Tag: BDS

The Guardian: “Time to get serious about Israel”

by John Hilary, January 31st

You know that things are serious when a parliamentary select committee puts out a call for sanctions against another sovereign state. Doubly so when that state is supposed to be one of Britain’s key allies in the Middle East. Yet today the House of Commons international development committee is calling on the Labour government to press for sanctions against Israel over its treatment of the Palestinian people. Things must be pretty bad.

Things are indeed bad, says the committee’s new report. As a result of Israeli occupation and the accompanying restrictions on movement, the Palestinian economy is in freefall. Fully 70% of Palestinians are now living in poverty, according to UN calculations, a figure which rises to 80% in Gaza. Over half of all Palestinians are now unable to cover their families’ daily food needs without relying on external aid – a scandal in such a rich and fertile land.

As a first step in putting pressure on the Israeli government to end this oppression, the UK should now urge its fellow members in the EU to consider suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, the cross-party committee says.

That agreement gives Israeli exports preferential access to the markets of the European Union. Europe accounts for two-thirds of Israeli exports, and suspending the preferences those exports currently enjoy would send the first proper message to Israel that its oppression of the Palestinian people is unacceptable.

That message is long overdue. The EU-Israel agreement should have been suspended years ago, as its own text states that it is conditional upon respect for human rights. In this regard Israel has already violated the agreement many times over. The UN’s own special rapporteur, Jean Ziegler, among many others, has pointed out that the agreement should already have been suspended under its own terms.

The call for suspension of Israel’s trading preferences is the first in a line of sanctions which the UK could take. Suspending arms sales is another obvious candidate. The UK has been approving record levels of arms sales to Israel over the past couple of years, despite admitting that it cannot trust Israel’s claims that the weapons will not be used in its military operations against the Palestinian people. The government is now facing a court case on the issue.

Today’s committee report is not just targeted at Israel. It also slams the UK and other international donors for withdrawing aid to the Palestinian Authority since early 2006. Together with Israel’s withholding of revenues due to the Palestinian government, this action by the international community has “increased poverty and hardship amongst most Palestinians”, the report says. At least one million people have been affected by this punitive action, the least smart form of sanctions since those imposed on the people of Iraq during the 1990s.

The main significance of the committee’s report is that it challenges Tony Blair to move from his unconditional support of Israel to a position of standing up for the Palestinian people. In so doing, the report echoes the call of a new coalition also launched this week. The Enough! coalition brings together all major British trade unions, campaigns organisations and charities plus faith groups from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities in a joint call for justice for the Palestinian people. Only through such justice can Israelis and Palestinians hope to build a lasting peace for the region as a whole.

The immediate focus of the coalition is to mark this year’s 40th anniversary of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, Palestinian groups trace their suffering back further to the 1948 nakba, or catastrophe, when 750,000 were driven into exile in order to make way for the founding of the Israeli state. Both anniversaries are equally important.

For those of us who bear the weight of British imperial history, there is another reason for marking 2007. This year also sees the 90th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, in which Britain, for its own political ends, committed itself to a Jewish national home in Palestine. Britain and France had promised self-determination to the peoples of the former Ottoman empire, but the British government chose to deny the people of Palestine this right.

Yet the historical responsibility of the British state is not the issue. It is Britain’s current support of Israeli aggression which must be challenged and changed. Today’s call for action from MPs in the international development committee must be the start of a radical reorientation of Britain’s policy towards the Middle East. Sanctions against Israel is a first and necessary step on that journey.

The Guardian: “A doctor’s call”

by Victoria Brittain, January 30th

Mona el-Farra, a Palestinian doctor working in Gaza should have been in London this evening, launching a campaign for peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on recognition of international law.

The campaign, simply called “Enough”, is backed by various aid organisations, trade unions, faith and other campaign groups.

Dr Farra was invited before Christmas, and planned to leave Gaza around January 15 to allow plenty of time to get through the difficult Rafah border with Egypt. But she is not in London today because – along with hundreds of other Palestinians – she was refused the right to cross the border. For a week, with her suitcase packed, she thought she would be able to come. But in the end the border was only opened one way – into Gaza from Egypt, not out of it.

Last week, in an attempt to get an exemption for Dr Farra, two eminent British doctors – Derek Summerfield and David Halpin – faxed new invitations to her to come to London. But these health professionals’ invitations also cut no ice with the Israelis.

