabitants. Not only did Israel, in the words of one member of the family, seek to “destroy our dreams” by demolishing the houses in Azzoun Atma, the Zionist state also sought to destroy the dreams of an entire people by systematically restricting their right to decent housing with the aim of pushing them of their land permanently
However, despite, the hardships faced under Israel’s brutal military occupation, the Palestinian people living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have continued to remain “sumoud” (steadfast) in the face of the human rights violations visited upon them. In Palestine, resistance comes in many forms. Not only will the family in Azzoun Atma rebuild the home of their dreams, so will thousands of other Palestinian families who have also experienced the same devastating destruction. As the slogans of resistance scrawled on Israel’s apartheid wall testify: “to exist is to resist”.
-Kim Bullimore is currently living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where she is a human rights volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service (www.iwps.info). She writes regularly on the Palestine-Israel conflict for the Australian newspaper, Direct Action (www.directaction.org.au) and has a blog at www.livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com.
[1] http://www.israellawresourcecenter.org/israelmilitaryorders/fulltext/mo0947.htm
[2]http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5
[3] http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=313
[4]http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_area_c_humanitarian_response_plan_fact_sheet_2010_09_03_english.pdf
[5] http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=313
[6]http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_area_c_humanitarian_response_plan_fact_sheet_2010_09_03_english.pdf
[7] http://peacenow.org/entries/archive4606
please find below my first "on-the-ground" report from Palestine. Since arriving in Palestine things have been extremely busy, so please accept my apologies for not sending any reports through earlier. I hope to make up for this in the next week and write up much more from my experiences here this time around.
Upon arriving after being away for sometime, it is clear to me that Israel's illegal occupation continues to deepen. While there is some economic prosperity evident in cities like Ramallah, it is clear that there is a growing class divide, with the disparity particularly noticeable between the rural areas of the Occupied West Bank and cities like Ramallah. At the same time, however, it is clear to me that the Palestinian people continue to resist.
Meeting with old friends and new acquaintances and contacts over the last little while, it is very evident that the Palestinian initiated Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign enjoys a lot of support amongst ordinary Palestinians, with many of the families and friends I know actively engaging in or supporting the campaign. When discussing BDS with my Palestinian friends and acquaintances here, they have been heartened to hear about the support for the campaign in Australia.
Please feel free to distribute the reports to your networks.
Wishing you all the best,
In solidarity,
Kim
****
TO EXIST IS TO RESIST
by Kim Bullimore -16.01.2011
On Tuesday, the Israeli military demolished the dreams of a family of five in the Palestinian village of Azzoun Atma. At 8.30am, on January 11, more than 100 Israeli soldiers surrounded their home, forced them onto the street and then locked them in the neighouring house for the next three and half hours. As “the most moral army in the world” stood guard around the neighbouring house, ensuring the family could do nothing to stop what was about to happen, a heavily armoured Caterpillar bulldozer smashed down the walls of the home they had lived in for more than 8 years. The Israeli occupation forces then made their way to the other side of the village and demolished a farm house belonging to another family, along with their agricultural pens.
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
The day after the demolition of their dreams, myself and my team mates from the International Women's Peace Service visited the family to take a report. As we walked around what was once the home of the family we could see, even among the destruction and rubble which lay before us, the loving care they had put into their home. The trees in front of their home were pruned, shaped and manicured. Stepping through the rubble, their garden which was located at the back of their small home, was neat, green and well cared for. In the drive way of the neighbouring house, where they were locked and which belonged to the parents of the husband of the family, there was well-worn, but well-cared for modern style furniture which has subsequently been rescued from the demolished wreckage nearby.
The family’s “crime” was that they built their home on their own land without the permit of the Israeli military occupation administration, which is known in the Orwellian parlance of the Israeli state and its occupation forces, as the “Israeli Civil Administration”.
The administration which was established by the Israeli military to administer the Palestinian territories that Israel illegal seized in 1967 claims to administer the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the interests of the Palestinian population. According to Israeli Military decree 947 which established the administration: “We hereby establish a Civil Administration in the region [West Bank and Gaza]. The Civil Administration shall run all regional civil matters, correspondingly to this [military] degree, for the wellbeing and for the sake of [the local] population and with the purpose of providing and operating the public services, considering the need to maintain a proper governance and public order”. [1]
However, rather caring for the “well being” of the Palestinian population or governing in their interest, the Israel military occupation administration has actively enacted policies which seeks to ethnic cleanse the people they are occupying, an act which is illegal under international law. Not only has Israel, as an “Occupying Power”, violated the Fourth Geneva Convention (which outlines the role and responsibilities of an occupying power) by engaging in illegal detentions, extra-judicial killings, the transfer of settler populations in to an Occupied Territory and the transfer of the resident indigenous population out of the Occupied Territory, it has also systematically violated Article 53 of the Convention, which prohibits an “occupying power” from destroying the personal property of the people they occupy [2]
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
First home demolished by Israeli Occupation Forces
Since its 1967 seizure of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, Israel has systematically demolished between 18,000 and 24,000 Palestinian homes [3 & 4]. The majority of these homes have been destroyed under the guise of an Orwellian system of “building permits”, which seeks to establish a faux legal system which prevents the Palestinian population from building homes and infrastructure. This system allows the Israeli military occupation administration to establish a “legal” precedent to demolish any Palestinian house and infrastructure built without its permission, in order to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1967 war, the Zionist state demolished more than 600 Palestinian homes in the Mughrabi Quarter in order to build a plaza in front of the Western (Wailing) Wall in Occupied East Jerusalem. The Israeli state went onto demolish more than 6,000 other homes, including four entire villages in the Latrun area, which is now known as “Canada” Park [5]. The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) note that in 1971, another 2000 homes were demolished in Gaza under the instructions of Ariel Sharon, who was at the time, the Commander of the South Command. The houses, which were located in the different refugee camps in Gaza were demolished to enable military control of the region. According to ICAHD, Israel destroyed another 2000 homes during the first intifada (1987 – 1993) and another 1700 during the Oslo Peace process between 1993 and 2000.
Since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, ICAHD documents that Israel has carried out numerous military operations which have destroyed Palestinian residential homes. This has resulted in up to 5000 Palestinian homes being destroyed in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and other cities, while at least 2500 were destroyed in Gaza. According to a 2010 survey done by the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (UN OCHA oPt) between January and July 2010, 199 Palestinian structures, including 59 homes were demolished, leaving 242 people homeless [6]. UNOCHA notes that in 2009 the demolition of homes by the Israeli military left 891 Palestinians homeless, including 499 children. In 2004, international human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 50,000 Palestinians have been made homeless by military home demolitions since 1967.
Since 1967, Israel and its military occupation administration have made it almost impossible for Palestinian families to obtain building permits to build or extend their homes. This has been particularly noticeable in Area C, where Azzoun Atma is located.
