The Dishonor of Israeli Honors
The responses of international figures to Palestinian and international appeals to shun Israeli prizes and other honors have invariably focused on the tired argument that they do not want to punish Israeli academics or cultural workers by refusing such opportunities. Another related argument is that by their presence in Israel, they will be strengthening those Israelis who fight their establishment — on the assumption that the academy and the cultural arena are where Israeli dissent flourishes. Rarely is the fact that Palestinians are appealing to them a relevant consideration. It seems the only voice such people hear is the Israeli voice. Take, for example, the Spanish writer, Antonio Muñoz Molina, who this month is expected to travel to Jerusalem to receive an award at the hands of Israel's President Shimon Peres. It seems here that we face the tragic and astounding case of a writer who does not read. Molina has responded to appeals to him by both international and Palestinian civil society saying that he chooses to be with Israelis who are against their government rather than “to boycott a whole people,” and that boycott actions do not distinguish between people and their states [1]. Supposing for a moment that boycotts are politically naïve, as Molina seems to suggest, it behooves him to see how the acceptance of an award handed out by the head of the state would clearly be legitimizing that very state. More importantly, Molina has spoken against the appeals to him, while clearly having not read those very appeals, or, in all likelihood, not having attempted to understand their message, in which case he should have spared himself the embarrassment and stayed silent. No one has asked Molina to cut off all ties to individual Israelis; however, PACBI and other groups have called on him not to participate in functions involving complicit Israeli institutions, or in government sponsored events. Had Molina read our appeal to him carefully [2], he would have learned that the Palestinian call for cultural boycott does not target individuals. This point cannot be stressed more. It is a call to boycott complicit Israeli institutions and events sponsored by the government and designed to promote Israel's image as a bastion of culture. As such, communication with Israelis is not in question. There are many forms in which an engagement with Israeli academics can take place outside the framework of complicit institutions. What is in question is legitimizing Israel as a center of academic and cultural life by giving lectures, accepting awards, and taking part in Israeli events, thereby granting recognition to its complicit institutions. ... We call upon international academics and cultural figures to read our statements and our guidelines within the framework of resisting colonization through strategies of pressure rather than the 'handle colonizers with care' approach. We appeal to them once more, as the indigenous oppressed people, to respect our strategy of resistance in the form of boycotts and moral pressure and not to accept the dishonor of Israeli honors.
Read more...
New Protest Village Bab Al Karama/Gate of Dignity Springs Up
Podignuto novo prosvjedno selo Bab Al Karama (Vrata dostojanstva) (18. siječanj 2013)
U petak (18. siječnja 2013) u jutro, dok je većina izraelskih vojnika na okupiranoj Zapadnoj obali bila usredotočena na redovite tjedne prosvjede, mještani Beit Ikse, malog sela sjeverozapadno od Jeruzalema, podigli su još jedno prosvjedno selo, slično Bab Al Shamsu, koji je podignut istočno od Jeruzalema tjedan dana ranije. Selo Beit Iksa ostalo je bez gotovo sve svoje poljoprivredne i povijesne zemlje, počevši od 1948. do aneksije šireg područja Jeruzalema i izgradnje aparthejdskog Zida i kolonističkih naselja koja gotovo u potpunosti okružuju selo. Na jednom od posljednjih komada zemlje, do aparthejdskog Zida, mještani i aktivisti podigli su džamiju i šatore. Okupilo se više od 100 sudionika koji su u novom selu molili i najavili da će nastaviti u duhu Bab Al Shamsa tražiti povrat zemlje koja je njihova.
Read more...
A free-speech controversy grows in Brooklyn
“That's a nice college you've got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.” That's not too far removed from the message being sent by some members of New York's City Council to the president of Brooklyn College, a part of City University of New York and the scene of what the New York Post calls a “Mideast War in Brooklyn.” On Thursday, in an event co-sponsored by the college's political science department and various campus organizations -- including Students for Justice in Palestine -- students will hear from two spokespeople for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that seeks to punish Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.
