Tag: Action Alert - Page 32 - International Solidarity Movement

An open letter to Leonard Cohen

An Open Letter to Leonard Cohen | British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP)

Dear Leonard Cohen:

Your songs have been part of the soundtrack of our lives — like breathing, some of them. But we can’t make sense of why you’ve decided to perform in Israel in September this year.

If we understand anything about Buddhism – your practice of which is public knowledge – it’s that Buddhism advocates ‘right action’. We accept that this precept, like the injunction to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’, is probably honoured more in the breach than the observance. But we can’t believe you didn’t weigh up performing in Israel in the light of ‘right action’. And apparently you’ve decided that it’s right to take your unavoidably starry and
very newsworthy presence there.

But what does this say to the Palestinians? If you had just emerged from three weeks of unfettered bombing from land, sea and air, with no place to hide and no place to run, your hospitals overwhelmed, sewage running in the streets and white phosphorous burning up your children, what would the news that the great Canadian musician Leonard Cohen had decided to play for your tormentors say to you?

You will perform for a public that by a very large majority had no qualms about its military forces’ onslaught on Gaza (in fact wanted it to continue). You will perform in a state whose propaganda services will extract every ounce of mileage from your presence (they will use it to whitewash their war crimes). As someone who lives in the US, you are saying ‘yah boo sucks’ to the American academics, musicians, film-makers and others (including poet Adrienne Rich), who earlier this year launched the US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel. And you are telling the Palestinians — who had nothing whatsoever to do with the Holocaust in Europe but have endured the torments of exile and military occupation ever since they were driven out of their country in 1948 — that their suffering doesn’t matter.

Have you come across an Israeli woman called Dr Nurit Peled- Elhanan? She lost her 13 year old daughter to a Palestinian suicide bomber in 1997, but Dr Peled – showing the compassionate greatness of which human beings are sometimes capable – didn’t retreat into rage, revenge or depression. Instead she co-founded an Israeli-Palestinian network called ‘Bereaved Parents for Peace’. When the 10 year old daughter of a Palestinian colleague was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier, Peled said: ’I sit with her mother Salwa and try to say, “We are all victims of occupation”. But my daughter’s murderer had the decency to kill himself. The soldier who killed Abir is probably drinking beer, playing backgammon with his mates and going to discotheques’.

Or going to a Leonard Cohen concert in Ramat Gan. Is this really what you want to be part of?

Yours sincerely,

Professor Haim Bresheeth
Mike Cushman
Professor Hilary Rose
Professor Jonathan Rosenhead

London
22 April 2009

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write to Cohen’s manager asking him to cancel the concert in Israel

You can write to him through his manager, Mr. Robert Kory rkory@rkmgment.com

schedule a protest outside his concerts

USA (May 5-17, May 29-June 2): Minneapolis- Minnesota, Edmonton and Calgary – Alberta, Chicago – Illinois, Detroit- Michigan, Columbia – Maryland, Philadelphia- Pennsylvania, New York City-NY, Boston- Massachusetts, Denver- Colorado

CANADA (May 19-26): Hamilton, Kingston, London, Ottawa-Ontario, Quebec City- Quebec

FRANCE (July 6-9): St. Herblain, Paris, Toulouse, Vienne

UK (July 11,14): London, Liverpool, Belfast (July 26)

IRELAND (July 19-23): Dublin

NORWAY (July 16-17): Langesund, Molde

PORTUGAL (July 30): Lisbon

SPAIN (July 31-August 15, September 12-17): Sevilla, Palma De Mallorca, Girona, Madrid, Granada, Bilbao, Barcelona

ISRAEL (September 24, if we are not successful): Tel Aviv

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Israelis call on musician Leonard Cohen to cancel concert | Electronic Intifada

29 April 2009

Dear Leonard Cohen,

We are Jews, Palestinians, Israeli citizens, who hold your poetry and music in high esteem, and it is because of this respect for your artistic contributions and your moral Buddhist commitment to “save all beings” that we hope that our appeal to you to cancel your planned performance in Israel will not fall on deaf ears.

