Artists to refuse to perform in Ariel culture hall

Prominent actors, directors, playwrights send letter to boards of Israeli theaters in protest of plans to put on shows in news culture auditorium beyond Green Line. Yesha Council vows harsh response to 'vile, anti-Zionist' letter

A long line of actors and artists from all fields of the theater industry sent a letter to the boards of Israel's repertory theaters announcing they will refuse to perform in the new culture auditorium in Ariel, which is located outside the Green Line. It should be noted that tickets have already been sold to productions that include all of Israel's theaters.

The letter, addressed to the boards of the Cameri, Habima, Beit Lessin, Khan and the Haifa and Beersheba theatres, read: "We wish to express our disgust with the theater's board's plans to perform in the new auditorium in Ariel. The actors among us hereby declare that we will refuse to perform in Ariel, as well as in any other settlement. We urge the boards to hold their activity within the sovereign borders of the State of Israel within the Green Line."

Europe's economic boycott of Israel expanding

Recent months see sharp rise in number of European companies withdrawing investment from Israeli firms for political reasons. 'The damage is huge,' says glass factory owner from Ariel

The decision by Norway's oil fund to withdraw its investment from Africa-Israel and Danya Cebus citing their involvement in settlement construction is the latest step in an ever expanding list of European private and governmental companies boycotting Israeli firms for political reasons.

Most of the cases pertain to claims of products being manufactured outside the Green Line and therefore in "occupied territory." Some of the cases serve as political protest against Israel's policy towards the Palestinians.

Yet, one point is uncontested: Recent months have seen a climb in the scope of the boycott of Israeli products imposed for political reasons.

An artist's pledge to boycott

I am proud to be among the many Irish and Ireland-based artists from across creative disciplines who have chosen to publicly support the growing campaign of boycott against apartheid Israel. Compared to the imprisoned Palestinian people themselves and to those taking part in flotillas and other perilous anti-apartheid activities in Palestine our contribution and risk may be justly considered small. At most we might lose the chance of lucrative invitations to read, perform or display our works in parts of the US where apartheid Israel's supporters hold the power of censorship. Departments of foreign affairs and ministries of culture may also not include us among those artists they can rely upon to project a lying image of a harmonious, bon vivant and, above all, harmlessly apolitical intelligentsia. We are sure to be slandered and ridiculed by the hired bullies of the global media empires.

These are tiny punishments indeed compared to the instant annihilation that Israel with its snipers and bombers and jet planes and tanks has visited on a daily basis upon Palestinian men, women and children for the last 62 years. The threat we come under for speaking out at a safe distance is nothing beside the threat apartheid Israel holds constant over every urban civilian in the Middle East with its 200-bomb-strong nuclear arsenal. Besides, to be ostracized and blacklisted by these last remaining friends of apartheid Israel, the gangster governments of west and east and their spies and ideological enablers, is to be reminded of the phrase of that great political artist William Blake, who tells us to "Listen to the fool's reproach -- it is a kingly title."

Israeli education ministry approves new 'whites-only' settlement school

Several months ago, a religious school in the illegal Israeli settlement of Immanuel was criticized for segregating white Jewish students from non-white Jewish students in classes.

Originally, the school was fined for this policy of racial segregation, because the school was state funded. Now, the Israeli education ministry has agreed with the white parents' request to allow the school to continue with its racial discrimination under private funding.

There is no law preventing racial discrimination by private organizations, even schools, in Israel.

The Israeli court has interpreted these laws to also apply to illegal West bank settlements, like Immanuel, which are located in areas that are supposed to be under Palestinian control. The Palestinian Authority does not allow racial discrimination, but due to the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Territories, it has no authority over the area in question.

74 white girls who have been studying in a building next to the school will now be allowed to study in whites-only classrooms that are privately funded, as their parents claim they do not want their girls to study in racially-mixed classrooms.

Posters imploring people to Boycott Israeli Apartheid appear on beaches in Corsica

اسلاميون في المغرب ينتقدون 'التطبيع' مع اسرائيل عبر خدمة 'الرومينغ'

لندن ـ 'القدس العربي': قالت تقارير إعلامية ان شركة 'اتصالات المغرب' أدرجت ثلاث شركات إسرائيلية في إطار ما يسمى بخدمات التجوال الدولي للهاتف النقال (الرومينغ) بحيث أضحت إسرائيل ضمن الدول المشمولة بهذا الامتياز، وهو ما دفع بالمعارضة الإسلامية للمطالبة بإلغاء تلك العقود مهددة بطرح الموضوع أمام البرلمان.

