Abbas’s rousing speech in the UN arguing for Palestinian statehood belies the impotence of the PA to stop further Israeli appropriations, with crowing zionists announcing another 1,100 illegal Israeli colonial homes to be built on Palestinian land in the West Bank. Within Israel, 30,000 Bedouins are to be ethnically cleansed and their lands confiscated to make room for more jews-only settlements. From the Palestine Papers, it’s clear Israel has rebuffed the most generous of offers by Abbas in the past and that Abbas colludes with Israel to suppress Palestinian resistance. No matter what concessions Palestinians make, Israel always raises the bar, most recently with Nutanyahoo’s demand for recognition of a ‘jewish’ (racist) state. Israel has no intention of offering a viable state for Palestinians or equal rights for all – a brief glance at the Likud platform attests to this fact. Palestine has all the resources, most importantly, water, and without them, Israel would choke. As long as the US and EU remain merely ‘deeply disappointed’, ziocode for ‘business as usual’ and fail to insist on Israel’s adherence to international law, there is no impetus which can make Israel stop its oppression save steadfast non-violent resistance and BDS, BDS and more BDS.
The best antidote for Abbas’ deceptive two state euphoria is Ali Abunimah’s interview about it. Ali sees Palestinian people beginning to focus increasingly on a struggle for equal rights.
If the October Knesset vote for annexation of the West Bank is affirmative, the necessity for equal rights with one and a half million illegal settlers presently occupying Palestinian land will become urgent.
The Palestinian Authority’s bid to the United Nations for Palestinian statehood is, at least in theory, supposed to circumvent the failed peace process. But in two crucial respects, the ill-conceived gambit actually makes things worse, amplifying the flaws of the process it seeks to replace. First, it excludes the Palestinian people from the decision-making process. And second, it entirely disconnects the discourse about statehood from reality.
In a speech today, Ashton congratulated herself for increasing Europe’s involvement in something called the Middle East peace process. “I have worked to achieve a greater EU role as I believe we are ideally placed as a friend of both parties,” she said.
Three United Nations independent experts Tuesday called for an immediate end to the Israeli demolitions of Palestinian owned-houses and other structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which have seen a dramatic increase since the beginning of the year, according to a press release by OHCHR.
– At my meetings, I said, all right, Turkey is a model of democracy, a secular state, a social state with the rule of law upheld. We are not intentionally trying to export a regime — we couldn’t care less. But if they want our help, we’ll provide any assistance they need. But we do not have a mentality of exporting our system.
…
Turkey is getting stronger as time goes by, and the situation of many European states is quite obvious.
Most wars in the world end when the leaders of both parties come to understand that continued fighting will not bring them any benefit. In many cases the benefit in question is any personal profit leaders themselves. In other cases, when a nation gets the leaders deserve, benefit at heart is the good of society.
Israel is significantly inferior in its war against the people of Palestinians, that does not go unnoticed by any one who looks with open eyes on the balance of power in the Middle East. Israeli – Palestinians can not end Israel’s victory on the first model. Not difficult to conclude that this strategic situation assessment – History and basic rational considerations. However, this conclusion is also from the experience and the historical facts themselves, without any theory.
In June 1967 the State of Israel was close to the end of war from the first model than ever before, and above all close she could reach it in the foreseeable future. But war is not over. On the other hand, the Arab side during Israel – Filastin be theoretically possible to win and bring the war to end the first model.
The moral is that the Israeli Government to end the war, according to the second model. To do this, create a situation of East – Mediterranean in which no Arab ruler, including leaders of the Palestinians, there will be nothing to gain personally for the war, and none of them has a strong emotional stimulus will be enough to start a global campaign to another.
“The current Israeli leadership unfortunately is racist and aggressive, especially Leiberman and his team which is only tolerated for the sake of the coalition government. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have gathered to protest economic situation in the country. Change in Israel hinges on how far Lieberman will be tolerated”.
