Tag: BDS

Adalah-NY to ADL: Demand that UNICEF reinstate Leviev as donor “hypocritical and outrageous”

UNICEF cut ties with Israeli diamond mogul over construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land

New York, NY, June 25, 2008 – The New York rights coalition Adalah-NY today labeled as “hypocritical and outrageous” the June 24 demand by The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that UNICEF reinstate Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev as a donor. In a June 24 press release, ADL Director Abe Foxman criticized UNICEF’s decision to sever ties with Leviev, saying that it “smacks of selective political discrimination.” UNICEF announced last week that it would no longer accept donations from Lev Leviev due to his involvement in the construction of Israeli settlements in violation of international law. UNICEF’s decision came after they received letters criticizing Leviev’s activities from groups including Adalah-NY, Jews Against the Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace, and a visit by UNICEF officials to Jayyous, one of the West Bank Palestinian communities where a Leviev company is building Israeli settlements.

Commenting on the ADL demand, Daniel Lang/Levitsky of Jews Against the Occupation, a member group in the Adalah-NY coalition, explained, “International law and universal human rights are essential principles for international organizations like UNICEF. The construction of Israeli settlements unequivocally violates both of these principles. Therefore, the ADL’s demand that UNICEF turn a blind eye to Lev Leviev’s violations of international law while disregarding basic rights for Palestinians is hypocritical and outrageous.”

Leviev admitted to settlement construction in an interview published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz Daily on March 8, 2008. Adalah-NY has documented on its website multiple Israeli media reports showing that Danya Cebus, a subsidiary of Leviev’s Africa Israel, committed in 2004 to building homes in the settlement of Mattityahu East on the land of the West Bank village of Bil’in, and committed in 2007 to construction in the settlements of Maale Adumim and Har Homa, two settlements designed to separate Palestinian East Jerusalem from the West Bank. Additionally, Adalah-NY has posted on its website documents from Israel’s Companies Registrar in Jerusalem showing that Leviev is co-owner of the company Leader which is building the settlement of Zufim on the village of Jayyous’s land. According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Leviev is also a funder of the settler organization the Land Redemption Fund which uses money, strong-arm tactics and deceit to secure Palestinian land for settlements.

Of great concern to child rights’ advocates, settlement construction by Leviev’s companies is not only destroying Palestinian communities, but is also directly harming Palestinian children. As a result of the construction of Leviev’s settlement and Israel’s wall on Jayyous’ land, the once-prosperous farming village, is now impoverished. 57% of Jayyous’ families now depend on food aid. 103 out of a total of 195 students in grades 7-12 were compelled to drop out of school, often because their parents found it difficult to cover basic school expenses. In Bil’in, a village which has conducted a three and a half year nonviolent protest campaign against the construction of Mattityahu East settlement and Israel’s wall, the Israeli military has injured around 1,000 civilian protesters and arrested 50. Around 300 of those injured and 13 of those jailed were children from Bil’in. These harsh realities led the leading child rights organization Defence for Children International – Palestine to tell UNICEF, “that settlement construction is not only illegal but also has a profound negative impact on the lives of many Palestinian children.”

Leviev’s companies’ violations are not limited to Palestine. Ethan Heitner of Adalah-NY explained, “It’s ironic that the ADL’s demand that UNICEF accept support from Leviev comes at a moment when Leviev’s disregard for basic human rights in Palestine, Namibia, Angola and New York City has never been clearer. In Namibia 200 workers at Leviev’s diamond polishing factory are currently on strike for the third time in four years. In Manhattan, at the Apthorp building, which is 50% owned by Leviev’s Africa-Israel, 88 tenants protected by rent-regulation laws are now threatened with losing their apartments as the owners convert the building into a condo, according to the New York Times. And the Angolan Government, Leviev’s close partner in the diamond industry, is attempting to expel the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in advance of elections. It seems the ADL just wants ‘its’ human rights abuser protected from criticism.”

DCI/PS welcomes UNICEF’s rejection of Leviev support

To view original statement made by the Defence for Children International – Palestine section, click here

DCI-Palestine welcomes UNICEF’s decision to reject any further support offered by Israeli businessman Lev Leviev, who owns companies that are responsible for building housing units in several settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), in contravention of international humanitarian law.

Lev Leviev sponsored fundraising events for UNICEF in 2007, while actively promoting the construction in the occupied West Bank of settlements which are not only illegal but also have a profound negative impact on the lives of Palestinian children. Several international and Palestinian groups working to protect Palestinian human rights, spearheaded by New York-based Adalah-NY–The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, had therefore been calling for UNICEF to publicly renounce connections with Leviev and to stop accepting any kind of support from his companies.

