Tag: BDS

PACBI: A million dollar festival will not rescue Israel’s image as an apartheid state

17 August 2010 | PACBI

Occupied Ramallah, 15 August  2010

Once again, the Brand-Israel machine is in high gear, this time organizing a million-dollar international youth extravaganza in Eilat in September 2010 called “Funjoya.”  This unabashed propaganda exercise is sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Israeli Student Union, among other official and semi-official bodies.  The Ministry of Tourism explains one of the aims of the festival: “branding Israel as an attractive tourism destination for students, an improvement in Israel’s image among this target group and facilitating multi-cultural encounters for students from Israel and European countries.” [1]

There is no question that Israel is working hard to whitewash its crimes and to justify its occupation, colonization and system of apartheid.  Since 2005, the official “Brand-Israel” campaign [2] has tried to present Israel in a new light, as a vibrant state promoting culture and the arts.  However, Israel’s own actions make a mockery of this branding exercise, proving that no amount of re-branding will cover up the escalating agenda of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and violence against the Palestinian people, the last of which were the deadly assault on the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008-2009, and the lethal attack on humanitarian aid workers aboard the Freedom Flotilla in Gaza in May 2010, which resulted in the murder of nine Turkish citizens. This viciousness is customary to Israel. The report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission led by Judge Richard Goldstone, released in September 2009, found strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, and called for holding Israel accountable before international law.

We call upon students from around the world not to take part in this festival.  We invite you to join the international movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel (BDS) until Israel respects international law [3]. As students, you should be aware that Palestinian students do not enjoy the rights taken for granted by many of you: Palestinian students’ freedom of movement is severely restricted by the Apartheid Wall, checkpoints and road blocks and hundreds are detained in Israeli jails for resisting the occupation. [4]

We urge you to heed the words of the Gaza-based Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel in their open letter to students a few days ago:  “From under a most brutal siege humanity has witnessed during this modern age, we urge all students around the globe to boycott this festival We ask: will it speak about the cultural confiscation, the occupation of Palestinian history, the system of racial discrimination, home demolition, settlement expansion, settler colonialism and land expropriation? Will it tell of how apartheid Israel slices the West Bank into Bantustans separated by more than 600 checkpoints and a monstrous Apartheid Separation Wall preventing Palestinians from access to local hospitals, schools and universities, not to mention their families and relatives?” [5]

Don’t come to Eilat and honour the apartheid state! Support the Palestinian people in our struggle for self determination by boycotting “Funjoya” and exposing this vulgar Israeli hasbara effort!

PACBI

www.PACBI.org

pacbi@pacbi.org

Notes

[1] http://www.thinkeilat.com/Tourism_Euk/Tourist+Information/Press+Releases/FunJoya+Student+Festival.htm; http://eu.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/Print.asp?DocumentID=172430

[2] http://www.forward.com/articles/2070/.  Jonathan Cook provides a comprehensive discussion of the brand-Israel effort in http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11093.shtml

[3] See the Unified Palestinian Call for BDS at  http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52

[4] For further information on the violation of students’ rights check: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/

[5]  http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1336

BDS court victory in London: ‘Ahava four’ found not guilty of trespass in Israeli store

11 August 2010 | ISM London

Four campaigners against Israeli apartheid were acquitted yesterday (August 10th) of all charges related to two direct action protests against the Israeli cosmetics retailer Ahava in Covent Garden, London. The campaigners locked themselves onto concrete-filled oil drums inside the shop, closing it down for two days in September and December of 2009.

The campaigners insist that they are legally justified in their actions as the shop’s activities are unlawful. All cosmetics on sale in the shop originate from Mitzpe Shalem, an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, and are deliberately mislabelled “Made in Israel”.

To date, no campaigner has been successfully prosecuted and Ahava has consistently refused to cooperate with the prosecuting authorities.