The Turkish deputy premier said Israel had lost Egypt’s friendship in the Middle East as well.
“Egypt used to be one of the closest allies Israel had in that region. Now Egypt is friends with Turkey and it had cut all diplomatic ties with Israel. Everyone knows very well what kind of a position an isolated Israel will be in when devoid of ties with Turkey.”
James Brandt from the JDEF makes it clear that the zionist lobby had a political agenda when censoring the “Child’s View from Gaza” exhibit scheduled months ago to be held at MOCHA.
Upon hearing about the exhibit, Jewish community representatives met with MOCHA staff to voice our concerns. First, the exhibit’s violent, even gory images are wholly inappropriate to be viewed by young children. Second, the exhibit and its associated programming were designed to further MECA’s well-documented agenda to delegitimize Israel.
But violent images of Israeli suffering are OK.
Certainly, an appropriate context could be created for MECA’s exhibit. Professionals could determine the appropriate minimum age for visitors. Images could be added to present a balanced context.
These would depict the shelling of Israeli schools, Israeli families praying for the return of kidnapped soldiers and Israeli children grieving for parents killed in terrorist attacks.
Got that? images of violence of Palestinians GOOD, images of Israeli violence BAD.
The Museum of Tolerance held a workshop for children to respond to drawings of children from Darfur of the genocide which they witnessed. These drawings are being used as evidence of war crimes by the Sudanese government in the International Criminal Court. Are Israel’s defenders worried that Gazan children’s drawings may be used similarly? Regardless, the Israel lobby’s double standards on violence and children are shockingly apparent.
This exhibit constitutes propaganda aimed at indoctrinating our children under the guise of art. There is no context given to understand the complex issues facing Israel and the Palestinians.
Brand Israel bullies children. Palestinian children endure apartheid, occupation and oppression, and their art is deemed unacceptable because it challenges the monopoly on victimhood held by Brand Israel. The obsessive need to control the narrative of oppression was a striking characteristic of the apartheid South African regime also.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which appealed against the ban on Route 443, dared suggest the word apartheid and was reprimanded for it. In her ruling, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch wrote that “the great difference between the security means adopted by the State of Israel for defense against terrorist attacks and the unacceptable practices of the policy of apartheid requires that any comparison or use of this grave term be avoided.”
Today, a demonstration of many community groups concerned about the political censorship of Gazan children’s art was held in Oakland outside MOCHA. Here’s an account of the protest and related events on the MOCHA facebook page:
Mocha partially changed its opinion half an hour before the demo after it saw the public and many artists rally behind the exhibit and also after realizing that MECA found a place nearby to show the kids’ drawings. Many Mocha staff members are outraged by the decision of the board and many Mocha members ended their membership after walking into the museum and throwing a fit because of the shameful behavior of Mocha. There were many angry emails and phone calls too. The presence of the media today also compelled Mocha to reconsider. Mocha’s scandal grew every day and public scorn grew with it too.
Mocha missed the Thursday deadline that was given to it by MECA and today, it was too late. Mocha realized that it made a big mistake and MECA was not going to save its ass from public scorn. Besides, Mocha refused to show all the drawings and wanted to pick and choose and that is still censorship. So yes, it’s still about censoring the artwork of the Palestinian children.
Some of the advocates for censorship of the exhibition also revealed an underlying motivation to attack BDS, unstated elsewhere publicly.
David Marshak: We are trying to respond to the BDS campaign, which is very well-funded and organised. We can’t match the funding and numbers but we can improve our ability to respond to attacks like these. We have a lot of work to do. JVP is very good.
Crayons of mass creation speak truth to power. The Israel lobby art censors quiver and quake at their impact, and struggle to suppress images and language which attest to Israel’s war crimes and collective punishment perpetrated against the civilian population in Gaza subject to Israel’s oppression – apartheid, occupation and siege. Yet since Israel’s survival apparently depends on censoring children’s drawings of its crimes, Israel has surely doomed itself.
