Harmeet Sooden. Picture taken in January 2005 on a farm outside Jenin where he was helping to plant olive trees.
Harmeet Sooden, a peace activist from New Zealand, was forcibly deported from Israel on the 18th of June at 1 am, after four days in jail. Sooden was told he was being deported because he was a ‘threat to the security of the State of Israel’. Sooden, along with Tom Fox, Norman Kember, and James Loney, was held in captivity for four months while working with the Christian Peacemaker’s Team (CPT) in Iraq.
“I am still reeling from this experience. It dredged up some old feelings. I told them honestly that I had come to revisit Yad Vashem, visit historic sites and volunteer for ISM. They never disclosed the official reason for denying me, the Ministry of Interior official told me that I was a ‘threat to the security of the State of Israel’,” Sooden said of his time in Israeli captivity.
When Sooden arrived early in the morning on June 14th he was immediately questioned by the authorities, who attempted to deport him the first time that night, without letting him talk to a lawyer. He resisted the first deportation and was transferred to “Unit 9”. Later they attempted to deport him again, assaulting him in the process and dragging him on to the plane. The pilot refused to fly and so he avoided the second deportation attempt. Sooden was later successfully deported with security officers aboard the plane, and will arrive in New Zealand at 2:15 pm on June 20th (Via Bangkok).
Sooden was targetted because of his past involvement with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Sooden was active previously in Nablus and Jenin with ISM and was part of a two week delegation to Iraq which turned into four months of captivity, during which one of his comrades, Tom Fox, was murdered.
To view original article, published in Electronic Intifada, click here
Press release, Tadamon, 9 June 2008
Across the world grassroots movements struggling in opposition to Israeli apartheid are marking the 60th year of the Palestinian Nakba (“catastrophe”) — 60 years of dispossession, ethnic cleansing and exile for Palestinians resulting from the creation of the state of Israel.
A grassroots response in opposition to Israeli apartheid is growing throughout the world sparked by an appeal launched by Palestinian civil-society organizations in 2005 for an international campaign directed at the government in Israel, a campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions. This critical campaign is modeled on a successful international campaign similar in nature that played a critical role in bringing an end to the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Today students in Quebec are now joining the international boycott campaign in large numbers including L’Association pour une Solidarite Syndicale Etudiante (ASSE), an important Quebec-wide student federation representing over 42,000 students.
ASSE voted to support the international campaign against Israeli apartheid at a Quebec-wide level after several local assemblies at university and Cegep campuses across the province voted at a local level within general student assemblies to support the boycott campaign. ASSE’s boycott resolution marks the first time that a major student union in Quebec or Canada has voted to support the international boycott campaign opposing Israeli apartheid.
Throughout the 2007-2008 school year ASSE in collaboration with Tadamon! Montreal, with support from Federation nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Quebec — Quebec’s largest college level teachers union — and the Quebec Public Interest Research Group organized multiple workshops throughout Quebec at Cegep and university campuses bringing together hundreds of students for popular education workshops outlining the critical importance for Quebec’s student movement to stand against Israeli apartheid.
ASSE represents the grassroots face of Quebec’s powerful student movement, with tens-of-thousands of members and a strong position against privatization and for free post-secondary education in Quebec.
In 2005 ASSE launched and lead a historic student strike across Quebec, with over one-hundred student unions participating at the height of a strike rooted in a demand for a cancellation on all student debt and free post-secondary education in Quebec.
Utilizing mass protest, creative direct actions and grassroots campus-based organizing ASSE has successfully fought against neo-liberal economic policies fronted by the Liberal government of Jean Charest, who upon taking governmental power moved to make important changes to financial aid program for students in Quebec, including a $103 million cut. After major protests lead by ASSE across Quebec the Liberal government was forced to reverse their cuts to student funding, marking one of the only times in Quebec’s recent history that grassroots social mobilization has successfully reversed unpopular government policy.
ASSE represents a grassroots power base within Quebec’s student movement, one that draws parallels between the struggle for accessible and free education in Quebec to larger movements for social justice in the Americas, the Middle East and internationally.
