Diverse PennBDS conference attendees. (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
On February 4th, 2012, hundreds of students, professionals and academics gathered at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for a national BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) conference, organized by the University’s PennBDS student group.
The conference gained plenty of attention in the weeks leading up to it from local and nation-wide pro-Israeli groups and individuals. In speaking to some of the PennBDS leaders, some had doubts the conference would occur, due to all the built-up controversy. Luckily, the determination of the PennBDS organizers and supporters outweighed the slanderous accusations and malicious bullying of opponents of the conference. More than 60 organizations nationwide signed on in support of the conference, including Palestinian, Jewish, and Israeli groups. As one of the speakers stated after graciously congratulating the organizers, “If a conference was put on, and it didn’t receive any controversy or attention, did it really happen?”
The conference kicked off with an inspirational address by award-winning Palestinian American author, Susan Abulhawa, and Omar Barghouti, a human rights activist and co-founder of the 2005 Palestinian civil society boycott call. Barghouti sent in a special video message in support of the conference, “Our South African moment has arrived… we shall prevail over apartheid.”
Due to the expected high security at the conference, media was not allowed into all lectures/panels, but I am honored to present to you some highlights of the conference through photos I took over the course of the weekend. Neither photos, nor any amount of words could possibly describe the inspiration and wisdom gained from the wonderful speakers, but I hope to convey some of these stimulating moments through the following photos. Enjoy and, as always, “join us on the right side of history.”
A number of vendors sold shirts that read “Un-occupy Palestine,” “Freedom,” and other popular sentiments, with proceeds going to non-profit efforts on the ground in Palestine.
(Photo: Sara Jawhari)
Ali Abunimah, Palestinian American journalist and co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, gives keynote speech. Despite threats and malicious attacks of speaker leading up to the conference, not one person stood to oppose anything Abunimah said: “We’re here for Khader Adnan, a Palestinian who was jailed without charge and has been on hunger strike for 49 days and can die any second. Thirty five babies and five mothers have died at Israeli checkpoints… we are here for them too.” (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
“Lessons from the South African Struggle” with speakers Helena Cobban, Bill Fletcher, Jr., et al., with moderator Professor Amy Kaplan. “Was the Montgomery bus boycott a boycott against buses?” (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
Journalist and author Max Blumenthal and professor and journalist Sarah Schulman lead the “Zionist Response to BDS” panel. Schulman recently authored a groundbreaking New York Times op-ed on the “pinkwashing” of the Israeli human rights abuses, in which she described submitting hundreds of research documents leading up to the eventual publication of the article. Blumenthal read a humorous chapter out of an up-coming book he is currently penning. (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
PennBDS organizers speak to a curious passerby. New attendees were welcomed to speeches so long as there was room left in audience. (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
Max Blumenthal, Helena Cobban and Philip Weiss lead a workshop titled “Palestine and the Media.” Here, Weiss is given a round of applause on being number one on the Anti-Defamation Leagues hateful list of the “Five of the Most Anti-Israel Individuals.” Cobban was number three on the list. (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
Dina Omar, Remi Kanazi and Susan Abulhawa lead one of the final sessions of the conference, titled “BDS and Literary Expression.” The speakers spoke on the place of literature, poetry and spoken word in Palestinian resistance. “Art, poetry, literature are powerful weapons/tools to break down the lies, myths, racist stereotypes that are spread,” Abulhawa says. “We don’t need to fight them, we just have to tell the truth.” (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
Conference opener and author of the International best-selling novel Mornings in Jenin Susan Abulhawa sits at a booth for “Playgrounds for Palestine,” an NGO she founded dedicated to upholding the Right to Play for Palestinian children. Palestinian olive oil from various villages is sold to benefit the organization. (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
Attendees kept activists worldwide updated throughout the conference by live Tweeting during every session using the hashtag #PennBDS. (Photo: Sara Jawhari)
Rudoren responds to the Twitter kerfuffle
Feb 15, 2012
Adam Horowitz
Politico’s Dylan Byers interviews new New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren about her recent Twitter controversy. Too bad she seems to refer to Ali Abunimah as an “extremist” (“of course I will talk to him. And I will talk to extremists on both sides”) whatever that means. (Update: Actually, in reading it over, I don’t think she’s calling Abunimah an extremist, but it is a little unclear)
What is your response to the suggestion that you’re showing anti-Zionist bias?
It’s wildly premature to assess my biases. I have written nothing, other than a few tweets. It is certainly possible, as some have suggested, that I was not careful enough in what I wrote in some tweets, and what exactly I tweeted. But I hardly think that the half-a-dozen or dozen tweets that I’ve sent out in the last 24 hours add up to anything. This is a fleeting medium, in which you react to what you see. So some of the retweets that I’ve done happened to be what I was reading at that moment. It was not a comprehensive review.
Let’s take the two things that people have criticized most in succession:
The first was what I wrote to Ali Abuminah [the editor of Electronic Intifada]. I meant to write him a Direct Message and I instead hit reply. That isn’t an excuse — I don’t mind that people saw it — but it wasn’t intended to be for the public, it was intended to be for him.
