Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have taken to the streets in response to a call from Palestinian civil society in the occupied and besieged Gaza strip, and the BDS National Committee (BNC), for a day of rage.
Photos from Andrew Kadi in Call to end US Aid to Israel
The mobilisations come as grassroots pressure mounts on western governments to impose a military embargo on Israel.
On the 31st of July, Spain announced “provisional” suspension of military exports to Israel. On August 7th, Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, became the first head of state to declare his support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).
Dr Haidar Eid, a Gaza based steering committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel stated, “the masses that demonstrated their support today for Palestinian rights remind us of the demonstrations in the 80’s against Apartheid. This is our South African moment. Just as the South African anti-Apartheid movement and international support brought an end to the Apartheid regime, Palestinians, with the support of people of conscience worldwide, will bring an end to Israel’s multi-tiered system of oppression. Governments across the world must act in accordance with the will of their people and hold Israel accountable, including imposing sanctions and a military embargo on it to end its criminal impunity.”
Palestinian civil society based in Gaza said in their call:
“As we face the full might of Israel’s military arsenal, funded and supplied by the United States and the European Union, we call on civil society and people of conscience throughout the world to pressure governments to sanction Israel and implement a comprehensive arms embargo immediately. Take to the streets on Saturday 9th of August with a united demand for sanctions on Israel.”
Aftermath of Israeli airstrike on Palestinian home in Gaza.
Gaza Calling: All out on Saturday 9 August Day of Rage
Join the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Movement today. Demand Sanctions on Israel Now.
As we face the full might of Israel’s military arsenal, funded and supplied by the United States and European Union, we call on civil society and people of conscience throughout the world to pressure governments to sanction Israel and implement a comprehensive arms embargo immediately.
Take to the streets on Saturday 9 August with a united demand for sanctions on Israel.
From Gaza under invasion, bombardment, and continuing siege, the horror is beyond words. Medical supplies are exhausted. The death toll has reached 1813 killed (398 children, 207 women, 74 elderly) and 9370 injured (2744 children, 1750 women, 343 elderly). Our hospitals, ambulances, and medical staff are all under attack while on duty. Doctors and paramedics are being killed while evacuating the dead. Our dead are not numbers and statistics to be recounted; they are loved ones, family and friends.
While we have to survive this onslaught, you certainly have the power to help end it the same way you helped overcome Apartheid and other crimes against humanity. Israel is only able to carry out this attack with the unwavering support of governments – this support must end.
This is our third massacre in six years. When not being slaughtered, we remain under siege, an illegal collective punishment of the entire population. Fishermen are shot and killed if they stray beyond a 3 km limit imposed unilaterally by Israel. Farmers are shot harvesting their crops within a border area imposed unilaterally by Israel. Gaza has become the largest open-air prison, a concentration camp since 2006. This time, we want an end to this unprecedented crime against humanity committed with the complicity and support of your own governments!
We are not asking for charity. We are demanding solidarity, because we know that until Israel is isolated and sanctioned, these horrors will be repeated.
Take action this Saturday
Make boycotts, divestments and sanctions the main message at every protest around the world. Take banners and placards calling for sanction on Israel to every protest. Tweet them using the hashtag #GazaDayofRage. Email us your pictures and action details to GazaDayofRage@gmail.com.
While news of all the mass protests outside Israel’s embassies around the world have given us hope, after weeks of protests, we urge you to intensify your actions. Occupy Israeli embassies, challenge Israeli officials (and others) supporting the current aggression against Gaza whenever they appear in public and stage sit-in in government buildings.
Boycott all Israeli products and take action against corporations profiting from Israel’s system of colonialism, occupation and apartheid. March to boycott targets in your city and educate the public about companies complicit in Israel’s ongoing military assault and illegal siege of Gaza.
Palestinian trade unions are calling on our brothers and sisters in the trade union movement internationally to stop handling goods imported from or exported to Israel. The trade union movement has a proud history of direct action against Apartheid in South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions has joined us in the call for direct action to end Israel’s impunity.
