Tag: gaza

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DJ Afrojack, Please Cancel Your Gig in Apartheid Israel

Dear Afrojack (Nick van de Wall),

It has come to our attention that you plan to play in Tel Aviv on 15 and 16 March. We are asking you to refrain. Your Israeli fans may be progressive and liberal, but no artist performs in Israel without clear political implications. While many of your fans in Israel may be against their own government’s policies, it’s important to note that your gig would send a message that it is okay to conduct business as usual with Israel. Only a small minority of Israeli citizens practice co-resistance with the Palestinian people, and they support artists who choose to cancel their concerts in Israel [1], as a means of working towards a truly just peace, not co-existence in the current situation.

Your many fans appreciate that you know how important family time is. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are denied family time. Human Rights Watch published a report [2] on how Israel’s military separates families from 1967 to the present.

Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement writes:

“Going to a family meal on Friday, visiting grandma, sisters meeting for a cup of coffee – all of these are regular activities that under normal circumstances are taken for granted. Now they have become a distant dream for Palestinian families divided between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Even basic, essential
activities that are part and parcel of being a family such as helping out a sick relative, attending a sister’s wedding, choosing where to live as a couple, or even just living under one roof as a family – all these have become privileges which not every family can enjoy.” [3] (see full report)

The non-violent approach is an effective way to end Israel’s crimes. The United Nations, despite numerous resolutions against Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, has not ensured that Israel is forced to comply with international law.

Roger Waters, founder of Pink Floyd, emphasised:

“Where governments refuse to act people must, with whatever peaceful means are at their disposal. For me this means declaring an intention to stand in solidarity, not only with the people of Palestine but also with the many thousands of Israelis who disagree with their government’s policies, by joining the campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel. This is [however] a plea to my colleagues in the music industry, and also to artists in other disciplines, to join this cultural boycott. Artists were right to refuse to play in South Africa’s Sun City resort until apartheid fell and white people and black people enjoyed equal rights. And we are right to refuse to play in Israel.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said:

“International Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against the Apartheid regime, combined with the mass struggle inside South Africa, led to our victory … Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong … to perform in Israel.”

Playing in Israel today, in violation of the boycott call, sends two messages:

  1. The artist has chosen to ignore the Palestinian people’s call for solidarity through a cultural boycott. [4]
  2. The musician is aware of and accepts that the Israeli Ministry of Culture will endeavor to use an artist’s name to legitimize and promote the current oppressive, racist, apartheid government through social media like Twitter[5], through press releases, and via the CCFP. [6]

Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, former deputy director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, stated “We are seeing culture as a hasbara [propaganda] tool of the first rank, and I do not differentiate between hasbara and culture.” [7]

Over 11 million people are oppressed by Israel’s violations of human rights against non-Jews. People were and still are forced from their homes, and made into refugees. Gaza was made into a crowded, Israeli-controlled open-air jail. The West Bank is surrounded by an apartheid wall and sprinkled with over 500 roadblocks and checkpoints. [8]

While Israel presents itself as a democracy, in fact it is a democracy only for Jews. Indigenous Palestinians, most particularly in the Occupied Territories, are treated as less than human. Palestinians, lesser citizens within Israel itself, are discriminated against by 43 laws privileging Jews at their expense.[9]

Please don’t turn a blind eye to Shabrawi and Ezz ad-Deen, the two Palestinian children whose story was recently featured in The Guardian [10]. These two boys lived through solitary confinement, interrogation, shackling of hands and feet, verbal abuse (“You’re a dog, a son of a whore” – is common), sleep deprivation, and threats against their families.

Please refrain from conducting business as usual, while much of the world has stood looking in horror at Israel’s policy of administrative detention.[11] Cancel for Hana Al-Shalabi, a young Palestinian woman who has been subjected to solitary confinement, abuse and sexual harassment during her interrogation and then ordered to be detained without charge or trial for six months. She has been in administrative detention for 2 years without charge.[12] She was released for a four month period then returned to administrative detention on 17 February. Now this bright young woman, in an extraordinary act of strength, is on a hunger strike.