But yes, of course I will talk to him. And I will talk to extremists on both sides. And I will talk to moderates. I will talk to lots and lots of people from all sides of this conflict… I will not apologize for reaching out to Ali Abuminah; he seems to be an important person to me. Anyone who thinks that I shouldn’t talk to him doesn’t understand how we do our jobs.
But anyone who thinks I shouldn’t talk to him — I want to talk to them, too. Adam Kredo [a reporter at Washington Free Beacon] said I didn’t respond to him, but I never heard from Adam. So I emailed him back, but I haven’t heard from him. But I would be eager to talk to him about anything.
In terms of Peter Beinart’s book, I will absolutely not apologize for thinking that this is a good book. Peter is someone I’ve known for 20 years, he’s a journalist, he’s written a really interesting book. I don’t agree with everything in the book, I don’t even have an opinion about the arguments in the book, but it’s really well written, it’s really provocative, there’s tons of reporting in it with things people don’t know. I think people should read it. I think hard-right Zionists should read it and Palestinian activists should read it. And you American Jews, who are really the audience for the book, should read it.
I will not apologize for tweeting about the book at all. Will I tweet about books written by people more closely aligned with Netanyahu? Absolutely. I’m reading one book at a time. I expect to have a long and robust and diverse reading list, and when the spirit moves me I may tweet about it.
On her tweet praising Peter Beinart’s book.
I did write that tweet carefully with my role in mind. I’m trying to read widely right now on this issue. This happens to be the thing I just read. And it’s a really good book! It doesn’t mean I agree with his argument. It’s readable, it’s filled with new reporting, and its provocative. That’s a journalist’s take on another journalist’s book. He’s obviously more of an advocacy journalist than I am. It doesn’t mean I think his argument is correct, it doesn’t mean I think everyone should line up behind him. It’s well-written, it’s filled with interesting reporting and facts. I’ll say it on any medium you want. I expect some of the books I read from the Palestinian perspective and from the Likud perspective will be good books, and I expect some of them to be crappy!
My editorialization: re-reading this, her balancing “Palestinian” and “Likud” strikes me as another rookie mistake. If somebody more well versed in the conflict said it, I would question their balancing of the two. But, honestly, I really think she’s just getting her feet wet. Which is further argument, for me, on why she shouldn’t be tweeting about it yet.
It happens that I went to college with Peter and we are demographically simiilar, but I don’t do what he does. I’m not an activist.
On the wayward Abunimah direct message.
I’m not going to apologize for wanting to talk with Ali Abunimah either. I really am not prepared to tell you who the right counterpart is on the other side, but I want to meet that guy, too, and all the people in between. I’m going to talk to you and Ron Dermer and settlers and Palestinians and Haredim and Arab-Israelis and secular Israelis.
I tend to agree with Tracy about Rudoren’s odd comparison between “Palestinian” and “Likud.” By her own omission she’s reading up on the issue, and there can be a steep learning curve. I think it’s admirable she’s open to many different perspectives, and impressive that she’s holding her ground in the face of pressure from the usual gate keepers. She arrives in Israel/Palestine in late April, should be interesting to watch.
New ‘NYT’ bureau chief Jodi Rudoren faces outcry from Israel advocates over Twitter messages
Feb 15, 2012
Alex Kane
Jodi Rudoren
Barely a day went by before Jodi Rudoren, the spanking new Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times (NYT), got her first lesson in how quickly advocates for Israel could raise a media firestorm. Rudoren’s offense is writing “cozy” Twitter messages to the likes of Ali Abunimah, Mondoweiss and Peter Beinart.
Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon(whose inaccurate reporting on Iran I wrote about here) fired the first shot with an article decrying Rudoren for playing “Twitter footsie” with some of “Israel’s most extreme non-terrorist critics.” Yesterday, Rudoren sent the Electronic Intifada‘s Ali Abunimah a Twitter message after Abunimah criticized past NYT coverage of Palestine and the fact that she “will get to move into this lovely property stolen from Palestinians in 1948.” Rudoren wrote: “@AliAbunimah Hey there. Would love to chat sometime. About things other than the house. My friend Kareem Fahim says good things.” This message got her into trouble, which is revealing in and of itself.
The chief of the discourse-police, former Israeli prison guard and writer for the Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg, says today:
Reaching out to Abunimah is normal, of course: He’s a player in extremist circles, and someone she might wind-up covering. But it would have been better if she had twinned this reach-out with one to a Kahanist or some sort of radical settler rabbi, for balance
Commentary, the Jerusalem Post‘s Shmuel Rosner, and William Daroff of the Jewish Federations of North America have also joined in on the fun. And although Goldberg tweeted that there’s “nothing wrong with quoting Abunimah, if he’s identified as someone who seeks Israel’s elimination,” more reactionary elements of the Israel lobby disagree. Josh Block, the former AIPAC spokesman behind the recent smear campaign against the Center for American Progress, told Kredo:
These are not people you engage like this, especially your first day as Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the paper of record. You really don’t even want to be seen in public with them—it’s just a mistake.
For now, Rudoren’s tweets stand on their own, and it will be interesting to see how she covers the region. But the firestorm itself tells us some important things.