Azzoun Atma is a “seamline” village located in “Area C” between the 1967 Green Line and Israel’s Apartheid Wall. Under the terms of the Oslo Accords “Area C”, which covers 62 percent of the Occupied West Bank, is under full Israeli control. Area C is home to up to 150,000 Palestinians and contains not only the area necessary for the expansion of Palestinian population centres (more than 270 communities) but also contains the bulk of Palestinian agricultural and grazing land. However, according to UNOCHA oPt, the Israeli Civil Administration (ie. The Israeli Military Occupation Administration) have continually refused to allow Palestinians to build in 99 percent of region covered by Area C, only allowing construction in only 1 percent of the region.
Similarly, according to a 2008 study by Israeli group, Peace Now, between 2000 and 2007, 94% of all Palestinian permit applications for Area C were rejected by the Israeli “Civil Administration”. [7]. During this period only 91 permits were granted. However, Peace Now noted that during that same time the number of building permits granted to settlers in illegal Jewish settlements located in Area C totalled 18, 472. According to Peace Now, during this period, the Israeli occupation forces demolished 33 percent of almost 5000 supposedly “illegal” Palestinians houses and structures, while in contrast only 7 percent of the 2,900 cases of illegal settler construction which had been place under demolition orders were torn down.
Second house demolition by Israeli occupation forces
The demolition of the home belonging to the family in Azzoun Atma on January 11 had nothing to do with the lack of a “legal” building permit. Instead, it was the act of settler-colonial state which seeks to permanently cleanse the land they have occupied of its indigenous inhabitants. Not only did Israel, in the words of one member of the family, seek to “destroy our dreams” by demolishing the houses in Azzoun Atma, the Zionist state also sought to destroy the dreams of an entire people by systematically restricting their right to decent housing with the aim of pushing them of their land permanently
However, despite, the hardships faced under Israel’s brutal military occupation, the Palestinian people living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have continued to remain “sumoud” (steadfast) in the face of the human rights violations visited upon them. In Palestine, resistance comes in many forms. Not only will the family in Azzoun Atma rebuild the home of their dreams, so will thousands of other Palestinian families who have also experienced the same devastating destruction. As the slogans of resistance scrawled on Israel’s apartheid wall testify: “to exist is to resist”.
-Kim Bullimore is currently living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where she is a human rights volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service (www.iwps.info). She writes regularly on the Palestine-Israel conflict for the Australian newspaper, Direct Action (www.directaction.org.au) and has a blog at www.livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com.
[1] http://www.israellawresourcecenter.org/israelmilitaryorders/fulltext/mo0947.htm
[2]http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5
[3] http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=313
[4]http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_area_c_humanitarian_response_plan_fact_sheet_2010_09_03_english.pdf
[5] http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=313
[6]http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_area_c_humanitarian_response_plan_fact_sheet_2010_09_03_english.pdf
[7] http://peacenow.org/entries/archive4606
Monday, December 27, 2010
Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak sentenced to 3 months in prison
Dear friends,
Prominent Israeli activist, Yonathan (Jonathan) Pollak has just been sentenced to 3 months prison for participating in a Critical Mass bicycle ride protest against Israel's 2008 all out assault on the people of Gaza.
Yonathan's arrest was politically motivated, as his lawyer Gaby Lasky has outlined.
Yonathan has been a leading activist involved in the the joint Palestinian-Israeli popular struggle against Israeli occupation and apartheid for a number of years. He is one of the founders of the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall and active in the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC)
Please find below the media release issued by the PSCC on Yonathan's sentencing. Also included is Yonathan's speech to the court about his arrest and sentencing.
In solidarity,
Kim
***
Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee Press Release
Monday, 27 December 2010
Israeli Activist Jonathan Pollak Sentenced to 3 Months in Prison; Tells Judge "I'll Go to prison With my Head Held High"
Pollak in Court - photo courtesy of Active Stills
Pollak was sentenced to three months imprisonment this morning at the Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court for his participation in a 2008 bicycle in protest of the siege on Gaza. He will begin serving his sentence on Januray 11th.
Tel Aviv Magistrates court judge Yitzhak Yitzhak convicted Pollak of illegal assembly for his participation in a January 2008 Critical Mass ride against the siege on Gaza and then sentenced him to three months imprisonment that will begin on January 11th, 2011. Pollak was the only one detained at the said protest, and was accused of doing nothing other than riding his bicycle in the same manner as the rest of the protesters. The conviction activates an older three-month suspended sentence, imposed on Pollak in a previous trial for protesting the construction of the Separation Barrier. An additional three months prison term was also imposed for the current conviction, which will be served concurrently.
On his conviction, Pollak argued for his sentence, saying "I find myself unable to express remorse in this case [...]. If His Honor decides to go ahead and impose my suspended prison sentence, I will go to prison wholeheartedly and with my head held high. It will be the justice system itself, I believe, that ought to lower its eyes in the face of the suffering inflicted on Gaza's inhabitants, just like it lowers its eyes and averts its vision each and every day when faced with the realities of the occupation." See Pollak's full statement bellow.
For more details: Jonathan Pollak +972-54-632-7736
Pollak outside of court - photo courtesy of Active Stills
On January 31, 2008, some 30 protesters participated in a Critical Mass bicycle ride through the streets of Tel Aviv in protest of the siege on Gaza. During the protest, Pollak was arrested by plain-clothes police who recognized him from previous protests and because, as claimed in court, they assumed he was the organizer and figurehead of the event. The protest was allowed to continue undisturbed after Pollak's arrest and ended with no further incidents or detentions.
The arrest and consequent indictment appears to be the result of police vindictiveness, rather than of Pollak's behavior at the time of the event; Pollak was but one in a group of protesters who behaved exactly like him, yet he was the only one to be singled out. Moreover, environmental Critical Mass events take place in Tel Aviv on a regular basis, but have never been met with such a response. Other protests, which have caused far more sever obstruction of traffic (e.g. the motorcade protest of thousands of motorcycles) did not result in arrests, and surely did not lead to the filing of criminal charges and imprisonment.
Adv. Gaby Lasky, Pollak's lawyer: "The police not only singled out Pollak from a crowd of people who all did exactly as he did, but also singled out the entire protest for no reason other than its political alignment. Similar events regularly take place in Tel Aviv without police intervention, let alone arrests and indictments.”
