Freedom Carols for Palestine, November 29, 2011 outside Dezire Cosmetics store at Broadway Shopping Centre. Dezire sells Ahava products and Ahava is targeted by the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israeli Apartheid because its products are made from stolen Palestinian natural resources. Organised by Coalition For Palestine to mark UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Barbra Streisand: Don’t Sing for Israel’s Injustices
Dear Barbra Streisand,
It has come to our attention that you have plans to perform in support of Israeli Soldiers on 8 December. Right now Israeli soldiers are committing with impunity countless well-documented war crimes against the indigenous population of Palestine.
We are calling on you now to heed the Palestinian call to boycott the only apartheid regime in the world, one which holds the population of Gaza in virtual imprisonment.[1] The IDF troops maintain what main-stream human rights organizations have called the largest open air prison in modern history, they enforce Israel’s five-year blockade, 63 years of dispossession and ethnic cleansing. Palestinians rely on people of conscience, including artists and musicians, to take a stand and refuse to entertain Israel. In Gaza, over two thirds of the population are UN registered refugees, ethnically cleansed from their homes by Israeli soldiers in 1948 to live the rest of their lives in the Gaza prison camp.
Millions more refugees, living in exile, remain and are denied their right to return home to see their loved ones thanks to Israel’s policy of restriction of movement and its refusal to abide by international law. Your performance for the “IDF Troops” will encourage the Israeli state to believe that is does not have to be accountable to international law, that it can continue to act with impunity.
The ongoing siege of Gaza, has made existence for the approximately 1.2 million Palestinians there intolerable, cutting off the main life-line of goods and people coming into Gaza, resulting in severe shortages of food supplies, basic goods and crucially important items like cement which is vital to rebuild the 17,000+ homes that have been destroyed by Israeli attacks. Injured and ill people are not allowed to travel abroad to receive all manner of medical treatment unavailable in Gaza. Over 600 sick patients have died because they had no solution but to stay in the besieged Gaza Strip where they spent their dying days, to the despair of their families.
Most recently, Israel has instituted a ‘punitive policy’, more collective punishment, a crime against humanity, toward the people of Gaza, by cutting off their electricity. The north of Gaza has had no power for the past 9 days. [2]
For musicians with a passionate heritage of music and dance, the Israeli siege of Gaza bans importation of instruments, the possibility of receiving international performances and taking their music abroad. Israel’s air, land and sea blockade of all their borders has meant that for years musical instruments were banned from entry to Gaza [3]
Do you really want to perform to support Israel’s soldiers given that in the winter of 2008-9, they attacked Gaza, committing war crimes and human rights violations against a population of which over half -an estimated 800,000- are children. During this merciless 23-day assault, 1,417 people were killed including hundreds of children, with over 5500 injured. These heinous crimes have been recounted in detail in the United Nations Fact Finding Mission report. [4]
In the face of an international conspiracy of silence, Palestinian Civil Society, almost unanimously, called for international artists to refuse to perform in Israel as part of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign which is a non-violent method of holding Israel accountable to standards of equality and human rights that modern nations are accustomed to.
A host of internationally renowned musicians have already joined this call by refusing to perform in Israel including Carlos Santana, Annie Lennox, Faithless, Elvis Costello, the Pixies, Gil Scott Heron, Massive Attack, Leftfield, Gorillaz Sound System, Snoop Dogg, Jean Luc Godard, and Devendra Banhart. Roger Waters, wrote a letter announcing his support of a cultural boycott of Israel. He said that in his view,
“..the abhorrent and draconian control that Israel wields over the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, coupled with its denial of the rights of refugees to return to their homes in Israel, demands that fair minded people around the world support the Palestinians in their civil, nonviolent resistance.” [5]
We ask you to join their fight, a fight for basic human rights, equality and justice. It is time for the world to take real action to stop Israel’s war crimes against children, women and men; it is time for conscientious individuals to stand on the right side of history by refusing to condone the war crimes of the Israeli state.
Please stand on the right side of history and refrain from entertaining a regime that has committed and continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Sincerely,
We are a group, of over 800 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.
NOTES:
[1] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=869
[2] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=440158
[3] http://www.gazagateway.org/tag/musical-instruments/
[4] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/MediaSummaryReport_English.doc
[5] http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/waters-endorses-5484#.TsRUWsMr2so
Related Links
By playing nuclear-armed Israel and for the oppressors of the Palestinian minority, Streisand would be going against her causes. Streisand said,
“The Democrats have always been the party of working people and minorities. I’ve always identified with the minorities.”