For almost a year or more Dr Farra’s blog, From Gaza, With Love, has been giving a uniquely vivid idea of the day-to-day desperate poverty and total unpredictability of life in Gaza, and the work of a doctor in that place where everything is lacking.

Dr Farra coordinates incoming aid, and organises three doctors and dozens of women volunteers to distribute food parcels, milk, meat, blankets, money vouchers, medicines for sick children and cancer patients, university fees for needy students, etc.

The border was opened 14 times in six months, electricity was off for four months, she wrote. Patients died waiting at the border, women gave birth on the road waiting for permission to travel to hospital, ambulances have been restricted, four emergency health workers died in December …

Is this why the Israelis don’t want people in Britain to hear her speak?

It is her blogs, as well as personal experience of working in the occupied Palestinian territories on and off for 14 years that has brought Dr Derek Summerfield and many of his colleagues to support the call of Palestinian health professionals like Dr Farra, last November, for a boycott of links with the Israeli universities and hospitals which support the occupation, and stronger links with Israeli institutions and organisations which defy it. They joined the boycott call by 60 Palestinian trade union and civil society organisations.

Dr Summerfield, South African by birth, honorary senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London, makes the parallels with the academic isolation of apartheid South Africa (which was much contested at the time):

This rightly included a boycott of the medical profession for collusion of a very similar nature to what we see today in Israel. For instance, the Medical Association of South Africa was for a time suspended from membership of the World Medical Association. On visits there in recent years I have heard it said more than once that the boycott played a distinct role in bringing the profession to its senses.

As in South Africa, the Israeli medical profession, and the establishment generally, is sensitive to opinion in the western world, not least from fellow doctors. An academic boycott in an extreme situation is a moral and ethical imperative when all else has failed.

The place to start is a boycott of the Israeli Medical Association, who have made their decisions with their eyes open over many years, and should be held to account for them. Any Israeli doctor who publicly dissociates him or herself from state practice becomes part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Don’t Flirt with the Occupation – February 10th Mass Demonstration Against Carmel-Agrexco in London

by Boycott Israeli Goods

Agrexco is Israel’s largest exporter of fresh agricultural produce. The company is 50% owned by the Israeli state. Agrexco accounts for 70% ofIsraeli fresh produce sold abroad with annual sales of $750 million in 2006. Agrexco boast of being able to get produce to European markets within 24 hours.

The Valentines Day period is one of Agrexco UK’s busiest times as the company deals with large amounts of fresh flowers from Israel and the settlements.

The Boycott Israeli Goods campaign is planning a mass picket of the depot on Saturday February 10th in opposition to the sale of Israeli goods and in support of Palestinian farmers who are not able to market their goods internationally

In the UK Agrexco is known under the Carmel, Coral and Jaffa brands. The UK is the most important foreign market for Israeli fresh produce. Agrexco exports a wide range of produce to the UK including peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, spices, flowers and avocados.

Agrexco is the largest exporter of settlement produce for sale overseas. Much of this produce comes from colonies in the Jordan Valley. Carmel Agrexco hgave had dealings with the colonies of Tomer, Mehola, Hamra, Ro’i, Massua, Patzael, Mekhora, Netiv Ha-Gdud and Bet Ha-Arava.

Palestinian workers in the settlements suffer much worse working conditions and receive half the pay of Israelis.

Carmel-Agrexco’s UK depot has been blockaded 3 times by Palestinian solidarity activists.

Palestinians are calling for the solidarity movement to take action against Carmel Agrexco. 180 Palestinian organisations and unions, in response to the Israeli onslaught, have called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Apartheid Israel.

Meet at 11am, (Bridge Place, Behind Victoria Station, Opposite UK Passport Office, outside the Hisperia Hotel) Central London, for transport to Agrexco’s depot in Middlesex

Meet at Carmel, Swallowfield Way, Hayes at 1pm (see map) if you are making your own way there. Email boycott@palestinecampaign.org to let us know you are coming

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Click here for YNet report on Israeli flower exports.