DCI-Palestine played an active role in raising this issue with UNICEF: we sent a letter of concern to UNICEF New York headquarters in April, organised meetings with the UNICEF-oPt Country Representative, and met with the UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa in May. In addition, DCI-Palestine and the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign coordinated a field visit of UNICEF officials to Jayyous, a Palestinian village which has been severely impacted by the construction of a settlement supported by one of Leviev’s companies.

On Thursday 19 June, a letter to Adalah-NY from the senior communications advisor to UNICEF’s Executive Director, stated: “Yesterday we confirmed that UNICEF has concluded that it will not consider partnerships – direct or indirect – with Mr. Lev Leviev or any of his corporate entities, and will not accept financial or other support that we know is from him or his corporate entities.” (Further information in the Adalah-NY press release)

DCI-Palestine welcomes this decision, and would like to thank Adalah-NY and all the other groups who have worked together to achieve this important step towards improving accountability to principles of international humanitarian and human rights law. We also want to thank residents of the West Bank villages Bil’in and Jayyous, whose children directly suffer from the consequences of settlement and settlement building activities. The presence of Israeli settlements and settlers in the West Bank has a devastating impact on the lives of Palestinian children and adults living nearby. A forthcoming DCI-Palestine violation report will highlight the recent increase in settler attacks against Palestinian children.

UNICEF Rejects Support From Israeli Billionaire Known for Constructing Settlements on Palestinian Lands

Diamond Mogul, Lev Leviev, Facing Increasing Pressure for Human Rights Violations
By Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East
Media Contact: media@adalahny.org

New York, NY, June 19, 2008 – A senior advisor to UNICEF’s Director said in a letter today that UNICEF will reject all partnerships with, or financial support from, Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. Leviev had previously provided UNICEF with support by sponsoring fundraising events in France. Leviev’s past support for UNICEF is featured in a number of places on his company’s website (www.leviev.com).

UNICEF’s rejection of Leviev’s support followed meetings with Adalah-NY, letters from organizations and Palestinian communities advocating a boycott of Leviev’s companies, and a visit by UNICEF officials to Jayyous, one of the Palestinian communities where a Leviev company is building Israeli settlements. Leviev’s diamond-mining companies in Angola have also been accused of serious human rights abuses.

Abdullah Abu Rahme, a community leader from the West Bank village of Bil’in, said, “We welcome UNICEF’s decision to hold one of the companies that has been building Mattityahu East settlement accountable for attempting to destroy our community. Our village has engaged in a three and a half year nonviolent campaign to save our land, and an international boycott is an important complement to our weekly protests. This is a victory, but we need many more like it.” Leviev’s companies have also recently built homes in the settlements of Maale Adumim and Har Homa, both of which cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

A June 19 letter to Adalah-NY from Chris De Bono, senior communications advisor to UNICEF’s Executive Director, stated: “Yesterday we confirmed that UNICEF has concluded that it will not consider partnerships – direct or indirect – with Mr. Lev Leviev or any of his corporate entities, and will not accept financial or other support that we know is from him or his corporate entities. The concerned parts of the UNICEF family, including our national committees, have been advised of this.” (See the full UNICEF letter: http://adalahny.org/images/stories/unicef-leviev.pdf) The letter followed a June 18th meeting at UNICEF’s New York headquarters with representatives from Adalah-NY.

In a previous March 25, 2008 letter to Adalah-NY, UNICEF explained that Leviev had indirectly supported UNICEF three times, “each time as a sponsor of fundraising activities organized by the French magazine Gala in support of UNICEF.” In the same letter UNICEF expressed its support for UN resolutions stating that Israeli settlements violate international law. Then in April, UNICEF received letters demanding that it reject all support from Leviev from Jewish Voice for Peace, Defence for Children International-Palestine, the villages of Jayyous and Bil’in, The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign, and Jews Against the Occupation.

The Mayor of the West Bank village of Jayyous, Mohammed Taher Jaber, commented: “UNICEF officials visited us in May and saw the terrible impacts on our children of the theft of our farmland for the expansion of Zufim settlement by Leviev’s company Leader. We thank UNICEF for upholding international law, and supporting children’s rights, and we call on other organizations to do the same.”

When contacted by Adalah-NY in January, Oxfam International announced publicly that it had not received support from Leviev, contrary to press reports and information on one of Leviev’s websites, and that it would not accept his support in the future due to Leviev’s companies’ settlement construction. Dubai has also recently announced that it would not allow Leviev to open planned jewelry stores in the Emirate following boycott calls issued by Adalah-NY and Palestinian communities.

PACBI: Urgent appeal to all academics

CONDEMN U.S. GOVERNMENT COMPLICITY IN BLOCKING PALESTINIAN RIGHT TO MOVEMENT AND ADVOCATE MEASURES TO PRESSURE ISRAEL

To view original appeal click here

May 30, 2008

The news that the US State Department has decided to cancel all previously approved Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza is deeply shocking. In yet another clear demonstration of US complicity with the Israeli occupation regime, the State Department has decided to withdraw the grants for graduate studies in the US because Israel has not given permission for the students to leave Gaza. The US Consulate in Jerusalem is reported to have stated that the grant money had been “redirected” because of concern that if the students were forced to remain in Gaza the grant money would go to waste. Is it credible for the US government, principal supporter and financier of Israel, to claim impotence in the face of Israeli measures restricting the movement of Palestinians into and out of the Gaza Strip?

