Human Rights

May 11, 2012December 11, 2020

Campaign Against Israeli Blood Diamonds – Australian Palestinian Solidarity Activists Alert

Please help raise awareness about a very important Kimberley Process meeting to be held in Washington from June 4-7th. You can email, tweet and phone politicians asking that the Australian representative at this meeting calls for a ban on trade in blood diamonds from Israel that fund war crimes, trade which the Kimberley Process should prohibit.

The sentencing of the blood diamond-funded former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, for war crimes and crimes against humanity will take place on 30th May. Together with the Kimberley Process (KP) meeting in Washington shortly after, there’s sure to be a lot more media reports about blood diamonds and so there’s an opportunity to push the issue of Israeli blood diamonds into the media spotlight once again.

Your government will have a seat at the KP table. It is important that you voice your concerns about the trade in diamonds from Israel that fund war crimes and crimes against humanity but which evade the human rights strictures of the Kimberley Process and are sold worldwide labelled as conflict-free. NGOs are seeking to have cut and polished diamonds included in the remit of the KP but the vested interests are resisting any such move which would pose a serious threat to Israel’s burgeoning diamond industry and the entire Israeli economy. Even though the KP refuses to include cut and polished diamonds it’s important to raise the issue and expose the double standards in the Kimberley Process which is designed to protect the rich an powerful beneficiaries of the diamond trade while Palestinians hunger and die under Israel’s diamond-funded hegemony.

Please take a few moments to contact your political representatives and ask them to raise this issue in parliament and with the government.

As the time frame for action is quite narrow it is important to act as soon as possible. You can find contact details for your local MP here – http://australia.gov.au/directories/contact-parliament

Another promising development is the action by solidarity activists in Italy who are planning an Israeli blood diamond demonstration in Vicenza next Monday to coincide with a meeting there of the World Diamond Council that will be attended by all the movers and shakers in the global diamond industry.

For more information about Israeli blood diamonds and the campaign to stop them, visit here.

Below is a draft letter which can be used or adapted and sent to politicians about the issue. Please help the monitoring of the uptake on this action and BCC emails.

Australia must act to end the trade in diamonds from Israel that fund war crimes

The conviction of former Liberian President Charles Taylor by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity has again cast the spotlight on the trade in blood diamonds. It is a timely reminder of the urgent need for reform of the Kimberly Process definition of a “conflict diamond” which presently only applies to rough diamonds that fund rebel movements and not to diamonds that fund government forces guilty of war crimes.

Last year the Kimberley Process allowed the export of blood-tainted diamonds from Zimbabwe where government forces stand accused of serious human rights violations. Human rights organisations wanted the definition of a “conflict diamond” broadened to take account of diamonds that fund rogue governments guilty of human rights violations but the KP failed to act and the diamonds from Zimbabwe were allowed to contaminate the global market. As a result, Global Witness, a founding member of the KP, withdrew last December stating “most consumers still cannot be sure where their diamonds come from, nor whether they are financing armed violence or abusive regimes”. Other human rights organisations have indicated that they will also withdraw from the KP unless meaningful reform of the definition of a “conflict diamond”, accompanied by the inclusion of the cutting and polishing sector, is agreed this year.

Reform of the KP definition of a “conflict diamond” will be the main issue on the agenda at the KP Intersessional Meeting in Washington from June 4th – June 7th. It is important that the Australian representative at that meeting calls for a broadening of the KP definition of a “conflict diamond” to include all diamonds that fund gross human rights violations, including cut and polished diamonds which presently evade the criteria applied to rough diamonds.

Israel, a member of the KP, stands accused by the UN Human Rights Council of serious war crimes and possible crimes against humanity following the 2008/2009 assault on Gaza that left over 1400 people dead including more than 300 children;

The UN Human Rights Council investigation of the Israeli attacks on the humanitarian aid flotilla (including MV Mavi Marmara), bound for Gaza on 31 May 2010 during which nine people were murdered and many others injured, found that there was clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: – Willful killing; Torture or inhuman treatment; Willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health.