Until Israel complies with international law, until the millions of displaced refugees see justice, please refrain from playing Israel.

Peace,

DPAI

We are a group, of over 830 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]THANK YOU CHAN MARSHALL (CAT POWER) (from Israeli citizens) http://boycottisrael.info/content/thank-you-chan-marshall-cat-power
[2] “Forget ABout Him, He’s Not Here” by Human Rights Watch, 5 February 2012 http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/02/05/forget-about-him-he-s-not-here-0
[3] Separation of Families due to the Separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by Gisha, May 2010 http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/safepassage/InfoSheets/English/family.pdf
[4] PACBI Guidelines for the International Cultural Boycott of Israel www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1047
[5] Punk Rocker’s “Simple Plan” part of Israel’s Apartheid Plan refrainplayingisrael.posterous.com/punk-rockers-simple-plan-part-of-israels-apar
[6] Creative Community for Peace and Apartheid
www.artistsagainstapartheid.org/?p=1835
[7]About face
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/about-face-1.170267
blog.endtheoccupation.org/2010/01/howard-zinn-on-palestine-advance-of.html
[8] MOVEMENT AND ACCESS IN THE WEST BANK by UNITED NATIONS Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory
unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/8F5CBCD2F464B6B18525791800541DA6
[8] Haneen Zoabi at the Russell Tribunal Cape Town: ‘We need equality’ www.kadaitcha.com/2012/01/09/haneen-zoabis-presentation-at-the-russell-tribunal-cape-town/
[10]The Palestinian Children – Alone and bewildered – in Israel’s Al Jalame jail www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/22/palestinian-children-detained-jail-israel
[11] Khader Adnan recovering but not out of danger as Palestinian woman takes up hunger strike against her detention
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/khader-adnan-recovering-not-out-danger-palestinian-woman-takes-hunger-strike
[12] http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=161

SOURCE

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Please, Youn Sun Nah, Don’t Let Your Jazz Smooth Over Israel’s Crimes

OPEN LETTER to Youn Sun Nah: It’s Not Smooth to Jazz and Dine in Eilat while Gaza Suffers

Dear Youn Sun Nah,

The Red Sea Jazz Festival is a festival that is sponsored and promoted by the government of Israel. The festival is a part of the effort to normalize apartheid and talented Jazz musicians are being used to cover up Israel’s crimes. Your presence at such a festival sends the message that there is nothing wrong with the injustices that Israel commits daily against the Palestinian people. It undermines their non-violent call to boycott, which is their last resort for justice and freedom after 64 years of oppression and dispossession.

Your recent effort to raise awareness for the children of Africa through UNICEF was very commendable and would lead us to believe you would be interested to hear more about the plight of the Palestinian people. Being a musician of conscience, would you consider staying home? Would you refrain from playing in Israel?

Imagine if the children of Africa that you raised funds for were under military rule, and because of their ethnicity they were placed behind tall cement walls, and made to wait for hours to go through checkpoints. Suppose they were forced into an open air prison in which musical instruments and chocolate were not allowed in, and drones littered their skies daily, their memories grey with sadness from 22 days of bombing where over 1400 people were left dead, white phosphorus burning hands that would have liked to play music. If they asked you not to play for the government that was harming them, would you ignore their request and play anyway? Would you wine and dine with the elite in a resort, letting them hear your lovely voice and smooth jazz music all the while ignoring the suffering just miles away? Three artists based in France decided to cancel their Israel gigs in 2011 – will you join Vanessa Paradis, Mireille Mathieu, and Oumou Sangare?

Students in Seoul, Korea participated in Israel Apartheid Week in 2011. Please watch their very creative efforts:

If you are still not sure why over 170 civil society organizations in occupied Palestine have come together since 2005 to ask artists like yourself to boycott Israel, we’ve included some valuable background information below, written by the Palestinian BDS movement.