From occupied and besieged Gaza
Signed by
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions
General Union of Palestinian Women
University Teachers’ Association in Palestine
Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (Umbrella for 133 orgs)
Medical Democratic Assembly
General Union of Palestine Workers
General Union for Health Services Workers
General Union for Public Services Workers
General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
General Union for Agricultural Workers
Union of Women’s Work Committees
Pal-Cinema (Palestine Cinema Forum)
Youth Herak Movement
Union of Women’s Struggle Committees
Union of Synergies—Women Unit
Union of Palestinian Women Committees
Women’s Studies Society
Working Woman’s Society
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
Gaza BDS Working Group
One Democratic State Group
Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions National Committee (BNC)
BNC includes: Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine, Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), Palestinian National Institute for NGOs, Global Palestine Right of Return Coalition, Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS), Federation of Independent Trade Unions, General Union of Palestinian Workers, Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, General Union of Palestinian Women, Union of Palestinian Farmers, General Union of Palestinian Teachers, General Union of Palestinian Writers, Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE), Union of Professional Associations, General Union of Palestinian Peasants, Union of Public Employees in Palestine-Civil Sector, Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (STW), National Committee for Grassroots Resistance, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba, Civic Coalition for the Defense of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, Coalition for Jerusalem, Union of Palestinian Charitable Organizations, Palestinian Economic Monitor, Union of Youth Activity Centers-Palestine Refugee Camps, Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Initiative
Protests are being organized in cities around the world to respond to the ongoing assault on Palestine and the Palestinian people, including the murders of Palestinians (including 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, murdered brutally by Israeli settlers), the bombing of Gaza, the mass arrests of over 600, and the raids, attacks, tear-gassing, invasions and closure that Palestinians are being subjected to. If a rally you know of is not listed, please email samidoun@samidoun.ca to have it posted!
Chicago, IL, US Saturday, July 5
3:00 PM
Water Tower Park, Chicago, IL
Protest organized by Students for Justice in Palestine’s Chicago network, and co-organized with local chapters of American Friends Service Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, Jews for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestine Solidarity Group, the US Palestine Community Network, International Socialist Organization, ANSWER Chicago, and the Anti-War Committee.
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1479409155627269/
Glasgow, Scotland Saturday, July 5
1:00 PM
Buchanan Street at Gordon Street, Glasgow City Centre
Initiated by Glasgow Stop the War Coalition
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/691236754277161/
London, England Saturday, July 5
2:00 PM
Israeli Embassy, 2 Palace Green, London
Called by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al-Aqsa, London Palestine Action, British Muslim Initiative, Palestinian Forum in Britain, CND
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1644051615818961/
The Hague, Netherlands Saturday, July 5
1:00 PM
Den Haag Plein tegenover 2e kamer
Organized by the Palestinian Prisoners Society Netherlands
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/641611065922896/
Cleveland, Ohio, US Saturday, July 5
3:00 PM
Public Square, Superior Avenue E, Cleveland, OH
Called by Al-Awda Cleveland
New York, NY, US Wednesday, July 9
5:30 PM
East 42nd St and 2nd Ave, Israeli Mission to UN, New York, NY
followed by 6:30 PM March to News Corp Building – 48th St and 6th Ave
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/662450663849851/
– Palestinian organisations condemn Israeli operations in West Bank and Gaza as collective punishment – Palestinians call for military embargo and boycott action
Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activists have are urging governments and international civil society to take action to hold Israel to account for its continued collective punishment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza following the disappearance and death of three Israeli settlers.
Zaid Shuaibi, a spokesperson for the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the civil society coalition that leads and supports the BDS movement, said:
“Israel’s on-going actions are designed to terrorise Palestinians and constitute collective punishment. Military violence, collective punishment and the deliberate targeting of civilians are endemic to Israel’s of decades old system of occupation, colonisation and apartheid.”
“Israel is able to act with utter impunity because of the military, economic and political support it receives from governments around the world. We call on international governments to impose a two-way arms embargo immediately and to suspend bilateral agreements until Israel fully complies with international law”.