The investigation also considered that a series of violations of Israel’s obligations under international human rights law have taken place, including: – Right to life (art. 6, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights); Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art.7, International Covenant; Convention against Torture); Right to liberty and security of the person and freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention (art. 9, International Covenant); Right of detainees to be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person (art. 10, International Covenant); Freedom of expression (art. 19, International Covenant);

Considering that evidence presented to the London session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in November 2010 indicated that the Israeli diamond industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military and security industries and that every time somebody buys a diamond that was exported from Israel some of that money ends up in the Israeli military;

Diamonds exported from Israel are therefore helping to fund gross human rights violations in Palestine as well as Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons programme which it refuses the International Atomic Energy Agency permission to supervise or inspect.

Given these facts, I call on you to ask the government to instruct the Australian representative to the Kimberley Process to call for:

the Kimberley Process definition of a “conflict diamond” to be broadened to include all diamonds that fund gross human rights violations by any group or government;
a ban on the export of diamonds from Israel until such time as it respects the human rights of the Palestinian people under its control and abides by the international human rights law and humanitarian law.

May 9, 2012December 11, 2020

“I no longer fear their power … I will return”

Join the rally in Brisbane to commemorate the anniversary of Al Nakba on Friday the 18th of May in King George Square at 5pm – find out about how you can participate with the theme of the rally.

Samah Sabawi reviews Phil Monsour’s Ghosts of Deir Yassin album:

The video for Ghosts of Deir Yassin was filmed in January 2012, in a number of refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon and features the Palestinian spoken word artist Rafeef Ziadah reciting Fadwa Tuqan’s poetry: “I hope one day to return to my beloved homeland, to the flowers and roses, I no longer fear their power, I will return.”

The song Ghosts of Deir Yassin is an affirmation of this vow to return. The video features Palestinians of all ages in the refugee camps carrying the names of their villages of origin some of which were wiped out by Israel in 1948.

But other songs on the album are equally potent. The music alternates from anthem rock style to folk ballads and the themes range from the romantic “I left my heart in Palestine” about love at a checkpoint, to the tragic “Dark Tunnels” which was written when Monsour was denied entry into Gaza because of his Arab origin while the rest of his group was allowed to pass.

…

The album Ghosts of Deir Yassin is available at CDbaby and other outlets. One-fifth of the money raised by CD sales will be donated to projects in the Middle East involving Union Aid Abroad, a humanitarian aid agency run by the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

Slamming the door to justice on Palestinians

The ICC prosecutor’s deeply troubling decision to let Israel off the hook sent Israeli authorities the signal that it was safe to close the file on the Samouni massacre. And if Israel saw no crime in that brazen case, then don’t expect Israel to hold itself accountable for any other killings.
…
Given how determined the United States and its clients are to block all official channels for redress and justice for Palestinians, it is clear that Palestinians and those who support their rights must intensify their efforts by other means.

This would include mass mobilisation, the option of resistance through all legitimate means and building international solidarity especially through the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel.

Right now the battle is being waged by more than 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike, subjected to a cruel system of prolonged detention without charge or trial, or conviction by Israeli military kangaroo courts, and to inhumane and illegal conditions of imprisonment.

The most urgent cases are of ten hunger strikers, who are gravely ill and close to death, and who are still being denied family visits and access to independent doctors and lawyers.

The Susan Rices and William Hagues of the world are not only silent about these crimes, but fully complicit in them.

Former prisoners and hunger strikers have said that even the smallest demonstration, the smallest acts of solidarity anywhere in the world – which those still in Israel’s jails might hear about on smuggled radios – make an enormous difference to their morale.

So we must not sit by in despair; it remains up to all of us to put as much pressure on Israel and its accomplices as citizens can.