An exhibit of controversial drawings and paintings by Palestinian children was shown in a downtown Oakland museum’s courtyard Saturday, after the Museum of Children’s Art canceled the display three weeks ago.
After criticism from exhibit founder Middle East Children’s Alliance, the museum made a late offer Friday to reschedule the event at a later time, but the organizers said they had already found their own space.
…
The Alliance’s executive director, Barbara Lubin, said she received a call Friday afternoon from a museum representative asking to meet with her group to discuss rescheduling the exhibit.
“I just laughed,” she said. “I said, ‘You must be crazy; we have spent the last three weeks looking for a place to display (the artwork.) … I
can’t believe you have the chutzpah (audacity) to call me at this late date.’ I have just signed a lease on a space for (an exhibit) for the next two months.”
…
On Saturday afternoon, a band played while people held up the drawings in the courtyard, and patrons filed into the Museum of Children’s Art.
The museum’s interim executive director, Masako Kalbach, was sympathetic to the views of museum critics.
“We do understand their feelings about our offer of being too late,” she said. “We would really like to talk to them.”
Also at the showing Saturday were about a dozen people from StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel.
“I think an exhibition that also shows the suffering of children of Southern Israel who have had (thousands) of rockets aimed directly at them could be a much more balanced exhibit,” said group spokesman Mike Harris.
The museum’s decision to cancel the exhibit triggered an outcry against what critics called censorship of Palestinian children’s art, especially since the museum has presented similar wartime artwork, including an exhibit of Iraqi children’s drawings depicting the U.S. war in Iraq.
A museum representative originally said the art was “not appropriate for an open gallery accessible by all children.” But late Friday, museum board member Randolph Belle issued a statement.
“When we canceled the exhibit ‘A Child’s View from Gaza’ earlier this month, we did so both because we lacked a formal policy for sensitive content, and because we were not confident that we had the resources to deal with the numerous concerns we received regarding the exhibit. In response to input from the community and careful consideration by our board of directors and staff, the Museum of Children’s Art has developed a new policy governing the exhibition of items with sensitive content,” the statement said.
Belle’s statement said the Middle East Children’s Alliance has been invited to reschedule the exhibit in keeping with the new policy.
Lubin said she had not seen Belle’s statement Saturday.
She is traveling to Gaza next month to collect new artwork from the children based on how they feel about having their exhibit banned from the museum.
Lubin said she will consider working with the museum to show this set of artwork as long as they do not censor the show.
Board member Randolph Belle said the decision was based on the violent nature of some of the work in the show. “Basically we got some [calls from] concerned parents, the Jewish Federation and MOCHA community members,” Belle said, “stating that they didn’t feel that children should be exposed to these images in a public space.”
On Friday, dozens of protestors in front of MOCHA, organized in part by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), shouted “Shame!” and accused the museum’s board of censorship. “It is very hurtful,” said AROC Youth Program Coordinator Lubna Morrar, who spoke at the protest. “We had been working with [MOCHA] for so long, and if they felt like they didn’t want to take on this project then they shouldn’t have even implemented it to begin with.”
Ziad Abbas, associate director of the Berkeley-based Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), said that during the six months of preparing for the exhibit, which was to include various workshops, “the staff was very supportive, very helpful.” But just two weeks ago, Abbas said, MECA was informed that the event would not take place.
He said the MOCHA representative who called him did not explain in detail—”just that it is an internal issue they are having,” Abbas said. “But we know, we understand that the moment you talk about Palestine, or mention Palestine, you will find the pro-Israeli groups try to put the pressure to silence or to shut you down.”
Abbas said he understands MOCHA was under pressure from various groups. “That is what we saw on the Internet later,” he said. “Many people supporting Israel were congratulating each other after the museum cancelled the exhibition.” Specifically, Abbas and his associates point to both the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Jewish Federation of the East Bay as playing a role in the exhibit’s cancellation.