“At a time when mainstream bodies such as the Bill Gates Foundation, the Presbyterian Church USA and the US United Methodist Church are divesting from companies profiting from Israel’s occupation, including G4S and Hewlett Packard, we call on people of conscience to intensify BDS pressure.”
Hundreds of military raids have been launched across the occupied West Bank since June 12, with more than 1000 private homes and refugee camps and the offices of civil society organisations ransacked.
At least 10 Palestinians have been killed and many more have been injured. More than 500 Palestinians have been detained and initial reports suggest that many of those arrested are held under administrative detention, a form of detention without charge or trial on secret evidence. The number of children held in Israeli jails has risen to 250. Israel has also imposed severe restrictions of movement.
On Wednesday, Israeli settlers kidnapped and killed a 16 year old from the Shuafat area of Palestinian East Jerusalem and Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Palestinian organisations have detailed how Israel’s recent actions constitute collective punishment, a crime prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as customary international humanitarian law.
Israeli occupation forces have also targeted the campuses of Birzeit University near Ramallah and the Arab American University in Jenin, resulting in the detention and arrest of students and staff and greatly infringing the Palestinian right to education.
Samia Botmeh, a professor at Birzeit University and a steering committee member with the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, said:
“Israel’s latest violations against Palestinian universities are part of its long history of oppression aimed at Palestinian education. Closure of universities for periods stretching to years, murder and detention of students and professors, destruction of universities’ properties and labs as well as the banning of lists of books have been Israel’s systematic policies targeting Palestinian education.”
“It must be emphasized that throughout the decades of oppression, no Israeli university or association of Israeli academics has ever protested the sustained assaults on Palestinian universities. It is essential to intensify all forms of BDS, including the academic and cultural boycott, until Israel ends its violations of Palestinian rights.”
Israel has conducted at least 100 airstrikes or shellings of Gaza in recent days, including an intense bombing of dozens of sites in the early hours of Tuesday, further worsening the situation for Palestinians in Gaza, which has been under a brutal military siege for more than 7 years.
Haidar Eid, associate professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza and a PACBI steering committee member, said:
“We, residents of Gaza, have been unable to fathom how it is that official bodies of the international community tolerate blatant war crimes committed against the people of Gaza, in spite of thousands of reports by main-stream human rights organizations!”
“Is it farfetched to expect people of conscience to heed our call to boycott this intransigent, racist and militarized Israeli regime and the institutions that keep it thriving, the same way apartheid South Africa was boycotted until it crumbled?”
Ayah Abubasheer, a youth and BDS activist in Gaza, added:
“During the past few weeks, Israel has been violently and intensely launching a series of air strikes against the Gaza Strip. The population of the Gaza Strip continues to pay the price and bear the blaze of Israel’s polices.”
“Because collective punishment is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, we urge the international community to pressure Israel to end its all-out military assault aimed against the total population of Gaza, open Rafah crossing permanently and heed our call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions.”
Baroness Catherine Ashton
High Representative of the European Union
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Vice-President of the European Commission
242, rue de la Loi
B-1049 Brussels
Date: 01 June 2014
Re: Mass Hunger Strike of Palestinian ‘Administrative Detainees’
Dear High Representative,
We, the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the undersigned human rights organizations, wish to bring to your attention the on-going mass hunger strike involving approximately 125 Palestinian detainees and prisoners and request your urgent intervention on their behalf.
The majority of the hunger strikers are protesting the continued administrative detention, which is detention without trial or charge. Administrative detention orders are issued by the Israeli Military Commander in the West Bank for periods of one to six months and can be renewed indefinitely. Administrative detainees or their lawyers are not informed of the reasons for their detention and are only informed that there is ‘secret evidence’ against them.
While administrative detention is legal under the Fourth Geneva Convention it must be used on an individual case by case basis without discrimination of any kind. However Israel has used administrative detention on a systematic basis against tens of thousands of Palestinians and is an ever present threat in the daily lives of all Palestinians. Instead of being used on an individual case by case basis it is used as punishment against the Palestinian people, as well a means of disrupting the political process given the continuous targeting of Palestinian Legislative Council members. We firmly believe that Israel’s use of administrative detention should cease immediately.
