On 7th March 2011 the London Review Bookshop hosted the launch of Omar Barghouti’s book “BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights”.
Zionist: Omar, you are living in Israel, you are doing a PhD, you are studying in an Israeli university. How does that equate with your boycott campaign, isn’t that hypocritical to live in Israel and consume everything Israeli, then call for a boycott of Israel?
And secondly, if God forbid, you ever needed a life saving medicine, or a member of your family.. in Israel, would you accept that medicine or would you reject that life saving medicine?
Omar Barghouti: I think Mandela went to an apartheid university, when you are living under apartheid you have no choice. You pay taxes to the apartheid regime, you accept services from the apartheid regime, how else can you survive? You go to hospitals, you go to universities, you go to the post office, you go to government offices in the apartheid regime. You are a ‘subject’ of that colonial system, there is no other way. Gandhi studied at a British university as well.
The point is that when you are under occupation, when you are under apartheid, no have no moral choice. There is no choice. We ask people from outside to boycott because they have a moral choice. Responsibility comes with choice.
Germans under Nazi rule who couldn’t open their mouths were cowards but we can perhaps forgive them for not opening their mouths when you think you would be shot by the Nazi genocidal regime if they opened their mouths. Israelis that stay silent are far more cowardly because they do have a choice and they wont get shot if they stand up against the occupation. So we measure this with how much choice you have. When you have no choice what do you do?
So there is absolutely no double standard for people under oppression to call on people who are not under oppression, standing in solidarity with them, to oppose and boycott completely the oppressive regime. What we cannot do, you can do in the UK.
The Adidas – Don’t Run With Apartheid campaign is urging people throughout the world to take action at Adidas stores and stockists so that Adidas will reconsider sponsoring the 2012 Jerusalem Marathon.
Adidas has already hinted that they are wary of an international boycott and bad publicity. This is an opportunity for all people of conscience to get involved.
In March 2010 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated “Israel would never agree to withdraw from the Jordan Valley under any peace agreement signed with the Palestinians”. In line with this intension, since 1967 Israel has been operating a process of ethnic cleansing of the Jordan Valley. The Palestinian population has contracted from 320,000 in 1967 to about 52,000 today.
Two members of the Brighton Jordan Valley Solidarity gave an illustrated presentation to the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group of MPs at the House of Commons on February 1st 2011. The meeting was hosted and chaired by Caroline Lucas, Green MP (Brighton Pavilion).
Speakers:
* Sarah Cobham – Brighton Jordan Valley Solidarity (brightonpalestine.org)
* Chris Osmond – Corporate Watch (corporateoccupation.wordpress.com).
Please read the links below which clarify and substantiate Nutanyahoo’s present Grand Land Heist plan in the Palestinian West Bank which Israel has illegally, brutally occupied with its military for the past 43 years in support of its previous criminal land grabs.
The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting.
The systematic apartheid practised by Israel punishes its Palestinian minority just for being born Palestinian and corrupts the rest of the populace. There are numerous laws and more trouble in the frying pan which discriminate against Israeli minorities. Assa Doron commends those who protest against oppression and notes:
The current government is attempting to redefine Israel’s raison d’etre as one premised on racism and prejudice towards Arabs.
Through its oppression against its minorities, those whom it occupies and those who protest these injustices, Israel delegitimises itself. As Professor Neve Gordon says:
‘The ongoing delegitimization of those watchdogs of democracy – human rights NGOs, the press and public intellectuals – is leading Israel down a steep and slippery slope … what kind of countries attack their own human rights organizations? The answer is straightforward.’
Boycotts, divestments and sanctions directly challenge Israel’s practices when governments have failed to do so or actively support Israeli oppression. What’s the point of having a nation state if it perpetrates atrocities and discrimination on 20% of its populace and suppresses an equivalent population to its own on adjacent land which it covets and usurps? where’s the legitimacy in state oppression and land theft?
