Naomi Klein in Bil’in: boycott Israel

Mondoweiss

26 June 2009

Naomi Klein with Iyad Burnat of the Bil'in Popular Committee
Naomi Klein with Iyad Burnat of the Bil'in Popular Committee

Naomi Klein visited the West Bank village of Bil’in today to voice her support for the weekly demonstrations against the Separation Wall, and to reiterate her support for boycotting Israel. Her visit it timed with the release of her best selling book, The Shock Doctrine, in Israel/Palestine where it is being published in Arabic and Hebrew. During a press conference held under an olive tree near before the weekly protest, Klein explained her support for the boycott:

“It’s a boycott of Israeli institutions, it’s a boycott of the Israeli economy,” the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation wall.

“Boycott is a tactic …we’re trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa,”

“It’s an extraordinarily important part of Israel’s identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy,” the Canadian writer and activist said.

“When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don’t come, when the symphonies don’t come, when a film you really want to see doesn’t play at the Jerusalem film festival… then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is.”

The Ma’an News Agency reports that Klein was moved to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement because of the Israeli attack on Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Ma’an also explained the creative approach Klein is taking to selling her book in Israel while honoring the boycott:

As a part of her push for a boycott, Klein is donating the royalties her the book to her local publisher, Andalus, which specializes in translating Arabic texts into Hebrew. She is also working closely with Palestine’s Boycott National Committee (BNC), and refusing to cooperate with Israeli state institutions during what she called an “unusual book tour.”

Klein discussed choosing the Andalus publishing house in her January 2009 article in the Nation. In that article she made the important point that the boycott increases debate rather than cutting it off. The difference is that it forces discussion of the issues that must be discussed, but are frequently ignored. She made a similar point today in explaining her book tour,

“We’re rejecting normalization,” Klein said of her Middle East visit, “We’re rejecting the idea that there can be apolitical cocktail parties and book signings while violence like this is taking place so nearby.”

The AFP reports that after the press conference Klein watched as the Israeli military attacked the weekly protest with tear gas. She observed: “‘This apartheid, this is absolutely a system of segregation,’ Klein said adding that Israeli troops would never crack down as violently against Jewish protesters.”

Author Naomi Klein calls for boycott of Israel

AFP

26 June 2009

Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

“It’s a boycott of Israeli institutions, it’s a boycott of the Israeli economy,” the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation wall.

“Boycott is a tactic … we’re trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa,” said Klein, the author of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.”

“It’s an extraordinarily important part of Israel’s identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy,” the Canadian writer and activist said.

“When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don’t come, when the symphonies don’t come, when a film you really want to see doesn’t play at the Jerusalem film festival… then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is.”

She briefly joined about 200 villagers and foreign activists protesting the barrier which Israel says it needs to prevent attacks, but which Palestinians say aims at grabbing their land and undermining the viability of their promised state.

She then watched from a safe distance as the protesters reached the fence, where Israeli forces fired teargas and some youths responded by throwing stones at the army.

“This apartheid, this is absolutely a system of segregation,” Klein said adding that Israeli troops would never crack down as violently against Jewish protesters.

She pointed out that her visit coincided with court hearings in Quebec in a case where the villagers of Bilin are suing two Canadian companies, accusing them of illegally building and selling homes to Israelis on land that belongs to the village.

The plaintiffs claim that by building in the Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit, near Bilin, Green Park International and Green Mount International are in violation of international laws that prohibit an occupying power from transferring some of its population to the lands it occupies.

“I’m hoping and praying that Canadian courts will bring some justice to the people of Bilin,” Klein said.

Her visit was also part of a promotional tour in Israel and the West Bank for “The Shock Doctrine” which has recently been translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Klein said she would get no royalties from sales of the Hebrew version and that the proceeds would go instead to an activist group.

Children ‘very scared’ in Israeli incursion

Dominic Waghorn | Sky News

25 June 2009

Salah Awad claims Israeli soldiers ransacked his house
Salah Awad claims Israeli soldiers ransacked his house

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government hopes the move will help defuse growing tensions with the Obama Administration in America.