Israel is facing one of its most immoral historical moments. Its ruthless, criminal bashing of the Palestinians has been met with little international criticism or curbing. The silence of most of the world’s governments continues to embolden successive Israeli governments to commit more violent acts. Israel has violated numerous international laws, but so far for Israeli Jews life in Israel goes on as if nothing happened. Indeed, your people, Cohen, have built “a new Dachau, And call it love, Security, Jewish culture,” as you have so perceptively put it yourself in “Questions for Shomrim,” but only a few voices have been raised against these injustices.

It is left for us, citizens of the world, to condemn Israeli atrocities and crimes against humanity. Dissociating ourselves from Israel’s brutal policies is the only nonviolent way now to avoid becoming complicit in the killing, the wounding and the maiming, and the robbing of Palestinians. Faced with all this and more, Palestinians are calling on all people to support their struggle for their basic rights. Unfortunately, recognizing Palestinian rights will require a fundamental shift in Israeli society. We suspect that this change will be achieved only via external pressure. The least that one can do in such a situation is not act as if it is business as usual. We see our society becoming more and more calloused and racist and given your longstanding, vocal commitment to justice, we cannot envision you cooperating with continued Israeli defiance of justice and morality; we cannot envision you playing a part in the Israeli charade of self-righteousness. We appeal to you to add your voice to those brave people the world over who boycott Israel. We urge you to cancel your planned performance in Israel.

Undersigned:

Noa Abend, Adv. Ahmad M. Amara, Iris Bar, Yoav Barak, Ronnie Barkan, Smadar Carmon, Adi Dagan, Dr. Aim Deuelle Luski, Yvonne Deutsch, Diana Dolev, Shai Efrati, Prof. Nomi Erteschik-Shir, Naama Farjoun, Eva Ferrero, Racheli Gai, Prof. Rachel Giora, Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, Amos Gvirtz, Tal Haran, Iris Hefets, Ruth Hiller, Tikva Honig-Parnass, Dr. Irit Katriel, Gal Katz, Adam Keller, Yael Lerer, Yossef Lubovsky, Olivia Magnan, Ya’acov Manor, Eilat Maoz
Dr. Ruchama Marton, Dr. Anat Matar, Haggai Matar, Rela Mazali, Dorothy Naor, Dr. David Nir, Dr. Nurit Peled, Leiser Peles, Jonathan Pollak, Yonatan Shapira, Dr. Kobi Snitz, Kerstin Sodergren, Amir Terkel, Adi Winter, Beate Zilversmidt

Release the Palestinian activists arrested in al-Ma’sara

4 May 2009

After arrests and injuries on Workers Day, Palestinian workers and activists call on trade unions around the globe to increase solidarity

On May 1, people from the village of al-Ma’sara and the neighbouring villages in Bethlehem area commemorated Workers Day with a march in protest against the Apartheid Wall. The Wall continues to encroach on their land and isolates their villages. The demonstration and Workers Day festival was organized by the popular committees of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign in al Ma’sara and Bethlehem district, in cooperation with the Bethlehem branch of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU).

Israeli Occupation forces repressed the mobilization and fired on the crowd with tear gas, sound bombs and rubber coated steel bullets. Nine people were injured, among them the head of the PGFTU, Shaher Sa’ad. Soldiers arrested ‘Azmi Sheukhi from Hebron, Mustafa Fawagreh from Um Salamoneh and Muhammed Brajiya, Mahmoud Zawahreh, Hasan Brajiya, all members of the popular committee in al Ma’sara. They are still held in prison.

The events of May 1 are the latest of a strategy of escalation implemented over the last months by the Occupation forces and which has lead to increased arrests, injuries and deaths among the coordinators and activists against the Apartheid Wall.

Several weeks ago, Basem Abu Rahmeh was shot and killed in the village of Bil’in while last week, 37 people were injured in similar protests. Ni’lin suffers regular invasions and arrests. This Friday, Occupation forces took over several homes as military bases. In February, Occupation forces staged a full day raid detaining 75 youth and arresting 16. The occupation forces regularly impose curfews and other collective punishment measures.