Candlelight Vigils Outside the Israel Philharmonic Concerts in Los Angeles


a Women in Black vigil outside the Disney Hall on January 14th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Local Peace and Human Rights Group to Hold Silent Candlelight Vigils Outside the Israel Philharmonic Concerts at Disney Hall Monday, Feb. 5th, and Tuesday, Feb. 6th in Downtown LA

Women in Black-LA Join Launch of International Campaign Calling for Sanctions and Cultural Boycott to End Israeli Apartheid in Palestine Inspired by Worldwide Movement That Helped End Apartheid in South Africa

WHAT: Silent Candlelight Vigil to Support a Boycott of the Israel Philharmonic and an End to Israeli Apartheid in Palestine

WHEN: Monday, February 5th – 6:30 to 8:00 PM
Tuesday, February 6th – 6:30 to 8:00 PM

WHERE: Outside the Disney Hall
1st Street & Grand, Downtown LA

WHY: International and Palestinian human rights leaders have asked supporters worldwide to begin cultural and economic boycotts, along with divestment and sanction campaigns to end Israel’s Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem and to end Israeli Apartheid in Palestine.

This effort is modeled after the successful worldwide boycott and divestment campaign that helped end Apartheid in South Africa.

When they learned that the Israel Philharmonic would be stopping at Disney Hall while on their U.S. tour, Women in Black-LA joined the international campaign by launching their call for a Boycott of the orchestra, after first writing a letter to the Israel Philharmonic asking them to publicly oppose the occuptation.

Nearly 1,000 groups and prominent individuals, from former government officials to artists and activists, all over the world, signed the letter.

One of the signers, Silvia Tennebaum, step-daughter of Israel Philharmonic co-founder, William Steinberg, wrote: “My hope is that the orchestra will remember the suffering endured by the Jews in Germany and Eastern Europe and, in their memory, not implicitly support an occupation that seeks to strangle and displace a whole people.”

EXCERPT from letter to the Israel Philharmonic from WIB-LA:

“Imagine that the Israel Philharmonic’s denouncement of the Occupation and call for peace and justice will have a huge positive ripple effect on Israeli society. Imagine a future where Israelis and Palestinians share the resources of their land with respect and appreciation for each other’s humanity, cultures and needs. Maybe it’s the artists and musicians who will finally bring peace and justice to Israel, Palestine and the region.”

“When we didn’t hear from the Israel Philharmonic,” said Carol Smith, a member of WIB-LA and the National Lawyers’ Guild Los Angeles Chapter. “We wrote to the management of the L.A. Philharmonic asking them to cancel the performance or make an announcement before each performance, calling for an end to the occupation.”

“Now we are taking our protest to the audience at Disney Hall. Cultural and sports boycotts were a crucial part of the worldwide campaign that finally ended Apartheid in South Africa, and we call for a similar boycott to end Israeli Apartheid.”

“President Carter made it possible for us to go public with the comparison to Apartheid,” said WIB-LA member Greta Berlin. “Many of us worked in the anti-Apartheid movement and know how effective the cultural and sports boycotts were.”

“We felt that because Zubin Mehta, the conductor of the Israel Philharmonic, refers to it as ‘Israel’s flagship,’ the orchestra serves as a representative of Israel’s government and policies. On its website (www.ipo.co.il), the Orchestra talks about its role in playing for Israel’s soldiers in the field and in celebrating Israel’s military victories.”

President Carter writes in his new best-selling book, Palestine, Peace, Not Apartheid,

“Israel’s current policy in the territories is a system of Apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israel totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights. Israel’s continued
control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land.”

WHO: Women in Black is an international movement against violence and for justice. It was founded in Israel in 1988 to oppose the Israeli Occupation.

Women in Black-Los Angeles, founded in 2001, is made up of women and men from diverse faiths and national origins including Palestinians, Israelis and Americans, Jews, Muslims and Christians.

A number of members have made multiple visits to the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Please find a copy Women in Black-Los Angeles’ letters to the Israel Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras below and on the website at http://www.wib-la.org .

Also find below Los Angeles Times 1/27/07 article:
The Music Center area becomes a protest site
Groups intend to voice concerns, timed to appearances there by Mexico’s
Vicente Fox and Israel Philharmonic.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-protest27jan27,1,7420749.story

The vigils are endorsed by the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition, Campaign to End
Israeli Apartheid (CEIA), and Middle East Peace Fellowship of Southern
California.

Contact: Karin Pally
(310) 399-1921/ (310) 430-9607 (cell)
WomeninBlackLA@gmail.com

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The Music Center area becomes a protest site – groups intend to voice concerns, timed to appearances there by Mexico’s Vicente Fox and Israel Philharmonic.

by Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, January 27

Passions over international human rights issues have given rise to an unusual sight outside the Los Angeles Music Center: political protests.

