Tag: Global Actions

Adalah-NY: Film screened in front of Leviev New York about Palestinian village protesting Leviev’s settlements

Adalah-NY contact: justiceme@gmail.com

New York, NY, Jan 21, 2008 – Twenty-five New York protesters and dozens of Madison Avenue passers-by braved sub-freezing temperatures Monday evening to watch the award winning documentary “Bil’in My Love” on the sidewalk 20 feet from the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev. Leviev’s company Danya Cebus has been building the Israeli settlement of Mattityahu East on the land of the West Bank village of Bil’in, threatening the village’s survival. The film, by Israeli director Shai Pollak, documents the first two years of Bil’in’s three year creative, nonviolent struggle to save its land from Israel’s wall and Leviev’s settlements.

Adalah-NY spokesperson Ethan Heitner explained, “The screening tonight brought images of the impacts of Leviev’s violations of international law in Palestine and the courageous resistance of his victims to his Manhattan doorstep, in one of wealthiest neighborhoods in the world.” The protest, organized by the New York activist group Adalah-NY and calling for a boycott of Leviev, was the sixth held at LEVIEV New York since the store opened in November.

“Bil’in My Love,” won Best Documentary at the 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival, and a special award at the 2006 Rotterdam film festival. On the US holiday honoring the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hundreds of passers-by received flyers with photos juxtaposing the Palestinian struggle for freedom with the struggle against Apartheid South Africa and the US civil rights struggle of African-Americans.

The Israeli military has injured over 800 Israeli, Palestinian and international protesters in more than 200 demonstrations in Bil’in over three years. 49 Bil’in residents, including some protest leaders, have been arrested. Some spent months in prison. The flyer quoted Mohammed Khatib from Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, and Sharif Omar of Jayyous’ Land Defense Committee explaining that, “We are engaged in a struggle for justice, for our freedom – indeed, for our very lives . . . . Leviev is destroying the olive groves and farms that have sustained our villages for centuries, and is profiting from human rights abuses.”

In addition to Mattityahu East, Leviev’s company Danya Cebus is building homes in the illegal settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim, surrounding East Jerusalem. Leviev’s company Leader is building the settlement of Zufim on the land of the village of Jayyous, the site of another long Palestinian nonviolent campaign. Leviev has been a major donor to the Land Redemption Fund, an Israeli organization that uses dubious means to secure Palestinian land to expand settlements. All Israeli settlements are widely deemed illegal under international law.

Dor Energy, a company which is 26% owned by Leviev’s company Africa Israel and is the monopoly fuel supplier to the Gaza Strip, has plunged Gaza City into darkness by participating in a cut of the fuel supply to Gaza with the Israeli government. In Angola, where Leviev mines many of his diamonds, a security firm he employs has been accused of brutal human rights abuses against Angolans. In New York City, Leviev, along with his former New York business partner Shaya Boymelgreen, was the target of a campaign by the ACORN and the Laborers Union in Brooklyn for their use of underpaid non-union labor to carry out sub-standard development projects.

Leviev has recently been caught up in a controversy—covered by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ma’ariv and The Chronicle of Philanthropy—over media reports that he supports the charity Oxfam. Oxfam has reviewed its records and denies these claims, noting that Oxfam refuses donations from businesses that violate international law.

Issa Mikel of Adalah-NY noted that, “We’ll be back at LEVIEV New York with a bigger protest on Saturday, February 9 to tell New York shoppers that buying Leviev’s jewelry for Valentine’s Day supports the abuse of marginalized communities in Palestine, Angola, and right here in New York City.”

Jan. 21 photos: http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=73

Jan. 21 Video: http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=154&Itemid=72

Ha’aretz: From Bil’in to Madison Avenue: Demonstrations Outside the Leviev Jewelry Shop in New York over Danya Cebus’ Construction in the Territories

The Marker: Ha’aretz Daily’s business magazine
http://www.themarker.com/tmc/article.jhtml?ElementId=nh20071225_01&origin=ibo&strToSearch=%EC%E1%E9%E9%E1

By: Nimrod Halperin

Dec. 25

(Translation by Adalah-NY )

The exclusive jewelry shop that Lev Leviev opened in New York became a focus for protests against the extensive construction of settlements in the territories that is being implemented by the construction company Danya Cebus, owned by the diamond and real estate magnate. The New York Post reported that currently, in addition to the protests outside Leviev’s jewelry shop on Madison Avenue in New York, calls are being made to famous people — celebrities, who are also supporters of human rights–to boycott the store, which opened last month.