Read more...
Dershowitz fights academic freedom at Brooklyn College
It comes as little surprise that Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, Brooklyn College alumnus and raving apologist for Israeli crimes, has appointed himself commanding general in the assault on the college's Political Science department for co-sponsoring a February 7 panel discussion on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. As the BDS website notes, the non-violent movement was launched by sectors of Palestinian civil society as a means of pressuring Israel "until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights". BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti and philosopher Judith Butler are scheduled presenters.
Read more...
PSP Activists Join New Village Bab Al Shams
Međunarodni mirovni aktivisti se priključili aktivistima u prosvjednom selu Bab Al Shams (14. siječanj 2013)
U ranim jutarnjim satima petka, 11. siječnja 2013, skupina Palestinaca u organizaciji Odbora za koordinaciju narodne borbe okupila se na području istočno od Jeruzalema poznatom pod nazivom koridor E-1 i brzo podigla selo šatora. E-1 je jedno od najvažnijih strateških područja na Zapadnoj obali. Nekoliko je izraelskih režima najavljivalo kako na tom području namjeravaju izgraditi kolonističko naselje, čime bi Zapadna obala bila presječena na pola. Nakon što je prije nekoliko mjeseci izraelski premijer Netanyahu najavio svoje planove za izgradnju isključivo židovske zajednice na području E-1, Palestinci su u petak (11. siječnja) odlučili uzeti stvar u svoje ruke. Za nekoliko sati u selu šatora, koje je nazvano Bab Al Shams prema izmišljenom gradu iz romana Eliasa Khouryja, okupilo se više od 200 Palestinaca. Selo se sastojalo od liječničke klinike i nekoliko šatora i imalo je struju i internet. Budući da su aktivisti očekivali da će izraelska vlada nastojati uništiti novo selo, istovremeno su od izraelskog Visokog suda zatražili i dobili odluku kojom se zabranjuje rušenje sela tijekom razdoblja od najmanje šest dana. Među okupljenima koji su se grijali oko vatri u novom selu tog prvog studenog dana bio je i stariji Palestinac s ispravama o vlasništvu nad zemljom poznatom i kao E-1 na kojoj je podignut Bab Al Shams. No unatoč odluci Visokog suda i pravnoj dokumentaciji koja dokazuje da je zemlja u privatnom vlasništvu Palestinca koji je dao svoju dozvolu da na njoj bude izgrađena ova zajednica, Netanyahu je odmah odlučio da selo treba ukloniti. Do ranih jutarnjih sati u subotu (12. siječnja) sve ceste koje vode prema području E-1 blokirale su izraelska vojska i policija koje nikog, uključujući novinare, nisu puštale da prođe. Aktivisti, uključujući aktiviste iz Projekta solidarnosti s Palestincima iz Beit Ommara, su unatoč tome bili odlučni da uđu u Bab Al Shams. Desetci Palestinaca odvezli su se u obližnji grad al Zaim i zatim pješačili 3 kilometra do Bab Al Shamsa kako bi poduprli ovu akciju. U međuvremenu se Netanyahu dosjetio vlastitog tumačenja odluke visokog suda inzistirajući da je sudskim nalogom onemogućeno samo rušenje objekata, ali ne i evakuacija onih koji se u selu nalaze. Aktivisti su iz šatora gledali kako se cijelu subotu oko Bab Al Shamsa gomilaju izraelske snage i u više navrata primili naredbe da se „evakuiraju“. Kratko nakon ponoći između 500 i 1000 izraelskih policajaca ušlo je u Bab al Shams. Aktivisti su bili spremni za napad i okupili su se u središtu sela, držali se jedni za druge rukama i sjeli na zemlju. No, budući da je na svakog palestinskog sudionika bilo najmanje 5 pripadnika izraelskih snaga, za nekoliko su sati uhićeni svi koji su se nalazili u prosvjednom selu. Uhićeni aktivisti utrpani su u autobuse i odvezeni na kontrolnu točku Qalandiya sjeverno od Jeruzalema. Tijekom uhićenja ozlijeđeno je najmanje 6 osoba, 2 lakše, dok je 4 moralo liječničku pomoć primiti u bolnici zbog modrica i kontuzija po licu koje su im udarcima nanijeli izraelski policajci. Iako je prosvjedno selo Bab al-Shams postojalo samo 2 dana, za mnoge predstavlja izvor inspiracije. U njemu su zajedno sudjelovali aktivisti iz raznih palestinskih mjesta, od Um Al Fahema u Galileji do Beit Ommara i Hebrona na jugu Zapadne obale.