ASSE has now taken an important and courageous stand to support the international campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions, as a tangible step in solidarity with struggles against Israeli apartheid in Palestine and throughout the Middle East. This resolution marks the growing momentum behind the international movement against Israeli apartheid and a willingness to take action at a local level within progressive student networks in Quebec to challenge Israeli apartheid.
ASSE’s important stand also marks a critical opportunity for grassroots student and social movements in Quebec to challenge the Quebec and Canadian government complicity towards Israeli apartheid and today the outright support towards Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by Canada’s Conservative government.
Today we call on all student and labor unions to join L’Association pour une Solidarite Syndicale Etudiante in creating a strong and effective boycott movement against Israeli apartheid.
Tadamon! (“Solidarity!” in Arabic) is a Montreal-based collective of social-justice organizers & media activists, working to build relationships of solidarity with grassroots political movements for social and economic justice between Beirut and Montreal.
Mairead Maguire, Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, recently visited the Orphanages of Hebron while on a visit to the Occupied Territories to support non violent resistance there. Despite her experience with many suffering peoples, she said that she was shocked and disheartened by the havoc and ruin being created by the Israeli Army in the lives of the poorest and weakest of Palestinian society, the orphans and the poor. The orphanages are at the heart of programs run by the Islamic Charitable Institutions in Hebron, who have served the needy of that city since 1962.
“I was shocked and horrified to see the destruction of these Islamic Institutions.
The threats of the Israeli Army and Government against Orphans must be loudly
resisted by all of us concerned for a violence free and peaceful world for Muslim
Children, indeed for all our children. This behavior is immoral, unethical and illegal.
The Israeli Government should be held accountable by the International Community for its abuse of the rights of the children to safety and education. As occupiers of this country they have legal obligations to protect the occupied, especially women and children. “
On Tuesday, 26 February, the Israeli military issued the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) in Hebron 6 military orders for confiscations and closure of the various facilities of the society. These included two bakeries, an apartment building and administrative buildings, a new shopping mall, the warehouse, three schools and two orphanages.
To date they have confiscated a warehouse with over $300,000 worth of school supplies, clothing, and food, two new school buses, and an apartment building with thirty units. Two bakeries supplying 5,000 families with bread have been raided and all the equipment removed. The gates of a $2,000,000 school for 1200 students, scheduled to open on Sept. 2008 have been welded shut. A sewing center where the girls learned a craft and earned small sums was closed and all the contents confiscated. In the past week schools and kindergartens belonging to the Charities in Shyukh and Beit Ula, villages near Hebron have also been sealed and all of their contents confiscated. Soldiers took examination papers, birth certificates and school records as well as equipment amounting to about $30K.
“The outside world, for the most part, “Maguire continues, ” is unaware of this Israeli Government’s Policy of demonization and willful destruction of the Muslim Institutions, one by one, in an attempt to destroy the spirit and resilience of the Muslim communities, not only in Hebron but throughout the illegally occupied Palestinian territories. It was for me horrific to witness how the Israeli Government’s, (and the USA/UK Governments’) War on Terrorism comes to be played out on the streets of Hebron against Orphan children. If the schools and orphanages continue to be closed down, and the military continue to destroy completely these institutions, then 7000 children will be without school and 4,500 children will be without homes
“ The excuse given by the Army” Maguire continues, “ is that these Islamic Institutions are a front for ‘Hamas’ but the Islamic Charitable Society was established in l962, and all their financial dealings and accounting are completely open [and have been so since the founding]. “The money for the school and orphanages comes from local investments (they have their own businesses), from donors abroad and from Arab and Western countries (Prince Charles, through a UK Trust has donated towards these orphanages).”
The only criterion for helping the orphans is that their families are unable to care for them; there is no political agenda in their selection. The Army also makes the entirely generic charge that the Charities assist prisoner’s families, and although the PA, most major UN groups and NGOs do provide such assistance, the Charities do not.