‘Prince of Mercenaries’ who wreaked havoc in Iraq turns up in Somalia Lebanon crisis a test for the US
“The US is pursuing an aggressive Lebanon policy that will inevitably lead to conflict, a game the Iranians are willing to play. Tehran is aware it holds the upper hand, and there is little the Americans can do to dislodge Hezballah, which enjoys widespread popular support in addition to its unrivalled military presence in Lebanon.” The Rise of the New Global Elite – doesn’t include the role of capitalism/mercantilism as mechanisms of predatory nation states; incomplete politicohistorical context – no discussion of neocolonialism, colonialism or empire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Jews have a right to live anywhere in Jerusalem, defended on Monday a settlement project that drew criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Israeli bulldozers cleared the way for 20 new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem, an area captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinian want as the capital of a future state, by demolishing a derelict hotel on Sunday.
Clinton, in Abu Dhabi on a tour of U.S. Gulf Arab allies, called the Israeli action a “disturbing development” and said it “undermines peace efforts to achieve the two-state solution.”
A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office made no direct reference to Clinton’s criticism, but said “there should be no expectation that the State of Israel will impose a ban on Jews purchasing private property in Jerusalem.”
Here’s the EU report on East Jerusalem, which still clings to the illusion that two states are possible:
All they seem to care about is to establish their patriotism through ‘Judaizing’ Jerusalem and other areas; to grab another building from Palestinians; to show how “Jewish” they are by proposing anti-Arab legislation and by attacking NGOs that try to protect Israel the liberal democracy.
The frenzy of the ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem has now crossed the tipping point where the international community is no longer willing to just stand by. A while ago 26 former EU leaders, many of whom during their careers had been staunch friends of Israel, asked for sanctions against Israel. This has now been followed by a call of EU consuls to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital; to place observers at each venue where Israel wants to destroy Palestinian buildings.
The ominous signs that Israel will soon be under great international pressure are mounting, and proposals for specific steps of boycott and sanctions are taking shape. One is to deny Israelis who live in the West Bank entry to the EU, and to forbid the sale of any Israeli products from the West Bank.
Greenwald on the climate of fear created by the US in reaction to Wikileaks : “People who spout pieties are never targeted with censorship, since there’s nothing to censor. Only those whose views are threatening or marginalized are subjected to such measures.”
In its latest plan released in summary form, the Reut Institute demonstrates the validity of Umberto Eco’s analysis of Ur Fascism : ‘Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.’
By unceasing land grabs and burgeoning illegal settlements, demolitions, evictions, detainments, incarceration of Palestinian children, attacks on non-violent protestors, roughshod riding over court decisions, official condoning of racist laws, passing new racist laws, denial of rights to Palestinians, an overweaning, well-identified system of apartheid and decades of cruel Occupation, the Israeli entity delegitimises itself.
This week, Human Rights Watch released a 166 page report, “Separate and Unequal: Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”, which ‘identifies discriminatory practices that have no legitimate security or other justification and calls on Israel, in addition to abiding by its international legal obligation to withdraw the settlements, to end these violations of Palestinians’ rights.’
Human Rights Watch reiterated its recommendation that the United States, which provides US$2.75 billion in aid to Israel annually, should suspend financing to Israel in an amount equivalent to the costs of Israel’s spending in support of settlements, which a 2003 study estimated at $1.4 billion. Similarly, based on numerous reports that US tax-exempt organizations provide substantial contributions to support settlements, the report urges the US to verify that such tax-exemptions are consistent with US obligations to ensure respect for international law, including prohibitions against discrimination.
Human Rights Watch called on the EU, a primary export market for settlement products, to ensure that it does not provide incentives for settlement exports through preferential tariff treatment, and to identify cases where discrimination against Palestinians has contributed to the production of goods. For example, the report documents how crops exported from settlements using water from Israeli-drilled wells have dried up nearby Palestinian wells, limiting Palestinians’ ability to cultivate their own lands and even their access to drinking water.
