Category: Press Releases

Apartheid Masked: Settlements being built and Palestinian homes demolished under the shadow of “peace” talks.

For information, pictures, and video evidence, please contact:
Ronald 0548195210 or 0598254517 or 02-2971829

Peace Now Settlement Watch says: “Although Olmert declared a settlement freeze, we see that on the ground there is construction in settlements all over the West Bank, in all kinds of settlements, and as long as the Government does not stop settlement activity on the ground, the negotiations cannot succeed.”

A group of activists documented this continued construction in several settlements. They also documented the demolition of Palestinian houses which has continued after the peace conference, eight homes having been destroyed since Annapolis. They filmed construction in Nof Zion and Har Homa last week, and also took pictures of construction going on in Modi’in Illit, Ma’ale Adumim, Karnei Shomron, Alfei Menashe, and the Barkan industrial area.

Activists also documented the construction that is taking place on the train being built to run through occupied East Jerusalem villages of Shuafat and Beit Hanina. This train will link settlements like Givat Ze’ev to Jerusalem, and with the settlements inside and around Jerusalem, create facts on the ground which will make a future Palestinian state, with Al-Quds as its capital, impossible.

The Israeli Cabinet recently instructed the Israel Antiquities Authority to continue excavations at the Mugrabi walkway, the former site of the Mugrabi neighbourhood which was demolished in 1967, near the Western Wall in occupied East Jerusalem. A team of Turkish experts who had examined the excavations recommended that Israel stop work immediately. Their findings were published in a report which said that Israel was attempting to disrupt Jerusalem’s history by stressing the Jewish aspect of Jerusalem, and that the excavations were part of a “systematically implemented effort to destroy values associated with cultural assets of the Ayyubid, Mameluke and Ottoman periods.”

The 2003 Roadmap to Peace that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed at Annapolis to resume says unequivocally that Israel must “freeze all settlement activity, including the “natural growth” of existing settlements.”

PNGO: Palestinian Delegation Withdraws from Madrid Just Peace Forum

For immediate release

13 December 2007

Protesting Serious Violations

The Palestinian civil society delegation to the Forum for a Just Peace in the Middle East, planned for December 14 to 16 in Madrid, has decided not to participate in the Forum due to serious last-minute violations. Coordinators of the delegation, which was to be led by the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), learned last night that due to unprecedented pressure from the Israeli establishment, a substantial Israeli delegation (different from the progressive civil society Israeli delegation led by the Alternative Information Center, AIC, scheduled to participate in the Forum) was undemocratically and underhandedly “invited” to participate in the Forum without endorsing the Forum’s Reference Document [1]. This is not only a significant breach of the key rule of participation; it is a contravention of the express will of the overwhelming majority of the International Committee, the decision-making steering committee of the conference.

The International Committee, which includes representatives of PNGO, AIC, and other key Arab and international civil society networks, decided as far back as July that any group that wishes to take part in the Forum must first endorse the Reference Document as a necessary condition of participation. This Reference Document articulates the consensus principles agreed upon by the diverse international groups organizing the Forum, and projects an alternative vision for justice and peace based on international law and universal human rights. We, and virtually all of our partners, view the violation of this basic criterion as an undemocratic, unprofessional and utterly unacceptable attempt by some to impose governmental will on a distinguished civil society initiative. Protesting this infringement of democratic principles and recognizing that it effectively opens the door to the possibility of imposing an agenda at odds with the Forum’s vision, several of our local and international partners have also decided to withdraw. These include the Israeli delegation led by AIC, the Occupied Syrian Golan-Heights delegation, as well as many Arab and international figures and institutions.

We are deeply disappointed, saddened and surprised by this not-so-innocently-timed turn of events. We sincerely regret that an otherwise truly inspiring and democratically-organized initiative advocating peace based on justice and solidarity between nations has been hijacked by outside groups that, after failing to influence the progressive and visionary political platform of the Forum, resorted to an undemocratic coup to impose their will. Their political agenda essentially contradicts the basic principle that only peace built on justice, international law and human rights, as outlined in the Forum’s Reference Document, can be viable, equitable and sustainable.

We deeply appreciate the Spanish civil society organizations’ noble and untiring efforts in organizing this Forum in the most professional, progressive and inclusive way. They are our partners for the long haul in the struggle against the forces of occupation, racism and imperial hegemony. We share with them our aspirations for a just peace.

[1] http://www.foroporlapaz.org/upload/documentos/D0005-07_Reference_doc_FINAL_EN.pdf

AATW: Anti-Leviev protest at Tel Aviv Critical Mass

On December 8, Israeli activists held a critical mass protest against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, and against capitalism. About 50 bicycle-riding activists rode to the David Intercontinental hotel where the Israel business conference was taking place. One of the sponsors of the event was Africa-Israel, a vast holding company controlled by Israeli diamond and settlement mogul, Lev Leviev, whose jewelry boutique in New York City was the target of a protest by 60 people the same day. The New York protest was called by Adalah-NY, which is leading a campaign to boycott Leviev’s businesses because he builds settlements and abuses marginalized communities in other parts of the world. Activists in Tel Aviv held aloft signs that read in English, “Africa-Israel & Lev Lebaiev Build on Robbed Lands,” and “Lev Lebaiev & Africa-Israel: Land Theft Incorporated.”