Faith Metlzer, of San Francisco Voice for Israel, said she was relieved the exhibit would not be shown at the museum. “The art has anti-Semitic, as well as anti-American, symbolism,” she said. “To me, things like this—bombs with Jewish stars on them—it’s just a way of demonizing our people and our religion.”
Metlzer said she worried about how the exhibit would have affected Jewish children in Oakland. “How would you go around with a Jewish star on a T-shirt or on a chain, when the symbol of your people and of your religion has become a hate symbol?” she asked.
In addition to complaints about the violent imagery included in the show, Belle acknowledges that MOCHA did receive calls from people worried that the exhibit was “painting the Jews in a negative light.” But he says the cancellation was not political, and was instead done to protect children from inappropriate, graphic images.
“We are being painted as censors, we’ve been portrayed as having caved in,” Belle said. “We’ve been portrayed a lot of different ways that are just not accurate. We would never have taken the show had we ascribed to any kind of censorship.”
Belle describes MOCHA as a small organization that was caught off-guard and overwhelmed by the emotional reaction the exhibit generated. “We probably did not diligently look at the implications of having this show,” he said. “I don’t know if it was naïveté or just a misjudgment, but there were some mistakes made, and we are paying for them right now.”
Before this controversy, MOCHA had no official exhibition policy, and the “Child’s View of Gaza” exhibit was accepted with a simple up-and-down vote by the board. “In retrospect,” Belle said, “we should have done things differently.”
While “no one threatened to pull [MOCHA] funding or anything else like that,” Belle said, the burden placed on the organization by a controversial exhibit was just too great a risk. “We can make a statement, or we can serve our constituencies,” he said.
In the past, MOCHA has featured work by children of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a WWII exhibit. “Those exhibits did not generate the kinds of passionate responses that this one did,” Belle said.
Abbas also points to those exhibits in questioning MOCHA’s actions. “Why is Palestine different?” he asked. “Children paint what they see in the street. They paint what the Israeli army did. They try to reflect the reality of where they live.”
The Middle East Children’s Alliance received a call from MOCHA on Friday afternoon proposing an alternate exhibit. “They used the terminology ‘modified some pictures,’” Abbas said, which he described as another form of censorship. “We told them ‘Shame on you…it is too late.’”
…
‘Eleanor Levine, a member of the non-violence advocacy group Code Pink, said Friday, “This is not about religion, it is about a very powerful lobby, the Zionist lobby, that exerts a tremendous amount of power. And they are simply not interested in having the Palestinian voice heard.” Levine called the conflict “a great shame and pity,” and said she hopes MOCHA has “the opportunity to show different cultural art and values” to the people of Oakland.’
Pro-Israel lobbying groups claimed that the Gaza exhibit was anti-Israel and fought to kill it. They asserted that the art could not possibly have been created by children.
Museum officials insisted that their abrupt about-face had nothing to do with pressure from the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay and other pro-Israel Jewish groups that threatened to withhold funding if the museum went ahead with the exhibit. But these same groups gloated on the Internet about getting the exhibit canceled.
Instead, museum officials asserted that their decision to pull the plug on the exhibit less than two weeks before its scheduled opening last Saturday stemmed from concerns from parents, educators and other community members over the violent war images and their appropriateness for young children.
But past exhibits belie that rationale. In 2009, MOCHA held an exhibit of children’s art from the war in Bosnia and Iraq. It also depicted graphic images created by children who had been witnesses to war and was, as one might expect, difficult to view.
Indeed, the curator for that exhibit, Joan Miro, says she is “appalled and mystified” by MOCHA’s decision to cancel the Gaza exhibit.
The museum’s actions have drawn justifiable condemnations from critics, including progressive Jewish groups who have demanded the museum reverse itself and allow the art work to be shown.
The entire event is troubling that certain individuals have prevented the public from viewing art they don’t want us to see. What’s to stop other organizations from using the same strong-arm tactics to silence opposing viewpoints?