The Israeli measures in Hebron constitute a series of violations of articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; article 39 of the Fourth Geneva Convention; article. 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; article 50 (GCIV), which stipulates the duty of the Occupying Power to facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children; article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which relates to right to education of children; and article 9 of UDHR, which guarantees protection against arbitrary arrest and detention. An identical protection is guaranteed by Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, the measures are a violation of the Oslo Agreement and the The Israeli measures in Hebron constitute a series of violations of articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; article 39 of the Fourth Geneva Convention; article. 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; article 50 (GCIV), which stipulates the duty of the Occupying Power to facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children; article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which relates to right to education of children; and article 9 of UDHR, which guarantees protection against arbitrary arrest and detention. An identical protection is guaranteed by Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, the measures are a violation of the Oslo Agreement and the Hebron Agreement that were signed by Israel in 1995 and 1997, respectively
“The United Kingdom has many questions to answer here too.” Maguire charges. “Tony Blair is based in East Jerusalem, (a few hours from Hebron), so he is well aware of this systematic and willful destruction of Islamic charitable institutions and his brief is to help
Palestinian economic reconstruction. How ironic whilst he is suppose to be helping businesses etc., the Israeli military are in the dead of night, spreading terror and destruction of the Islamic communities. What are Mr. Blair and the UK governments
doing about this?”
.Due primarily to the efforts of the Christian Peace Makers (an Ecumenical Group supporting violence reduction in Hebron} a wide variety of supporters, including Jimmy Carter, the Desmond Tutu Foundation, the UN Commission on Human Rights, Rabbis for Human Rights, YMCA’s, etc. have rallied to help, and internationals have been sleeping in the Orphanages to comfort the frightened children and to deter invasion when the risk seems high.
The Charities and their supporters have appealed to the Israeli High Court , which has refused to issue a stop order and has scheduled a hearing on the issues of the case in October. Without the stop order the Army can close the Orphanages any time if they feel international interest has faded. The role of international and Israeli supporters has played an important role is saving the few surviving institutions that provide a safety net in this economically devastated city, which has lost 70% of its income due to the checkpoints and other closures of the Occupation.
for more details and pictures of Maguires’s visit and of the Army during the confiscation of property, see; http://www.hebronorphans.blogspot.com
Contacts: Christian Peace Makers: 02 222 8485 (office),
CPT Spokesperson Art Arbour 054-733-7056
Email:cptheb@palnet.com
Orphanages contact: Prof. Rasheed 0599 252211 rash2161@yahoo.com
The news that the US State Department has decided to cancel all previously approved Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza is deeply shocking. In yet another clear demonstration of US complicity with the Israeli occupation regime, the State Department has decided to withdraw the grants for graduate studies in the US because Israel has not given permission for the students to leave Gaza. The US Consulate in Jerusalem is reported to have stated that the grant money had been “redirected” because of concern that if the students were forced to remain in Gaza the grant money would go to waste. Is it credible for the US government, principal supporter and financier of Israel, to claim impotence in the face of Israeli measures restricting the movement of Palestinians into and out of the Gaza Strip?
This US government measure comes only days after Amnesty International termed the siege and imprisonment of a million and a half Palestinians in the Gaza Strip collective punishment that is causing the gravest humanitarian crisis to date; the decision was announced scarcely a few weeks after former US President Carter called the imprisonment of the entire Gaza population a terrible human rights crime and a brutal punishment and called for strong voices in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere to speak out and condemn this human rights tragedy. Only yesterday, Nobel laureate and head of the UN human rights observer team visiting the Gaza Strip, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, denounced the international community for its “silence and complicity” on Israel’s “abominable” 11-month blockade of Gaza.
What should be the response of the international academic community to this travesty of the most basic of human rights, the right to move freely, especially when students and academics are involved? We recall that one of the strongest arguments against the academic boycott of Israel put forth by some associations of academics in the United States and Europe is that boycotts violate the free exchange and circulation of ideas among academics. How can there be a free exchange of ideas when a whole people are denied their basic human right of movement? Are the human rights—let alone academic freedom—of Palestinian students and scholars of no concern to academics the world over?
We urge all associations of academics, as well as individual academics, particularly in the United States, to protest in the strongest terms possible this latest instance of US government complicity in the criminal Israeli policy of siege and imprisonment. We also appeal to academics to advocate and adopt effective measures to counter US complicity and, most crucially, Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights and international humanitarian law. The Israeli academy in particular cannot be allowed to carry on its business as usual in the face of the deepening oppression of the Palestinian people. Its deafening silence is a certain sign of its complicity in the structures of oppression, including the criminal siege upon the Gaza Strip and the collective punishment of its people. Measures such as academic boycotts, divestment initiatives, and any other form of pressure on the Israeli academy are among the few avenues left for academic activism today.