Pollak at a demonstration in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Pollak's sentencing argument:
Your Honor, once found guilty, it is then customary for the accused to ask the court for leniency, and express remorse for having committed the offence. However, I find myself unable to do so. From its very beginning, this trial contained practically no disagreements over the facts. As the indictment states, I indeed rode my bicycle, alongside others, through the streets of Tel Aviv, to protest the siege on Gaza. And indeed, while riding our bicycles, which are legally vehicles belonging on the road, we may have slightly slowed down traffic. The sole and trivial disagreement in this entire case revolves around testimonies heard from police detectives, who claimed I played a leading role throughout the protest bicycle ride, something I, as well as the rest of the Defense witnesses, deny.
As said earlier, it is customary at this point of the proceedings to sound remorseful, and I would indeed like to voice my regrets regarding one particular aspect of that day's events: if there is remorse in my heart, it is that, just as I argued during the trial, I did not play a prominent role in the protest that day, and thus did not fulfill my duty to do everything within my power to change the unbearable situation of Gaza's inhabitants, and bring to an end Israel's control over the Palestinians.
His Honor has stated during the court case, and will most likely state again in the future, that a trial is not a matter of politics, but of law. To this I reply that there is hardly anything to this trial except political disagreement. This Court may have impeded the mounting of an appropriate defense when it refused to hear arguments regarding political selectiveness in the Police's conduct, but even from the testimonies which were admitted, it became clear such a selectiveness exists.
The subject of my alleged offense, as well as the motivation behind it were political. This is something that cannot be sidestepped. The State of Israel maintains an illegitimate, inhuman and illegal siege on the Gaza Strip, which still is occupied territory according to international law. This siege, carried out in my name and in yours as well, sir, in fact in all of our names, is a cruel collective punishment inflicted on ordinary citizens, residents of the Gaza strip, subjects-without-rights under Israeli occupation.
In the face of this reality, and as a stance against it, we chose on January 31st, 2008, to exercise the freedom of speech afforded to Jewish citizens of Israel. However, it appears that here in our one-of-many-faux-democracies in the Middle East, even this freedom is no longer freely granted, even to society's privileged sons.
I am not surprised by the Court's decision to convict me despite having no doubt in my mind that our actions on that day correspond to the most basic, elementary definitions of a person's right to protest.
Indeed, as the Prosecution pointed out, a suspended prison sentence hung over my head at the time of the bicycle protest, having been convicted before under an identical article of law. And, although I still maintain I did not commit any offense whatsoever, I was aware of the possibility that under Israeli justice, my suspended sentence would be imposed.
I must add that, if His Honor decides to go ahead and impose my suspended prison sentence, I will go to prison wholeheartedly and with my head held high. It will be the justice system itself, I believe, that ought to lower its eyes in the face of the suffering inflicted on Gaza's inhabitants, just like it lowers its eyes and averts its vision each and every day when faced with the realities of the occupation.
Prominent Israeli activist, Yonathan (Jonathan) Pollak has just been sentenced to 3 months prison for participating in a Critical Mass bicycle ride protest against Israel's 2008 all out assault on the people of Gaza.
Yonathan's arrest was politically motivated, as his lawyer Gaby Lasky has outlined.
Yonathan has been a leading activist involved in the the joint Palestinian-Israeli popular struggle against Israeli occupation and apartheid for a number of years. He is one of the founders of the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall and active in the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC)
Please find below the media release issued by the PSCC on Yonathan's sentencing. Also included is Yonathan's speech to the court about his arrest and sentencing.
In solidarity,
Kim
***
Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee Press Release
Monday, 27 December 2010
Israeli Activist Jonathan Pollak Sentenced to 3 Months in Prison; Tells Judge "I'll Go to prison With my Head Held High"
Pollak in Court - photo courtesy of Active Stills
Pollak was sentenced to three months imprisonment this morning at the Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court for his participation in a 2008 bicycle in protest of the siege on Gaza. He will begin serving his sentence on Januray 11th.
Tel Aviv Magistrates court judge Yitzhak Yitzhak convicted Pollak of illegal assembly for his participation in a January 2008 Critical Mass ride against the siege on Gaza and then sentenced him to three months imprisonment that will begin on January 11th, 2011. Pollak was the only one detained at the said protest, and was accused of doing nothing other than riding his bicycle in the same manner as the rest of the protesters. The conviction activates an older three-month suspended sentence, imposed on Pollak in a previous trial for protesting the construction of the Separation Barrier. An additional three months prison term was also imposed for the current conviction, which will be served concurrently.
On his conviction, Pollak argued for his sentence, saying "I find myself unable to express remorse in this case [...]. If His Honor decides to go ahead and impose my suspended prison sentence, I will go to prison wholeheartedly and with my head held high. It will be the justice system itself, I believe, that ought to lower its eyes in the face of the suffering inflicted on Gaza's inhabitants, just like it lowers its eyes and averts its vision each and every day when faced with the realities of the occupation." See Pollak's full statement bellow.
For more details: Jonathan Pollak +972-54-632-7736
Pollak outside of court - photo courtesy of Active Stills
On January 31, 2008, some 30 protesters participated in a Critical Mass bicycle ride through the streets of Tel Aviv in protest of the siege on Gaza. During the protest, Pollak was arrested by plain-clothes police who recognized him from previous protests and because, as claimed in court, they assumed he was the organizer and figurehead of the event. The protest was allowed to continue undisturbed after Pollak's arrest and ended with no further incidents or detentions.
The arrest and consequent indictment appears to be the result of police vindictiveness, rather than of Pollak's behavior at the time of the event; Pollak was but one in a group of protesters who behaved exactly like him, yet he was the only one to be singled out. Moreover, environmental Critical Mass events take place in Tel Aviv on a regular basis, but have never been met with such a response. Other protests, which have caused far more sever obstruction of traffic (e.g. the motorcade protest of thousands of motorcycles) did not result in arrests, and surely did not lead to the filing of criminal charges and imprisonment.
Adv. Gaby Lasky, Pollak's lawyer: "The police not only singled out Pollak from a crowd of people who all did exactly as he did, but also singled out the entire protest for no reason other than its political alignment. Similar events regularly take place in Tel Aviv without police intervention, let alone arrests and indictments.”
Pollak at a demonstration in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Pollak's sentencing argument:
Your Honor, once found guilty, it is then customary for the accused to ask the court for leniency, and express remorse for having committed the offence. However, I find myself unable to do so. From its very beginning, this trial contained practically no disagreements over the facts. As the indictment states, I indeed rode my bicycle, alongside others, through the streets of Tel Aviv, to protest the siege on Gaza. And indeed, while riding our bicycles, which are legally vehicles belonging on the road, we may have slightly slowed down traffic. The sole and trivial disagreement in this entire case revolves around testimonies heard from police detectives, who claimed I played a leading role throughout the protest bicycle ride, something I, as well as the rest of the Defense witnesses, deny.