Ex-United Church of Christ minister experiences life inside the Gaza gulag
In ruling against hunger strikers, Israel high court shows its fear of security services
New French president says boycott of Israeli goods “illegal,” but Paris court acquits more BDS activists
NGO Monitor hasbarises shamelessly in Jwire, using the never-adopted EUMC draft definition of antisemitism.
Miriam Margolyes speaks out for Palestinian prisoners and BDS against apartheid Israel.
When zionists attempt to Christianwash Israel’s oppression, remind them of their fascist regime’s treatment of the Halabi family.
Great article with comprehensive analysis of the significance of the current mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners against Israel’s totalitarian regime, one of the largest hunger strikes in history.
Nutanyahoo’s regime is in contempt of court
Israeli fascist appropriates a Bob Marley song to use for racist, genocidal propaganda
An important affirming document from PACBI “Respecting BDS Guidelines: Self Determination and International Solidarity”

“Consistency aside, we wish to offer the rationale for our position, as we maintain that we should be consulted in the process of planning events that involve Israeli institutions in whole or in part, especially when such events fall within gray areas of the BDS guidelines. The insistence of Palestinians to set and interpret the guidelines may lead to misunderstanding, but it is an important, yet sensitive, element of building a social movement in solidarity with Palestinians. This insistence is related to the importance of self-determination and empowering a disempowered, colonized community. It is the oppressed who can best decide what they need from others in the struggle for self-determination, and for others to then decide to what degree, if at all, they are capable and willing of heeding the call of the oppressed.”

Israeli occupation cost to Palestine economy amounts to $ 7bn a year
APAN calls on Government to terminate Bill Shorten’s trip to Israel
Zionists wet seats to ‘sterilise’ them of Arabs [Hebr]
Columbia prof Katherine Franke joins academic boycott of Israel and will not speak at the Equality Forum
?”Jewish and feminist democracy” ? – Israeli woman arrested for denying husband divorce
“Two states for two peoples” means genocide of Palestinians and denial of their human rights.
Apartheid Israel jazzwashes in NY City.
Growing BDS movement in Kuwait – could gain inspiration from BDS Maroc and Qatar recent successes
While the hasbaroid tabloids spin Palestinian apathy, here’s the resistance
Yousef Munayyer unwinds some of the hero myths syncretised into zionism to prop up its mythology that attempts to excuse the theft of Palestine.
Susan Abulhawa responds to Halper’s latest views exposed by Frank Barat recently, which gave me the impression that Halper was speaking on behalf of Palestinians and expressing his own annoyance that they would not come up with a strategy to appease his requirements.

May 3, 2012December 11, 2020

The Max Brenner 19 on Trial in Victoria

Omar Hassan: “Activists all across the world are being targeted for their campaign against Israel and I think this is just the latest step in that process. I think it’s because Israel is worried that BDS is delegitimising what is an illegitimate state.”

Rachel Sztanski: “We’re not going to be bullied out of protesting in support of Palestine.”

From the Australian Jewish News:

… defendant Jerome Small said there was nothing anti-Semitic about protesting for Palestinian rights. “To throw the anti-Semitic card is the oldest trick in the Zionist book,” he said.

As the only Jewish defendant, Crafti said misinformation created by the State of Israel generated anti-Semitism.

“Anti-Semitism is caused by a false connection between Jewish people and the State of Israel,” he said.

Defendant Omar Hassan said Max Brenner was targeted because it provided care packages to the Israeli Army.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.”

The Givati brigade, whose members were just let off the hook by the Israeli military for their murder of 21 civilians from the Samouni family during Israel’s Cast Lead massacre of the people of Gaza in January 2009, is one of the beneficiaries of the Strauss Group-owned Max Brenner chocolate shop chain largesse.

Boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli businesses like Max Brenner who support war crimes against Indigenous Palestinians will mount internationally until justice is brought to Israel, and Palestinians achieve their human rights guaranteed under international law.

May 3, 2012December 11, 2020

Israel’s Apartheid is ‘a present-day reality’ : Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The following op-ed was written by Archbishop-Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, Desmond Tutu and published in the Tampa Bay Times on 1 May 2012.