This US government measure comes only days after Amnesty International termed the siege and imprisonment of a million and a half Palestinians in the Gaza Strip collective punishment that is causing the gravest humanitarian crisis to date; the decision was announced scarcely a few weeks after former US President Carter called the imprisonment of the entire Gaza population a terrible human rights crime and a brutal punishment and called for strong voices in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere to speak out and condemn this human rights tragedy. Only yesterday, Nobel laureate and head of the UN human rights observer team visiting the Gaza Strip, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, denounced the international community for its “silence and complicity” on Israel’s “abominable” 11-month blockade of Gaza.

What should be the response of the international academic community to this travesty of the most basic of human rights, the right to move freely, especially when students and academics are involved? We recall that one of the strongest arguments against the academic boycott of Israel put forth by some associations of academics in the United States and Europe is that boycotts violate the free exchange and circulation of ideas among academics. How can there be a free exchange of ideas when a whole people are denied their basic human right of movement? Are the human rights—let alone academic freedom—of Palestinian students and scholars of no concern to academics the world over?

We urge all associations of academics, as well as individual academics, particularly in the United States, to protest in the strongest terms possible this latest instance of US government complicity in the criminal Israeli policy of siege and imprisonment. We also appeal to academics to advocate and adopt effective measures to counter US complicity and, most crucially, Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights and international humanitarian law. The Israeli academy in particular cannot be allowed to carry on its business as usual in the face of the deepening oppression of the Palestinian people. Its deafening silence is a certain sign of its complicity in the structures of oppression, including the criminal siege upon the Gaza Strip and the collective punishment of its people. Measures such as academic boycotts, divestment initiatives, and any other form of pressure on the Israeli academy are among the few avenues left for academic activism today.

www.PACBI.org
info@boycottisrael.ps

Gulf News: Adalah rally outside UAE UN office in New York

By Abbas Al Lawati, published in Gulf News on 29th May 2008. To view original article click here

Dubai: A Jewish-Palestinian advocacy group held a thank-you rally outside the UAE’s representative office in New York on Tuesday over the country’s stand on not allowing a controversial Israeli businessman from opening a store in Dubai.

The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East (Adalah) gathered on Tuesday outside the UAE representative office in New York city to thank the UAE for not allowing Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev from opening his self titled diamond boutique in Dubai, and deliver a letter on behalf of Palestinian children.
Leviev’s companies are alleged to be involved in the construction of at least four major colonies in the West Bank, built on confiscated Palestinian land for the exclusive settlement of Jews.

“Our primary reason for going to the UAE consulate was to present them with the letter from [Palestinian] students [from villages where Leviev’s companies operate], and to thank the UAE for its decision to boycott Leviev,” said David Bloom, spokesperson for Adalah.

Adalah has been leading an international campaign against Leviev for his practices in Israeli colonies on the occupied West Bank.

Leviev diamonds had issued a press release announcing plans to open two boutiques in Dubai, prompting an outcry from Palestinian rights groups. A Gulf News report on April 30 however quoted Ali Ebrahim, Deputy Director General for Executive Affairs at the Department of Economic Development saying that no business of that name had been registered.

Leviev has since removed the Dubai stores from its website, but the boutique has told a number of Jewish and diamond magazines that it has not cancelled plans to open in the UAE. Dubai-based Levant Jewellery, owned by Leviev’s Palestinain-Moroccan agent Arif Bin Khadra continues to list the Dubai Leviev stores on its web site.

“We also wanted to express our concern that Leviev still intends to open his stores and sell diamonds in Dubai. We wanted to make sure [people were] aware that Arif Bin Khadra is selling Leviev’s diamonds in his Levant store at the al-Qasr hotel,” said Bloom.

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Letter from the children of Jayyous to the UAE

Below are excerpts from the letter sent by the children of the Palestinian town of Jayyous to the UAE, handed to the UAE representative office in New York by Adalah:

“We, high school students of English in the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Jayyous, declare our complete opposition to the Israeli businessman Mr. Lev Leviev who is destroying our olive groves that have sustained our village for centuries. Many of our families are not allowed permits by the Israeli occupying forces to work our own lands that Israel’s Wall is stealing for Mr. Leviev so he may expand his settlement “Zufim” onto our village’s farmlands.”

“We hope for all students to live in peace, justice, freedom and love. Every Leviev diamond boughtŠ pays for our oppression and dispossession. Give our proud village the chance to feed itself and grow again — boycott Mr. Lev Leviev, in Dubai and all over the world”