Regards,

Don’t Play Apartheid Israel

We are a group, of over 820 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 through the world.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION from the PACBI

Israel subjects Palestinians to a cruel system of dispossession and racial discrimination

Perhaps you are not familiar enough with Israel’s practices, widely acknowledged as violations of international law. If this is the case, then we hope you will reconsider your planned concert after thinking through some of Israel’s trespasses. Your performance would function as a whitewash of these practices, making it appear as though business with Israel should go on as usual. Concretely, Israel routinely violates Palestinians’ basic human rights in some of the following ways:

1. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live under a brutal and unlawful military occupation. Israel restricts Palestinians’ freedom of movement and of speech; blocks access to lands, health care, and education; imprisons Palestinian leaders and human rights activists without charge or trial; and inflicts, on a daily basis, humiliation and violence at the more than 600 military checkpoints and roadblocks strangling the West Bank. All the while, Israel continues to build its illegal wall on Palestinian land and to support the ever-expanding network of illegal, Jewish-only settlements that divide the West Bank into Bantustans.

2. Palestinian citizens of Israel face a growing system of Apartheid within Israel’s borders, with laws and policies that deny them the rights that their Jewish counterparts enjoy. These laws and policies affect education, land ownership, housing, employment, marriage, and all other aspects of people’s daily lives. In many ways this system strikingly resembles Jim Crow and apartheid South Africa.

3. Since 1948, when Israel dispossessed more than 750,000 Palestinian people in order to form an exclusivist Jewish state, Israel has denied Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right to return to their homes and their lands. Israel also continues to expel people from their homes in Jerusalem and the Naqab (Negev). Today, there are more than 7 million Palestinian refugees still struggling for their right to return to their homes, like all refugees around the world.

4. In Gaza, Palestinians have been subjected to a criminal and immoral siege since 2006. As part of this siege, Israel has prevented not only various types of medicines, candles, books, crayons, clothing, shoes, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee and chocolate, but also musical instruments from reaching the 1.5 million Palestinians incarcerated in the world’s largest open-air prison [9].

Israel uses arts and culture to whitewash its violations of international law and human rights.

In December 2008 and January 2009, Israel waged a war of aggression against Gaza that left 1,400 Palestinians, predominantly civilians, dead [10], and led the UN Goldstone Report to declare that Israel had committed war crimes [11]. In the wake of this assault and to salvage its deteriorating image, Israel has redoubled its effort to “brand” itself as an enlightened liberal democracy [12]. Arts and culture play a unique role in this branding campaign [13], as the presence of internationally acclaimed artists from the West is meant to affirm Israel’s membership in the West’s privileged club of “cultured,” liberal democracies. But it should not be business as usual with a state that routinely violates international law and basic human rights.

Your performance would serve this Israeli campaign to rebrand itself and will be used as a publicity tool by the Israeli government.

Numerous distinguished cultural figures and public intellectuals have joined the call for BDS.

After the Gaza assault and even more so after the flotilla massacre in May 2010, many international artists, intellectuals, and cultural workers have been rejecting Israel’s cynical use of the arts to whitewash its Apartheid and colonial policies. Among those who have supported the BDS movement are distinguished artists, writers, and anti-racist activists such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu [14], John Berger, Arundhati Roy, Adrienne Rich, Ken Loach, Naomi Klein, Roger Waters, and Alice Walker [15].

World-renowned artists, among them Vanessa Paradis, Bono, Snoop Dogg, Jean Luc Godard, Elvis Costello, Gil Scott Heron, Carlos Santana, Devendra Banhart, Faithless and the Pixies have also cancelled their performances in Israel over its human rights record. Maxi Jazz (Faithless front-man) had this to say as he maintained his principled position not to entertain apartheid,

While human beings are being willfully denied not just their rights but their needs for their children and grandparents and themselves, I feel deeply that I should not be sending even tacit signals that [performing in Israel] is either ‘normal’ or ‘ok’. It’s neither and I cannot support it. It grieves me that it has come to this and I pray everyday for human beings to begin caring for each other, firm in the wisdom that we are all we have. [16]

Please say no to performing in Israel.

