Ynet: “Toronto church to boycott Israeli goods”

Toronto Star reports United Church of Canada’s Toronto branch to unveil boycott of Israeli products, companies doing business with its military to end what it calls ‘illegal occupation of Palestinian lands’; plan calls on Ottawa to require that products originating in the occupied territories be labeled differently from those coming from the rest of Israel. Ynetnews

from Yedioth Ahronoth, 29th June 2006

The United Church of Canada’s Toronto branch was set to unveil Wednesday a boycott of Israeli products and companies doing business with its military to end what it calls the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, the Toronto Star reported.

The move comes on the heels of a similar controversial move by the Ontario wing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which last month voted to support an international boycott campaign against Israel to protest its treatment of Palestinian refugees.

“We want to commend that position,” Frances Combs, co-chair of the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada’s task force on Israel was quoted by the Toronto Star as saying.

According to the report, the boycott is being undertaken only by the 300-church Toronto conference of the United Church, not the church as a whole.


‘We affirm the right of Israel to exist’

The Toronto Star said Combs’s task force was asked three years ago to devise a plan for implementing a resolution passed by the Toronto conference to pressure Israel to leave the occupied lands. That resolution has never been made public until now.

The plan will call on Ottawa to require that products originating in the occupied territories be labeled differently from those coming from the rest of Israel, the report said, adding that the group will then ask that occupied-territory products be boycotted by church members.

“This is not a boycott against Israel,” Combs told the Toronto Star, adding that only occupied-territory products are to be targeted. “We affirm the right of Israel to exist.”

According to the report, the group also wants the church and its members to divest from companies supplying the Israeli military, and will be pushing for the church as a whole to adopt similar measures at its general council meeting in Thunder Bay in August.

A 20-page resolution to be debated in Thunder Bay also calls on the church to invest in Palestinian companies, the Toronto Star said.
Bruce Gregersen, who heads international programs at the United Church’s national office, told the Toronto Star that the occupation of parts of the West Bank and Gaza since the Six Day War in 1967 has had a destabilizing effect on the entire region.

The church has few investments that would have to be sold off, Gregersen said, since it tends to avoid military suppliers. But a policy of targeting Palestinian companies for investment could have a positive impact on the lives of people in the occupied territories, he told the Toronto Star.

Israeli Military Raids Bil’in, Arrests Two


Library picture. From a previous Bil’in raid on the 15th of April.

by the Michigan Peace Team in Bil’in

At 2:00 a.m. last night, while we were staying in the town of Bil’in, we were awoken and informed that the Israeli army had come into the village. We were asked if we could accompany members of the Popular Committee of Bil’in and others as they followed the soldiers through town. A few of us joined a cameraman and others in a part of the village where the IDF were surrounding a family’s home. The IDF eventually detained one man and witnesses say they used him as a human shield in order to find one of his family members that was believed to be in another part of the village. The Israeli High Court ruled in October 2005 that it was illegal for the IDF to use Palestinian civilians during military actions. The decision was made on a petition that Israeli group B’Tselem and six other human rights organizations filed in 2002. Since then the Israeli military has argued against the ruling and continued the practice, ignoring the Israeli High Court.

Meanwhile, at another family’s home other international Human Rights Workers witnessed a man being arrested. The man was blindfolded and dressed in an orange prison uniform. The Israeli military had more than five soldiers standing around the front of his home and a number of others sitting in four jeeps (there were seven jeeps in total inside Bil’in). This lasted for over two hours. At one point, a soldier came up to a Palestinian and pointed his gun at him and said, “If you follow us, I will kill you.” They finally left the home and we followed the jeeps until we hit the middle of town. The people of the town had put up barricades in the road with large rocks and burning debris to put up a resistance to the invasion of their village. As the jeeps were rolling through town, the young men threw stones. The Israeli military fired rubber bullets and used sound bombs numerous times throughout the night. Finally, as the last jeep was exiting the center of the village at 6am, someone threw a molotov cocktail at the side of the military jeep creating a burst of flames with no visible damage.

As we were writing this report the man that was arrested had not been released. He is father of three, 29-year old Ahmad Katib, the brother of Mohammed Katib, one of the organisers of the weekly non-violent demonstrations against the apartheid barrier in the village. Abdullah Abu-Rahme, also from the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements said that another villager, Ayad Burnat, was being held hostage in order to pressure the family into “giving up” his brother Mujahid who they want to get hold of for reasons that were unclear.

Apartheid Wall demo at Al Khadr this Friday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This Friday the villagers of Al Khadr will be joined by Israeli and international peace activists in a demonstration against the Apartheid Wall being built through the village. There will be a march to the construction site from the mosque after prayers at 1pm.

The Apartheid Wall in Al Khader will isolate 95% of the village’s land behind the wall. A tunnel is also being constructed destroying more of the village’s land and controlling movement from villages West of the Wall to Bethlehem. The route of the Wall though Al Khadr belies Israeli ‘security’ claims and reveals its true nature which is to annex as much land as possible while fencing Palestinians into ghettos.

Several peaceful demos have taken place on recent Fridays in this mixed Christian and Muslim village where both sections of the community cooperate in the campaign against the Wall.