The Middle East Children’s Alliance in Berkeley, which organized the exhibit, showed the artwork Saturday — in the courtyard in front of MOCHA. Museum officials have only themselves to blame for this public relations fiasco.
We understand the enormous pressure the museum faced — including funding threats. But the decision is a violation of MOCHA’s own mission to give a platform to children’s expression from around the world.
Shamefully, pro-Israel groups have long strategized to silence Palestinian voices and those in solidarity. For 23 years, MECA has challenged such censorship and fought to raise the voices of Palestine, especially those of children.
In 1991, when we invited Professor Noam Chomsky for a speaking engagement, 19 professors from
UC Berkeley signed a letter to bookstores selling tickets to the event. The professors threatened to picket their stores, but the owners refused to be censored.
In December 2005, MECA, in collaboration with Alliance Graphics and the Berkeley Arts Center, presented Justice Matters: Artists Consider Palestine, an exhibit displaying the artwork of 14 Palestinian and North American artists. Fourteen rabbis visited Mayor Tom Bates of Berkeley demanding that he cancel the show. They further insisted that the city withdraw funding to the Berkeley Arts Center and to be given the right to inspect any future art exhibit. Despite the rabbis’ objections to the art, the mayor rejected censorship and the show opened to a huge crowd of supporters.
MECA has always respected and loved MOCHA, and continues to support the museum and those who work there. Our support for the museum has not ceased — rather, our anger and our frustration is directed at the board of directors for lacking the courage to withstand bullying and intimidation.
What is so frightening to these pro-Israel forces that they are willing to put millions of dollars into a campaign to shut down protests on campuses, muzzle speakers who advocate for human rights for all, and even silence the voices of children by censoring their art?
Outraged activists spread the story far and wide via listservs, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and MOCHA’s e-mail account and Facebook page (apparently now closed down) were barraged with indignant messages.
‘Since March 2009, various organizations, including Amnesty International,1 Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission2 have produced reports on the entire operation or specific aspects of it. In addition, Israeli human rights organizations, both in joint statements3 and in individual publications such as those by B’Tselem4 and Gisha5, have also related in a critical manner to the IDF’s (Israeli
Defense Forces) actions during the operation. All these publications have arrived at the general conclusion that was expressed in one report:
“Much of the destruction was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects as well as indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian objects. Such attacks violated fundamental provisions of international humanitarian law, notably the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects (the principle of
distinction), the prohibition on indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and the prohibition on collective punishment.”6’
The No-Risk Policy
‘Kasher’s argument is that in an area such as the Gaza Strip in which the IDF does not have effective control the overriding principle guiding the commanders is achieving their military objectives. Next in priority is protecting soldiers’ lives, followed by avoiding injury to enemy civilians.
“Sending a soldier there to fight terrorists is justified, but why should I force him to endanger himself much more than that so that the terrorist’s neighbour isn’t killed? I don’t have an answer for that. From the standpoint of the state of Israel, the neighbour is much less important. I owe the soldier more. If it’s
between the soldier and the terrorist’s neighbour, the priority is the soldier”.25″
The Dahiye Doctrine
Two years later, in the beginning of October 2008, the Commanding Officer of the IDF’s Northern Command, Maj. General Gadi Eisenkott, gave an interview to Yedioth
Ahronoth newspaper, in which he unveiled what he called the “Dahiye Doctrine”:
“What happened in the Dahiye Quarter of Beirut in 2006, will happen in every village from which shots are fired on Israel. We will use disproportionate force against it and we will cause immense damage and destruction. From our point
of view these are not civilian villages but military bases.