International trade unions must act in the face of these attacks on trade unionists, workers and villagers.

The popular committee against the Apartheid Wall of al Ma’sara and Bethlehem district, the Bethlehem branch of the PGFTU and the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign call upon trade unions across the globe to:

Demand the release of the Palestinian activists arrested on Workers Day.
Raise awareness about the land theft and ghettoization of Palestinian communities through the Wall and the grassroots resistance against it.
Support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and promote concrete BDS actions to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and force it to respect Palestinian rights.

Popular committee against the Apartheid Wall of al Ma’sara and Bethlehem district
Bethlehem branch of the PGFTU
Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign

Zero Palestinian Evictions, now!

The inhabitants’ associations, international networks, voluntary groups, NGOs, public agencies, citizens of the world, express their indignation at and denounce Israel’s continual policies of eviction and demolition carried out against the Palestinian people, both Palestinians ’48 (citizens of Israel) and Palestinians ’67 (in the Occupied Palestinian Territory).

The Israeli Ministry of the Interior demolishes hundreds of homes of its own Palestinian citizens every year due to zoning and planning schemes intentionally insufficient for the needs of the communities. There are, in addition, dozens of villages not recognized by the government whose residents live in the constant instability that comes with pending eviction and demolitions. These evictions and demolitions are carried out under the pretense of “upholding the law” despite being in violation of international laws.

The Municipality of Jerusalem, the Civil Administration and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have demolished over 24,000 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1967 under pretenses of “upholding the laws” of zoning and planning (administrative), as collective punishment (punitive), and during military and “land-cleaning” operations. The administrative and punitive demolitions are clear violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the IDF itself found that it would be “very difficult to justify from a legal perspective” much of the destruction carried out in the December 2008 and January 2009 attacks on the Gaza Strip. These three institutions also coordinate or facilitate the takeovers of Palestinian lands and houses by Israeli settlers in violation of international law.

The demolitions and evictions clearly violate the following international laws and covenants ratified by Israel:

The Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians During Wartime (articles 53, 147) (1949)
The International Covenant Against Torture (art. 16), despite the Concluding Observations of the CAT (2002)
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 11), despite the Concluding Observations of the CESCR (2003)
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 27), despite the Concluding Observations of the CRC (2002)
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (articles 7, 12, 17, 26), despite the Concluding Observations of the CCPR (2003)
The International Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (art. 14), despite the Concluding Comments of the CEDAW (2005)
The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (articles 2, 3, 5), despite the Concluding Observations of the CERD (2007)

Therefore the inhabitants’ associations, international networks, voluntary groups, NGOs and public agencies, have decided to launch the Zero Palestinian Evictions Campaign, Now!

Please subscribe to the solidarity call now!

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY CALL
ZERO PALESTINIAN EVICTIONS, NOW!

We, inhabitants’ associations, international networks, voluntary groups, NGOs, public agencies, citizens of the world, express our indignation at and denounce Israel’s continual policies of eviction and demolition carried out against the Palestinian people, both Palestinians ’48 (citizens of Israel) and Palestinians ’67 (in the Occupied Palestinian Territories). These demolitions and evictions clearly violate international law.

Therefore, we condemn these violations and appeal to:

The Government of Israel:

To immediately cease the demolition the homes of Palestinian citizens of Israel and, as an Occupying Power, the homes of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories;
To integrate zoning and planning practices that suit the cultural and economic needs of all its citizens into national plans;
To comply, as the Occupying Power, comply with the Fourth Geneva Convention and end the collective punishment employed through punitive demolitions;
To end the occupation and withdraw from occupied Palestine instead of defending the status quo by using military actions that destroy thousands of homes, wreck havoc on the local urban infrastructure and greatly conscribe the future potential of Palestine;
To end the evictions and settler takeovers of houses and land in East Jerusalem, Hebron and throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
To end the confiscation of land from Palestinian citizens of Israel;
To provide immediate reparation, including restitution of property, return of displaced persons, compensation, adequate alternative accommodation, rehabilitation, apology and guarantees for non-repetition to all the inhabitants, including tenants, affected by the demolitions who have lost their accommodation and/or personal belongings in the process, and who have become homeless and/or jobless as a result thereof;
To provide a forum where the Governments of Israel and occupied Palestine, all the interested parties, including the recognized representatives of inhabitants’ associations, international networks, NGOs and public agencies, can agree with the interested communities on alternatives to the evictions, demolitions and land takeovers, and on the repatriation of people already evicted.