If you remain unconvinced because of claims that a cultural boycott of Israel may infringe on freedom of expression and cultural exchange, may we recall for you the judicious words of Enuga S. Reddy, director of the United Nations Center against Apartheid, who in 1984 responded to a similar criticism voiced against the cultural boycott of South Africa by saying:

It is rather strange, to say the least, that the South African regime which denies all freedoms… to the African majority… should become a defender of the freedom of artists and sportsmen of the world. We have a list of people who have performed in South Africa because of ignorance of the situation or the lure of money or unconcern over racism. They need to be persuaded to stop entertaining apartheid, to stop profiting from apartheid money and to stop serving the propaganda purposes of the apartheid regime. [17]

[9] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7545636.stm
[10] http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGMDE150212009
[11] http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=91&LangID=E
[12] http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/13/truth_and_advertising
[13] http://mondoweiss.net/2009/03/ny-times-offers-the-rationale-for-the-cultural-boycott-of-israel.html
[14] http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article675369.ece/Israeli-ties–a-chance-to-do-the-right-thing
[15] http://usacbi.wordpress.com/endorsers/
[16] http://www.wallofsilence.org/news.html
[17] http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/mayjune08/positions.cfm

SOURCE

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2011 – A Year of Major Cultural BDS Accomplishments

2011 Summary of the Cultural Boycott of Israel for Musicians

The year 2011 was a year full of many successes in the campaign for the cultural boycott of Israel. This summary will focus on the cultural boycott with emphasis on musical artists and groups.

The fall of South African apartheid was preceded by many musical artists who joined to create a movement. That movement became known popularly as “I’m not gonna play Sun City.” Israel has not yet seen its Sun City moment fully, but as you’ll see, significant rumblings are beginning.

January, 2011: Jon Bon Jovi was asked not play in Israel. Thus far, boycott efforts have been successful. The singer had announced on Larry King Live he would perform in Israel. After boycott efforts to ask him to refrain, no concert ever happened. [1]

French pop star Vanessa Paradis refuses to perform in Israel.[2] Her partner, American film icon Johnny Depp also cancels his visit to Israel.

February, 2011: Roger Waters (founder of Pink Floyd) comes out in strong support of the cultural boycott when he writes “Artists were right to refuse to play in South Africa’s Sun City resort until apartheid fell and whites and blacks enjoyed equal rights. And we are right to refuse to play in Israel until the day comes — and it surely will come — when The Wall of occupation falls and Palestinians live alongside Israelis in the peace, freedom, justice and dignity that they all deserve.” [3]

German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, scheduled to sing five classical concerts in Israel, withdraws shortly beforehand. He’d been asked to cancel his concerts by BRICUP, Boycott from Within and others. He said his withdrawal was on grounds of illness.

Pete Seeger unequivocally supports the cultural boycott, stating “I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn’t realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can.” [4]

May, 2011: August Burns Red refrained from playing at Tel Aviv’s Barby. Just over one week prior to their gig sources said “they have no plans to reschedule, they cancelled because they do not want to play in Israel.” A three month long effort had been launched to ask the band to refrain. [5]

Marc Almond’s cancellation was welcomed by the BDS Movement. [6] Letters, as well as a Facebook page were created to let the “Tainted Love” singer know about the real Israel. His fans passed out leaflets before a UK concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London. His welcome response came four days later when he refused to play in Israel.

June, 2011: Although Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not a musician, the cancellation of his film promotion at the Jerusalem Film Festival brought a whirlwind of attention to the cultural boycott of Israel. 101 organizations signed a letter praising the basketball legend. [7]

Also, in late June, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine announced that they would refuse to perform in Tel Aviv. [8] The voice of the Palestinian people was ultimately respected by the vintage punk rocker Jello Biafra.