One lesson is that, as Max Blumenthal said at the BDS conference at UPenn, those in solidarity with Palestinians “operate in a racist environment.” The hysterical reaction to a nice message to Abunimah reveals the racism at the heart of U.S. media on this issue. Palestinians should not be heard, the message is, especially from one who advocates for one-state with equal rights for all. AIPAC’s Block thinks you shouldn’t be “seen in public” with them. Good for Rudoren for not sinking to that level.
The second lesson is that ardent advocates for Israel are trying to suppress a discourse and worldview anathema to them. The furious tweets and articles directed at Rudoren are meant to intimidate her into thinking about the conflict through an Israeli prism. Any open discourse on this issue is a danger.
My last point is a question: does the appointment of Rudoren indicate that the goalposts have moved on opening up an honest conversation about Israel in this country? There is no recent coverage from Jerusalem by Rudoren to definitively point to. The fact that she’s open to Beinart and Abunimah, though, could be indicative of a person willing to stand the heat and really report on occupied Palestine. We’ll see.
Rudoren’s latest message on Twitter was a response of sorts: “Thanks for all the new folos, and the advice re Tweeting. Plan to Tweet from all sides of conflict. Welcome suggestions of other books.”
Out of the Ballpark: Susan Abulhawa’s speech to the PennBDS conference
There is a reason Susan Abulhawa has the reputation of a dragon slayer, and it is not just for any one time event or the fact that Mornings in Jenin just happens to be an international best seller translated into 26 languages. With the precision of a surgeon she unmasks and infuriates her adversaries, always with poise and dignity. Forever grounded in truth she lifts us up and fills us with courage and a will to carry on.
Helena wasn’t the only one saying it, Abulhawa’s opening presentation at PennBDS reverberated throughout the conference, all weekend sometimes in hushed tones and knowing glances as if in code “Did you hear her speech?”
PennBDS recently released this video of Abulhawa’s full speech. On request Susie has provided us with the text, we are publishing the last 17 minutes of her 43 minute presentation today. Here, the end is broken down into 3 segments for those of you who may not take the time to listen in full.
A warning, be prepared. By the time she voiced “We are counting on the America that fought and killed pieces of itself to free an enslaved race.”, I was in tears and I just listened to it again for the fifth time and it breaks me still.
Especially for students of the conflict this speech is a keeper (check the notes below). If you do not have time to listen today, save it. From start to finish..a keeper. We will be publishing further segments in the future for further discussion.
26:30
This process of destroying people to extricate them from their roots, does have an unfortunate precedent in history to which Israeli leaders have often eluded, betraying what I believe is their vision for a final outcome to this conflict.
I recalled one such statement from Benjamin Netanyahu – I couldn’t find it initially, but my friend Nima Shirazi helped me locate the actual quote. It was from a CNN interview in which Netanyahu described the United States affinity for Israel as “instinctive”, claiming that “America was the new promised land, we are the original Promised Land”.
I was struck by that when I first heard it because it confirmed what I’ve always suspected: that the project of stealing Palestine and getting rid of Palestinians is very much modeled after our own colonial past here in America, that all but obliterated the native American population. European settlers would sign agreements and treaties with native tribes.
Then, when it was convenient, settlers would break those agreements and take more territory, pushing Native Americans further off their land.
Settlers would systematically destroy their livelihoods and means of sustenance, like the mass extermination of the buffalo.
When Native Americans fought back, and sometimes they did so brutally, they were called savages. And for daring to resist the destruction of their societies, whole tribes were massacred, marched off their lands in death trails to prisons called reservations.
Today,
********
one agreement after another has been signed and broken by Israel, as they take more and more territory on a daily basis. Palestinian farms, trees and other means of livelihood are systematically destroyed. Palestinians are labeled terrorists as native Americans were “savages”.
For daring to resist or to vote the wrong way, Palestinians are met with wholesale slaughter, destruction and theft of their properties, and herded into open-air prisons called Gaza and Areas A,B and C, and refugee camps.
Even the earliest Zionists clearly had their eyes set on the plight of Native Americans as a model to follow.
************
(29:00)
Going back again to Ze’ev Jabotinsky: he recognized the indigenousness of Palestinians to the Holy Land when he stated in 1923 that “They [Palestinians] look upon Palestine with the same instinctive love and true favor the Aztecs looked upon Mexico or any Sioux looked upon his prairie. Palestine will remain for the Palestinians not a borderland, but their birthplace, the center and basis of their own national existence.” (Righteous Victims, p. 36)
But we are not living in the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries, and Palestinians are not outnumbered to exist as a small minority in their own country. There are too many of us to ignore, to break, ignorize, subjugate, or imprison.
And so the institutional racism and the apparatus of occupation, are today more similar to the conditions of Apartheid South Africa than that of the Native American plight.
***************
Just like the Apartheid government considered and treated the native Black population as lesser beings, so does Israel consider Palestinians as such. Israeli leaders in the highest offices have referred to us as everything from grasshoppers, cockroaches, to beasts on two legs.
One of Israel’s leading historians, a so-called intellectual, Benny Morris, had this to say:
“Something like a cage has to be built for them. I know that sounds terrible. It is really cruel. But there is no choice. There is a wild animal there that has to be locked up in one way or another.”
Where have we heard or read about such things before?
There is something humiliating in perpetually having to prove that we are human. To prove that we exist. That our grandparents who died dreaming of their homes and olive groves in Lydda, Haifa, Ein Hod, Jerusalem, that they were real and so was their pain and anguish.