While protests are a sporadic element of life in Los Angeles, these demonstrations stand out because of their location — in the heart of L.A.’s cultural center, where political dissent is usually channeled through works of art, not street protests.

Two Los Angeles-area groups are planning protests against a talk by former Mexican President Vicente Fox on Monday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and two performances in early February by the Israel Philharmonic at Disney Hall.

A Los Angeles affiliate of the international Women in Black organization held one demonstration outside Disney Hall on Jan. 14 and plans a second one for 1 p.m. Sunday before the scheduled 2 p.m. L.A. Philharmonic performance of Schumann’s Second Symphony. Other protests will coincide with the Israel Philharmonic’s scheduled concerts Feb. 5 and 6.

Monday’s planned protest against the Fox visit is being coordinated by the Organization of the Binational Indigenous Front, which organizer Odilia Romero said represents Native Americans on both sides of the border. The group also demonstrated Jan. 14 across the street from the
center.

Romero said the group’s members were outraged by the center’s description of Fox, who left office in November after six years, as a promoter of Mexican democracy who helped stabilize an unruly economy.

“There were assassinations, political prisoners, migration for indigenous people” during Fox’s presidency, Romero said. “I don’t think he has stabilized the economy. The people are more in poverty than ever. We want our voices to be heard because we are the product of migration.”

Why protest at the Music Center in the first place? For pretty much the same reason Willie Sutton once said he robbed banks: That’s where the money is.

“It’s not about the program itself,” said Carol Smith, a leader of the Women in Black-L.A. group, whose demonstrations consist of more than a dozen black-clad women standing silent vigil while handing out informational pamphlets. “It’s about educating the people who attend the symphony.”

The group earlier had petitioned the L.A. Philharmonic to cancel the concert as part of its attempt to bring international pressure on Israel to change its policies toward Palestinians, including its occupation of Gaza. Israel has long maintained that its policies are driven by self-defense concerns.

WIB-LA is part of a broad campaign seeking to bring the same international mix of sanctions and cultural boycotts on the Israeli government as arose in the 1980s against the former apartheid
government of South Africa.

In a letter to WIB-LA, Deborah Borda, president of the L.A. Philharmonic Assn., rejected calls for a boycott of the Israeli orchestra.

“We will never support the silencing of artists from any culture as a means of political action,” Borda wrote. “Whenever this unfortunate course of action has been pursued by governments and political entities, it is always to the detriment of society at large, and certainly the artists.”

“The protests have been peaceful, and they are certainly welcome to express their opinions,” said Philharmonic spokesman Adam Crane.

Carmel-Agrexco’s UK headquarters blockaded for the third time

from Indymedia UK, November 27th

For the second time this year [previous action], Palestine Solidarity activists blockaded Israeli company Carmel-Agrexco’s UK headquarters in Hayes, Middlesex, in the early morning of 26 Nov 2006 [press release]. The action was part of an ongoing non-violent protest against recurrent breaches of human rights and international law in the occupied territories of Palestine and to highlight Agrexco’s illegal activity in court.

The blockaders braved torrential rain for nearly 6 hours, completely stopping all deliveries to and from the depot. A structure was erected from metal fence panels, blocking Agrexco’s main gate. Two activists were locked onto the company’s vehicle access gate, inside the company grounds, while another two secured the second gate.

Once again, Agrexco made a decision not to prosecute the blockaders for fear of the negative publicity another court case could generate [see previous trial].


Do you think the police don’t want people to see the banner!

Carmel-Agrexco in Hayes is the main UK depot of Israel’s 50% state-owned export company. Agrexco is responsible for exporting the majority of fruit and veg from illegal settlements in the West Bank to the UK. The UK is a large part of the market for settlement produce, making up 60% of Agrexco’s total exports.

Agrexco profit from Israel’s illegal occupation and entrenched system of apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories. In the Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank, Agrexco cultivate stolen Palestinian land while Palestinians work for them for less than a living wage. Carmel-Agrexco can deliver fruit and veg to Europe in 24 hours while the produce of Palestinian farmers rots in the fields because the farmers are prevented from bringing it through Israeli military checkpoints.

Text of letter to Carmel-Agrexco
Report on Carmel’s involvement in the Jordan Valley
War on Want’s report: Profiting from the Occupation