An American Jewish human rights organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, posted an open letter on their website to the film actress Susan Sarandon, who attended the official opening of the store last month while a protest was taking place outside. In the letter, the Oscar winning actress was asked to “sever her connections” with the jewelry store. “As long time admirers of your work on social justice issues and as Jewish activists working to promote a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, we in Jewish Voice for Peace write to call your attention to the crimes of Lev Leviev and to urge you to announce publicly that you are severing all connections with him and his company” said the letter.

A representative on behalf of Sarandon responded that Sarandon’s attendance at one event in his shop does not constitute “ties.” He added that “she is not connected to any jewelry company.”

Sarandon is not the only celebrity who visited Leviev’s shop and was criticized for doing so by human rights activists. More than a month ago the famous attorney Alan Dershowitz, a prominent pro-Israel supporter in the United States, visited the store at a time when a demonstration outside had been organized. When Dershowitz left the store, in his hand a gift bag, demonstrators asserted that he was a supporter of apartheid.

The company Danya Cebus, which is a subsidiary of Leviev’s company Africa-Israel, is one of the partners spearheading the construction of Modi’in Illit and many other settlements. Modi’in Illit was built on the land of five Palestinian villages, among them the village of Bil’in.

A spokesman on behalf of Leviev stated in a response to the Post that: “the demonstrators are not accurate” in their claims against the Leviev diamond brand. In his words, “the Leviev diamond brand scrupulously follows the Kimberley Process, which follows the origins of diamonds in international markets with the goal of eliminating the trade of blood diamonds.”

The British newspaper “The Sunday Times” uncovered in September that Leviev’s diamond shop in London sold “blood” gems that originated in Burma [Myanmar], and thus contributed to the funding of the military junta government in that country.

The journalist for that newspaper, disguised as a customer, visited Leviev’s flagship boutique on Old Bond Street in London the week before. She requested jewelry that included rubies of Burmese origin. She was shown a ring worth 500,000 UK pounds sterling [approximately one million US dollars] in which was set a five carat ruby and diamonds.

The military junta in Burma receives tens of millions of pounds each year from the sale of precious gems by way of jewelry stores in London, among them Leviev’s boutique, as well as Cartier, Harrod’s and Asprey.

Upwards of 90% of rubies in the world are of Burmese origin, however, often stones are polished in other nearby states such as Thailand, and because of this the origin of the stone is not recorded by customs authorities.
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Adalah-NY: Susan Sarandon exploring request that she cut ties with Leviev over Israeli settlement construction
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=14499


A colorful convoy of Burmese solidarity activists drives by Adalah-NY’s protest at Leviev’s Manhattan Jewelry store on Dec. 8

Adalah-NY: Two Palestinian Villages Ask Susan Sarandon to Repudiate Leviev over Israeli Settlements

For the original article, click here:
http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=127&Itemid=49

An Open Letter by Mohammed Khatib and Sharif Omar

December 26, 2007

Dear Ms. Sarandon,

We felt sorrow when we learned that you accepted Lev Leviev’s invitation to attend the opening night event for his new jewelry store in New York City on November 13 while our friends protested outside, because we respect you for your support for human rights, for your courage in speaking since 2002 against the US war on Iraq, and for your many other honorable public positions.

Lev Leviev is building Israeli settlements on Bil’in and Jayyous’ land, and is also building in the settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim around Jerusalem, in violation of international law. Leviev is destroying the olive groves and farms that have sustained our villages for centuries, and is profiting from human rights abuses.

We were reassured to learn from our colleagues in New York City that you expressed interest in learning more about these issues. We still hope that you will also speak in support peace and justice in Palestine. We invite you and would be very pleased to welcome you to visit Palestine, specifically Jayyous and Bil’in, in order to witness what Leviev’s settlements are doing to our communities.