On the first day of trial, prosecutors dropped aggravated trespass charges. This would have required the prosecution to demonstrate Ahava was engaged in lawful activity. Significantly, the CPS decided that this was not something they would attempt to prove.

The primary witness for the prosecution, Ahava’s store manager, refused to attend court to testify despite courts summons and threats of an arrest warrant leading to the activist’s acquittal on all remaining charges.

Ms Crouch, one of the four  acquitted today said: “This is a small victory in the wider campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. We’ll continue to challenge corporate complicity in the occupation and Israel’s impunity on the international stage.”

Mr Matthews, another acquitted campaigner, added: “The message is clear.  If your company is involved in apartheid and war crimes and occupying Palestinian land, people will occupy your shop.”

The British government, the European Union, the United Nations and the International Court of Justice all consider Israel’s settlements to be illegal, as they are in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention are also criminal offences under UK law (International Criminal Court Act 2001).

For more information please contact the defendant’s solicitor Simon Natas on: 0208 522 7707 (UK)


NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. In December 2009, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issued guidance to retailers concerning produce grown in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It states that: “The Government considers that traders would be misleading consumers and would therefore almost be certainly committing an offence, if they were to declare produce from the OPT (including from the West Bank) as ‘Produce of Israel’. This would apply irrespective of whether the produce was from a Palestinian producer or from an Israeli settlement in the OPT. This is because the area does not fall within the internationally recognised borders if the state of Israel.”

DEFRA Technical advice: labelling of produce grown in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 11 December 2009

2. The BDS initiative [7] was born in 2005 through a call by Palestinian civil society groups and organisations seeking a global non-violent means to challenge the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. It has been taken up by numerous groups and organisations internationally and has become a unifying global movement for those seeking justice for Palestine.

To Know is Not Enough: How Hampshire became the First to Divest

Hampshire College is often credited with being the first US college to divest for the occupation, and this video attempts to understand the group and the campaign that made it happen. The video is constructed from interviews with over a dozen student activists from Hampshire College’s Students for Justice in Palestine.

“To Know is Not Enough” is a video by Will Delphia, a film and social science student at Hampshire College.

Hampshire College is a small liberal arts school in Amherst, Massachusetts. Hampshire was started in the early 1970s to be a new sort of experiment in non-traditional education emphasizing independent work and allowing students to choose every facet of their own course of study.

Hampshire College describes itself as “experimenting” rather than “experimental” in order to emphasize the changing nature of its curriculum. From its inception the curriculum has generally had certain non-traditional features (Wikipedia).

It was in this context where a student group managed to win for themselves a victory in the international movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.

Will Delphia (director):

SJP and their campaign caught my attention like it caught the attention of the entire campus, I hope that this film serves the larger movement for Campus BDS just as it would serve Hampshire College as an document encapsulating an exciting and intense moment in the school’s history.

The title “To Know is Not Enough” is in reference to Hampshire College’s official motto: Non satis scire. – and in the opinion of the filmmaker it cannot mean anything unless it means that one must act on their knowledge. There is no better example of putting ideas into action at Hampshire College than the story of Students for Justice in Palestine and divestment.

Desmond Tutu backs U.S food co-op boycott of Israeli products

30 July 2010 | Ha’aretz

South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu issues statement of support for boycott announced by food co-op in Rachel Corrie’s hometown of Olympia, Washington

South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Wednesday that he supports the Olympia Food Co-op’s boycott of Israeli products.

Desmond Tutu (centre) with Abdallah Abu Rahmah of Bil'in popular committe, Ela Bhatt, Jimmy Carter, Fernando H Cardoso, Mary Robinson and Gro Brundtland of the Elders during a visit to Bil'in
Desmond Tutu (centre) with Abdallah Abu Rahmah of Bil'in popular committe, Ela Bhatt, Jimmy Carter, Fernando H Cardoso, Mary Robinson and Gro Brundtland of the Elders during a visit to Bil'in

The Olympia Food Co-op, located in Olympia, Washington, the hometown of the International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie who was killed seven years ago in Gaza, announced last week that no Israeli products would be sold at its two grocery stores in the city.