This is not a recommendation, this is the plan, and it has already been authorized.”46
Lately some musical artists have voiced that they had not heard of the cultural boycott of Israel, or they would have never scheduled to play in Israel. Tuba Skinny, of New Orleans was due to play for the Israeli Red Sea Jazz Festival, and just days before, they cancelled [2] after being informed of the boycott by humanitarians. Denise Jannah and Ramon Valle (of the Netherlands) became aware of the the boycott two days prior to their three scheduled concerts in Israel, they played in Israel anyway. Denise’s experience in Israel, and correspondence with BDS volunteers, evidently created in her great regret that she had played for the apartheid regime, and she has written a letter stating she now supports BDS, where she states:
Please let me start by telling you this: of a cultural BDS boycott Ramon and I had NO knowledge, none at all. This is where the problem started, for had I known I would have done things differently: the reasons for this boycott are valid.[1]
(Zdob si Zdub before the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf.)Vintage punker Jello Biafara and advocate of the (USA) Green Party was also scheduled to play Israel, he also cancelled his performance. He was also unaware that his actions would be interpretated as showing support for Israeli apartheid. He thought he would be letting his Israeli fans down if he cancelled, and that his Israeli fans were all anti-zionist and against apartheid. He cancelled after Punks Against Apatheid [3] launched an extensive education campaign making him more aware of the PACBI’s call for a cultural boycott of Israel. [4]
Now Moldavian punkers Zdob si Zdub have announced on their “gigs” page that they will be in Tel Aviv at the Barby on 5 November. [5]
The chances are high that when they contracted to play in Israel, they were not informed of the boycott. Usually, the only way bands can often be contacted are through their booking agents or management. Punk bands are noted for making stands against government oppression. Punk bands are not known for breeching boycotts or crossing picket lines that exist for causes like human rights and justice. It can only be assumed that these punkers from Moldavia are not aware of the boycott because they have not been contacted. The BDS movement has not taken hold in Moldavia or Russia, and apparently it needs much wider exposure in the Netherlands and the USA.
As of this publishing, the contacts we have for these Moldavian punkers, who participated in the Eurovision Song 2011 Contest in Dusseldorf (and placed 12th) are:
on Facebook see http://www.facebook.com/zdobsizdub?sk=wall
Please participate in letting this band know what they are probably unaware of, that there is a cultural boycott on now of Israel. They they are being asked to respect this global call.
Zdob si Zdub, performing in Israel is a clear violation of support for human rights and justice. Punk music and apartheid don’t belong together.
EXTRACTS from Denise Jannah statement [for full statement see link below]
September 10, 2011.
Please let me start by telling you this: of a cultural BDS boycott Ramon and I had NO knowledge, none at all. This is where the problem started, for had I known I would have done things differently: the reasons for this boycott are valid. Saying this I do acknowledge all those in Israel who do want Peace and are equally tired of the whole situation. I too detest what is happening in Gaza and the way the Israeli government is going about, it’s all absolutely horrendous! And this is the same reason why Ramón and I have sincerely supported “Music For Gaza” in Rotterdam, September last year. This had not been my first time supporting the Palestine case, by the way, I once did through Amnesty International as well. To be accused of violating this boycott is extra painful to us. The boycott is supposedly a worldwide one, known also in all Europe. I hereby respectfully suggest to the BSDI to make sure that this becomes a 100% reality indeed. Because unless I seriously missed something I had never heard about it in the Dutch Jazz scene, and I am still to hear from any of my Dutch colleagues what they know about it; nor have I received word from any musical organization here in the Netherlands so far about this boycott, I’m sorry to say.
And then we are being urged -understandably so!- to cancel our concerts, just 2 days before. I have no objections against the open letter sent to us. I respect its writers, its contents, and agree with them/it too. But any serious working professional would know that breach of contracts will have legal consequences. Unfortunately no one of those pleading with us or downright accusing us have come forward with any idea whatsoever for a possible legal solution in this matter. In this light all we can do is stick to our sincere intention that we’ve had in the first place: to work through our Music with the talent that we’ve been blessed with to help spread Love, preach Peace, talk to people’s hearts and point out to everyone in our audience that we ALL have a responsibility to help make this world a better one, be it on a smaller or very big scale. And with all this in our hearts it’s extremely painful to have been accused of all we have been accused for and to have been called all that we were called unto this day.