….
Streisand has personally raised $25 million [52] for organizations through her live performances. The Streisand Foundation,[53] established in 1986, has contributed over $16 million through nearly 1,000 grants to “national organizations working on preservation of the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women’s issues [54] and nuclear disarmament”.
Palestine / Israel Links
International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – 29 November
Oi Va Voi : Please Don’t Be Complicit with Apartheid Israel
Video: Chicago activists tell shoppers to boycott Israel on Black Friday
Video: French BDS activists de-shelve huge amounts of Israeli produce at Carrefour
PCHR Strongly Condemns WHOs Decision to Conduct a Conference in Jerusalem – International Middle Ea.
Video: Israeli occupation forces demolish homes and mosque, arrests girls near Hebron :
Israel’s foul acts of ethnic cleansing continue: ‘At 10 am two bulldozers arrived in the village, escorted by five military vehicles. Without showing any demolition order, the army demolished two houses, a mosque, a barn and a structure containing the generator.’
Army To Demolish A Palestinian Home In Jerusalem
Liberal Zionists and the Palestinian right of return
Official: Israel deliberately disconnects Gaza electricity :
Israel, another word for collective punishment – the apartheid ziocolonial entity uses ‘punitive policy’ against the people in the north of Gaza. Electricity had been cut off to the north for nine days.
Gareth Evans blithers about Responsibility to Protect, omits ongoing zionist ethnic cleansing project. Gareth should rename policy as Responsibility to Protect But Not From Us, as it doesn’t apply to western settler colonial genocidalists.
Times Photographer Complains of Israeli Soldiers’ ‘Cruelty’ at Border Crossing
From The Lancet :
‘10% of pregnant Palestinian women were delayed at checkpoints every year from 2000 to 2007, while travelling to give birth in hospital. These delays resulted in 69 births, and 35 infant and five maternal deaths at the checkpoints. Generally, the type and severity of the delay-related morbidity are not recorded.’
John Lyons describes Israel’s villainous treatment of Palestinian children destined for military court. ‘After September 11 I’d seen images of alleged terrorists walking like this but I’d never seen children treated this way. It’s not surprising that Israel doesn’t want this image out there – it would look uncomfortably like a Guantanamo Bay for kids.’
Other Links
Egypt imports 21 tons of tear gas from the US, port staff refuses to sign for it – Bikya Masr
Northern Territory intervention has brought hatred, says Arnhem elder
‘Intervention mark II’ a new whitewash
The price of siting US ‘defence’ installations: Turkey threatened by Iran if US or Israel attacks – there’s a lesson for Australia there.
Turkey’s Requirements of Israel Remain Non-Negotiable
Turkey continues to remain firm in its stance against Israel’s criminality.
Davutoglu told reporters on Friday that Israel should apologize, pay compensation to families of the Turkish citizens killed during the boarding of the aid ship and end the embargo on Gaza. Otherwise, the minister stated, relations between Turkey and Israel will not be normalized.
Additionally Davutoglu extended Turkey’s criticism of the apartheid land-thieving entity:
“Israel should decide to be a part of either the problem or the solution,” Davutoglu told reporters. The minister also spoke out against other aspects of Israeli policy, criticizing Israel to for continuing its settlement policy. The minister concluded by emphasizing that Turkey would react positively if Israel pursued a less hawkish foreign policy.
From @leventbasturk: If it doesn’t remain firm on this issue, the new course of Turkish Frgn Pol in ME will be under great suspicion. #
In the US press, Davutoglu’s comments were under-reported, omitting the need for Israel to end its embargo on Gaza.
Palestine / Israel Links
Nutanyahoo newspeak reveals his narcissist delusional extremism – his blitherings are straight out of Animal Farm
Pinkwashing, 2008-2011: Obituary for a hasbara strategy
Palestinian freed in prisoner swap is persecuted by Israel’s maniacal illegal settlers in Hebron
Haaretz publisher and owner Schocken identifies Israel’s ‘strategy of territorial seizure and apartheid’
Old Palestinian man in front of his house demolished by Israel
Occupy
Occupy Everywhere: Michael Moore, Naomi Klein on Next Steps for the Movement Against Corporate Power
Children of Palestine Tormented by Israel
Moammar Mashni from Australians for Palestine makes some excellent points on Israel’s heinous treatment of Palestinian children under the illegal Occupation at The Drum:
Thus the prospects of peace could be fleeting or imminent, depending on which Israel decides to turn up to any future negotiations. In what can only be described as a blatant act of aggression, Israel has approved more settlement construction in September and October, thus the future of an independent Palestinians state is all but out the window upon examination of any map, particularly this most recent one from the UN.