Bil’in: The olive is a symbol of our land and of the Palestinian people. We are connected to the land. We were born in Bil’in like our fathers and grandfathers and their fathers. We belong here. Our mothers took us to harvest olives before we could speak. We remember playing under the olive trees which have since been uprooted by Israeli settlers who have come to live here. There is now a huge and growing settlement called Modi’in Illit where we played as children. It is hard for us to understand that our children cannot play in the same places where we played.

As a result, for the last three years in Bil’in we have engaged in a nonviolent campaign of creative protests with the support of Israeli and international activists to prevent the seizure by Israeli of 50% of our village’s land for the construction of Israel’s wall and the expansion of Modi’in Illit. The Israelis want to control the Palestinians, push us off our land and seize it for themselves. In Bil’in, we have chosen a strategy which makes clear who is the victim and who is the victimizer. We know the Israeli army can choose to deal with us in two ways. If they choose violence, we make sure to get photographs for the media so that everyone sees what we were up against. And if they don’t use violence then we achieve our aim of stopping their bulldozers and delaying construction of their Wall and settlements. But even if the soldiers put down their weapons, which they have not, that would not make us equals in the field. We would always be the stronger because we have the power of justice on our side. We want all the other Palestinians to see this and understand that this is the basis of our strategy.

Over three years of protests in Bil’in more than 800 activists were injured in more than 200 demonstrations in Bil’in. An Israeli attorney and a Bil’in resident both suffered permanent brain damage from rubber-coated steel bullets shot by Israeli soldiers from close range. Another Palestinian lost sight in one eye. 49 Bil’in residents, including some protest leaders, were arrested. Some spent months in prison.

As a result of our protests and in response to our legal petition, in September, 2007, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that Israel’s wall must be rerouted to return half of our land that was being seized, but the Supreme Court also legalized the settlement that Leviev is building on the remaining 25% of our land, though the wall is being built in violation of even Israeli law.

In response, we vowed to continue our nonviolent struggle to save the olive groves that our families have cultivated for centuries, and we have put our experience at the service of other communities struggling against the wall and settlements.

Jayyous: In October, 1988 the Israeli military governor of our district, Qalqilya, gave Jayyous’ mayor a military declaration saying that nearly 500 acres of Jayyous’ agricultural land was “state land.” The declaration granted us 45 days to prepare our landownership documents and maps to appeal that decision to an Israeli military court. 79 farmers from Jayyous appealed. The Israeli government has used British mandate laws, Ottoman laws, and the absentee landlord law to confiscate Palestinians’ land. If this is not enough the Israeli army confiscates our land for “security reasons.” Jayyous’ farmland includes some of the most fertile and water-rich land in the West Bank.

In May, 1996, the Israeli court decided on our 1988 appeal. 18 farmers from Jayyous lost all their land, some lost part of their land, while others kept their land. In 1993 LIDAR – a real state enterprise owned by the businessman Lev Leviev – established a quarry on some of Jayyous’ land that we were appealing to keep, three years before the Israeli court decision which took that land away.

During this period it became clear that LIDAR was an enemy of the people of Jayyous. LIDAR used bulldozers to prepare our land for houses for Israeli settlers, and TNT to detonate more than 16 acres for a quarry. They uprooted all the olive trees on that land. As a direct result of the quarry work, all the neighboring vegetables and fruit around have been covered with dust. LIDAR also uprooted the olive trees on two other plots. Many olive trees died because sewage from Zufim ran for many years through other plots. Other plots were annexed to Zufim.

LIDAR then announced that it would build 1500 new homes in a large area located 1.2 miles north of Zufim for “North Zufim.” Finally, in 2002 the Israel government began building its wall in Jayyous, up to 3.5 miles from the border with Israel, so as to annex 75% of Jayyous’ land (1700 acres) and six underground wells for Zufim. The land to be cut off was used to grow fruits and vegetables which sustain our village’s economy. According to the respected Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem’s 2005 report “Under the Guise of Security”, “the primary consideration in determining the route of the barrier around Zufin was to leave areas planned for the settlement’s expansion and for a nearby industrial zone on the ‘Israeli’ side of the barrier”, thus increasing “the number of Palestinians who are separated from their farmland, infringing their right to freedom of movement, their right to work and gain a livelihood, and their right of property.”

