Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott

Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights

One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which found Israel’s Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court’s decision.

Thirty eight years into Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East
Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall.

Israel is also preparing – in the shadow of its planned redeployment from the Gaza Strip – to build and expand colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel’s entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab- Palestinian citizens remains intact.

In light of Israel’s persistent violations of international law, and….

Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel’s colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, and…

Given that all forms of international intervention and peace-making have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine, and…

In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions…

Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and in the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression…

We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.

These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

  1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
  2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
  3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

Endorsed by: The Palestinian political parties, unions, associations, coalitions and organizations representing the three integral parts of the people of Palestine: Palestinian refugees, Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

For a complete list of all co-signers, please go to: electronicintifada.net/v2/article3981.shtml

Is the World Blind: Two more families lose their homes in East Jerusalem today

Merijn De Jong, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu==5&submenu==1&item=$6

Two more families in East-Jerusalem lost their homes today and another two families had their belongings thrown out into the street as a new wave of house demolitions swept through Dahiat Al-Salaam and Silwan.

In Dahiat Al-Salaam in East-Jerusalem, the Hannafiya family’s home was demolished at 9:30 this morning. Eight people were made homeless by the demolition because their house did not have a building permit. The Jerusalem municipality makes it nearly impossible for most Palestinians in East Jerusalem to receive building permits.

As the children of the family gathered their toys from atop the rubble that was once their home, the homeowner spoke of his son who will soon return from the United States to get married: “How do I explain this to him when he gets back, that the house is not there anymore?”

The two Hamdan brothers, who live with their families down the street from the Hannafiya family, had all of their belongings taken from their homes in preparation for demolition. While the family’s attorney, Sami Arshid, was able to stop the demolitions from taking place through a court order, most of the family’s belongings were severely damaged by the workers who removed them from the home. Needless to say, there will be no compensation from the municipality for the damage; and while the demolitions were postponed today, the homes are still at risk for demolition in the future.

The mother of one of the families, whose belongings were thrown into the street, showed us around her home. “Is the world blind?” she asked, as she displayed the now ruined pictures that had been drawn by her son.

After the demolition of the house in Dahiat Al-Salaam, another home was destroyed in Ein Luze, near the El-Bustan area in Silwan. The recently completed home belonged to the Musa Siam family who had yet to move in. When the bulldozers were unable to reach the house, the municipality sent workers to demolish it by hand.

Village Demolished

Khirbet Tana, near Beit Furik, Nablus

On July 5th, Israeli forces demolished the entire village of Tana, near Beit Furik, Nablus. The residents had received one day’s notice (via a piece of paper left outside one of their dwellings) that their homes were to be demolished. The villagers knew no-one to call; thus, the razing of their homes went ahead unhindered. The UN estimates 170 persons have been “displaced”, the villagers say Tana was home to about 100 families. The villagers intend to protest this destruction and reclaim their land this Thursday 14th July.

Tana is a small farming village in the Jordan valley in one of the longest continually inhabited areas of the world. Residents say the area is mentioned in the holy books and was known 3500 years ago. The village mosque, the only structure not to be demolished, has stood for several hundred years.

The paper announcing the demolition says that the villagers had built their homes without Israeli permission. Their caves and stone constructions are hundreds of years old. In recent years they have added steel and concrete structures to the front of their caves. A school house was built six years ago and, contrary to the UN report, this too was destroyed last week. When the army destroyed the village they demolished not only the steel structures but the caves themselves and even the villagers’ cars.

In 1989 the villagers had a court case in Israel, after which they were told they would be allowed to farm the western portion of their land. In recent years the villagers have also been threatened by settlers from Itamar, who came and swam in their water supply.

The villagers are not defeated and refuse to be intimidated. They intend to go back to their land, rebuild their homes and continue farming. International and Israeli activists supporting this action will assemble in Beit Furik at Beit Furik Municpality at 10am, Thursday 14th July.

For more information on Tana see Beit Furik Village’s website at: www.beitfurik.levillage.org/journal

Update on Ramzi Yassin of Bil’in from Muqassed Hospital

Ramzi Yassin was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet by an Israeli soldier at a protest in Bil’in on Friday July 8. Ramzi has been unconscious and in serious condition since then. He was transferred from a hospital in Ramallah to Muqassed Hospital in Jerusalem where his family is unable to visit him because Israeli authorities will not issue them a permit.

Today Ramzi has regained consciousness and has even taken a few steps and eaten on his own. He is still groggy and in pain, but the doctors say he should be home within two weeks.

Shop flattening scheduled by illegal expansion

Eight shops next to the Israeli Chemical factory built on land stolen from Tul Karem municipality are scheduled to be destroyed in fourteen days. Built in 1996, and owned by Ali Qasim, the shops have been closed since September 2000 due to IDF operations including gunfire, rendering the village unsafe.

Seventeen propriotors received notices on a piece of paper written in Hebrew and in Arabic that the building would be destroyed. The paper stated that they had three days to respond.

A group of IDF soldiers in Jeeps pronounced on a notice building that the shops would be destroyed. Proprietors were informed that their buildings are illegal because they are not registered with a municipality.

The owners however, have written proof of registration and proof that they have been paying taxes to the Tul Karem Municipality.