The United Nations, Russia, the European Union and the United States (The Quartet) and all the governments of the world:

To publicly condemn the policies of eviction and demolition and settler takeover in démarches to the Israeli government and resolutions in the United Nations;
To restrict the export to Israel of equipment used in demolitions until the Israeli government and military adequately implement policies respecting the housing rights of Palestinians, both citizens of Israel and those living under military occupation;
To cease the upgrading of trade relations and restrict foreign aid until Israel’s policies towards Palestinians are brought into compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention and the various universal declarations governing the responsibilities of Occupying Powers and the rights of indigenous peoples, minorities and all people;
To use their influence to end the policies of demolition, eviction and land takeovers.

The United Nations (UN-Habitat):

To ensure respect for international norms protecting the right to housing by sending an urgent independent mission of the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) to monitor and identify and to promote alternatives to the demolitions and evictions.

The following is suggested as a letter sent to signatories of the call

Dear friend,

Thank you for your support for the Zero Palestinian Evictions Campaign, Now! To build a successful campaign on this call we propose you:

To build reciprocal relationships with organizations in Palestine and Israel working for just policies protecting rights of housing, residency and citizenship;
To pressure your governmental representatives to pursue the policies in this call;
To write letters to the editor to increase media coverage and public awareness of demolitions and evictions in Israel and Palestine;
To call, fax and/or email the local diplomatic and consular representatives of Israel and demand an end to evictions, demolitions and land takeovers;
To call, fax and/or email local diplomatic and consular representatives of the United States to ask, as Israel’s closest ally, it use its influence to end the policies of demolition, eviction and land takeovers;
To support the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and respects Palestinian self-determination, including in matters of housing rights, zoning and planning;
To include solidarity with housing rights in Palestine and Israel in local demonstrations and protests.

Thanks again for your support and we look forward to working together in the struggle for justice in Palestine and Israel.

yours in solidarity,
The Zero Palestinian Evictions Campaign, Now!

Freedom Summer 2009: Defend the Land and Jerusalem

The International Solidarity Movement is issuing a call-out for internationals to volunteer as field activists and office workers in the West Bank, Gaza, and occupied East Jerusalem this summer.

Whether you can come for only few weeks or several months, your presence is needed to support Palestinian communities who are nonviolently resisting the Israeli occupation. Freedom Summer 2009, which will run from June 6th until August 15th, aims to challenge the continued theft of Palestinian land for the rapid expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and their infrastructure in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Volunteer training sessions will be held every week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Visit our “Join Us in Palestine” section to read more information about volunteering.

Below are some of the actions ISM volunteers can anticipate this summer:

ISM volunteers will stand in solidarity with the Palestinian families of occupied East Jerusalem who face dispossession.
International activists will join families in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Shu’fat, and other neighborhoods whose residences are threatened, in resisting evictions and demolitions with non-violent, direct actions methods. ISM volunteers will also participate in demonstrations against discriminatory Israeli policies and support ongoing organization of Palestinian heritage and cultural events.
In the West Bank, volunteers will join Palestinian villagers in nonviolent demonstrations against the Wall, and other apartheid infrastructure of the occupation such as checkpoint, settlements, and Israeli-only roads. Activists will be working in communities such as Ni’lin, Bil’in, Jayyous, Husan and Tulkarem to support direct actions under Palestinian popular leadership. Recently Israeli military violence during nonviolent demonstrations has escalated, making it more important that international solidarity activists are present to help deter and document the repression from Israeli forces. Additionally, volunteers will accompany farmers and shepherds to deter violence from the Israeli military and settlers. In the South Hebron hills, the army’s designation of large areas as military closed zones will be challenged.
The ISM volunteers in the Gaza Strip will continue to accompany Palestinian farmers who frequently face live fire from the army as they work their land in the buffer zone. Volunteers will stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza against the crippling siege and sporadic attacks on the region. Several ISM activists will be joining the Free Gaza Movement’s Hope Fleet that will sail into Gaza’s port at the end of May. International activists will mass on the Egyptian border with Gaza between the 22nd of May and the 14th of June, in an attempt to challenging the ongoing closure and isolation of the people of Gaza. Individuals interested in volunteering with ISM Gaza must have previous experience with ISM in the West Bank.