Despite more than 60 nonviolent protests organized by Jayyous’ people, and supported by Israeli and international activists, the wall has been built here, destroying 130 acres of Jayyous’ land, uprooting 4,000 trees and cutting off 75% of our land. 419 residents from Jayyous have been denied permits to pass through the gate in the Wall to reach their farmland. More than 70% of Jayyous’ farmers are now denied access to their land, many to the area where Leviev plans to expand Zufim. Hundreds of Israeli activists helped us to harvest our olives this fall because so many people from Jayyous could not reach their land.

* * *

We are engaged in a struggle for justice, for our freedom – indeed, for our very lives. We call on you, Ms. Sarandon, to end your relationship with Lev Leviev and stand with us in our struggle to save our land and our communities. We want you to see the facts here, and see what Leviev’s companies LIDAR and Danya Cebus are doing to our land. We would also be pleased to arrange meetings for you with Israeli and international peace activists who participate in our peaceful activities against the construction of settlements and the wall on our land.

As one option, we invite you to join us for Bil’in’s 3rd annual International Conference on Popular Struggle from April 30th- May 2, 2008. In 2007, our conference was attended by participants from around the world, including Irish Nobel Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, activists from South Africa, and Israeli participants like Nobel prize nominee Jeff Halper, the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD).

But whenever you choose to come – as a supporter of human rights for all peoples, regardless of ethnicity, religion, class or gender – you will be most welcome in Bil’in and Jayyous.

We hope that you will accept our invitation.

Awaiting your kind reply we remain,

Mohammed Khatib for Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements
Sharif Omar for Jayyous’ Land Defense Committee

———-
For background on Susan Sarandon and Lev Leviev:
-November 17 news report on Sarandon attendance at LEVIEV New York opening event http://www.nypost.com/seven/11172007/gossip/pagesix/her_best_friends_643816.htm
-November 20 letter to Sarandon from Adalah-NY http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=61
-December 13 letter to Sarandon from US group Jewish Voice for Peace http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_928.shtml

Adalah-NY: Despite NYC Palestinian rights protest, Dershowitz buys jewelry from settlement mogul Leviev

Parts one and two of the Alan Dershowitz and Norman Finkelstein debate on Democracy Now.

Part 1

Part 2

Notice in part 1 where he says he ‘opposes the settlements, [he] always opposed the settlements’.

New York, NY, Dec. 8 – Wealthy Madison Avenue holiday shoppers were greeted Saturday afternoon by boisterous music and dancing, as 60 New Yorkers protested in a growing campaign to boycott Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev over his settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Participants performed a joyous dabke, a traditional Palestinian dance, and chanted to music from the eight-piece Rude Mechanical Orchestra. During the protest, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz entered LEVIEV New York and emerged to jeers as he displayed a LEVIEV shopping bag to the crowd.

Saturday’s event was the third and largest protest outside LEVIEV New York since the store’s November 13 gala opening. The protesters highlighted Leviev’s abuse of marginalized communities in Palestine, Angola and New York. In the West Bank companies owned by Leviev have built homes in at least five Israeli settlements. These settlements carve the West Bank into disconnected bantustans, seize valuable Palestinian agricultural and water resources, and isolate Palestinian East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, rendering the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible. All Israeli settlements violate international law. Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Israel against its plans to build new homes in Har Homa, one of the settlements where Leviev’s company Danya Cebus is building.

Midway through Saturday’s protest Alan Dershowitz suddenly appeared in front of LEVIEV New York. “Just before he entered the store, I told Mr. Dershowitz, “you claim to be for peace, but you are deliberately putting money in the pockets of a man who builds settlements and prevents peace,” explained Issa Mikel of Adalah-NY.” Dershowitz responded, ‘Thank you for telling me about this place. I’m going to shop here from now on.’ It’s not surprising that Dershowitz is proud to support Israeli settlements, despite their illegality and immorality. Dershowitz is also a defender of torture, and has proposed that Israel destroy entire Palestinian villages.” As Dershowitz emerged from the store holding high his LEVIEV shopping bag, he was met by loud chants of, “Alan, Alan, you can’t hide, your support for Apartheid.”