As you are aware Palestinian political prisoners have undertaken a number of hunger strikes since 2011, both on an individual and mass basis. The current strike was launched on 24 April when approximately 90 detainees began refusing food in protest of their continued administrative detention. The strike has since escalated as more detainees and prisoners have joined and the numbers continue to rise.
As of 1 June the majority of the hunger strikers have gone without food for 38 days. We have reached a critical stage and unless there is immediate intervention there will be dire consequences for the health of all those on strike. Many of the hunger strikers have recently stopped taking vitamins and are now consuming only water, which drastically increases the risk of death.
Following the launch of the strike the Israeli authorities immediately began taking punitive measures against the hunger strikers. These included the immediate isolation of all hunger strikers away from the rest of the prison population. Many of hunger strikers have also been transferred to different prisons, while the leaders of the hunger strike have also been placed in isolation. All hunger strikers have been denied salt for the first fifteen days of their strike.
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and Israeli Special Forces have also been conducting violent raids on the prisoner’s cells and intrusive searches the prisoners on a daily basis. In many cases the hunger strikers have been beaten and injured during these raids and were subsequently denied medical treatment.
Family visits were also immediately banned for a period of four months, with the leaders of the strike being banned visits for six months. The Israeli authorities are also attempting to limit access to the hunger strikers by restricting lawyer visits, making it extremely difficult to get a clear picture of what is actually happening inside the prisons.
The hunger strikers have also boycotted the prison clinic as they accuse the prison physicians of conspiring with the IPS to beak the strike, in violation of the World Medical Association’s Malta Declaration on Hunger Strikers. It is worth noting that many of these same tactics have been used by the Israeli authorities in an attempt to break previous strikes.
We would also like to inform you that there are currently six members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on hunger strike, all of whom are being held under administrative detention.
Another issue to major concern is the possibility that the force-feeding of prisoners will be legalized by the Israeli Knesset. The proposal for such force-feeding has recently been approved and, if voted into legislation, would have serious consequences for all those currently on hunger strike and those who wish to undertake hunger strikes in the future. According to the World Medical Association Declaration of Malta on Hunger Strikers, “Forcible feeding is never ethically acceptable”.
As you are aware the mass hunger strike of 2012 ended on 14 May 2012 after an agreement was reached between representatives of the prisoners and the IPS. At this time it was agreed that Israel would limit the use of administrative to only ‘exceptional circumstances’, as is required under international law. However, it is quite clear that Israel has reneged on the agreement as it has continued to use administrative detention on a systematic basis which has compelled the prisoners to launch a fresh strike.
Other elements of the May 2012 agreement which Israel has failed to honor are improvements in prison conditions; ending isolation as a policy; the reintroduction of education which was taking away in 2007; and the resumption of have family visits for Gaza prisoners. However, although visits for Gaza prisoners have resumed they are only taking place every two months as opposed to every two weeks for prisoners from the West Bank and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Finally we would like to highlight the important role that Palestinian political prisoners can play as actors and agents for political change, as was shown in the 2006 National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners, which formed the basis for the recent reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas. While Israel has continually attempted to sideline the prisoners for its own political and strategic purposes we feel that the prisoners must and can play a central role in bringing about a genuine and lasting peace.
We call on you in your capacity as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to immediately:
Publicly voice concern for the hunger strikers and inform the Israeli authorities that hunger strikers are a legitimate form of protest which should not be met with punitive measures.
Publicly voice concern over Israel’s continued systematic use of administrative detention.
Pressure Israel to honor its 14 May 2012 agreement by improving prison conditions; ending the use of isolation as a policy; reintroduce access education for all prisoners; resume of bi-weekly visits for Gaza prisoners; and end the use of administrative detention; all of which are in accordance with internationally accepted norms regarding the rights of prisoners.
Signed,
Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association
Aldameer Association for Human Rights
Al-Haq
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Defence for Children International – Palestine Section
Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy
Hurryyat –Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights
Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
The Public Committee against Torture in Israel
Adalah – The Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel
Arab Association for Human Rights
Palestinian Prisoners Society
Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs
