Tag: Global Actions

ei: The struggle is not over – Remembering Mohammed al-Kurd

By Pam Rasmussen

Please visit the website ‘Though Shalt Not Steal’

To view original article, published by The Electronic Intifada on the 26th November, click here


Abu Kamel and his wife, Um Kamel, eat breakfast with international volunteers at the al-Kurd’s family home. (Photo by Pam Rasmussen)

The saying that a man’s home is his castle goes back to the 1500s. Whether it is a mansion or a mud hut, a home to which you can retreat and be safe is a basic human need. But since 2001, Abu Kamel (Mohammed al-Kurd), his wife and five children were forced to fight every day for the right to stay in the East Jerusalem home his family had lived in for decades. And although the Jewish settlers who tried to push them out — literally — didn’t put a gun to his head and pull the trigger, they might as well have.

Two weeks after the al-Kurds were finally evicted from their home on 9 November, Abu Kamel suffered a fatal heart attack. Now, Um Kamel (his wife, Fawzieh) who I grew to admire and respect while I camped on their patio as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) must wage the fight alone.

In October, my friend Jean and I traveled to Palestine from the United States to volunteer with the ISM during the fall olive harvest. When a foot injury ended my usefulness at olive-picking, we left Nablus for East Jerusalem, where the ISM had been keeping watch on the al-Kurds patio since the summer hoping to prevent the eviction that eventually came.

The al-Kurds’ house is part of a project that the Jordanian government built with the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, to house 28 families who were forced to flee their original homes in 1948, after the Nakba, the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland. Abu Kamel’s family was forced to flee West Jerusalem during the ethnic cleansing, and settled in the house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. All of the parties involved agreed then that ownership of the houses would be transferred to the families within three years.

There they lived in peace until shortly after the June War in 1967, when two groups of Jewish settlers claimed ownership of the land, despite the earlier, documented agreement between Jordan and UNRWA. The struggle that followed took both parties into the courts, then escalated dramatically in 2001. When Abu Kamel suffered a heart attack and his family left the house to take him to medical treatment elsewhere, one of the settler families took advantage of his ill health. They moved in and occupied an extension to the home that the al-Kurds had renovated for one of their sons. When they returned, the al-Kurds faced the agonizing choice of abandoning their longtime home or living side-by-side with the representatives of a group that was trying to force them out. Despite Abu Kamel’s fragile health, they chose to stay and fight.

Early this year, the situation began heating up. Despite the fact that the Israeli Supreme Court had ruled that the settlers claim on the land is fraudulent, an investment company acquired the right to raze all of the Palestinian homes in the community and replace them with 200 settler housing units and a commercial center. 15 July 2008 was set as the eviction date, and while the al-Kurds who became the standard bearers for the entire neighborhood appealed once more to the court, the ISM moved in to help. In response, the settlers’ organization hired their own protection, an armed guard.

We lived in two tents set up on the patio, and one of us was present 24 hours a day, sleeping in shifts throughout the night. Um Kamel brought us tea at 7am, and she and Abu Kamel joined us for a traditional breakfast at 9am. A midday meal followed at 3pm. Although language was a bit of a barrier at first, we soon warmed up to each other and the routine. Abu Kamel was a quiet, solid presence, and Fawzieh was a model of cheerfulness and perseverance in the face of adversity. In addition to preparing our meals, she regularly played host to visiting delegations from international and Israeli peace organizations telling her family’s story over and over, marshaling support for their cause as well as for the Palestinian community overall.

I will remember our time with the al-Kurds as a highlight of my stay in Palestine, an oasis of warm hospitality in a hostile surrounding. One week later, just after we reluctantly returned to our home in the United States, I got the news: at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday, 9 November, the Israeli army swooped in and forced the al-Kurds out, while detaining the ISM volunteers who had taken our place. That was the beginning of the end for Abu Kamel. Suffering from dangerously high blood pressure, the 61-year-old Mohammed was admitted to the hospital on 22 November. Just hours later, he died.

Abu Kamel lives on through Fawzieh, however. She has kept up the fight with the help of the ISM and other volunteers by camping in a tent close by her rightful home. Despite further attempts by the Israeli army to discourage her, this time through fines and destruction of her canvas shelter, she and her fellow protesters are persevering. This is nonviolent resistance at its best, and its up to us to show that it can work.

Pam Rasmussen works in the healthcare field and lives in Maryland. Visit www.thou-shalt-not-steal.org, sign the petition and send a message to the Israeli government.

Albawaba: Despite Ban, Leviev to Sell Jewelry at Grand Opening of Atlantis Hotel in Dubai

Unconfirmed Report says Leviev to Attend Atlantis Opening

Al-Bawaba
November 18

Adalah-NY has learned that the jewelry of Israeli billionaire and settlement-builder Lev Leviev will be on sale at this week’s gala opening of the luxury hotel Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. Despite Leviev’s on-going construction of Israeli settlements and claims by United Arab Emirates officials that Leviev would receive no license to sell his jewelry there, the New York-based human rights coalition Adalah-NY has confirmed that Leviev’s jewelry will be on sale at the Atlantis branch of the Levant Jewelry chain on the fabled Palm Jumeirah island.

Adalah-NY has also heard from a Dubai source that Leviev will attend the grand opening events in person, but the group has been unable to corroborate this report. A press release on the Atlantis web site claims that the opening gala, set for November 20-21st, “will culminate in a giant fireworks display,” and that guests will include “prominent CEO’s, business leaders, politicians, actors and musicians and members of the Dubai Royal family.”

Adalah-NY has obtained photos of Leviev jewelry prominently displayed in the windows of the Levant store at the Atlantis, with Leviev’s name and logo prominently printed on display cases. Leviev’s jewelry and logo are featured at the Levant store at the Al Qasr Hotel. Leviev notes Dubai as a store location on the front of his Madison Avenue boutique in New York, and in recent Leviev ads in the New York Times.

Prior to an advocacy campaign by Adalah-NY and Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Leviev had announced plans to open in Dubai two Leviev stores and sell his products in a third store in partnership with his local partner, Arif Ben-Khadra, who is of Palestinian-Moroccan origin. Subsequently, in an April 30 article in Dubai’s Gulf News, Ali Ebrahim, Deputy Director General for Executive Affairs in Dubai, said Leviev would not be able to do business in Dubai. “We are aware of these reports and have not granted a trade licence to any business of this name. If such an application does come to us we will deal with it accordingly,” said Ebrahim. Further, Ebrahim told the paper that Israeli citizens were not allowed to do business in Dubai, and that “precautionary measures” made sure of that. Ebrahim further implied Leviev would not be able to do business through a local partner. “There are no loopholes,” he said. “We check backgrounds of businesses that apply.”

Leviev built his enormous fortune trading diamonds with Apartheid-era South Africa. His company mines diamonds in partnership with the repressive Angolan government. New York Magazine reported in 2007 that in Angola, “A security company contracted by Leviev was accused… of participating in practices of ‘humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.'” Also, according to the diamond industry watchdog Partnership Africa Canada, Angola and Leviev have failed to fully comply with the Kimberley Process.

In the West Bank, Leviev’s companies build Israeli-only settlements such as Ma’aleh Adumim, Mattityahu East and Zufim on stolen Palestinian land. According to Stop the Wall, Leviev is currently expanding Zufim settlement by 45 housing units on land owned by the village of Jayyous (see photo). Jayyous continues to hold non-violent protests against the confiscation of their land. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. UNICEF and Oxfam have both rejected support from Leviev due to his human rights violations, and the British government is under pressure to pull put of a deal to rent their new Tel Aviv Embassy from him.

Daniel Lang/Levitsky of Adalah-NY stated that “Dubai claimed that it has closed all the loopholes, but we have seen that to be glaringly false. Leviev jewelry will be prominently displayed and sold at a major hotel in Dubai. By allowing such a blatant contravention of its own laws, Dubai has made a mockery of its promise to boycott Leviev. The villagers of Jayyous and Bil’in, on whose stolen land Leviev’s settlements sit, will be saddened and outraged, as will be human rights advocates worldwide.”

Ynet: NY – Rights groups protest Hebron settlement fundraiser

Adalah-NY, Brooklyn for Peace rally outside Marriott Marquis hotel against fundraiser held there by settlement group, chant ‘Hebron’s settlers, Klu Klux Klan, racist groups go hand in hand’

To view original article, published by Ynet on the 18th November, click here

Thirty-five rights advocates from Adalah-NY and Brooklyn for Peace rallied Monday evening outside the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York’s Times Square to protest a fundraiser held there by the Brooklyn-based Israeli settlement group the Hebron Fund, the right groups said in a statement.

The fundraiser was held while tensions escalated in Hebron, as the Israeli High Court ordered Hebron’s settlers to temporarily evacuate a disputed home in the West Bank city.

Standing on 45th Street near New York’s Broadway theaters, the protesters’ chants included: “Mamma Mia Marriott, you support a racist lot” and “Hebron’s settlers, Klu Klux Klan, racist groups go hand in hand.”

Aaron Levitt, an activist with Jews Against the Occupation-NYC who has spent time in Hebron as a human rights monitor, noted that, “We made a lot of noise, but I don’t know if the settlers heard us at the dinner. Some of them cast agitated looks in our direction as they entered, and I engaged a few in conversation.

“The subtext of what I heard from most when I described the settler attacks on Palestinians that I had witnessed in Hebron was that they see no equivalence in the moral worth of non-Jew and a Jew,” he said.

“This is racist in a deep and meaningful way. And it is a worldview that allows settlers in Hebron to throw stones at Palestinian girls every day as they go to school, and to drive Palestinian families from their homes.”