Punk rock fans unite with punk bands and artists to launch Punks Against Apartheid.

July, 2011: Musicians Dave Randall, Maxi Jazz, and Jamie Catto release the single “Freedom For Palestine” with the Durban Gospel Choir. As the video went viral it gained momentum from endorsements by Coldplay, LUSH Cosmetics, Lowkey, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, and many more. [9]

August, 2011: Tuba Skinny, while in Rome en-route to Israel , received information about the cultural boycott. Tuba Skinny refused to perform at the Israel Government-sponsored Red Sea Jazz Festival, cancelling their concert only a few days prior to their scheduled gig. [10] Latin jazz great Eddie Palmieri of Puerto Rico [11]and jazz musician Jason Moran of Houston [12] followed Tuba Skinny, and also cancelled their appearances at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.

September, 2011: Natacha Atlas stuns her Israeli booking agents when she refuses to play her scheduled concert in Israel. She bravely states on her facebook page:

“…after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all. Therefore I publicly retract my well-intentioned decision to go and perform in Israel and so sincerely hope that this decision represents an effective statement against this regime.”[13]

The cultural boycott came closer to home as the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra went on tour. Creative protests were seen in many cities in the USA and Europe. A protest in London during the BBC’s Prom Live Broadcast of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra resulted in worldwide press coverage when the BBC decided to halt its live broadcast of the concert.

Denise Jannah was written to just prior to her tour in Israel. She did perform in Israel, but her experience in Israel caused her to regret her choice, and she came out in support of the cultural boycott. She stated: “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.” [14]

Riverdance set designer Robert Ballagh, in bold support for BDS, called for the cancellation of Riverdance’s tour in Israel, but he was unable to stop it because he does not possess the copyright. However he donated all his royalties from the performance of Riverdance in Israel to the Irish Ship to Gaza campaign.[15]

October, 2011: The Yardbirds were scheduled to play in Israel, and a letter [16] signed by professors in the UK was written to them from BRICUP. They subsequently cancelled their performance. Humanitarians are asking them not to reschedule in 2012.

Greek singer Martha Frintzila bows out of her performance at the Israel Government-sponsored Jerusalem Oud Festival with a the statement that she: “…will not participate in Oud Festival in Jerusalem for conscientious and political reasons.” [17]

Hosam Hayak, a regular performer at the Jerusalem Oud Festival, chose this year to cancel, making a press release in Arabic on his facebook notes.[18]

In another boost to the cultural boycott, John Michael McDonagh, director of Golden Globe nominated (director and main actor) film The Guard, announces that, “due to the conflict, [he] declined to attend the Haifa Film Festival 2011.”

November, 2011: The Jerusalem String Quartet was met with creative protests in both the UK and North America. Parody programs were received by concert attendees in at least four North American cities.[19]

Macy Gray tweets regarding her February Tel Aviv gig @MacyGraysLife “i had a reality check and I stated that I definitely would not have played there if I had known even the little that I know now.”

Punkers Zdob si Zdub of Moldavia were also asked to refrain playing in Israel. They cancelled their 5 November concert, and the BDS movement is asking them to refrain from playing in 2012, as they are being pressured to “reschedule.”[20]

Mireille Mathieu was asked by BDS France [21] to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv. The French singer was also the recipient of a letter [22] signed by seventy people in the artistic community in Gaza asking her to respect the boycott. Mireille Mathieu’s courageous announcement [23] on her website that she has postponed playing in Tel Aviv is a welcome one. The BDS movement encourages her to stand strong against pressure from both French and Israeli booking agents to “reschedule” her concert in the apartheid state.

Rapper MF Doom was called on by numerous groups and individuals not to “rap in the apartheid state.” Press reports indicated he cancelled his 26 Nov concert due to illness. As of this publication, Doom has not rescheduled his concert in Tel Aviv.