قال موقع 'الجزيرة نت' ان الشركة المغربية بررت عقودها مع الشركات الإسرائيلية في قطاع الاتصالات - وهي شركة 'بارتنر كومينيكاسيو' الفرع الإسرائيلي لشركة أورانج الدولية، وشركة سيلكوم، وشركة بيليفون- بوجود جالية يهودية مغربية كبيرة في إسرائيل. ونفت 'اتصالات المغرب' أي تهم بالتطبيع، وقالت إن الخطوة ترمي إلى تسهيل وسائل الاتصال لمشتركيها في خدمة الهاتف النقال.

وأثارت الخطوة حفيظة المعارضة الإسلامية ممثلة في حزب العدالة والتنمية (مشارك بالبرلمان) الذي وصف الخطوة بأنها 'تطبيع مجاني لا يفيد إلا الكيان الصهيوني'، مهددة بطرح الموضوع أمام البرلمان المغربي. ونقلت 'الجزيرة' عن نائب الأمين العام لـحزب العدالة والتنمية (إسلامي) لحسن الداودي قوله إن 'المغرب يقاطع الكيان الصهيوني، والشعب المغربي ضد أي تطبيع'.

من جهته، قال منسق مجموعة العمل الوطنية لمساندة فلسطين والعراق خالد السفياني 'من المفروض على الدولة المغربية أن توقف هذه المهزلة'.

في المقابل قال عضو اللجنة التنفيذية لـحزب الاستقلال (الحاكم) عبد القادر الكيحل إن الهدف من إبرام عقود التجوال الدولي (الرومينغ) مع تلك الشركات هو تخفيض التكلفة على المتصل. وأضاف الكيحل 'الاتصال عبر الهاتف مع إسرائيل سيتحقق سواء عبر الأقمار الصناعية أو عبر خدمة الرومينغ'.

وعن سؤال عن احتمال تأثير الأطراف الأوروبية المساهمة في رأسمال اتصالات المغرب في الدفع نحو التعامل مع إسرائيل، نفى الكيحل أن تكون جهات أجنبية هي التي اتخذت القرار. وأكد أن الطرف المغربي هو الذي يتخذ القرار التدبيري لاتصالات المغرب. يشار إلى أن مجموعة فيفاندي الفرنسية تمتلك 53' من أسهم شركة اتصالات المغرب وتمتلك الحكومة المغربية 30'، في حين أن 17' من الأسهم مطروحة للتداول أمام العموم في بورصة الدار البيضاء.

Israeli theater actors refuse to perform at new West Bank cultural center

The Haaretz's Wednesday report that major Israeli theaters will travel across the Green Line for the first time to perform at a new theater at Ariel has sparked some stormy reactions: Two actors from the national theater, Habima, Yousef Sweid and Rami Heuberger, have already announced that they will not appear in any plays in Ariel.

Sweid, who is currently appearing in "A Railway to Damascus" at Habima, told a Channel 1 television talk show yesterday that "I would be glad to perform in settlements in several shows that have messages I'd like to deliver in many communities. But settlers and settlements are not something that entertains me, and I don't want to entertain them."

No plays that Heuberger acts in are currently slated to be performed in Ariel, but he said that "if I am asked, I believe I would have a problem with performing there. As a stage actor it is a very, very problematic issue, and I think that so long as settlements are a controversial issue that will be discussed in any negotiations [with the Palestinians], I should not be there."

Open Letter to Jeff Beck: Don’t Condone Israeli Apartheid!!

Occupied Ramallah, 26 August 2010

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is deeply troubled to learn that a highly respected musician such as yourself is scheduled to perform in Israel on October 5^th, in violation of the Palestinian call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). Israel is oppressing the Palestinian people through overlapping systems of military occupation, colonialism and apartheid. Inspired by the cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa, we urge you, as we have appealed to all international artists, not to perform in apartheid Israel.

Although you seem to have ignored an appeal sent to you last month by our Israeli partners, Boycott from Within!, to cancel your performance in Israel, we hope you shall think again about this especially problematic gig.