But I will say it nonetheless.
We are natives of that land. In every sense of that word. Historically, culturally, legally and even genetically.
But more importantly, We are not a lesser species that we should be treated thus. We are not children of a lesser God that we should be relegated to teeter and despair on the margins of humanity.
This monumental injustice, with all it’s cages, wholesale dehumanization of an entire people has not abated in well over 60 years. This dismissal, trivializing, and destruction of an entire ancient culture and heritage is not okay, even if it is nothing new in history.
And it is not, despite its many unique aspects. We’ve been here before in other times, in other places just in modern history.
We sang “We Shall Overcome”, and we refused to ride in the back of the bus.
We instituted boycotts and we marched in the streets with Martin Luther King.
We pumped our fists in the air to the anti-Apartheid slogan of “One Man One Vote” and when the camps were liberated, we vowed “Never Again.”
Never again will we sit idly by while one group of the people tries to annihilate another. Never again will we tolerate the ugly manifestations of notions of inherent racial, ethnic, or religious entitlement.
But here we are again. Again, a group of people is destroying another. Palestine and Palestinians are quite literally being wiped off the map. Take a look, the map – the land itself – provides irrefutable testimony to this fact.
(33:30)
Everything we have has been taken from us. We have lived the past six decades years going from one trauma to another.
One tragedy, one slaugher to another.
Our history, our heritage, our cemeteries, our mosques and churches, our lands and resources and ancient artifacts have been pillaged and appropriated. Even our story is being denied.
Again, it is all being done in the name of God. Again, the aggressors are claiming to possess divine favor. And again, the world has been sitting idly by. Or worse, cheering it on, as the President of this university has implied in her statements on this conferences.
World leaders have done little to stop it.
*************
We have a very large collection of UN resolutions. Grand words about justice and international law, that are hallow, bereft of voice or force.
So now we, like so many before us in other times, are refusing to sit by and do nothing. BDS is our non-violent response to this violence. It is a movement to give a voice to justice. It is a movement of ordinary people from all over the world who understand that we are on this earth to lift each other up.
**************
BDS is a minimal recognition of Palestinian humanity and our right to live with dignity in our own homeland.
Israel may be may be modeling it’s plan on America’s colonial past; But so are we modeling our struggle on America’s past.
Israel may be betting on the United State’s “instinctive” affinity for conquest; But we are betting on America’s “instinctive” affinity for fair play.
Israel is counting on the US that erased Native American presence and culture from the land. We are counting on the America that fought and killed pieces of itself to free an enslaved race.
Israel is counting on the American of Gingrich, Geller, Abrams, and their ilk who spew hatred and fear-mongering for political expediency and perpetual war. We are counting on the America that marched with Martin Luther King.
We’re counting on the America of Pulitzer prize author Alice Walker and Holocaust suvivor Hedy Epstein, and so many like them around the world – like Peace Nobel Laureate Miread McGuire of Ireland – who risk so much, including their lives to amplify the voice of justice for Palestinians
We are counting on a world that produced young men and women like Rachel Corrie, Vittorio Arrigoni, and Tom Hurndall, who paid the ultimate price trying to bring this horror to an end.
************
We are counting on Israelis of conscience, who refused to be oppressors, and who are breaking the silence on the crimes they witnessed or crimes they committed against Palestinians
We are counting on ourselves, on the indominable human will to wait and fight and struggle for freedom and justice no matter how long it takes
We are counting on the America in this room. Indeed, we are counting on a world filled with people like those in this room.
BDS is counting on people of the world who understand that God is not a vengeful deity who plays favorites with her children. We’re counting on people of the world who affirm, unequivocally, that it is not okay to measure the worthiness of a human being by his or her religion.
BDS is engaging this part of humanity, which I believe represents the greatest majority of people.
Because our greatest and most unstoppable power lies in our roots and the moral authority of a struggle for freedom and human rights. Because while the concepts of justice and fair play matter little to those in power, they resonate with masses.
As such, because justice and fair play are central demands of BDS, this movement is shifting power from the corrupt ruling elite to the masses by pulling back the veil so people can see what is happening before their eyes.
And that’s scary to Israel and Israeli apologists. Because Israel cannot sell notions of religious exclusivity and entitlement to informed masses. They can’t convince an informed people of the merits of walls, fences, sieges, checkpoints, theft, demolitions, destruction, and Jewish-only this or Jewish-only that.
That’s why they tried to shut this conference down. That is why they have gone into overdrive publishing lies to smear the speakers and participants in this conference.
But BDS is bigger than that because it affirms our common humanity no matter where or what we come from. While it is true that Palestinians don’t anywhere near Israel’s clout among the ruling elite of powerful nations, or major US universities, we are far from being powerless.
In fact, we are unrivaled in our power on the ground level internationally. The Palestinian struggle for freedom is the longest running and best known around the world.
**********
Referring to the liberation of Black South Africans, Nelson Mandela once said “We know all too well, that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”
BDS will only grow and grow, because now is our time.
It is our time to say that only free people can negotiate. It is our time to say that “our freedom is non-negotiable and human rights are non-negotiable”. It’s our time to take our seat on the bus and refuse to get up at another’s command. It’s our time to boycott. To divest. To proudly link arms together as Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindu, Athiests, Buddisht, gay, straight, Black, White and everything in between, in solidarity and in a march to freedom.