The accusation that we work/have worked (in our case as musicians, work=to perform) for the Israeli government is very far from the truth and I strongly object and resent it. Maybe people don’t know this, but performing in a certain venue doesn’t automatically mean that one has been hired by that venue itself or whoever is behind it, as other musicians will also know. The agency that booked us for a few concerts is privately owned, besides: Jazz is considered commercial music and therefore doesn’t get any government support in Israel anyway. Anyone thinking that I would willingly perform for the Israeli state doesn’t know me at all. But I can’t blame anyone either. I’ll have to be content with knowing that they who really know me, will also know that I have never shied away from taking a stand, be it political or otherwise. Again I regret to not have known about the BDS boycott, and I also wish that Ramon and I, especially after “Music For Gaza”, had been informed personally, be it as a follow up, together with all the others that were involved that evening (or maybe they have been? I don’t know.) With better international information by BDS/BDSI, Ramón and I wouldn’t have to feel as if we’re standing trial today.
The Palestine people simply deserve their Freedom, their Justice, their Land, and I pray for Peace for the whole region.
In spite of everything I want to thank everyone who has reacted towards me/us this past week, no matter how harsh and painful it has been for me/us to swallow sometimes. I can still say thanks because I believe in the Divine who knows my heart, and I know too well that every experience is a learning one and that everything happens for a reason. No, my conscience has not been blinded (another one of the accusations), quite the contrary. The talks and encounters I’ve had while in Israel: I’m grateful for these chances of direct communication and enlightenment. The talks were with Israeli and non-Israeli who oppose their government/the Israeli regime and have dedicated themselves to the Palestine cause. We talked about me returning and crossing the border with them into Gaza. I have been on the Israeli radio in a live interview that was to be about my music, where I openly talked about me and Ramon performing for the children of Gaza at the event “Music for Gaza”, last year September, and what moved us to do so. And in that same live interview I also mentioned and talked about the BDS movement and its boycott: that I hadn’t known about it beforehand but that I fully agree with the reasons that have originated this boycott. I knew beforehand that I wouldn’t leave our strive for Peace and Justice untouched during our concerts, and I haven’t. Music is our art, and also our tool.
The BDS boycott and movement is a legitimate way to raise public awareness and a nonviolent way of resistance.
Please know that our strive for World Peace, which I think we all share has only gotten stronger since last week’s experience. And to use our talent as artists to keep giving our efforts accordingly, will be the only way, in moving forward from here on, to make up to everyone we have made feel let down.
Peace and Blessings,
It came to our attention recently that you had recorded a video, for Israeli press “Ynet” stating that you “just want to say ‘hi’ to all your fans in Israel, see you very soon in Tel Aviv.”
We know that you are aware that Shuki Weiss works tirelessly to promote musical events in Israel. Shuki has also persuaded Marianne Faithfull to record a video similar to yours. In fact, there are at least seven artists who appear to have been willing to vocalize, in videos, that they indeed WILL play in Israel.[1]
In one sense, we are pleased to see that cultural boycott campaigns are recognized as potentially effective in getting artists such as yourself to cancel. We have never seen any other nation except Israel, persuade artists to record videos such as these, and for good reason. No other nation has seen so many artists cancel their concerts, as a response to the rational and humanitarian call for a cultural boycott.
But, on the other hand, we want to remind you both, Marie and Per, that you each still possess the right to refrain playing in Israel. If even one of your duo feels that playing in Israel is indeed the wrong thing, then we urge that one to have the courage to refrain.