The report also describes cases in which businesses have contributed to or benefited directly from discrimination against Palestinians, for example through commercial activities on lands that were unlawfully confiscated from Palestinians without compensation for the benefit of settlers. These businesses also benefit from Israeli governmental subsidies, tax abatements, and discriminatory access to infrastructure, permits, and export channels. Human Rights Watch called on businesses to investigate, prevent and mitigate such violations, including ending any operations that cannot be separated from discriminatory Israeli practices.
Blundering blindfolded by bigotry at windmills of concocted ‘Red-Green’ alliances is likely to be counter-productive when the root of the problem lies with Israel’s own atrocious behaviour.
Nor does the Reut tilt at its bete noir, the worldwide Palestinian BDS movement, seem cogent, considering basic aims of BDS which are thoroughly supported in international law – for equal rights, an end to Israeli apartheid and occupation, and recognition of the right of Palestinian people to return to their lands. Since the US has abandoned its pretence of being able to stop Israeli land grabs and oppression, boycotts, divestments and sanctions remain a primary means chosen by Palestinians to attain their rights.
The Reut Institute perceives these reasonable goals as an existential threat – somehow if Palestinian people were not discriminated against, disenfranchised and ethnically cleansed, Israel would cease to exist. Yet what legitimacy does an entity have which relies for its continuance on tormenting those whom it has dispossessed and continues to dispossess of rights and land? Reut seeks to:
‘Prioritize delegitimizing the BDS Movement, which is among the most sophisticated tools in the attempt to undermine Israel’s legitimacy, and can be considered a mega-catalyst due to its influence in a number of arenas. As mentioned, the BDS Movement claims to promote human rights, international justice, and peace, while in practice, its organizers explicitly or implicitly reject Israel’s right to exist.’
Whereas the BDS network is a grassroots, decentralised global effort sustained from solidarity of its members from myriad cultures including jewish culture in principled demands for justice and rights for those who have neither, the obtuse Reut hasbaroids intend targeting London as a ‘delegitimisation hub’, aiming ‘to out, name and shame activists’ in a scurrilous witchhunt. That Reut considers human rights activists have something to be ashamed of is symptomatic of the above-mentioned malaise – and again political zionism is revealed as a radical, fascistic ideology, whose adherents obliviously project onto their quarries their own attributes – ‘anti-peace, anti-Semitic’ and ‘dishonest purveyors of double standards’. Political zionism is limited and eroded by its internal contradictions of addictive expansionism and consequent insecurity, syncretised mythologies of entitlement, victimhood and hubris.
Below is a video of the brutal realities which Israel inflicts upon Palestinians within the Green Line which Reut, I feel sure, would rather have us ignore as much as it would like us to forget Israel’s violations in the Occupied Territories. The story of how 67 members of the extended Abu Eid family were evicted summarily and their homes bulldozed last week is horrendous.
It is a scene being repeated across Israel with increasing frequency. Some 42,000 Arab homes built without required permits are threatened with demolition: 13,000 could be carried out at any time and 30,000 are at some stage in local courts, said Ameer Makhoul, director of Ittijah, a Palestinian civil society organization.
Several of these individuals have cross-over links with US neocon and pro-Israel establishments. Click on highlighted names to find out these people’s associations and in which organisations they are involved. Some of these include the Committee on the Present Danger, Avi Chai Foundation, JINSA, Koret Foundation and the Hoover Institution. The Koret Foundation is also a major donor to NGO Monitor.
As noted in October 09, one of NGO Monitor’s co-sponsors is the Wechsler Foundation, a non-profit [sic], tax-exempt US organisation, which, along with other US-based sponsors, pad NGO Monitor with US taxpayer funds to undermine the work of peace organisations in Israel and Palestine, and the independent journalism represented by Electronic Intifada, in the interests of the Israeli and US economic elite.