Robbed Lands 2
Land theft inc

The riders never made it to their destination. When they arrived at Yarkon, they were met by police who announced they would arrest the activists if they didn’t move to the sidewalk. A minute later, the police began pushing riders over with their vehicles, and on foot. The police cursed at and hit the protestors, continuing even after six arrests, including a photographer. This abuse continued on the way to the police station.

The photographer was released later that night, and the other arrestees were scheduled to appear before an Israeli judge on the morning of December 9.

December 8 in Tel Aviv: Six Arrested at Critical Mass
https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8107/index.php

December 8: Protesting Leviev in New York City
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2007/12/93360.html
By Israeli activists http://www.awalls.org

ANOTHER VOICE: CALL FOR BOYCOTT ON INTIFADA ANNIVERSARY

ANOTHER VOICE

December 8, 2007

For Immediate Release

On December 9th, 2007, the twentieth anniversary of the first intifada, we call for a general boycott of Israeli products.

Israel’s income from Palestine is estimated at 3 billion dollars annually. When anyone purchases Israeli products, they are funding the occupation of our land. They are funding bullets, weapons, tanks, and fighter planes which are being used to kill our family and countrymen. They are funding bulldozers to uproot the trees of our ancestors and demolish our relatives’ homes. The soldiers manning the checkpoints are kept warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and well fed year round, with every purchase of an Israeli product.

Israel has a stranglehold over our economy which allows it to punish us whenever it wants by cutting off our access to essentials, as they are doing to our brothers and sisters in the Gaza Strip. Yet, despite the overwhelming odds, we must continue to resist and take action.

Boycotting during the first intifada was an essential component in the collective effort to end the occupation. People tried not to buy Israeli products but, instead, to contribute to the development of a national economy. Cooperatives sprung up to cover the shortages created by the boycott of Israeli products. People reclaimed lots and planted them, raised livestock, looked locally within their communities for alternatives to raw Israeli materials. This was part of civil disobedience against the civil administration, directed by local popular committees together with the political direction formulated by the Unified National Leadership.

Our call for a day of boycott is in remembrance of what once was, and what could resume today. We are all children and parents of the intifada. Every single one of us has a role to play in the struggle for our freedom. So, to commemorate the spark that awoke the world to our plight; to recall the spirit of our collective resistance; and to affirm the power that people have to make change, we call on everyone to refrain from buying any Israeli products on December 9th.

Resist! Boycott! We Are Intifada!

For more information, contact:

Huwaida Arraf: 0599-130-426

Saleh Hijazi: 0599-776-894

Web: www.anothervoice-palestine.org

E-mail: info@anothervoice-palestine.org

ACTION UPDATE! 11 Human Rights activists arrested in E-1 Area!

**UPDATE** As of 6:00 pm all of those arrested have been released. But the conditions of their release reveals the apartheid nature of the Israeli courts system. The Israelis and internationals arrested have only been made to sign conditions, the Palestinians alone are forced to go to court. We will see what happens tomorrow when settlers try to establish themselves in the E-1 area, as well as in seven other areas across the West Bank. Will they be forced out as soon, and with as much force as these activists did today?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Three Palestinians, five Israelis, and three international (Swedish) activists were forcibly evicted from a Palestinian house and arrested today in the E-1 area. They have now been taken to Ma’ale Adumim police station. Early this morning Palestinians built a house in the controversial E-1 area. Palestinians are routinely denied permits to build on their own land, and homes that have been built are demolished. The Human Rights activists stayed inside for a few hours before a large police and army presence evicted them through use of force.

The E-1, or East-1 area, is between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem, on lands from nearby Palestinian villages. The Israeli government plans to build a settlement of 3,500 apartments and an industrial park in this area. This will effectively connect the Ma’ale Adumim settlement with Occupied East Jerusalem, dividing the West Bank in two while separating Jerusalem from all of it. In addition land has recently been confiscated to build a road to connect the two Palestinian enclaves that will be created on both sides of the “settlement bloc”.

On September 24th, the Israeli army confiscated 1,100 dunums of Palestinian land to provide ‘transportational contiguity’ by building a Palestinian-only road through the E1 area. The settlement blocs will be annexed to Israel with territorial contiguity, while Palestinians must settle for a collection of tunnels and bridges that will allow them to drive between the separate enclaves of the West Bank. These Apartheid roads will be controlled by Israel for security reasons, and will further divide the future ‘viable’ Palestinian state on more confiscated lands.

This Palestinian family is not the only one to be forced to leave their homes. The 2,700 strong Jahalin Bedouin community is also being driven out of the land they have lived on as refugees since they were forced to leave the Negev desert after the Nakba. Israel plans to displace the Bedouin onto lands belonging to the adjacent Palestinian villages. In some cases in the past, the Bedouin were forcibly displaced onto private properties belonging to the residents of these communities.

For more information please contact:
0545573285 or 0547847942