On May 27, 2008, representatives from Adalah-NY and Jews Against the Occupation (JATO) met with representatives from the United Arab Emirates UN Mission in Manhattan. They presented the UAE representatives with a letter from students from the West Bank village of Jayyous calling on the people of Dubai to boycott Israeli billionaire and settlement-builder Lev Leviev. In mid-April, Leviev announced that he would open two jewelry stores in Dubai. Adalah-NY then called on Dubai to boycott Leviev because of his businesses’ involvement in human right abuses and violations of international law in Palestine, Angola and New York City. Leviev’s companies have built settlement homes in Jayyous, in Bil’in, in Har Homa on Jabel abu Ghneim, and in Maale Adumim. On April 30, Ali Ebrahim, Deputy Director General for Executive Affairs in Dubai, was quoted in “Gulf News” saying that authorities had “not granted a trade license to any business of this name” and would not approve the application should one be made. Ebrahim “added that Israeli businesses would be prevented from operating in Dubai through non-Israeli partners.” In the May 27 meeting, Adalah-NY and JATO also gave the UAE representatives photos showing that Leviev’s jewelry is being advertised and sold by his Palestinian/Moroccan partner Arif Ben Khadra in his “Levant” stores in Dubai (http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/05/97529.html), and asked the UAE to heed the Jayyous students’ boycott call below and enforce their government’s boycott pledge.
We, high school students of English in the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Jayyous, declare our complete opposition to the Israeli businessman Mr. Lev Leviev who is destroying our olive groves that have sustained our village for centuries. Many of our families are not allowed permits by the Israeli occupying forces to work our own lands that Israel’s Wall is stealing for Mr. Leviev so he may expand his settlement “Zufim” onto our village’s farmlands.
We hear that the government of the United Arab Emirates has stopped Mr. Leviev from opening his diamond stores in Dubai Emirate. We ask the government and the people of Dubai to prevent the sale to customers in Dubai of “Leviev’s rocks of apartheid,” which will be used by Mr. Leviev to build more settlements on Jayyous’ lands.
How do we describe to the world what our life is like in occupied Jayyous in Palestine? The sadness in the eyes of our neighbors, whose only farmlands have been confiscated to build a settlement financed by Mr. Lev Leviev; the exhaustion that results when every daily action requires an extraordinary effort and when despair fights for a place on our people’s faces, as they carry their bags and babies through checkpoints, passing soldiers and tanks.
On rainy days the water swells around our feet while we are going to our schools in Jayyous and Qalqilia. On the other hand, Israeli soldiers stand in shelters and never seem to get wet under their helmets and uniforms. They pull us out of our cars and line us up facing the wall. They sometimes make us sit in the dirt or in the rain, or under the hot sun while they chat on their mobile phones, joke with their friends, eat, smoke, and insult us with their words and their actions.
How do we explain how it feels when the wind blows and fill our noses with dust, and with the smell of sewage and garbage? Everyday, we feel more insecure, as curfews prevent pregnant women from giving birth in hospitals, and stop ambulances in their tracks, forcing some families to live with the decaying corpses of their family members for days.
What has increased our feeling of insecurity as students is the growing number of school days missed, the invasion and closure of the schools by Israeli forces, the number of teachers who cannot get to work, and the number of Palestinian prisoners who are without adequate food, water, sanitation, trials and family visits. These provocative practices that we grew up with in Jayyous have created many psychological problems for us. We think often of our fellow students who cannot afford to go to universities, students made poor because their families can no longer work on their farms because those lands are now isolated behind the “separation wall” where Mr. Leviev’s bulldozers destroy our grandfathers’ trees.
We think about the flood of indignities at the checkpoints. All our dreams for the future have been negatively affected and it’s becoming too challenging to fulfill them. As students we always dream of preparing for the future, but unfortunately many obstacles, such as curfews, Walls, closures, and unpredictable checkpoints are preventing their realization.
We hope for all students to live in peace, justice, freedom and love. Every Leviev diamond bought in Dubai pays for our oppression and dispossession. Give our proud village the chance to feed itself and grow again — boycott Mr. Lev Leviev, in Dubai and all over the world.