And to remember the solidarity shown to us, as our beloved Edward Said once said.
The lines of this conflict do not fall along religious divides. The lines of this conflict are even laid between Palestinians and Israelis because we recognize the sector of Israeli society that stands with us. The lines of this struggle are drawn simply between those who adhere to notions of exclusivity and state-sanctioned entitlement for particular groups and those who believe in equality in the eyes of the law of the state
It is between those who believe in inherent superiority and those who believe in the universality of human dignity
And so, with that in mind, I call on Israelis to abandon the path of violence and terrorism that you have employed against us for over six decades now.
I invite you to abandon the notions of inherent superiority and entitlement. Because you will never find peace nor security by annihilating us.
Because you will never break us, and your only hope is to break bread with us equals. Because despite what you have done to us, to our society, to our children, we can accept you as our equals, but never as our masters in our own land.
BDS is an opportunity for our Jewish brothers and sisters to reclaim Judaism from the grips of a racist military and apartheid political regime. It is a chance to be guided by the noble traditions of Judaism that have historically pursued liberation and justice, instead of pursuing power and domination over others.
To the University of Pennsylvania and universities everywhere, I invite you to act on the principles of equality, human rights, and international law. To take a definitive stand now instead of waiting to be a “me too” university that joins BDS only after others had the courage to take a moral stand first, however inconvenient it might be; because taking a moral stand when it’s unpopular to do so is the time when it really counts.
BDS is firmly rooted on moral ground and its demands reflect the most basic tenets of international law and universal human rights.
Just as the anti-Apartheid boycott movement brought to its knees a system that judged human worth by skin color. And so will this movement bring to its knees another system that judges human worth by religion.
Our demands for freedom and basic human rights are NOT POLITICAL BARGAINING CHIPS. They are self-evident truths that we should pursue without apology, without negotiations, without compromise, and without fear.
We are a proud people indigenous to the Holy Land, who have the capacity to forgive should Israel choose to atone for the sins it has committed against us. But whether they do or not, we aren’t going anywhere. We will continue wait and continue to struggle until justice is restored. And we will continue to dream and imagine a more gentle and human place – one that is inclusive and pluralistic, as Palestine used to be. One where a person is judged by the content of his or her character, not religion.
Thank you.
Susie ended her email to me with this final paragraph:
“I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world. I think it could also be an incredible inspiration to Arab people in the Middle East, who are struggling under undemocratic regimes which the US supports….” Rachel Corrie’s last words to her mother.
NOTES
• Section of 5 in the Law of Political Parties and section 7A of the Basic Law: Stipulates that any party platform that calls for full and complete equality between Jews and non-Jews, can be disqualified from any political post. The law demands that Palestinian Arab citizens may not challenge the state’s Zionist identity.
• Law of Return: “Every Jew has the right to become a citizen no matter where they come from” while the indigenous non-Jewish inhabitants who were expelled in 1948 are expressly barred from returning to their homes
• Nakba Law: Penalizes any institution that commemorates or publicly mourns the expulsion of the native Palestinian population
• Anti-boycott law: Provides anyone calling for the boycott of Israel, or it’s illegal settlements, can be sued by the boycott’s targets without having to prove that they sustained damage. The court will then decide how much compensation is to be paid.
• Admission Committees Law formally allows neighborhood screening committees to prevent non-Jewish citizens from living in Jewish communities that control 81 percent of the territory in Israel. In March 2011 Israel passed a law to allow residents of Jewish towns to refuse non Jews from living in their communities.
• Amendment to the Citizenship Law: Stipulates that an Israeli citizen who marries a Palestinian cannot live as a couple in Israel with his or her spouse. A Palestinian spouse can neither gain citizenship nor residency.
• 93% of the land, the vast majority of which was confiscated from Palestinian owners after 1948, can only be owned by Jewish agencies for the benefit of Jews only. One of these agencies is the Jewish National Fund, which, in its charter forbids sale or lease to non-Jews.
• Specified Goods Tax and Luxury Tax Law [art 26, Laws of the State of Israel, vol. 6, p. 150 (1952)] Authorizes lower import taxes for Jewish citizens of Israel compared with non-Jewish citizens of Israel.
• National Planning and Building Law (1965) Through various zoning laws freezes the growth of existing Arab villages while providing for the expansion Jewish settlements and creation of new ones. The law also re-classifies a large portion of established Arab villages as “unrecognized” and therefore nonexistent, allowing the state to cut off water and electricity as well as to simply appropriate that property.
• Appropriations are carried out under The Requisitions Law which allows a “competent authority” to requisition the land – called “land requisition order” – so that only he may “use and exploit the land” as he sees fit. This applies to “home requisition orders” as well, whereby another “competent authority” who can “order the occupier of a house to surrender the house to the control of a person specified in the order, for residential purposes or for any other use, as may be prescribed in the order. “
• In the education sector within Israel, as an example, the state spends $192 per year per non-Jewish student compared to $1,100 per Jewish student.
• There is a planned Mosque Law that will prohibit the broadcasting of the Muslim call to prayer, which has been sounding over that land since the beginning of Islam.