A spokesperson from the popular committee against the Wall in the Bethlehem region said, “an aim of the demonstrations is to build bridges between communities and show that peaceful co-existence between both sides is possible”.

For more information call:
ISM Media office: 02 297 1824

Israeli Settler Attacks Eccumenical Accompanier In Hebron

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

World Council of Churches – News Release

A member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was attacked by a woman settlerIn the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron on Friday, 23 June. Whilst in the area of the Cordoba school, where Christian volunteers accompany children to school, Duduzile Masango, a South African ecumenical Accompanier was attacked by an elderly settler woman, who pulled a towel tightly around her head.

It is not known if the woman intended to suffocate her, but the accompanier had difficulty breathing. Stones were also thrown at Masango and four other internationals who were with her. The incident left her shaken, although she did not need to receive medical treatment.

Although a soldier was standing next to the group of volunteers, he did not act to stop the attack. After the incident, members of the international solidarity movement who had witnessed the incident filed a complaint with the police. However, Masango was told by the police that they did not believe her testimony.

Rifat Kassis, EAPPI international programme coordinator, stated: “This is just one in a long line of incidents targeting internationals in Hebron. The WCC continues to advocate that all settlers in Hebron be withdrawn and settler-occupied properties be returned to their Palestinian owners. A letter was sent to the Israeli ambassador in Switzerland in April, following similar incidents. It requested appropriate actions by the Israeli authorities and law enforcement agencies to stop this behaviour toward Palestinians and internationals. The WCC has so far received no response.”

On 1 April, a Swiss lawyer, was stoned by a young Israeli settler in the same Hebron district, and on 20 April still in Tel Rumeida, a German social worker and a Norwegian sociologist were attacked by some 15 young settlers. TheSwiss lawyer needed seven stitches for a head wound as a result. In both cases, the Christian volunteers were escorting Palestinian pupils of the Cordoba Girls School to protect them from harassment by settlers. The WCC presented a formal protest to the Israeli ambassador in Switzerland over these two incidents on 25 April.

A team of four ecumenical accompaniers escort Palestinian pupils of the Cordoba School to protect them from harassment by Israeli settlers. The school is situated opposite the Beit Hadassah settlement. Its pupils and teachers are frequent targets of stone-throwing, kicking and spitting by the settlers.

Coordinated by the WCC, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) began in 2002, and has deployed nearly 300 accompaniers from 14 countries. Its purpose is to support Palestinians and Israelis working for peace by monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and International humanitarian law, offering protection by accompanying local communities in daily activities, and by advocating with churches for a peaceful end to the occupation.

See also the 26 April 2006 press release referring to the earlier attacks and the WCC protest: click here

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)
website:
http://www.eappi.org

The WCC and Palestine/Israel:

http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/regconcerns-palestine-israel.html

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

World Council of Churches – News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Settler Assaults HRW, Soldiers Do Nothing

by ISM Hebron

At approximately 6:15 PM today, I was sitting on Shuhada street with another Human Rights Worker (HRW) and we noticed some settler kids throwing rocks at Palestinians in front of the Beit Hadassah settlement. My fellow HRW went to investigate and I kept my eye on him as I saw the notorious Anat Cohen approaching. She began yelling at him in Hebrew and yelling at the soldier on duty to stop him. The soldier approached the HRW and demanded that he leave, saying he was not allowed in the area and was not allowed to film the scene – two claims that are completely contrary to Israeli law. As three settler children were continuing to throw rocks at Palestinians on the path above, the HRW continued to try to film them. I walked over as Anat began to physically block my friend’s way.

Ms. Cohen began yelling something about Auschwitz to us in Hebrew, and the soldier continued to insist that we could not be filming. Ms. Cohen put her arms up in front of my friend, waving them in his face. I told her to knock it off, that we were allowed to be there and allowed to film. Then she kicked me in the leg.

At this point more soldiers had showed up and began yelling at US and I decided it was time to call the police.

They came very quickly this time.. one of the soldiers must have called them as well.

After explaining to a commander what we were doing there (filming and intervening when settlers throw rocks at Palestinians), the commander told us that Palestinians were not allowed to walk along this street except when they were going to school, which was out for the summer. I informed him that was absolutely false, they were allowed here. He argued with me some more and then I decided it was time to call our nice friend Hamad at UN OCHA. He advised me to file a police report at the Kiryat Arba police station and I informed my friends this was where I was going.

I was pretty angry at this point and I walked up to Ms. Cohen and informed her that I was going to the police to file a complaint against her for kicking me.

This was where our trouble began and I realized that I had made a mistake.

As I got into the back of the police jeep, Anat told a police officer that my fellow human rights worker assaulted her.

He was told to get in the back of the jeep too. The police officer informed us that the soldier on duty was backing Ms. Cohen up.

We both went to the police station where we would spend the next 3 hours.

I gave my testimony, my friend gave his, then the soldier gave his.

While we were waiting and worrying that my friend was going to get arrested, our other friends back in Tel Rumeida said they spoke to a soldier who had seen everything, knew we hadn’t done anything wrong but was too scared to come forward in our defense.

Fortunately for us, Ms. Cohen’s reputation as a nutcase was widely known and the police let my friend go.