A quarter-century ago I barnstormed around the United States encouraging Americans, particularly students, to press for divestment from South Africa. Today, regrettably, the time has come for similar action to force an end to Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territory and refusal to extend equal rights to Palestinian citizens who suffer from some 35 discriminatory laws.

I have reached this conclusion slowly and painfully. I am aware that many of our Jewish brothers and sisters who were so instrumental in the fight against South African apartheid are not yet ready to reckon with the apartheid nature of Israel and its current government. And I am enormously concerned that raising this issue will cause heartache to some in the Jewish community with whom I have worked closely and successfully for decades. But I cannot ignore the Palestinian suffering I have witnessed, nor the voices of those courageous Jews troubled by Israel’s discriminatory course.

Within the past few days, some 1,200 American rabbis signed a letter — timed to coincide with resolutions considered by the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) — urging Christians not “to selectively divest from certain companies whose products are used by Israel.” They argue that a “one-sided approach” on divestment resolutions, even the selective divestment from companies profiting from the occupation proposed by the Methodists and Presbyterians, “damages the relationship between Jews and Christians that has been nurtured for decades.”

While they are no doubt well-meaning, I believe that the rabbis and other opponents of divestment are sadly misguided. My voice will always be raised in support of Christian-Jewish ties and against the anti-Semitism that all sensible people fear and detest. But this cannot be an excuse for doing nothing and for standing aside as successive Israeli governments colonize the West Bank and advance racist laws.

I recall well the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail in which he confesses to his “Christian and Jewish brothers” that he has been “gravely disappointed with the white moderate … who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action;’ who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom. …”

King’s words describe almost precisely the shortcomings of the 1,200 rabbis who are not joining the brave Palestinians, Jews and internationals in isolated West Bank communities to protest nonviolently against Israel’s theft of Palestinian land to build illegal, Jewish-only settlements and the separation wall. We cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand as relentless settlement activity forecloses on the possibility of the two-state solution.

If we do not achieve two states in the near future, then the day will certainly arrive when Palestinians move away from seeking a separate state of their own and insist on the right to vote for the government that controls their lives, the Israeli government, in a single, democratic state. Israel finds this option unacceptable and yet is seemingly doing everything in its power to see that it happens.

Many black South Africans have traveled to the occupied West Bank and have been appalled by Israeli roads built for Jewish settlers that West Bank Palestinians are denied access to, and by Jewish-only colonies built on Palestinian land in violation of international law.

Black South Africans and others around the world have seen the 2010 Human Rights Watch report which “describes the two-tier system of laws, rules, and services that Israel operates for the two populations in areas in the West Bank under its exclusive control, which provide preferential services, development, and benefits for Jewish settlers while imposing harsh conditions on Palestinians.” This, in my book, is apartheid. It is untenable. And we are in desperate need of more rabbis joining the brave rabbis of Jewish Voice for Peace in speaking forthrightly about the corrupting decadeslong Israeli domination over Palestinians.

These are among the hardest words I have ever written. But they are vitally important. Not only is Israel harming Palestinians, but it is harming itself. The 1,200 rabbis may not like what I have to say, but it is long past time for them to remove the blinders from their eyes and grapple with the reality that Israel becoming an apartheid state or like South Africa in its denial of equal rights is not a future danger, as three former Israeli prime ministers — Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert and David Ben Gurion — have warned, but a present-day reality. This harsh reality endured by millions of Palestinians requires people and organizations of conscience to divest from those companies — in this instance, from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard — profiting from the occupation and subjugation of Palestinians.

Such action made an enormous difference in apartheid South Africa. It can make an enormous difference in creating a future of justice and equality for Palestinians and Jews in the Holy Land.