A rift between the two countries appears to be widening over Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building.

A meeting between Mr Netanyahu and US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell has been put off, reportedly because of growing frictions.

Israel has already lifted a number of checkpoints, and now says its military will refrain from entering Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem and Qalqilya except in cases where they believe attacks on Israelis are imminent.

Two nights ago in the Nablus village of Awata, a Palestinian family experienced one such Israeli military incursion.

Salah Awad told Sky News his sister-in-law was at home alone with seven of her children, aged two-and-a-half to 10.

“They came at midnight making a big noise to open the door,” he said. “But they didn’t say who they were. The children were very scared.”

Mr Awad claims the soldiers stayed for five hours, putting all the children in one room while ransacking the house.

“They destroyed all the furniture. They asked the children if their Dad carried a gun showing them their weapons.”

According to Mr Awad, three other homes in the village were searched but the Israelis found nothing.

The Israeli Defence Forces spokesman unit told Sky News its soldiers “uncovered AK-47 and Carl Gustov antitank rifles” during a “focused operation to uncover arms” in the area.

‘Free Gaza’ boats stopped in Cyprus

The Jerusalem Post

25 June 2009

Cyprus’ Merchant Shipping Department on Thursday prevented international activists from sailing to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid in defiance of Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.

Department chief Sergios Sergiou said that a fishing boat and a small ferry that the Free Gaza Group were to use for the trip from Cyprus to Gaza had not undergone safety inspections which would take “at least a few days” to complete.

“It’s a dangerous trip,” Sergiou told the Associated Press. “The vessels must undergo a general inspection before they are allowed to go.”

But Free Gaza Group spokesman Ramzi Kysia said that both vessels were allowed to sail from Cyprus during the group’s previous attempts to reach Gaza.

The Free Gaza Group has already made five successful boat trips from Cyprus to Gaza since August 2008. Kysia said the fishing boat sailed to the Palestinian territory in August last year. The ferry set sail in January this year during Israel’s three-week war in Gaza, but had to turn back a few hours into the trip after encountering mechanical problems.

Sergiou could not explain why the vessels were previously allowed to leave Cyprus.

Free Gaza spokeswoman Greta Berlin said she was “absolutely outraged”, but that activists would not be deterred.

Around 32 people including a former US congresswoman and an Irish Nobel laureate were to sail to Gaza to deliver 3 tons of medical supplies and 15 tons of cement.

“We promised the people of Gaza we would come back and that we would not forget them,” said Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Palestinian says settlers repeatedly damaged his home

Ali Waked | YNet News

24 June 2009

Ibrahim Ayid, of the village of Borin near Nablus, says he cannot complete construction on his home because it has been attacked three times during the past week by settlers.

The IDF stated that a number of incidents have occurred on the scene and that forces had to prevent physical violence from breaking out between Palestinians and settlers.

Ayid said that on Wednesday three settlers, one of them armed, had arrived at the construction site to threaten him.

“The settlers came down to the house, took apart the wood intended for construction, broke the water containers, and vandalized the property. They also threatened and chased away a tractor driver and electricians working there,” he recounted.

He said the previous incidents had occurred on Tuesday and Saturday of the past week. “They get backing from the settlement’s security guards. The goal of the army alerted to the scene is to peacefully chase away the settlers, by firing tear gas at us. This time the soldiers came as well, but they did nothing against the settlers in the village,” Ayid added.

He said he had filed a complaint with the Palestinian administration, which the soldiers regarded derogatorily. “They answered, ‘Come on, no administration’,” Ayid said. “The soldiers cursed and humiliated us, instead of bringing to justice those who in the course of a week vandalized and caused damage to my property three times.”

The IDF stated in response, “A group of Palestinians gathered in one place and a group of Israelis gathered in another place. When they approached one another an IDF force was there to prevent the sides from clashing. The sides left the area without further incident.”

Meanwhile, Palestinians are claiming that settlers from Gilad Farm set fire to a field in the village of Jat. They claim the settlers also cut down olive and fig trees and afterwards destroyed a field of tomatoes.