In Switzerland, over 150 artists pledge to boycott apartheid Israel.[24]

December, 2011: Oumou Sangaré becomes the third French artist in 2011 to cancel her planned performance with the Israeli Opera, as BDS makes inroads into the classical music world. An informative letter from BDS France was followed by letters from DPAI and BDS Italy. [25]

Joe Lynn Turner’s 16 December concert in Tel Aviv is cancelled.[26]

Joker (UK) refuses to bring his dubstep-bass sounds to Tel Aviv. It appears that his decision might have been influenced by other musicians in the London music scene who asked him to reconsider.

Looking Ahead to 2012:

UK and Irish musicians are taking the lead under the “Freedom for Palestine” banner. In the USA, expect Lupe Fiasco to continue to vocalize his support for Palestinians.

Current campaigns for cultural boycott are underway for Bruce Springsteen, Arch Enemy and Red Hot Chili Peppers to alert them about the reasons to join fellow musicians in refusing to play in the apartheid state. Cultural BDS is growing and volunteers remain busy working in countless creative ways.

NOTES:

[1]See section “Pop Stars urged to Boycott” in http://electronicintifada.net/content/boycott-roundup-us-tear-gas-maker-csi-urged-cancel-israel-sales/9175
[2] Haaretz.com Jan 16, 2011 Did pop star Paradis cancel Israel concert over politics? http://bit.ly/ePtc3T
[3] Roger Waters: My Journey to BDS http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3374-roger-waters-my-journey-to-bds
[4] http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/pete-seeger-endorses-boycott-of-israel.html
[5] August Burns Red Have Cancelled Their Planned Concert in Israel http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1612
[6] Marc Almond cancels Israel performance http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/letter-marc-almond-6933
[7] Media Release: 101 Organizations Praise Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Decision Not to Visit Israel http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3039
[8] http://punksagainstapartheid.com/2011/06/jello-biafra-cancels-tel-aviv-gig/
[9] ”From the muddy fields of Glastonbury to the occupied streets of Gaza” http://www.freedomoneworld.com/
[10] http://refrainplayingisrael.posterous.com/tuba-skinny-respects-the-pacbis-call-cancels
[11] http://refrainplayingisrael.posterous.com/latin-jazz-great-eddie-palmieri-thank-you-for
[12] http://refrainplayingisrael.posterous.com/jazz-musician-jason-moran-cancels-concert-in
[13] http://www.facebook.com/pages/Natacha-Atlas-Official/125501987488351?sk=wall
[14] https://www.kadaitcha.com/2011/09/18/denise-jannah-and-ramon-valles-now-support-bds/
[15] Riverdance should not go to Israel: Two open letters from the IPSC and set designer Robert Ballagh http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/riverdance-should-not-go-to-israel-two-open-letters-from-the-ipsc-and-set-designer-robert-ballagh
[16] http://www.bricup.org.uk/documents/cultural/Yardbirds.pdf
[17] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1741 Martha Frintzila cancels participation in Jerusalem Oud Festival
[18] Hosam Hayak Press Release http://www.facebook.com/notes/hosam-hayek/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%85/10150341519462611
[19] http://www.usacbi.org/2011/11/jerusalem-quartet-protests/ Jerusalem String Quartet Met By Protests Across North America
[20] http://rebelfrequencies.blogspot.com/2011/11/bds-update-first-delay-then.html
[20] Letter ouverte de la Campagne BDS France a Mireille Matthieu http://bit.ly/w26Xog
[22] Dear Mireille Mathieu http://www.odsg.org/co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2426
[23] “le concert prevu le 22 novembre 2011 en Israel a Tel Aviv est reporte a une date ulterieure” http://www.mireillemathieu.com/#/Nouveautes/Fiche
[24] http://www.bds-info.ch/fr/actualites/Declaration-of-Swiss-Artists
[25] See all three letters at “Victoire: Oumou Sangare annule son concert en Israel” http://www.bdsfrance.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=617%3Avictoire-oumou-sangare-annule-son-concert-en-israel-&catid=9%3Aevenements-bds-france
[26] http://refrainplayingisrael.posterous.com/joe-lynn-turner-refrains-from-playing-in-apar