As said earlier, it is customary at this point of the proceedings to sound remorseful, and I would indeed like to voice my regrets regarding one particular aspect of that day's events: if there is remorse in my heart, it is that, just as I argued during the trial, I did not play a prominent role in the protest that day, and thus did not fulfill my duty to do everything within my power to change the unbearable situation of Gaza's inhabitants, and bring to an end Israel's control over the Palestinians.
His Honor has stated during the court case, and will most likely state again in the future, that a trial is not a matter of politics, but of law. To this I reply that there is hardly anything to this trial except political disagreement. This Court may have impeded the mounting of an appropriate defense when it refused to hear arguments regarding political selectiveness in the Police's conduct, but even from the testimonies which were admitted, it became clear such a selectiveness exists.
The subject of my alleged offense, as well as the motivation behind it were political. This is something that cannot be sidestepped. The State of Israel maintains an illegitimate, inhuman and illegal siege on the Gaza Strip, which still is occupied territory according to international law. This siege, carried out in my name and in yours as well, sir, in fact in all of our names, is a cruel collective punishment inflicted on ordinary citizens, residents of the Gaza strip, subjects-without-rights under Israeli occupation.
In the face of this reality, and as a stance against it, we chose on January 31st, 2008, to exercise the freedom of speech afforded to Jewish citizens of Israel. However, it appears that here in our one-of-many-faux-democracies in the Middle East, even this freedom is no longer freely granted, even to society's privileged sons.
I am not surprised by the Court's decision to convict me despite having no doubt in my mind that our actions on that day correspond to the most basic, elementary definitions of a person's right to protest.
Indeed, as the Prosecution pointed out, a suspended prison sentence hung over my head at the time of the bicycle protest, having been convicted before under an identical article of law. And, although I still maintain I did not commit any offense whatsoever, I was aware of the possibility that under Israeli justice, my suspended sentence would be imposed.
I must add that, if His Honor decides to go ahead and impose my suspended prison sentence, I will go to prison wholeheartedly and with my head held high. It will be the justice system itself, I believe, that ought to lower its eyes in the face of the suffering inflicted on Gaza's inhabitants, just like it lowers its eyes and averts its vision each and every day when faced with the realities of the occupation.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Disband the Palestinian Authority
Dear friends,
a very insightful article by Lamis Andoni on the call for the disbanding of the Palestinian Authority.
The article was first publish on Al Jazeera and reprinted by Maan News Agency.
in solidarity, Kim
***
Disband the PA - Lamis Andoni
Published Wednesday 08/12/2010 (updated) 08/12/2010 19:15
Maan News Agency
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=339985
In interviews and statements, as well as in private meetings, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said that he is presiding over an authority without any authority and that the very existence of the Palestinian Authority has made Israel's occupation "the cheapest ever".
Abbas is simply reaching the same conclusion that many Palestinians have long understood: negotiations, under the prevailing conditions, will not lead to the end of the Israeli occupation, let alone the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
In a recent interview with Palestinian state television, Abbas warned that if all efforts to establish a Palestinian state fail he will dissolve the PA and ask Israel to assume responsibility for the occupation. His threats are neither a manoeuvre nor a clearly planned strategy. They are rather an expression of despair and a reflection of the mood of the Palestinian people - who see the PA as merely facilitating the continuation of the Israeli occupation while removing the need for it to pay for its actions.
Disbanding the PA would mean a return to direct Israeli occupation and could be used by Israel as a pretext for escalating its aggression against the Palestinian people. But the Palestinians have reached breaking point. Seventeen years of talks have stopped neither Israeli land theft nor the displacement of Palestinians.
The idea of dissolving the PA has many supporters - both inside the Palestinian territories and among the Palestinian diaspora. But this must not be a leap in the dark: the Palestinians must be prepared for the consequences of such a move and it must be undertaken as part of a clearly defined resistance strategy.
Neither Abbas nor his opponents, however, have indicated that they are developing any such strategy - for just as Abbas was expressing his despair, Hamas was indicating a greater degree of flexibility towards any possible outcome of, the currently stalled, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In a speech last week, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, said his movement was prepared to accept the results of a referendum if negotiations reach an historic compromise that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state on the territories occupied during the 1967 war.
It is not the first time that Hamas has signalled its willingness to accept a two-state solution, but its timing - when the talks are effectively frozen and there is no prospect for progress should they resume - is surprising. Haniyeh's statement suggests that the two leaderships, in Ramallah and Gaza, have no idea how to recapture the initiative required to lead the Palestinian people out of the stagnant situation they are in.
Abbas has raised a couple of prospects. Firstly, he has suggested looking to the UN Security Council for recognition of a Palestinian state. This is mainly intended to affirm the 'occupied' status of the Palestinian territories and to thus block Israel from annexing Jewish settlements. Secondly, he has discussed handing responsibility for the Palestinian territories over to the UN. Both of these options would likely be obstructed by a US veto at the UN Security Council.
But any alternative option the Palestinians choose cannot succeed without first establishing national unity and mobilising popular resistance. A serious battle of wills will ensue, and the Palestinians must be prepared.
An international battle for recognition of a Palestinian state must be based on a clear vision and preparedness to confront Israeli actions. For international support alone will not lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. Regardless of whether Palestinians opt for a one- or two-state solution, they cannot avoid a battle to end the occupation under which they currently live.
The options Abbas speaks of would place the PA face-to-face with the Israeli occupation, so the question remains: is the PA ready for this? The answer would appear to be no.
The PA cannot be taken seriously as long as it accommodates Israeli terms and demands. Israel continues to prevent the movement of goods and people, to conduct raids and arrests in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and to strike at the Gaza Strip. Thus a prerequisite for any significant Palestinian move must be an immediate halt to security coordination between Israel and the PA.
Abbas' justification for such coordination is that if Palestinians "behave" Israel can make no case for postponing ending the occupation. But the only outcome thus far has been the weakening of Palestinian resistance, while Israel has had a free hand to launch military forays into the Palestinian territories, to confiscate more land and to kill more people.
The next step for Hamas and the PA must be genuine unification - without this, disbanding the PA could result in a highly destructive power struggle - based on a joint agreement over an alternative to the now defunct talks. Dissolving the PA should be a significant consideration within this plan, but only once a political and economic strategy has been formulated.
The PA currently pays the salaries of 150,000 people, so disbanding it would have a huge impact on the economy. Before the PA was created, the Palestine Liberation Organization contributed funds to help Palestinians stay steadfast in the face of the economic strains of occupation. A similar plan, involving all Palestinians, must now be devised - assuming that Arab states, as should be expected, will fail to offer the Palestinians financial support.
It is, of course, easy for those Palestinians in exile, with comfortable jobs, to call for an immediate dissolution of the PA - it is also very understandable as Israel will be under no pressure to end its occupation as long as it pays little or no cost for it. But, should the Palestinian leadership formulate a new resistance strategy, all Palestinians must be prepared to shoulder the responsibility for it. The onus is now on the PA to start this process and the only way to do that is to end all coordination and cooperation with Israel.
Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs. This article originally appeared on Al-Jazeera International and is republished here with permission from the author.
a very insightful article by Lamis Andoni on the call for the disbanding of the Palestinian Authority.
The article was first publish on Al Jazeera and reprinted by Maan News Agency.
in solidarity, Kim
***
Disband the PA - Lamis Andoni
Published Wednesday 08/12/2010 (updated) 08/12/2010 19:15
Maan News Agency
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=339985
In interviews and statements, as well as in private meetings, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said that he is presiding over an authority without any authority and that the very existence of the Palestinian Authority has made Israel's occupation "the cheapest ever".
Abbas is simply reaching the same conclusion that many Palestinians have long understood: negotiations, under the prevailing conditions, will not lead to the end of the Israeli occupation, let alone the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
In a recent interview with Palestinian state television, Abbas warned that if all efforts to establish a Palestinian state fail he will dissolve the PA and ask Israel to assume responsibility for the occupation. His threats are neither a manoeuvre nor a clearly planned strategy. They are rather an expression of despair and a reflection of the mood of the Palestinian people - who see the PA as merely facilitating the continuation of the Israeli occupation while removing the need for it to pay for its actions.
Disbanding the PA would mean a return to direct Israeli occupation and could be used by Israel as a pretext for escalating its aggression against the Palestinian people. But the Palestinians have reached breaking point. Seventeen years of talks have stopped neither Israeli land theft nor the displacement of Palestinians.
The idea of dissolving the PA has many supporters - both inside the Palestinian territories and among the Palestinian diaspora. But this must not be a leap in the dark: the Palestinians must be prepared for the consequences of such a move and it must be undertaken as part of a clearly defined resistance strategy.
Neither Abbas nor his opponents, however, have indicated that they are developing any such strategy - for just as Abbas was expressing his despair, Hamas was indicating a greater degree of flexibility towards any possible outcome of, the currently stalled, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In a speech last week, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, said his movement was prepared to accept the results of a referendum if negotiations reach an historic compromise that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state on the territories occupied during the 1967 war.
It is not the first time that Hamas has signalled its willingness to accept a two-state solution, but its timing - when the talks are effectively frozen and there is no prospect for progress should they resume - is surprising. Haniyeh's statement suggests that the two leaderships, in Ramallah and Gaza, have no idea how to recapture the initiative required to lead the Palestinian people out of the stagnant situation they are in.
Abbas has raised a couple of prospects. Firstly, he has suggested looking to the UN Security Council for recognition of a Palestinian state. This is mainly intended to affirm the 'occupied' status of the Palestinian territories and to thus block Israel from annexing Jewish settlements. Secondly, he has discussed handing responsibility for the Palestinian territories over to the UN. Both of these options would likely be obstructed by a US veto at the UN Security Council.
But any alternative option the Palestinians choose cannot succeed without first establishing national unity and mobilising popular resistance. A serious battle of wills will ensue, and the Palestinians must be prepared.
An international battle for recognition of a Palestinian state must be based on a clear vision and preparedness to confront Israeli actions. For international support alone will not lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. Regardless of whether Palestinians opt for a one- or two-state solution, they cannot avoid a battle to end the occupation under which they currently live.
The options Abbas speaks of would place the PA face-to-face with the Israeli occupation, so the question remains: is the PA ready for this? The answer would appear to be no.
The PA cannot be taken seriously as long as it accommodates Israeli terms and demands. Israel continues to prevent the movement of goods and people, to conduct raids and arrests in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and to strike at the Gaza Strip. Thus a prerequisite for any significant Palestinian move must be an immediate halt to security coordination between Israel and the PA.
Abbas' justification for such coordination is that if Palestinians "behave" Israel can make no case for postponing ending the occupation. But the only outcome thus far has been the weakening of Palestinian resistance, while Israel has had a free hand to launch military forays into the Palestinian territories, to confiscate more land and to kill more people.
The next step for Hamas and the PA must be genuine unification - without this, disbanding the PA could result in a highly destructive power struggle - based on a joint agreement over an alternative to the now defunct talks. Dissolving the PA should be a significant consideration within this plan, but only once a political and economic strategy has been formulated.
The PA currently pays the salaries of 150,000 people, so disbanding it would have a huge impact on the economy. Before the PA was created, the Palestine Liberation Organization contributed funds to help Palestinians stay steadfast in the face of the economic strains of occupation. A similar plan, involving all Palestinians, must now be devised - assuming that Arab states, as should be expected, will fail to offer the Palestinians financial support.
It is, of course, easy for those Palestinians in exile, with comfortable jobs, to call for an immediate dissolution of the PA - it is also very understandable as Israel will be under no pressure to end its occupation as long as it pays little or no cost for it. But, should the Palestinian leadership formulate a new resistance strategy, all Palestinians must be prepared to shoulder the responsibility for it. The onus is now on the PA to start this process and the only way to do that is to end all coordination and cooperation with Israel.
Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs. This article originally appeared on Al-Jazeera International and is republished here with permission from the author.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Boycott apartheid Israel: national campaign launched
Home » Issue 28: November-December 2010
Direct Action
Boycott apartheid Israel: national campaign launched
By Kim Bullimore and Sahal Al-Ruwaili
More than 150 Palestine solidarity activists and supporters of human rights from around Australia gathered in Melbourne October 29-31 for Australia’s first national boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) conference in support of Palestine.
The conference represented a watershed moment in Australian Palestine solidarity work. It was organised in support of the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for the boycott of Israel. The 2005 call, issued by 171 Palestinian civil society organisations, appealed for a comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against apartheid Israel as a focal point of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, the Palestinian-initiated BDS campaign is conducted in the framework of international solidarity and resistance to injustice and oppression and calls for non-violent punitive measures to be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law. The BDS campaign calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and the dismantling of the apartheid wall; equality for the Palestinian citizens of Israel; and upholding the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
International law
In August, Julia Terreu, one of the organisers of the Australian BDS conference, told Direct Action that the conference is an important initiative because Israel flagrantly flouts international law. “Israel continues to carry out its siege and occupation of Gaza and illegal occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and more recently we saw the illegal attack on the humanitarian flotilla on its way to Gaza and the murder of nine human rights activists by Israeli commandos.” Terreu went on to say: “As the BDS campaign continues to grow in leaps and bounds internationally, it is time for supporters of human rights and justice in Australia to come together and develop a national campaign in support of BDS and the Palestinian people”.
International guest speaker Rafeef Ziadah, speaking on behalf of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, told delegates at the October 29 launch of the conference: “Australian activists were key in shutting down South African apartheid. It is time to make history again by shutting down Israeli apartheid, and this weekend we are going to start doing that together.”