“I, Desmond Tutu, fully support and endorse the Olympia Food Co-op’s boycott of Israeli products,” Tutu said in a statement. “The Olympia Food Co-op has joined a growing worldwide movement on the part of citizens and the private sector to support by non-violent tangible acts the Palestinian struggle for justice and self-determination.”

Tutu also encouraged other cooperatives, grocers and businesses to boycott Israeli goods.

Food co-op in Rachel Corrie’s hometown boycotts Israeli goods

Natasha Mozgovaya | Ha’aretz

20 July 2010

Americans are far more supportive of Israel than Europeans, and most initiatives to boycott Israeli goods or to divest funds from companies working with Israel are unsuccessful in the United States.

But such projects have recently become more widespread, especially among students – although most divestment decisions by student bodies are not implemented on the colleges’ management levels.

Last week, the board of directors of the Olympia Food Co-op in Washington state decided that no more Israeli products will be sold at its two grocery stores in the city.

“We met last Thursday for the board members meeting and a pretty large group – about 40 people – presented the boycott project and answered our questions,” Rob Richards, a board member, told Haaretz. “A couple of board members were concerned about what will be the financial effect on the organization, but it’s minimal. For me personally there is a moral imperative that goes beyond any financial concern. So we decided to adopt the boycott which went into effect the next day.”

Asked whether the boycott includes all products made in Israel, or only in settlements, Richards explained: “As far as I know – it concerns any Israeli products. We exempted “Peace Oil” – it’s a joint product produced by the Palestinian farmers. Any product that is made by the company that works to improve the conditions of the Palestinians will be exempted.”

Richards says the decision drew no protests.

“There was very little feedback from the staff that was against the boycott, but it seemed as minority opinion. We have two members on the board from the Jewish community who were supportive of the boycott – it’s pretty progressive town. I know that’s not universal at the Jewish community.”

There is a list of conditions that will lead to the end of the boycott, he says.

“I am trying to be realistic – the Olympia Food Co-Op boycott is not going to change the Israeli policy, but I believe that these small drops will eventually have an effect. I would like to see more co-ops joining the boycott and more voices involved,” he added.

It is probably no coincidence that Olympia is the hometown of the International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie who was killed seven years ago in Gaza – a Caterpillar bulldozer ran over her as she tried to prevent demolition of a Palestinian house. Last month, the student body of Evergreen State College in Olympia, where she studied, passed two resolutions which called for the college foundation “to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine,” and the second one called to ban the Caterpillar company equipment from campus.

“The fact that it is the home town of Rachel Corrie’s parents and that it is represented by Rep Brian Baird (who has been to Gaza and is outspoken against Israel) makes this ripe for issues,” said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi of The Israel Project, a pro-Israel organization. “So does the fact that it does not have a very organized pro-Israel community. This went under the radar screen at a time when most groups were focused on Iran sanctions and other macro issues. It is clear that the people who voted on this did not hear both sides of the issues. What is needed is education on facts.”

An Israeli diplomatic source told Haaretz that the boycott issue is being checked, and although it seems like a marginal incident. The source added that “we are concerned about every attempt to delegitimize Israel.”

The Olympia Food Co-Op boycott is only a tiny part of an effort that the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) movement is mounting on U.S. companies. On Monday, Jewish Voice for Peace activists planned to attend the TIAA-CREF annual meeting the company headquarters in New York City to deliver thousands of signatures calling on the company to divest its money from Caterpillar, Elbit, Motorola and some other companies, that, as JVP puts it, “profit from the violation of international law through home demolitions, the destruction of life sustaining orchards, the construction of roads and transit that only Israelis can use, the killing of civilians by drones, and many other injustices.”

In some places the mainstream Jewish community has reacted vigorously against boycott attempts, but many Israel supporters are worried that the battle “might be already lost at the campuses.”