SOURCE

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The Jewish Land Fund – An International Criminal Organisation

Endorse the Stop the JNF call and negate this criminal aspect of Israel apartheid

The JNF was created in 1901 to acquire land and property rights in Palestine and beyond for exclusive Jewish settlement. While indigenous Palestinians are barred from leasing, building on, managing or working their own land, the JNF holds the land in trust for “those of Jewish race or descendency” living anywhere in the world to “promote the interests of Jews in the prescribed region.”

To ensure such racist control over the majority of confiscated Palestinian lands, Israel adopted the JNF model of discriminatory land management as official state policy. In 1953, the Israeli Knesset legislated special status for JNF, enabling it to carry out governmental functions as a Zionist institution (“for Jews only”). The JNF continues to operate as a state-chartered organization[6] under Israeli law with direct control over some thirteen percent of the land in pre-1967 Israel.

Further, the JNF appoints six out of thirteen members of the governing board of the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), which manages the JNF’s thirteen percent, in addition to another eighty percent of all land in Israel. It is through this relationship with the JNF that Israel, while portraying itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, in fact, outsources the land-management
functions of the state to this discriminatory state-chartered organization.

Download the four JNF ebooks collated to date:

Vol 1 – Introducing the Jewish National Fund
Vol 2 – Preparing for Legal Action Focus : Canada Park
Vol 3 – Ongoing Ethnic Cleansing : Judaizing the Naqab
Vol 4 – Greenwashing Apartheid – Environmental Coverup

Related Links

Australian Zionist Organisation Funding Appropriation of West Bank Sites
NGO Monitor – Watching the Watchers Redux
Of Mitherin’ Clutterbucks and Mordor
Flooded in, with an Eye on Israel’s Persecution of the People of Gaza
The first three weeks of December saw Israel demolish over 20 structures, leaving 32 Palestinians homeless and affecting another 150 people. In addition, several places have received new stop-work or demolition orders and verbal warnings from Israeli forces.

Other Links

Terrific comprehensive, hyperlinked and accurate up to date site for journalists and serious researchers on US Defense/Defence spending.

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Gazan Children Deprived of Medical Care by Israel

From Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights:

Today Al Mezan releases ‘Children in the Gaza Strip’s Access to Medical Care’ a factsheet published under the Save the Children UK funded project ‘Child Rights at the Centre: Enhancing National Capacities to Monitor, Document, and Report on Child Rights Issues in the oPt.’ The factsheet documents Israel’s policies towards the Gaza Strip which result in children being denied the right to access proper medical care.

The ongoing siege on Gaza which stops essential medical equipment and drugs from entering and causes sporadic fuel and electricity cuts combined with the closure system which prevents medical professionals from travelling abroad to access advanced training outside Gaza. These policies have resulted in a medical system in Gaza which cannot provide care and procedures for many patients. Children requiring care that is unavailable have to go outside Gaza, usually to hospitals in Israel, Jerusalem or the West Bank (as well as to Egypt and Jordan). In order to access these hospitals children require a permit from the Israeli authorities. The process for acquiring a permit is long and complex and often results in denials. Since January 2008, 4 children have died because their application was denied or took too long to be approved.

Israel also denies children’s access to medical care when it prevents ambulances from accessing the Buffer Zone. Ambulances require prior coordination with the Israeli military authorities before they can access the sick or injured in the Buffer Zone. 173 children have died because ambulances have been denied access to reach them (throughout the Gaza Strip, not just in the Buffer Zone).

The policies outlined in this factsheet result in serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law which Israel, as the Occupying Power in the Gaza Strip, has an obligation to uphold.