• Non-Jews living in the West Bank are denied access to the holy places of Jerusalem, which are only a few kilometers away from them.
• ALSO, for the first time in the history of Islam and the history of Christianity, Palestinian Muslims and Christians in the West Bank and Gaza are denied access to their holy Places of Jerusalem, even on the high holy days of Eid, Christmas, and Easter Sunday.
• Since Israel took the West Bank, the Christian population has declined from 20,000 in 1967 to less than 7500 today.
• Military Order 1229: authorizes Israel to hold Palestinians in administrative detention for up to six months without charge or trial. Six-month detentions can be renewed indefinitely, without charge or trial.
• Military Order 329 and 1650 effectively prevents Palestinians from being anywhere in the West Bank without a specific permit to be there, making it a criminal offense to go from one Palestinian town to another.
• Military Oder #92 and #158: gives the Israeli military control of all water resources in the West Bank, which belongs to Palestinians.
• Israel then allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, while unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies creating a reality of green lawns and swimming pools for Jewish settlers and a parched life for Palestinians, whose access to water, according to the World Health Organization does not meet the minimum requirements for basic human water needs.
• Furthermore, that fraction of confiscated Palestinian water is sold to Palestinians at 300% more than what it costs Jewish settlers in the same area. ($1.20/cubic meter vs $.40/cubic meter).
• Military Orders #811 and #847: Allows Jews to purchase land from unwilling Palestinian sellers by using “power of attorney”.
• Military Order #25: forbids public inspection of land transactions.
• Militar Order #998: requires Palestinians to get Israeli military permission to make a withdrawal from their bank account.
• Military Order #128: gives the Israeli military the right to take over any Palestinian business which is not open during regular business hours.
• Military Order #138 & #134: forbids Palestinians from operating tractors or other heavy farm machinery on their land.
• Military Order #93: gives all Palestinian insurance businesses to the Israeli Insurance Syndicate.
• Military Order # 1015: requires Palestinians to get Israeli military permission to plant and grow fruit trees. This permit expires every year.
• Through various military orders, according to the WHO, Israel has uprooted 2.5 million trees belonging to Palestinians, and which often represent their only means of sustenance.
And here are the numbers that scare me and break my heart the most. These are the cold prose of statistics pertaining to Palestinian children, that reflect the systematic destruction of Palestinian society:
• (UNICEF): “Conditions have rarely been worse for Palestinian children.” One in 10 Palestinian children now suffer from stunted growth due to compromised health, poor diet and nutrition and 50% of Palestinian children are anemic, and 75% of those under 5 suffer from vitamin A deficiency.
• Palestinian children are routinely imprisoned for months and years for throwing stones at Israeli jeeps, tanks, and soldiers. Many of them, as young as 12 years old, are tortured and held in solitary confinement.
• Meanwhile, for bludgeoning a 10 year old Palestinian boy (Hilmi Shusha) to death with the butt of his riffle, an Israeli settler received community service and a fine.
• A Palestinian man was convicted of rape and sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for having consensual sex with a Jewish woman, because he did not disabuse her of her assumption that he was Jewish
* These are Abulhawa’s notes and they are not an exact transcript.
Israeli apartheid is never fit to print in the ‘Times’, only in ‘Haaretz’
‘NYT’ Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner’s reassignment is unlikely to change the fundamental bias of the Paper of Record. When has the Times ever filed a serious report on Israeli apartheid policies, and will it ever? Meanwhile, Haaretz today runs an editorial page broadside against the colony/settlement Ariel’s University expansion plans that you will never see from the editors or reporters of the Paper of Record:
[The Israeli government] doesn’t miss an opportunity to sear the consciousness of Palestinians and Israelis alike with the idea that a diplomatic agreement on a two-state solution is no longer on the table….
Ariel is not just another “location.” It is situated in occupied territory that is a focus of controversy both within Israeli society and in the international community. The State of Israel has barred Palestinians from most of the territory of the West Bank. They are permitted to build Ariel’s houses, but not to live there. Ariel, like all the other settlements, is a closed military zone as far as they are concerned.
The editorial’s basic message: 1) yes, Virginia, there is an “occupation” (the NYT frequently elides that word from its coverage, 2) Israel’s policy of separation (Apartheid) in the West Bank is untenable, 3) Israel is willfully destroying, or has already destroyed, any viable possibility of a Palestinian state.
Until the NYT gets serious about reporting/critiquing these three and similar realities, a changing of the guard in its staff will matter not.
Khader Adnan’s dignity
Feb 15, 2012
Claire
A posters depicting Khader Adnan outside Ofer prison where he is being held.
(Photo: Activestills)
As I write this on day 60 of his hunger strike, Khader Adnan is still alive, as far as I know. There is no news yet today about his condition, although I came across a claim that he has fallen into a coma. We may be outraged that Israel upheld his detention and did not release him, but how could it have? Adnan in his own words made it clear that his protest is not only for himself, but for all prisoners detained illegally. Israel releasing Adnan would mean admitting that its detention of him was illegal, and then who knows, the whole house of cards could crumble—illegal imprisonment, illegal arrest, illegal occupation, illegal land confiscation, illegal annexation…
It is surprising that there has been no mention of how Adnan was arrested by Israel in Area A, supposedly under the control of the Palestinian Authority, the supposed basis for an independent Palestinian state, to supposedly come about in a negotiated two-state settlement. Check out the location of his village of ‘Araba on B’Tselem’s map. Quite a hoax they all got going.