New Yorkers were joined by members of the New Jersey Star dance troupe for likely the first ever Madison Avenue performance of the Palestinian folk dance dabke. Riham Barghouti of Adalah-NY explained, “Our dabke performance at Leviev’s store was an affirmation of our identity as Palestinians, and of our refusal to accept Israel’s efforts to cleanse us from our land and destroy our culture.”

Participants were reminded of the breadth of Leviev’s abuses when a stream of cars decorated with Burmese flags and “Free Burma” banners drove by the protest honking their horns in support. In September, 2007 The Sunday Times in London reported that its undercover journalist was shown Burmese rubies for sale, allegedly “blood rubies” used to finance Myanmar’s military junta. UPI reported in October that Leviev was warned by the EU to stop doing business with Myanmar or face sanctions.

Protesters held signs saying, “Latkes not land theft”, and “Dreidels not demolition and “Candles not confiscation.” Ethan Heitner of Adalah-NY explained, “I can think of no better way to celebrate Hanukah than to shine a light on the abuses Leviev is committing around the world.”

Leviev mines diamonds in close partnership with Angola’s repressive Dos Santos regime, and the security company Leviev employs in Angola has been accused of serious human rights abuses. In New York City, Shaya Boymelgreen, Leviev’s US partner until this summer, has been the target of a campaign by local groups for employing underpaid, non-union workers in hazardous conditions, and violating housing codes to construct luxury apartments that threaten to displace lower-income residents.

Protest photos available upon request, email us at: justiceme@gmail.com

For more on Adalah-NY: www.mideastjustice.org

AP: NY Judge Rules Against Principal Seeking Arabic School Job Back

December 5th

NEW YORK (AP) — The free-speech rights of the founding principal of the city’s first Arabic-themed school were not violated when she was forced out after being criticized for what she said during a newspaper interview, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein made the finding as he read a lengthy opinion in his Manhattan courtroom addressing the history of Debbie Almontaser as an educator in the nation’s largest public school system.

Almontaser had sued schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying they violated her First Amendment rights when she was pressured to step down after she discussed the history of the word “intifada,” an Arabic term commonly used to refer to the Palestinian uprising against Israel, during an August interview.

The judge said Almontaser participated in the interview in her role as acting principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn. He said speech is not protected when it occurs as part of the duties of an employee working for an employer that has a responsibility to supervise and monitor its messages to the public.

Almontaser lost her position after she was criticized for not condemning the use of the word “intifada” on a T-shirt made by a youth organization.

She said the meaning of her words was distorted after she told a reporter that “intifada” stemmed from a root word meaning “shake off” and that the word has different meanings for different people but certainly implies violence to many, especially in connection with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The judge noted that she had been instructed by the press staff for the schools not to discuss the T-shirts.

The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the judge’s ruling.

“This is just another example of how recent Supreme Court rulings are undermining constitutional rights in general and First Amendment rights in particular,” said Christopher Dunn, NYCLU associate legal director. “Public employees now have every right to be worried about being fired for their speech.”

Almontaser also was asking the judge to stop the city from looking for a new principal. But the judge said he wouldn’t block the job search.

City law department senior counsel James Lemonedes called the ruling well reasoned because Almontaser should not be able to force the city to reconsider her for the principal position.

“Her application had been previously considered, in accordance with the chancellor’s regulations, and she was not recommended for interviews,” he said. “We are comfortable the judge’s decision will be affirmed if the plaintiffs choose to appeal.”

Several weeks ago, the city said Almontaser will not be renamed principal of the Gibran academy. It said she had resigned to ensure the stability of the school and the schools chancellor agreed with her decision and considered the matter closed.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg had called Almontaser’s resignation the “right thing to do.”

The judge’s ruling Wednesday did not end the case, however. Almontaser’s lawsuit proceeds to a trial based on more evidence rather than the two-day hearing on which the judge based his preliminary ruling.

The school, named for the Lebanese Christian poet who promoted peace, opened quietly in September with 55 sixth-grade students enrolled. It is the first in the city to teach Arabic and Arab culture.