“Children in the Gaza Strip are deprived from receiving quality medical treatment and access to procedures that can save their lives. The right to access medical treatment and to enjoy the highest attainable physical and psychological health is one of the Israeli systematic violations of children’s rights in the Gaza Strip,” Samir Zaqout, Al Mezan’s fieldwork coordinator, states. “This has particularly been the case in the last five years since Israel tightened its siege on the Gaza Strip.”

In addition to the polices outlined in this factsheet which directly affect access to medical care Samir Zaqout says that “the Israeli siege has caused a deterioration in the health of children due to increasing poverty levels and diseases among children such as anemia. Israeli military attacks have also injured thousands of children, hundreds of them sustaining permanent physical disabilities.”

DOWNLOAD FACT SHEET [.pdf]

Palestine / Israel Links

Today, in a landmark step for children’s rights,

the UN General Assembly has adopted a new Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) establishing a complaints procedure for violations of children’s rights.

The new treaty will enable children, or their representatives, claiming that their rights have been violated to bring a complaint to an international committee of children’s rights experts if they have not been able to get remedies for these violations in their countries. A coalition of over 80 international and national NGOs, coordinated by the NGO Group for the CRC, which has been actively campaigning for the treaty since 2006, welcomed the news.

Ethnic Cleansing of Invented People. By Miko Peled

‘Israeli children are educated to see the Palestinians as a problem that must be solved and as a threat that must be eliminated. They can go through life, as I did growing up in Jerusalem, without ever meeting a Palestinian child. They know nothing of the life or culture of Palestinians who quite often live only several hundred meters from them.’

“Rudd seeks action on torture allegations involving Palestinian children” by John Lyons
The Permanent Palestinian Observer at the United Nations, in New York – USA, Riyad Mansour, stated that 182 countries at the General Assembly voted Monday for the Palestinian right to self-determination.
French clothing firm Lacoste censors, expels Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour from prestigious contest
Owner of Lacoste, which censored Palestinian artist, is major donor to Israel, Zionist causes
Fabulous win for justice against racist corporatism.
Boycott Israeli products this Christmas.
An Open Letter to CSU Chancellor Charles Reed Regarding the CSU-Israel Study Abroad Program – boycott!
Israel on another rampage : ‘Israeli bulldozers Wednesday razed and demolished a number of water wells, agricultural sheds and land in Dahr Sobh area north of Kafr al-Deek, a town west of Salfit in the northern West Bank, according to local sources.’
More ziofascism uncovered in the UK: UK charity with Mossad links secretly denounced anti-Zionist Jews to government
Another great reason to boycott Israeli academic institutions : Tel Aviv University accused of spying on student activists – TAU security head writes lecturers requesting details of students seen in video urging fellow students to join a campus protest.
Victim of Israeli fascism : 972mag pointedly gags itself from publishing advocacy for BDS – good comments beneath
Will more Israelis pay the price in solidarity with Palestinians for civil disobedience?
A confederacy of hypocrites – “Britain, France, Germany and Portugal release a statement saying settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal; Israel’s UN envoy: Palestinian conditions are real obstacles to peace.”
?14 UN Security Council members criticize U.S. for blocking condemnation of Israel : ‘Israel’s security and the realization of the Palestinians’ right to statehood are not opposing goals,’ says Britain’s UN Ambassador.
US falls for zionist ‘security’ hasbara – but it suits US hegemony to maintain colonial domination of ME via Israel
Israel officials: Security Council criticism on West Bank violence ‘disgusting’
OCHA The MonThly huManiTarian MoniTor November 2011
Israel’s siege punishing Gaza orphans: The most vulnerable people are seriously affected by Israel’s illegal siege: “All development in our institute has stopped since the siege,” says Sarraj. “The buildings we currently have we built with money from the Islamic bank and foreign NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and donors, before the blockade.”
OCHA report 14-20 Dec: Illegal settler price tag attacks, 7 Israel navy attacks on Gazan fishermen [.pdf]

Other Links

Sandmonkey takes stock of the Egyptian revolution and cannot find a way to shift an immoveable object.