Of course the judge appeared cold and callous by Adnan’s bedside. He should naturally be angry at Adnan’s subversion. The imprisoners are to have all the power. How dare Adnan find a way to have power, to retain his dignity. For despite all their domination, torture, interrogation, and secret evidence, Adnan can still control whether he eats. He can decide not to eat. He exercised this self-control, even though his jailers attempted to have every sort of control over him.
Adnan has decided not to eat knowing the inevitable outcome. Herein lies his incredible bravery and his power of non-violent resistance. We can hope that Adnan’s choosing death would bring about change akin to that which resulted from Mohamed Bouazizi’s choosing death in Tunisia. But even if it does not, at least Adnan knows that he has retained self-control and dignity in the face of grave injustice, oppression, and cruelty. I hope this knowledge will provide solace and comfort to his family. May it also inspire and humble the rest of us. No poem, no work of art, no oration could be more moving than a man patiently, persistently, painfully taking his own life.
Israeli rights group to Ehud Barak: Put Khader Adnan on trial or release him immediately
14 February 2012
Mr. Ehud Barak
Minister of Defense
Re: Urgent Request to Release or Try Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa
Dear Mr. Minister:
I am writing to ask for your urgent intervention to ensure the immediate release of Khader Adnan, currently in administrative detention, who has been on a hunger strike for 60 days; or alternatively – if the evidence so warrants – to put him on trial.
Mr. Adnan was arrested on 17 December 2011 and has been in administrative detention since 8 January 2012; to this day, no charges have been filed against him and he has not been given the opportunity to address any claims in a fair trial. To protest the abuse and brutal treatment that Mr. Adnan says he experienced during his arrest and interrogation, and to protest his continued detention without trial, Mr. Adnan began a hunger strike. According to Israeli human rights organization Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR-Israel), Mr. Adnan’s health has seriously deteriorated as a result of the hunger strike, and continuing it will endanger his life. Under these circumstances, denying Mr. Adnan his freedom without trial is particularly grave, and immediate measures should be taken to release him or give him a fair trial.
Administrative detention, which allows the denial of a person’s freedom for months without trial, severely harms basic human rights, above all the right to freedom and dignity. Although administrative detainees are brought before a judge for review of their detention, the preponderance of material on which the detention is based remains classified – hidden from the suspect and his attorney – hence the detainee has no real opportunity to defend himself or refute the accusations against him. Under these circumstances, judicial oversight is no real guarantee of the lawfulness of the detention, and even the fairest of judges cannot administer justice. Judicial oversight in this context lacks the minimal assurance of a proper judicial process, and can doubtfully be regarded as a fair judicial procedure.
Beyond the injury of administrative detention to a person’s elementary right to due process, such detention is not limited in time (since it can be extended indefinitely). Therefore the detainee is in an untenable situation of ongoing uncertainty about his future and the length of his incarceration. This can be a source of severe emotional strain and constitutes additional humiliation, as the individual lacks all tools to defend himself.
Despite the extreme nature of administrative detention, Israeli security forces have over the years made routine use of it in the Occupied Territories. On 31 December 2011, according to B’Tselem data, no fewer than 307 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention – and this number has shown a worrisome increase recently. Mr. Adnan’s hunger strike is yet another reminder of the severe violation of human rights caused by isolating someone from his environment and family with no manifest reason or proven basis.
According to the ruling by the Military Court of Appeals on 13 February 2012, the detention order against Mr. Adnan was issued because of “organizational activity” attributed to him in the Islamic Jihad organization. Clearly terrorist activity is completely unacceptable, and is itself a fatal blow to the most fundamental human rights, including the right to life. However, if a claim is being made that Mr. Adnan is involved in any unlawful activity, there is a basic obligation to inform him of the nature of the specific accusations against him, and to conduct a fair proceeding that allows for investigation of his guilt.
This case is particularly grave in light of the shocking reports of Mr. Adnan’s detention conditions. According to Physicians for Human Rights, he is handcuffed to his bed on both sides in Sieff Hospital in Safed – in contravention of procedures concerning the shackling of a detainee in a public place, medical ethics, and logic, as this would not be necessary to prevent the escape of someone in such poor physical health.
In light of the above, and considering the deteriorating state of Mr. Adnan’s health, I urgently appeal to you to ensure Mr. Adnan’s immediate release from administrative detention or that he be put on trial. Human morality, rational thinking, and concern for the democratic character of Israel obligate us to bring this terrible affair to an end.
Sami Michael, President
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
Report: Last five years has seen a 315% rise in settler violence; this violence is ‘structural and symptomatic of occupation’
Feb 15, 2012
Adam Horowitz
Yesterday, the Palestine Center released “When Settlers Attack,” a new report on settler violence in the occupied territories. Is is the result of of a two-year project which cataloged over 3,700 instances of settler violence from 2004-2011.
From the report’s Executive Summary:
Israeli settler violence presents a direct and consistent threat to Palestinian civilians and their property in the occupied West Bank and instances of Israeli settler violence are on the rise.