Come to Palestine to support the Palestinian people in their struggle against occupation. Become an eyewitness to the Palestinian struggle for freedom! ISM volunteers have become better advocates for the freedom and self-determination of the Palestinian people in their home communities.

This summer, support and participate in the Palestinian non-violent resistance to the Occupation by using direct action methods to defend the land of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Protest ROM decision to display stolen antiquities

Oakland Ross | The Star

11 April 2009

The Dead Sea scrolls, confiscated from East Jerusalem during Israel’s 1967 military invasion and occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, are coming to Toronto. The move is part of Israel consul general Amir Gissin’s official “Brand Israel” campaign that attempts to ‘rebrand’ apartheid Israel beyond its systematic repression of the Palestinian people.

Since 1967, hundreds of thousands of precious artifacts have been illegally removed by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), Israeli soldiers, and illegally operating antiquities dealers from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. These removals of the joint cultural heritage of the region are in direct contravention of at least four international conventions or protocols on the treatment of illegally obtained cultural goods.

Please stand up and let the ROM know that you do not accept the right of museums to display illegally obtained artifacts stolen from occupied territories. The history of such theft and dispossession is a sad legacy of colonial history that Canada and its museums have also been complicit in. It is time to begin reversing this legacy by canceling the current exhibit in accordance with the precepts of international law and refusing to allow the ROM to be politicized for the rebranding of an apartheid state.

For more information please contact the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid at: endapartheid@riseup.net

SUGGESTED LETTER:

Dear Mr. William Thorsell:

I am writing to express my concern about the ROM’s decision to host the Dead Sea scrolls in cooperation with the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA). Since its foundation, the IAA has repeatedly contravened international agreements, protocols and conventions on the proper and ethical handling of cultural artifacts and has been complicit in the systematic dispossession of the Palestinian people.

As you are certainly aware, the transfer of the Dead Sea scrolls from the occupied West Bank into the custodianship of the IAA was effected under military duress and violates international legal norms regulating the handling of cultural goods that are the heritage of humanity. Such removals are part and parcel of a longstanding stripping and transfer of cultural goods from the occupied territories by the IAA, Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and independent and illegally operating local antiquities dealers.

I am also concerned that the ROM’s Distinguished Lecture Series is hosting a number of scholars that have been complicit in the IAA’s aforementioned violations of international law. Such violations have been committed in the interest of forwarding a narrow nationalistic agenda and do nothing towards fostering an environment for a just and lasting peace in the region. This Lecture Series is being organized without the input of prominent Palestinian scholars in the region or of scholars critical of the ways in which the IAA has mishandled the joint cultural heritage of the region.

Finally, the Canadian Jewish News has noted that Israeli consul general in Toronto Amir Gissin’s “Brand Israel attack arsenal” includes the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition. The aim of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Brand Israel campaign, is to shift the attention away from Israel’s systematic violations of international humanitarian law by presenting a more ‘benign’ vision of Israel to a Canadian public increasingly wary of Israel’s war-crimes and apartheid policies towards the Palestinians.

I urge you to stand in solidarity with the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement internationally – launched by Palestinian civil society in the summer of 2005 – that seeks to peacefully put pressure on the Israeli government to end its abuses of international law. Taking a clear and principled position that emphasizes the ROM’s commitment to international law and to the fostering of consensual methods of international cooperation can only strengthen your institutions standing. Anything else would be an abdication of responsibility to the Palestinian communities most adversely affected by Israeli policies of dispossession, occupation and racial discrimination – policies exemplified in the recent history of the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves.

Sincerely,

________________

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