Speaking with Direct Action, Rafeef Ziadah, who is also a member of the steering committee of the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, said the conference was “an important step in coordinating a national BDS campaign across Australia to put pressure on Israel to simply abide by international law”.
Also speaking at the launch of the conference, which was chaired by well-known Australian media personality and political commentator Bryan Dawe, were Palestinian academic and radio presenter Yousef Alreemawi, Jerusalem-based Israeli activist Ofer Neiman from “BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS call from within” and the secretary of Unions ACT in Canberra, Kim Sattler.
On October 30, visiting American Jewish activist and author Anna Baltzer also addressed the conference. Baltzer, a volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service in Palestine and author of A Witness in Palestine, spoke on BDS and the popular struggle in Palestine. Baltzer was joined by Alex Whisson from Australians for Palestine, who discussed the history of BDS and civil disobedience. In the session on “Struggle and Solidarity”, Rafeef Ziadah was joined by Palestinian-Australian poet and writer Samah Sabawi and the secretary of the Victorian Maritime Union of Australia and president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, Kevin Bracken, to discuss the international solidarity campaign.
Sabawi noted: “Israeli propagandists attacking the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement often claim that pro-Palestinian activists hide behind words like international humanitarian law to promote a hidden agenda aimed at demonising and delegitimising Israel ... But there is no hidden agenda. We are explicit and clear in what we say and what we call for. We don’t hide behind international humanitarian law; we stand by it. This is precisely why Israeli propagandists have good reason to worry. Israel knows that its fight to legitimise its behaviour cannot be won for as long as the BDS movement continues to expose its violations.” Sabawi also noted that Israel in its effort to “exonerate itself of accountability” was seeking to “redefine the rules of international humanitarian law and undermine international bodies and institutions”. She noted: “If Israel succeeds, Palestinians will not be the only ones to suffer. The implications of legitimising Israel’s behaviour will have far-reaching effects on all citizens of this globe.”
Union solidarity
In the same session, Kevin Bracken discussed the importance of worker and union solidarity with the Palestinian people. In the last year the BDS campaign has begun to draw support from a number of Australian trade unions and labour councils. One of the aims of the conference was to extend that support among trade unions, as well as the wider Australian community. The conference was successful in bringing together members of more than 20 different unions across Australia. In addition, five Australian trade unions sent official delegations to the conference to participate in the discussion around the practical implementation of the BDS campaign and resolutions.
On the final day of the conference, long-time unionists Kevin Davis and Ginny Adams discussed apartheid in relation to international law, how it applied to South Africa and in what ways could it apply to Israel, while Sabawi and Kim Bullimore from the International Women’s Peace Service in Palestine, tackled the issue of countering Israeli efforts to delegitimise the BDS campaign.
The final session of the conference unanimously adopted a calendar of BDS actions and activities to be carried out nationally over the next 12 months. Conference organisers urged all attendees “to build on the momentum of the conference and work together to build the strongest possible grassroots campaign to hold Israel accountable for its actions”.
One of the conference highlights was the “Concert for Palestine”, which formally launched Australian Artists Against Apartheid. Performers at the concert included Fear of A Brown Planet, the Conch, the Phil Monsour Band, Jafra and Rafeef Ziadah. Phil Monsour, one of the organisers of the conference and concert, told Direct Action in September: “The nature of the apartheid system in Israel is slowly seeping into the consciousness of people outside the Middle East and will hopefully lead to artists of conscience not only supporting the boycott but also using music to help expose the nature of the apartheid system in Israel to a mass audience”.
With the conclusion of the conference, participants have begun plans for a range of BDS actions and activities around the theme “Don’t buy Israeli apartheid for Christmas”.
To find out more about the Australian BDS campaign visit the Australian Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign for Palestine website or email ausbds@gmail.com
[Kim Bullimore is the convener of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Melbourne and a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party in Australia. She is one of the organisers of the Australian BDS Conference. Sahal Al-Ruwaili is a Palestine solidarity activist with Action for Palestine in Adelaide.]
Direct Action
Boycott apartheid Israel: national campaign launched
By Kim Bullimore and Sahal Al-Ruwaili
More than 150 Palestine solidarity activists and supporters of human rights from around Australia gathered in Melbourne October 29-31 for Australia’s first national boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) conference in support of Palestine.
The conference represented a watershed moment in Australian Palestine solidarity work. It was organised in support of the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for the boycott of Israel. The 2005 call, issued by 171 Palestinian civil society organisations, appealed for a comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against apartheid Israel as a focal point of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, the Palestinian-initiated BDS campaign is conducted in the framework of international solidarity and resistance to injustice and oppression and calls for non-violent punitive measures to be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law. The BDS campaign calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and the dismantling of the apartheid wall; equality for the Palestinian citizens of Israel; and upholding the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
International law
In August, Julia Terreu, one of the organisers of the Australian BDS conference, told Direct Action that the conference is an important initiative because Israel flagrantly flouts international law. “Israel continues to carry out its siege and occupation of Gaza and illegal occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and more recently we saw the illegal attack on the humanitarian flotilla on its way to Gaza and the murder of nine human rights activists by Israeli commandos.” Terreu went on to say: “As the BDS campaign continues to grow in leaps and bounds internationally, it is time for supporters of human rights and justice in Australia to come together and develop a national campaign in support of BDS and the Palestinian people”.
International guest speaker Rafeef Ziadah, speaking on behalf of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, told delegates at the October 29 launch of the conference: “Australian activists were key in shutting down South African apartheid. It is time to make history again by shutting down Israeli apartheid, and this weekend we are going to start doing that together.”
Speaking with Direct Action, Rafeef Ziadah, who is also a member of the steering committee of the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, said the conference was “an important step in coordinating a national BDS campaign across Australia to put pressure on Israel to simply abide by international law”.
Also speaking at the launch of the conference, which was chaired by well-known Australian media personality and political commentator Bryan Dawe, were Palestinian academic and radio presenter Yousef Alreemawi, Jerusalem-based Israeli activist Ofer Neiman from “BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS call from within” and the secretary of Unions ACT in Canberra, Kim Sattler.
On October 30, visiting American Jewish activist and author Anna Baltzer also addressed the conference. Baltzer, a volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service in Palestine and author of A Witness in Palestine, spoke on BDS and the popular struggle in Palestine. Baltzer was joined by Alex Whisson from Australians for Palestine, who discussed the history of BDS and civil disobedience. In the session on “Struggle and Solidarity”, Rafeef Ziadah was joined by Palestinian-Australian poet and writer Samah Sabawi and the secretary of the Victorian Maritime Union of Australia and president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, Kevin Bracken, to discuss the international solidarity campaign.