From 2010 to 2011 there was a 39 percent increase in incidents of Israel Settler violence. In the five year period from 2007 through 2011 there has been a 315 percent increase. Conversely, over the same 5-year period, there has been a 95 percent decrease in Palestinian violence in the West Bank.
There is a noticeable shift in the proportion of violence as it occurs geographically in the West Bank. In the past, the southern part of the West Bank saw the largest number of instances but in recent years the northern part of the West Bank is becoming increasingly targeted and has overtaken the southern part of the West Bank in terms of number of attacks.
The period of the olive harvest annually brings a peak in violent settler activity. The presence of Palestinian civilians in olive groves, where they are easy targets for unrestrained and violent Israeli settlers, is the main reason why this occurs on an annual basis.
There is a noticeable increase in the frequency and proportion of arson attacks employed by violent settlers. This suggests that violent settlers are increasingly choosing this method of violence and will continue to do so. The percentage of arson among all attack types in 2005 was 6 percent and has risen to 11 percent in 2011.
While minimal variation in Israeli settler violence over time can be explained as a response to Israeli state actions against settlements, like the dismantlement of outposts, the vast majority of Israeli settler violence is not responsorial but rather structural and symptomatic of occupation.
Over 90 percent of all Palestinian villages which have experienced multiple instances of Israeli settler violence are in areas which fall under Israeli security jurisdiction
Six US activists arrested in Bahrain while monitoring military crackdown
Feb 15, 2012
Allison Deger
Protest in Bahrain commemorating a year of uprisings. (Photo: EPA)
Yesterday, six international activists where arrested in Bahrain while attempting to monitor the government crackdown on protesters commemorating the one-year anniversary of uprisings. The arrest comes a few days after two activists from the same group of internationals were deported from Bahrain.
Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath sent out the following press release:
Six US citizens arrested in Bahrain, to be deported
For Immediate Release
(Manama) – Six US Citizens were arrested by Bahraini security forces in Manama on Tuesday during a peaceful protest on the way to the Pearl Roundabout. Protesters had marched into the city center to reestablish a presence of nonviolent, peaceful protest on the one year anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising in Bahrain.
The international observers were in Bahrain as part of Witness Bahrain, an effort aimed at providing civilian presence to report and monitor the situation on the ground (www.witnessbahrain.org). Leading up to February 14, the one year anniversary of pro-democracy protests, Bahraini authorities had prevented journalists, human rights observers and other internationals from entering the country, leading many to fear a brutal crackdown.
Just yesterday, Secretary of State spokesperson Victoria Nuland stated that the US wanted to see the “security forces exercise restraint and operate within the rule of law and international judicial standards.” But she failed to condemn the violent arrests of US international observers, the detainment of numerous Bahraini pro-democracy activists (including President of the Bahraini Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab) and the ongoing use of overwhelming amounts of tear gas.
The six US citizens were part of a peaceful protest marching towards the Pearl Roundabout – site of last year’s peaceful round-the-clock protest in Bahrain, modeled after Egypt’s Tahrir Square – when they were attacked. Bahraini authorities appear to have targeted the Witness Bahrain observers, as one volunteer was told that she was detained for reporting on the February 11th Manama protest.
Kate Rafael works at a San Francisco law firm and is a radio journalist, blogger and political activist from Oakland, California. Flo Razowsky is photographer and community organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a Jewish anti-Zionist activist with Witness Bahrain and several Palestine solidarity organizations. Linda Sartor teaches graduate school, and is a community activists based out of Northern California. She has been a human rights activist in Palestine, Sri Lanka, Iran, Afghanistan and Bahrain. Paki Wieland is a retired social worker/family therapist educator in the Department of Applied Psychology, Antioch University, Keene, New Hampshire. Since the 1960s, she’s also been a dedicated anti-war and civil rights activist. Mike Lopercio is a restaurant owner from Arizona and has visited Iraq with a Military Families delegation. Brian Terrell lives and works at Strangers and Guests Farm in Maloy, Iowa. He is a long time peace activist and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
The six observers remain in Bahraini custory in the Naem Police Station in Manama. This group of internationals is the second to be deported by the Bahraini government. Attorneys Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath were deported on Saturday, February 11th. The two were handcuffed for the duration of their flight from Bahrain to London.
Raw video footage of activist Huwaida Arraf facing arrest in Bahrain on February 11, 2012.
Supporting the arrestees, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network additionally issued an action alert, calling on the Bahrain government to return the activists and not handcuff them during the flight:
REQUESTS: Return delegates stuff AND do NOT handcuff them on long journey home
PEOPLE TO CONTACT:
1. Call embassy in Bahrain and ask for an off-duty consular to go down to where the delegates are being held and make these demands: 011 973 1724 2700
2. Email embassy in Bahrain and ask for the same: manamaconsular@state.gov
3. Call the US State Department Bureau of Consular Services, Citizen’s Services (888) 407-4747. Try to speak to Trish Cyper-Burley. If she is not available then ask to speak with someone who is. – let them know that you are relying on the embassy to do their job and protect the rights of their citizens who are there as human rights activists
SOLIDARITY ACTION: Sign this petition to President Obama to stop any new arms deals Bahrain!