Please know that you are planning to play in Israel in violation of a boycott called for in 2005. This boycott was further intensified in 2009, after Israel’s many violations of international law and documented war crimes in Gaza. [2]
19-year old Swedish human rights worker Tove Johansson had her cheekbone broken by a Jewish extremist in Hebron today. Earlier the same day at least five Palestinians, including a 3-year-old child, were injured by the settler-supporting extremists, who rampaged through Tel Rumeida hurling stones and bottles at local residents. Palestinian schoolchildren on their way home were also attacked. The Israeli army, which was intensively deployed in the area, did not intervene to stop the attacks. http://palsolidarity.org/2006/11/1726/
Israel’s illegal and violent actions on humanitarian aid volunteers in the summer of 2010 led to nine deaths on the Freedom Flotilla. Executions took place at close range, and multiple bullets were fired directly at the heads of these unarmed civilians, whose aim was solely humanitarian in nature, all by well-trained and armed Israeli commandos.
Did you know that the Israeli Navy acted as pirates, in international waters? Perhaps you have read the Kurt Wallander detective books. Did you know Swedish author Mankell fearlessly joined the flotilla in 2010? Afterwards he said “Israel has never before been so condemned. Israel has painted itself into a corner. The world does not look the same as it did a week ago.” Upon his return to Sweden, Mankell charged that “all the ships (in the flotilla) were hijacked, and this was really piracy.” [3]
Have you heard of Tove Johansson from Stockholm? Tove could very well be one of your fans. In November of 2006, Tove was brutally attacked by Israeli colonists resulting in a broken cheekbone, a fractured skull and damage to her eye muscles. Tove knows that Palestinians undergo this violence on a daily basis. She was attempting to walk small children to their homes from their school. She was spit at, then kicked, then attacked with a glass bottle. In a statement from the Swedish government :
“The Swedish government is dissatisfied with Israel’s investigation of an attack in the contentious West Bank city of Hebron that left a Swedish activist with a broken cheekbone, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. “We’re concerned that this hasn’t been followed up, and we intend to speak to the relevant authorities and ask for more information about the incident,” said Petra Hansson, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry. ” [4]
Shuki wants you to think you are “playing for people, not for governments.” It would be utterly ridiculous for you to agree to play a concert for colonists in Ariel, and invite Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert.
Some Israelis are boycotting products made in the settlements. Some of your Israeli fans may disagree with their own government. Some of your Israeli fans may have even attended protests against the wall.
The small sacrifice your Israeli fans would have to make by not hearing you perform live is equivalent to nothing compared to the aims and goals of the boycott. Musicians who refrain from playing Israel are very humanitarian focused, and they usually agree that:
Racial discrimination and segregation against the Palestinian citizens of Israel is wrong, and it resembles the defunct apartheid system in South Africa.
Military occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza is wrong and it violates international law and multiple UN resolutions.
The Palestinian Nakba is a fact. Israel is responsible for the Nakba — in particular the waves of ethnic cleansing and dispossession that created the Palestinian refugee problem — and Israel continues to refuse to accept the inalienable rights of the refugees and displaced. International law stipulates that they have a right to reparations or to return to their homes.
Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, don’t you also agree that international law should be upheld and that the Palestinian people’s rights are as valid as any other people’s?
We hope you will refrain, as you put it so well, “Listen to your heart,” not to pressure from musical contracts.
Don’t Play Apartheid Israel
We are a group, of over 760 members, representing many nations around the globe, who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel. This is essential in order to work towards justice for the Palestinian people under occupation, and also in refugee camps and in the diaspora throughout the world.
[1] After a months long BDS campaign, the group August Burns Red, decided to cancel their concert in Israel. Their video still remains on Shuki Weiss’s youtube channel at the time of this publishing.
[2] See the Goldstone Report http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf
[3] See Wallander – writer may bar Hebrew Version of books http://hello.news352.lu/edito-46181-wallender-writer-may-bar-hebrew-version-of-books.html
[4] ISM Report: Swedish Human Rights Worker Viciously Attacked by Jewish Extremists in Hebron. http://palsolidarity.org/2006/11/1726/
Some of the advocates for censorship of the exhibition also revealed an underlying motivation to attack BDS, unstated elsewhere publicly.