Sabawi noted: “Israeli propagandists attacking the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement often claim that pro-Palestinian activists hide behind words like international humanitarian law to promote a hidden agenda aimed at demonising and delegitimising Israel ... But there is no hidden agenda. We are explicit and clear in what we say and what we call for. We don’t hide behind international humanitarian law; we stand by it. This is precisely why Israeli propagandists have good reason to worry. Israel knows that its fight to legitimise its behaviour cannot be won for as long as the BDS movement continues to expose its violations.” Sabawi also noted that Israel in its effort to “exonerate itself of accountability” was seeking to “redefine the rules of international humanitarian law and undermine international bodies and institutions”. She noted: “If Israel succeeds, Palestinians will not be the only ones to suffer. The implications of legitimising Israel’s behaviour will have far-reaching effects on all citizens of this globe.”
Union solidarity
In the same session, Kevin Bracken discussed the importance of worker and union solidarity with the Palestinian people. In the last year the BDS campaign has begun to draw support from a number of Australian trade unions and labour councils. One of the aims of the conference was to extend that support among trade unions, as well as the wider Australian community. The conference was successful in bringing together members of more than 20 different unions across Australia. In addition, five Australian trade unions sent official delegations to the conference to participate in the discussion around the practical implementation of the BDS campaign and resolutions.
On the final day of the conference, long-time unionists Kevin Davis and Ginny Adams discussed apartheid in relation to international law, how it applied to South Africa and in what ways could it apply to Israel, while Sabawi and Kim Bullimore from the International Women’s Peace Service in Palestine, tackled the issue of countering Israeli efforts to delegitimise the BDS campaign.
The final session of the conference unanimously adopted a calendar of BDS actions and activities to be carried out nationally over the next 12 months. Conference organisers urged all attendees “to build on the momentum of the conference and work together to build the strongest possible grassroots campaign to hold Israel accountable for its actions”.
One of the conference highlights was the “Concert for Palestine”, which formally launched Australian Artists Against Apartheid. Performers at the concert included Fear of A Brown Planet, the Conch, the Phil Monsour Band, Jafra and Rafeef Ziadah. Phil Monsour, one of the organisers of the conference and concert, told Direct Action in September: “The nature of the apartheid system in Israel is slowly seeping into the consciousness of people outside the Middle East and will hopefully lead to artists of conscience not only supporting the boycott but also using music to help expose the nature of the apartheid system in Israel to a mass audience”.
With the conclusion of the conference, participants have begun plans for a range of BDS actions and activities around the theme “Don’t buy Israeli apartheid for Christmas”.
To find out more about the Australian BDS campaign visit the Australian Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign for Palestine website or email ausbds@gmail.com
[Kim Bullimore is the convener of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Melbourne and a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party in Australia. She is one of the organisers of the Australian BDS Conference. Sahal Al-Ruwaili is a Palestine solidarity activist with Action for Palestine in Adelaide.]
The Silwan riots and 'peace negotiations'
Home » Issue 27: October 2010 Direct Action
The Silwan riots and 'peace negotiations'
By Kim Bullimore
On September 23, Samir Shirhan, a 34-year-old Palestinian father of five, was shot dead by an Israeli private security guard paid by the Israeli government to protect illegal settlers attempting to colonise the Silwan neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.
In the days following the shooting, East Jerusalem erupted in demonstrations and riots, sparking claims that a third intifada was in the making. More than 1000 East Jerusalem Palestinians participated in Shirhan’s funeral and protested his murder. In the hours following the funeral, rioting broke out, cars and buses being burned. In response, the Israeli state entered the Harem al Sharif (Temple Mount), attacking demonstrators.
The murder of Shirhan occurred as US President Barack Obama and his administration were trying once again to resuscitate the failed “peace negotiations”. Direct negotiations resumed on September 22, but stalled almost immediately, with Israel demanding that the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority recognise Israel as a “Jewish state” and refusing to implement a freeze on illegal settlement building in the occupied West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
End of fake ‘freeze’
On September 26, Israel’s 10-month “temporary freeze” on settlement building ended. However, as a range of Israeli and international human rights groups have noted, the supposed freeze was a sham. According to a Settlement Watch report published in February by the Israeli Peace Now group, there have been repeated violations of the freeze. The report noted, “Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai admitted that 29 settlements breached the settlement freeze order”. At the time, Peace Now noted that it had recorded at least another five settlements carrying out construction work. Peace Now, as well as international human rights organisations such as the International Women’s Peace Service, which is located in the occupied territories, also noted that much of the illegal settlement activity was carried out under cover of darkness.
Since the shooting of Shirhan, Israeli police have actively taken the side of the settler guard, who claimed he had stopped at a local petrol station and was attacked by Palestinians throwing rocks. However, other Palestinians who were present when Shirhan was shot have claimed that Shirhan was simply returning home from work and the settler guard blocked his path; an argument broke out, which resulted in the security guard shooting him. According to a report on the shooting in Haaretz on September 24, Palestinian witnesses who arrived at the scene of the shooting stated that there were “no stones or other objects in the street after the shooting” and that “there was no other evidence stones had been thrown at the guard”.According to Israeli activist Daniel Dukarevich on the Sheikh Jarrah solidarity website, “From the moment that the murder took place the Jerusalem Police started a comprehensive operation to silence the matter. Large police forces surrounded the event site and prevented people from getting near. When it became known that a man was shot in Silwan, the police spokesperson stated that it was the result of a dispute between clans. This announcement was made hours after police forces were at the site and had already questioned the security guard”.
The partisan approach of the Israeli police is unsurprising given their past record of refusing to enforce Israeli court decisions for the eviction of illegal settlers in the neighbourhood, while pro-actively policing and evicting Palestinians from their homes to make way for illegal Israeli settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, another Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
Police funding
In January, Israel’s leading Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that the link between the Israeli police and the illegal settlers is not only ideological but also economic. According to Yedioth Ahronoth’s January 22 edition, its investigation into the new Israeli police headquarters being built in East Jerusalem found that “only a small portion of the funding originates from the state. The bulk of the money comes from private organisations with a clear right wing orientation: the Bukhara Community Trust, and the Shalem Foundation — a subsidiary formed by the Jerusalem-based El’ad NGO.”
Since seizing the territory in 1967, Israel has actively sought to “Judaise” East Jerusalem illegally and to expel the Palestinian population. A range of settler organisations, backed by consecutive Israeli governments, have attempted to “Judaise” Palestinian neighbourhoods. According to Dukarevich, US $17.5 million is spent each year by the Ministry of Housing to guard the illegal settlers who have occupied Palestinian homes and neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem. In Silwan, the attempt has been spearheaded by El’ad, a settler group that seeks to construct an “archaeological” park where the “City of David” once stood.