United Israel Appeal (UIA), as part of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), is a principal link between the American Jewish community and the people of Israel. An independent legal entity, UIA is responsible for the distribution and oversight of funds raised by U.S. Federation campaigns on behalf of Israel for use by its operating agent, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and for securing and monitoring funds for the immigration and absorption of Jewish refugees and humanitarian migrants to Israel from countries of distress. It is with the Jewish Agency as our partner, that UIA assists American Jews to fulfill their ongoing collective commitment to contribute to and participate in the upbuilding of the Jewish State of Israel.
UIA allocates and monitors funds raised by Federation campaigns in the U.S. for UIA’s operating agent JAFI, Israeli NGO’s and the over 1000 physical projects constructed in Israel with funds from U.S. donors.
‘Leading the projects that Keren Hayesod will support is Prime Minister’s Office project regarding national heritage sites. Keren Hayesod has taken it upon itself to raise funds in order to supplement the Government budget and expand the scope of the project.’.
On February 21, 2010, Netanyahu presented a Cabinet Communique outlining earmark funding of the ‘national’ heritage project.
The list of sites submitted here is neither closed nor final. It can and will certainly include other sites. I also intend to include Rachel’s Tomb, to the rehabilitation of which the Jewish Agency has allocated NIS 20 million, and the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Since I was asked, I would like to make my intentions clear, and this is what will be.
In essence, US taxpayer money is diverted through Israeli front organisations in the US, which also fund NGO Monitor, to illegal Israeli government projects in the Occupied Territories.
Haaretz has an international reputation as Israel’s most liberal and reliable newspaper. But The Electronic Intifada has discovered that one of the newspaper’s regularly-featured reporters, Cnaan Liphshiz, used his news reports for the publication to promote the agenda of an extreme pro-Israel group with which he was also employed.
At the same time, Liphshiz appears to have made efforts to conceal his work with the Dutch Zionist group CIDI (Centre for Documentation and Information on Israel), an undisclosed conflict of interest which calls into question the reliability of his reports and the editorial standards of Haaretz.
From 2007 until the present, Liphshiz has written about 50 articles in Haaretz which quote information provided by CIDI or its executive director Ronny Naftaniel, usually without offering any countervailing opinion or sources. Many of Liphshiz’s stories are based entirely on information provided by CIDI.
CIDI has confirmed to The Electronic Intifada that Lipshiz worked for the organization, and is likely to work for them again in the future.
CIDI has earned a reputation as one of the staunchest advocates for Israel in the Netherlands, launching stinging personal attacks and smears on public figures and groups who dare to call on Israel to respect human rights. In an article for The Electronic Intifada, Stan van Houcke, a Dutch journalist and author, described CIDI as an organization whose main goal is to cover up Israel’s violations of international law (“Dutch ‘research’ group covers for Israeli crimes,” violations, 5 November 2007).
These are the truths a twitter friend in Gaza told me during the Cast Lead massacre: 8/1/09
@rafahkid: ‘Israel can’t survive w/out resources on Palestinian land. This is why there’s no peace. If Palestine was allowed Israel would choke’.
@rafahkid: ‘Binational state? Not a chance because #Israel has to be Jewish. Two states? Not a chance because Palestine has the resources. So, we die.’
@rafahkid: ‘#Gaza truth. #Israel has to destroy Palestine if it is to survive. The world has chosen Israel. Excuse us while we die without surrender’
@rafahkid: ‘Palestine will accept #Israel but Israel can never accept Palestine. If we gave up ROR & had ’67 borders then Israel would cease to be viable.’
@rafahkid: ‘Wouldn’t mind if people acknowledged these truths but instead they pretend it’s the fault of Palestinian people…and call Hamas terrorists.’
@rafahkid: ‘Hello Israel. We actually want peace but your masters are lying to you. Pls visit #Gaza yourselves (now is not a good time) & you will see’
Jinjirrie: So, folks, now you know why ‘peace’ talks are a cover for accelerated Israeli land theft, and a means to obscure ongoing genocide by Israel
Jinjirrie: For #Israel Palestinians are surplus sub-humans, inconvenient impediments. & the US colludes with Israel in its sick deceptions. #imperialism
Comments are closed 