April 30, 2012December 11, 2020

Thanks, Dervish for Respecting the Boycott of Apartheid Israel

The Irish group Dervish has come forward with a courageous decision to stand up for Palestinians and the cultural boycott. Their note on their facebook states:

Dervish wish to announce they will not be taking part in the Irish music concert series in Israel this June.

Our original decision to participate in the concerts was, like all our tours and appearances, completely non-political.

The organiser of the shows is a musician and friend of the band for many years. He has worked to bridge divides between people through music for much of his life. These concerts were organised in this same spirit.

At the time we agreed to these performances we were unaware there was a cultural boycott in place.

We now feel that we do not wish to break this boycott.

Our decision to withdraw from the concerts reflects our wish to neither endorse nor criticise anyone’s political views in this situation.

Dervish are a grouping of like musical minds, we are not a political party.

Our motivation as a band has always been and will continue to be our love of music

(from http://www.facebook.com/dervishofsligo/posts/10150865226896341)

An OPEN LETTER had been written to the band from Raymond Deane. A facebook page had been initiated asking the band to respect the boycott.

A letter of thanks to the band emphasizes how important and significant their decision is.

Dear Kathy Jordan, Brian McDonagh, Liam Kelly, Tom Morrow, Shane Mitchell and Michael Holmes of Dervish,

Thank you for taking a principled stand to say YES to the cultural boycott of Israel. You should be proud of your decision to act in favor of justice and human rights. You follow in the footsteps of Roger Waters who wrote:

“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.”

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu would certainly suppport your courageous decision, he wrote:

“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“.

Your cancellation in support of the cultural boycott brings the children in Jen Marlowe’s heart wrenching film below one step closer to justice and freedom. We know you may have felt the pain of Gaza when Israel pounded it with thousands of tons of explosives. You would know that the suffering of surviving children in Gaza from Israel’s attacks continues. In the heartbreaking short film: “One Family in Gaza”, the children do play in the rubble of their house, but their little souls cannot escape the trauma of being shot at and seeing their home bombed and their brother repeatedly shot, even after his death. Jen Marlowe made this film showing the children play, she doesn’t show the bombing, allowing their loving parents to speak of their anguish.

One Family in Gaza from Jen Marlowe

Dervish, the Israeli state has a multi-million dollar hasbara [the Hebrew equivalent to propaganda] campaign and thousands of recruits to propagate it. Some Israeli promoters who bring the artists to Israel were even invited to the Israeli Knesset to discuss the anti-boycott campaign and the Israeli regime agreed on financial support to those who bring artists from abroad. Israeli ministers previously have stated the significance of culture in whitewashing Israel’s crimes – for example, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit of Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated in 2005:

“We see culture as a propaganda tool of the first rank, and I do not differentiate between propaganda and culture.”

We know you will be pleased to know that your name will not be used by Israel to justify policies of apartheid. You won’t appear on the CCFP’s dishonorable list of artists who ignored the boycott.

Thank you again for your great courage in honouring the Palestinian call for boycott, freedom, justice and the rights of innocent children like the dear ones in Jen Marlowe’s film.
Sincerely,

Don’t Play Apartheid Israel
We are a group, of 850 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.
“Like” and “Share” on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Dervish.no.Travelling.Show.Israel

SOURCE & SOURCE

UPDATE May 1, 2012

Whole Irish Festival in Israel cancelled?

Fullset announces their cancellation on Facebook and Twitter.

UPDATE May 3, 2012

On the duplicitous portrayal of the response to Dervish’s cancellation of their date with apartheid:

“Let’s remind ourselves, then, of what’s really going on. Israel’s new-found cultural appetite isn’t about a night’s entertainment in an Israeli concert-hall or theatre. It’s about taking the world’s mind off, and consequently her sympathies away from, the horrors being inflicted daily on the Palestinian people by the Israeli army and fanatical settlers. It is about the degredation and infamy of an apartheid regime; soldiers who can kill without answering to anyone, commanders who can commit potential war crimes and smile in the face of international law. It’s about covering all of this up in tinsel. It’s about promoting denial.”