Adalah NY: Eight Groups Call on Marriott Marquis to Cancel Hebron Settlement Fundraiser

New York, NY, November 13, 2008 – Eight groups representing tens of thousands of people in the US, Palestine and Israel have called on the Marriott Marquis hotel in Manhattan to cancel the November 17th dinner for the Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund aiming to raise money for Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron. In a November 7th letter the groups said, “The Marriot Marquis will be facilitating activities that directly violate international law and US foreign policy, actively promote racial discrimination, and, at least indirectly, support brutal Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian civilians and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Hebron.” The signers of the letter include Adalah-NY, Coalition of Women for Peace, (Israel), Gush Shalom (Israel), Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and WESPAC Foundation. Adalah-NY has called for a protest at the hotel on the 17th if the dinner is not cancelled.

Kathleen Duffy, a spokesperson for Marriott in New York City, told Adalah-NY on November 12th that the dinner will go ahead. Duffy did not respond directly to questions about seeming violations of the Marriott’s Human Rights Policy Statement which notes the Marriott’s respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and says that the Marriott “endeavors to remain ”free from complicity in human rights abuses.” All Israeli settlements violate international law, according to a broad international consensus. Duffy noted that in the past the Marriott cancelled the event of a group linked with white supremacist David Duke. On the Hebron Fund webpage, clicking on the symbol which says “Give to Hebron” leads to a donations page on the website for the Jewish Community of Hebron which says, among other things, “keep Hebron Jewish for the Jewish people.” In a report on Hebron, the Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and ACRI have labeled the demands of Hebron’s settlers as “racist.”

Aaron Levitt of Jews Against the Occupation-NYC explains, “As a Jew who has worked in Hebron as a human rights monitor, I’m dismayed that the Marriott is facilitating fundraising for Hebron’s violent Jewish settlers. One example of this violence is the ritual stoning by Israeli settler youth of Palestinian girls walking to the Cordoba School in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Each day, several dozen young girls hurried to their schoolhouse, huddled together, past the entrance of the magnificent new settlement synagogue. And each day settler youths standing in front of their synagogue would hurl a barrage of stones at the passing girls. The attackers’ parents did nothing, or watched in approving silence. The settlers’ violence, and my own shame, was worst on Shabbat, when sometimes I would stare at the beautiful synagogue, wondering what corrupted version of my faith was practiced there.”

In Hebron 700 Israeli settlers, living amidst 150,000 Palestinians, are attempting to expand their hold on the historic old city by expelling Palestinian residents, and connecting their settlements to the neighboring settlement of Kiryat Arba. According to B’Tselem and ACRI, Hebron’s settlers’ attacks on Palestinians have included “physical assault, including beatings, at times with clubs, stone throwing, hurling of refuse, sand, water, chlorine…destruction of shops and doors, shattering of windows, thefts, cutting of fruit trees, destruction of merchants’ stands.” Defence for Children International-Palestine Section has also documented settler attacks on Palestinian children in Hebron. In 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a Hebron settler who grew up in Brooklyn, executed 29 Palestinians as they prayed at a mosque in Hebron.

In a September 24th, 2008 radio interview, Hebron Fund Executive Director Yossi Baumol explained, “There are real facts on the ground that are created by people helping the Hebron Fund and coming to our dinners.” Creating “facts on the ground” is the mantra of the Israeli settlement movement. A March 2007 joint appeal by The Hebron Fund and Jewish Community of Hebron called for donations saying, “Dozens of new families can now come live in Hebron… waiting for you to be their partners in the redemption of Hebron – by providing doors, windows, heating systems and many other necessities.” The Hebron Fund has launched other, similar fundraising appeals for settlements.

An August 25, 2008 Reuters article noted the seeming contradiction that, “The United States says Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank threaten any peace between Israel and the Palestinians — yet it also encourages Americans to help support settlers by offering tax breaks on donations.” Reuters notes that US non-profits like the Hebron Fund fundraise for settlements even as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “has pressed Israel to cut its own financial incentives for settlers.” According to the Hebron Funds US tax forms obtained by Adalah-NY, the organization has raised $10.4 million for Hebron’s settlers from 2000 – 2006. The Hebron Fund’s 1982 “Certificate of Incorporation” as a not-for-profit, also obtained by Adalah-NY, says the purpose of the organization is to “advance public knowledge and disseminate information”, and to raise money for various “educational, religious and medical institutions located in Hebron.” There is no mention of settlement construction.

Protesters picket US State Department following eviction of al-Kurd family of East Jerusalem

The eviction of the al-Kurd family from their East Jerusalem home is attracting worldwide protest.

Upon hearing the news, two recent ISM volunteers who had camped out on the al-Kurd patio for several days picketed the U.S. State Department and visited with a representative of the Israel-Palestine desk.

They were assured that the State Department had already filed a complaint with the Israeli government, but the volunteers are pressing for immediate, concrete action.

To view original report on the eviction of the al-Kurd family of Occupied East Jerusalem click here