Al Arabiya: Hollywood stars shun pro-Israeli diamond store

To view original article, published by Al Arabiya News Channel on the 1st January, click here (Arabic version here)

Hollywood stars have called for their pictures to be removed from the website of a diamond company that is associated with settlement expansion in Israel and human rights violations in Africa.

The diamond stores owned by Jewish-American billionaire Lev Leviev had to remove pictures of several actresses after they complained of being linked to a company that funds settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories, a statement issued by the pro-Palestinian human rights group Adalah- New York said.

The actresses include Salma Hayek, Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Andie Macdowell, and Lucy Liu.

The celebrities were contacted by the rights group Adalah and the New York based ‘Jews Against the Occupation’ and asked them to distance themselves from a corporation that supports the Zionist project.

The organizations sent letters to the actresses and held negotiations with their representatives to inform them of the human rights violations Leviev is involved in in Palestine and South Africa. As a result the actresses demanded that pictures of them wearing his diamonds were removed from the company’s website.

“Unethical business”

In October, the ambassador of Oxfam International aid agency Kristin Davis demanded that the Leviev’s company remove her pictures from its website.

In June, UNICEF announced its refusal to receive any future donations from Leviev for his involvement in building settlements in the West Bank.

UNICEF justified its decision by stating that it does not receive donations from any parties in conflicts.

“We are gratified that these stars have joined UNICEF, Oxfam and a growing list of others who have distanced themselves from Leviev over his companies’ settlement construction in violation of international law in Palestine, and rights abuses in Angola and Namibia,” Ethan Heitner from Adalah- NY said.

“Some immediately expressed concern when we explained that Leviev was using their photos to whitewash his unethical business practices,” he said, adding “their actions show that Leviev’s wealth and diamonds can’t buy impunity.”

Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid

Young man in critical condition after being shot three times in the head by Israeli forces during demonstration for Gaza

December 29th 2008 – Abu Dis

A young Palestinian man is in critical condition after having been shot three times with rubber-coated steel bullets by Israeli forces. He was shot from two metres away while attending a demonstration in solidarity against the Israeli massacres in Gaza on the 29th December. He is currently in critical condition in Muqassad Hospital in Jerusalem.

The demonstration in support of the people in Gaza took place at 5pm in Abu Dis in the centre of the town, near the mosque.

Hammam Al-Ashari, 18 years old, was on his way with his friends to the main street of the city at 6:30pm. As he walked up a stairway, Israeli soldiers shot him with three rubber-coated steel bullets in the head from 2 metres away. Three other people were also hit, but were treated at the local clinic.

The military prevented the waiting ambulance from reaching Hammam for half an hour. When the medics finally reached him they saw from the blood track near the boy that the soldiers had dragged Hammam several meters along the ground. First the medics assumed that the soldiers had treated Hammam because of a bandage around his head, but they soon realised that the soldiers had not even cleaned the wounds.

Hammam was immediately taken to the Muqassad Hospital in Jerusalem and treated for 7 hours. From the CT scan of his head the doctors could see two of the bullets, but from the wounds to his head they knew been shot three times. They found the last bullet in the back of his brain, but because of the plastic that covers the bullets, it had made a reflection and the bullet had not appeared on the CT pictures.

The doctors assessed that the treatment from the soldiers and the plastic around the rubber-coated steel bullet were two factors that had worsened Hammams condition.

Hammam al-Ashari is still unconscious and in a critical condition.

Mohammed Khawaje, shot by Israeli forces in Ni’lin while demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza, has died

A Palestinian man, who was left brain-dead on the 28th December after being shot in the head with live ammunition by Israeli forces in the village of Ni’lin, died this evening.

Israeli forces shot 20 year old Mohammed Khawaje in the forehead with live ammunition as he was demonstrating in the village of Ni’lin against the Israeli massacres in Gaza. He was pronounced brain-dead on the evening of the 31st December.

Arafat Khawaje, 22, was shot in the back and killed by Israeli soldiers at the same demonstration on the 28th December.

17-year-old Muhammad Hamid was also killed on the 28th December as he protested close to an Israeli watchtower. He was transferred to Ramallah Hospital where medics announced he had sustained three gunshot wounds in his abdomen and chest. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

ISM volunteers based in the village of Ni’lin witnessed the shootings by Israeli soldiers.

Sara Weinberg, a resident of Chicago, said, “The internationals that live in the village went out in solidarity with Ni’lin residents to demonstrate against the massacre on Gaza. I was standing about 15 meters from the boys, when we heard the sound of live ammunition. I heard screams and saw that 3 had been shot. One man was shot in the leg, another in the head right above the eyebrow and a third was shot in the back. Men carried all three, the one shot in the head was bleeding profusely. The one that was shot in the back was unconscious. We ran down to the street from the olive fields and the soldiers would not stop shooting tear gas at us. It took the soldiers at least 5 minutes to let the ambulance through the checkpoint at the entrance to the village.”

Ibrahim Amira, member of the Popular Committee in Ni’lin said;

“The Occupation is going to turn Ni’lin into a ghetto as it has turned Gaza into a ghetto. And the same way that a massacre is taking place in Gaza against those resisting the siege, a massacre is now taking place in Ni’lin against those resisting the Aparthied Wall”

Two other young men are currently in critical conditions after having been shot in the head by Israeli forces while demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza.

18 year old Hammam Al-Ashari, from Abu Dis, was shot three times in the head with rubber-coated steel bullets on the 29th December. He is now in critical condition in Muqassad Hospital, Jerusalem. Muhammad Jaber, 17 years old, was shot in the head near the Ibrahim Mosque on the 28th December, Hebron, with live ammunition. His condition is also classified as critical.