In February 2009, the Jerusalem municipality announced a plan to relocate approximately 1500 Palestinian civilians and demolish 88 houses in the Al Bustan section of Silwan in order to build a national park called “the King’s Valley”. According to the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem, which monitors Israeli colonisation in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories, the colonisation of Silwan has escalated since 1991, with more than 40 Palestinian homes being taken over by force by illegal settlers. Al Bustan became the most targeted sector of the neighbourhood because of its proximity to the western wall of the Old City.
In a September 24 editorial, Haaretz noted that the attempt by settlers to use archaeology to colonise the Silwan neighbourhood has been backed by the Israeli state: “Under the guise of archaeological excavations and ‘restoring the glory of old’, the El’ad association has managed to penetrate large areas of the village, which contains the City of David. But El’ad would not have managed to implement its plans without assistance from state bodies: the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which turned over administration of the site to El’ad, the Jerusalem Municipality, which offered help, and cooperation from the Israel Antiquities Authority”.
The Silwan riots and 'peace negotiations'
By Kim Bullimore
On September 23, Samir Shirhan, a 34-year-old Palestinian father of five, was shot dead by an Israeli private security guard paid by the Israeli government to protect illegal settlers attempting to colonise the Silwan neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.
In the days following the shooting, East Jerusalem erupted in demonstrations and riots, sparking claims that a third intifada was in the making. More than 1000 East Jerusalem Palestinians participated in Shirhan’s funeral and protested his murder. In the hours following the funeral, rioting broke out, cars and buses being burned. In response, the Israeli state entered the Harem al Sharif (Temple Mount), attacking demonstrators.
The murder of Shirhan occurred as US President Barack Obama and his administration were trying once again to resuscitate the failed “peace negotiations”. Direct negotiations resumed on September 22, but stalled almost immediately, with Israel demanding that the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority recognise Israel as a “Jewish state” and refusing to implement a freeze on illegal settlement building in the occupied West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
End of fake ‘freeze’
On September 26, Israel’s 10-month “temporary freeze” on settlement building ended. However, as a range of Israeli and international human rights groups have noted, the supposed freeze was a sham. According to a Settlement Watch report published in February by the Israeli Peace Now group, there have been repeated violations of the freeze. The report noted, “Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai admitted that 29 settlements breached the settlement freeze order”. At the time, Peace Now noted that it had recorded at least another five settlements carrying out construction work. Peace Now, as well as international human rights organisations such as the International Women’s Peace Service, which is located in the occupied territories, also noted that much of the illegal settlement activity was carried out under cover of darkness.
Since the shooting of Shirhan, Israeli police have actively taken the side of the settler guard, who claimed he had stopped at a local petrol station and was attacked by Palestinians throwing rocks. However, other Palestinians who were present when Shirhan was shot have claimed that Shirhan was simply returning home from work and the settler guard blocked his path; an argument broke out, which resulted in the security guard shooting him. According to a report on the shooting in Haaretz on September 24, Palestinian witnesses who arrived at the scene of the shooting stated that there were “no stones or other objects in the street after the shooting” and that “there was no other evidence stones had been thrown at the guard”.According to Israeli activist Daniel Dukarevich on the Sheikh Jarrah solidarity website, “From the moment that the murder took place the Jerusalem Police started a comprehensive operation to silence the matter. Large police forces surrounded the event site and prevented people from getting near. When it became known that a man was shot in Silwan, the police spokesperson stated that it was the result of a dispute between clans. This announcement was made hours after police forces were at the site and had already questioned the security guard”.
The partisan approach of the Israeli police is unsurprising given their past record of refusing to enforce Israeli court decisions for the eviction of illegal settlers in the neighbourhood, while pro-actively policing and evicting Palestinians from their homes to make way for illegal Israeli settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, another Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
Police funding
In January, Israel’s leading Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that the link between the Israeli police and the illegal settlers is not only ideological but also economic. According to Yedioth Ahronoth’s January 22 edition, its investigation into the new Israeli police headquarters being built in East Jerusalem found that “only a small portion of the funding originates from the state. The bulk of the money comes from private organisations with a clear right wing orientation: the Bukhara Community Trust, and the Shalem Foundation — a subsidiary formed by the Jerusalem-based El’ad NGO.”
Since seizing the territory in 1967, Israel has actively sought to “Judaise” East Jerusalem illegally and to expel the Palestinian population. A range of settler organisations, backed by consecutive Israeli governments, have attempted to “Judaise” Palestinian neighbourhoods. According to Dukarevich, US $17.5 million is spent each year by the Ministry of Housing to guard the illegal settlers who have occupied Palestinian homes and neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem. In Silwan, the attempt has been spearheaded by El’ad, a settler group that seeks to construct an “archaeological” park where the “City of David” once stood.
In February 2009, the Jerusalem municipality announced a plan to relocate approximately 1500 Palestinian civilians and demolish 88 houses in the Al Bustan section of Silwan in order to build a national park called “the King’s Valley”. According to the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem, which monitors Israeli colonisation in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories, the colonisation of Silwan has escalated since 1991, with more than 40 Palestinian homes being taken over by force by illegal settlers. Al Bustan became the most targeted sector of the neighbourhood because of its proximity to the western wall of the Old City.
In a September 24 editorial, Haaretz noted that the attempt by settlers to use archaeology to colonise the Silwan neighbourhood has been backed by the Israeli state: “Under the guise of archaeological excavations and ‘restoring the glory of old’, the El’ad association has managed to penetrate large areas of the village, which contains the City of David. But El’ad would not have managed to implement its plans without assistance from state bodies: the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which turned over administration of the site to El’ad, the Jerusalem Municipality, which offered help, and cooperation from the Israel Antiquities Authority”.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Rafeef Ziadah - It is time to make history again: speech at launch of the national Australian BDS conference, 29 - 31st October 2010
Dear friends,
as promised here is some fantastic video shot at the first ever national Australian BDS conference in Melbourne Austrralia.
Rafeef Ziadah is Palestinian refugee, academic, unionist and spoken word artist. Rafeef is a member of the steering committee for Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Rafeef was the key note speaker, speaking on behalf of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, at the recent national Australian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions conference in Melbourne Australia (from October 29-31, 2010)
The video below is of Rafeef's speech at the Conference Launch on October 29.
In solidarity, Kim
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
as promised here is some fantastic video shot at the first ever national Australian BDS conference in Melbourne Austrralia.
Rafeef Ziadah is Palestinian refugee, academic, unionist and spoken word artist. Rafeef is a member of the steering committee for Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Rafeef was the key note speaker, speaking on behalf of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, at the recent national Australian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions conference in Melbourne Australia (from October 29-31, 2010)
The video below is of Rafeef's speech at the Conference Launch on October 29.
In solidarity, Kim
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
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