Contrary to the often regurgitated myth that Palestinians use their children as human shields, it has never been proven – not once. Yet in October 2010, two Israeli soldiers were convicted of using a 9-year-old boy as a human shield during the infamous Operation Cast Lead of 2008/9. There are at least 15 other documented cases of children being used as human shields since 2004, with only the aforementioned case of the 9-year-old ever having been investigated.
Analysing the statistical data of child mistreatment by Israel is a horrific mission. The average number of Palestinian children in Israeli detention over the last 12 months is 212 – that is children aged 12 to 18 locked up on for the most minor indiscretion as Israel creates specific military orders that criminalise any form of opposition to the occupation.
Without doubt though, the statistic that should trouble any person of good conscience is the data relating to child fatalities. From 2000 to 2009, 1,329 children were killed by Israel. In real terms that means a Palestinian child was killed every three days, of every week, of every month, of every year, for 10 long years. How can this possibly be justified?
The international community has a moral obligation to hold Israel accountable for these crimes. Without the rule of law, and in this case we are talking about International Law and International Humanitarian Law, how can we possibly expect that the state of play will ever change?
Whether we like it or not, it is an undisputable fact that every single one of the 12 or so million people living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (historic Palestine) are under Israel’s rule. Is it therefore acceptable, that in the 2011 we still have a system that deliberately privileges one people over another in the same land? Or should this current spawn of apartheid be also discarded to the annals of history in the same way it was for South Africa in 1989.
Israel’s use of Palestinian children as human shields is highlighted. The comments following the post which support zionism nearly all blame Palestinian children for their own incarceration. Yet are Israeli children who throw stones at Palestinians and others collectively punished or incarcerated by the Israeli state? No.
Related Links
Distressing 2010 Report from Save the Children on Child Rights in the OPT
Palestine / Israel Links
Announcing the Official Launch of Punks Against Apartheid!
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat talked with Aaron David Miller about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the current state of the negotiations, U.S. policy, and future prospects for Arab-Israeli peace.
Aaron David Miller asks Erekat 10 questions about the peace negotiations back in November 2010, followed by questions from the audience.
Erekat reveals lots of interesting points from behind the scenes, including Hamas position that they have never challenged the authority of the PLO.
Most negative thing for negotiating for Palestinians was the US insisting on Palestinians recognise Israel without it defining its borders.
Do we have someone in Israel willing to engage in decisions?
“The state of Israel was recognised by us [in September 1993] … then they changed the wording to recognise Israel as the Jewish state. I will not become zionist, I will not.”
Israelis Picket “Creative Coalition” Hollywood AIPAC Event
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS call from within (Boycott from Within)
Tonight (16/11) in Tel Aviv, Israeli and international BDS supporters spent an hour standing outside the press conference held by the “Creative Coalition” Hollywood actors. The event, which was co-ordinated by AIPAC, took place at the Dan Intercontinental hotel. The group held banners which read “No Culture in Whitewashing Israeli Apartheid” and “Shame On You, Hollywood”, in order to remind the actors on the Hasbara (Israel advocacy) mission of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel’s policies of racism, apartheid and occupation.
The banners drew much attention from pedestrians and drivers, as well as hotel residents, who took many photos. Reporters departing from the conference also expressed interest in the group. So did a Shabak (GSS, Israel’s security service) officer who hung around for a while, harassing the activists.
The organizers tried to hide the activists’ presence from the important guests, by moving their bus to the back door, but the activists relocated. Thus, as the actors boarded the bus they were confronted with the full meaning of their complicity.
For press enquiries and photos:
Related Links
African-Americans Among Celebrities in Propaganda Tour of Israel
Hollywood visits Israel
CCH Pounder (“Avatar” ) was the only member of the group who said she encountered opposition to her visit here – in her case, from South African friends. Schiff, for his part, was upset upon leaving the hotel to encounter a small group of demonstrators holding signs telling the actors they should be ashamed of themselves and denouncing Israel’s “apartheid” policies.