Read more...
Israeli and Palestinian textbooks fail balance test, study finds
Israeli and Palestinian textbooks get failing grades when it comes to adequately and positively representing each other's people, culture and history, according to a three-year, U.S-funded study released Monday. On the bright side, researchers concluded that most schoolbooks on both sides were factually accurate, even though they usually described each other in negative, unflattering terms and typically cast one another as the “enemy.” Extremely negative material, such as demonization, incitement to violence or depicting the other side as subhuman, were rare in both Israeli and Palestinian books, the report found.
Read more...
How Jews should relate to Palestine
As a religious Jew, I believe that the Jew qua Jew has three homes: the state of which she is a citizen; the Jewish community of which she is a participant, and the land of Israel. Jews do not need political sovereignty in an exclusivist ethnic state in order to feel at home in that land. In fact, increasingly I am feeling less at home in the State of Israel, than in the United States. But I do feel at home in my home in Jerusalem in Eretz Yisrael, and I would like to be welcomed by Palestinians as a Jew, and, yes, as an Israeli, living in Palestine. In fact, I would like both homelands to be shared homelands.
Read more...
Israel Refuses to Prosecute Settler as Attacks Continue in Beit Ommar Area
Izrael odbija procesuirati kolonista za napad Molotovljevim koktelom na palestinske civile (08. siječanj 2013)
Izraelski list Haaretz je 06. siječnja 2013. izvijestio da je jeruzalemski okružni tužitelj odlučio da neće progoniti izraelskog kolonista koji je bacio vatrenu bombu na jedan palestinski taksi sjeverno od Beit Ommara u kolovozu. U napadu je teško ranjeno 6 osoba, uključujući djecu. Radi se o još jednom primjeru nepostojanja političke volje kod izraelskih vlasti da procesuiraju koloniste odgovorne za zločine, zahvaljujući čemu desničarski kolonisti sve učestalije napadaju i vandaliziraju palestinsku imovinu. 01. siječnja 2013. spaljen je automobil i ispisani hebrejski grafiti po zidovima doma dvoje starijih mještana Beit Ommara. Kolonisti su njihovoj kući prišli usred noći i nekoliko minuta vandalizirali dom, a nakon toga zapalili vozilo. Napadači nisu uhićeni, iako se na udaljenosti kraćoj od 2 km nalazi velika izraelska vojna baza i zatvor. Izraelski su vojnici na mjesto incidenta stigli 10 minuta kasnije. Na dijelovima Zapadne obale koji su pod kontrolom izraelske vojske (Zone B i C, koje uključuju cijelo područje Beit Ommara i njegovu okolicu) izraelska je vojska odgovorna za zaštitu palestinskih civila od izraelskog nasilja. Udruge za ljudska prava dokumentirale su bezbrojne slučajeve kolonističkih napada izvedenih uz pratnju vojske ili barem bez njenog uplitanja. Izraelske vlasti koloniste za nasilje nad Palestincima procesuiraju u tek manje od 10% prijavljenih slučajeva, a osude su ekstremno rijetke, čime se kolonistima odašilje poruka da su napadi na palestinske civile dopušteni.
Read more...