As a prominent artist you would be inadvertently supporting the official “Brand Israel” campaign, aimed at whitewashing Israel’s violations of international law and projecting a false image of normalcy and civility. You would be sending a message of support to Israel, at a time when it is facing growing international isolation over its systematic and gross violations of Palestinian human rights. Since the shocking flotilla massacre, when Israel attacked a humanitarian ship bound for Gaza and killed nine Turkish activists, a number of influential international artists have refused to conduct 'business as usual’ with a state that has placed itself above international law and is violently oppressing the Palestinian people. In the wake of the Flotilla attack, Klaxons, Gorillaz Sound System, the Pixies and Faithless all cancelled their scheduled concerts in Israel, and Hollywood superstars Meg Ryan and Dustin Hoffman cancelled their attendance at the 2010 Jerusalem Film Festival. Explaining his band’s decision, Faithless frontman Maxi Jazz brings into focus why it is morally imperative for artists to refuse to entertain apartheid Israel:

While human beings are being willfully denied not just their rights but their NEEDS for their children and grandparents and themselves, I feel deeply that I should not be sending even tacit signals that this is either 'normal' or 'ok'. It's neither and I cannot support it.

In other words, your performance in Israel would not be a neutral act. It would constitute a form of complicity with Israeli policies, in which you would be condoning the suffering and subjugation of an entire people and sending a message to the world that everything is 'normal’ in Israel. We call on you not to lend such support to a colonial regime that is denying the Palestinian people their freedom. 

For over 60 years Israel has unabatedly pursued colonial and apartheid designs to dispossess and ultimately ethnically cleanse the people of Palestine from their homeland. The state of Israel was established in 1948 by forcibly displacing the overwhelming majority of Palestine’s indigenous Arab population from their homes and lands. Today, these Palestinian refugees are prevented from returning to their homes from which they were expelled. In contrast, any person who claims Jewish descent from anywhere in the world may become an Israeli citizen and national under the so-called Law of Return.

In the Israeli occupied West Bank, Palestinians live under a brutal military occupation and are subject to daily humiliation, intimidation, house demolitions, illegal confiscation of their land, incarceration and military violence. Israel’s apartheid wall locks Palestinians into a system of isolated Bantustans and prisons, surrounded by exclusive Jewish colonies. Palestinian movement in and out of their cantons is completely controlled by Israeli checkpoints and its closure regime. Many villages are completely encircled by the wall that dispossesses villagers, cutting them off from their land, resources and markets.

In Gaza, Israel has imposed a life endangering siege. In January 2009, Israel carried out a criminal military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip during which it killed more than 1,440 Palestinians, of whom 431 were children, and injured another 5380. Israel subjected the besieged population of Gaza to three weeks of unrelenting state terror, systematically targeting civilian areas through indiscriminate aerial bombardments and missile strikes. The UN Fact Finding Mission, led by Judge Richard Goldstone, described the attacks as deliberately “designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population” and called for investigations of "war crimes and possible crimes against humanity."

You may be particularly interested to know that, as part of its illegal and unethical siege of Gaza, Israel has prevented not only various types of medicines, candles, books, crayons, clothing, shoes, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee and chocolate, but also musical instruments from reaching the 1.5 million Palestinians incarcerated in the world’s largest open-air prison. Can you entertain such a state with a clear conscience?

Inspired by the struggle against apartheid South Africa, we believe that the growing international BDS movement is the most effective way to pressure Israel to recognize and uphold the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights. Many prominent artists including Bono, Gil Scott-Heron and Elvis Costello have heeded our call and refused to perform in Israel. Major cultural figures such as John Berger, Ken Loach, Naomi Klein, Iain Banks, Alice Walker and many others endorse our boycott against Israel. Most recently, 150 Irish artists, including some of the most prominent, issued a pledge to support the cultural boycott of Israel until it complies with international law. Earlier this year, 500 artists in Montreal had announced their support for the boycott. We hope you will do the same and join the people of conscience throughout the world, who are saying enough is enough! Palestinians have been silenced, ignored, denied their freedom and brutally subjugated for far too long.

We ask you to heed our call for BDS. We hope that you will not turn a blind eye to colonial oppression, but instead will choose to use your musical talents to support the pursuit of freedom, justice, and equal human rights for all.

PACBI

www.PACBI.org

pacbi@pacbi.org

The Politics of economics: The boycott on Israel is expanding

The decision made on Monday by the Norwegian oil fund to divest from Africa Israel and Danya Cebus on the grounds that they are involved in illegal construction in the territories, is only the latest in a long series of decisions by governmental and private companies in Europe to boycott Israeli companies for political reasons.

In most cases, the argument is that the products were manufactured over the Green Line, and are therefore in the “occupied territories.”  At times, this refers to a political protest against Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians, for example, in response to the flotilla events.  One thing is not in question: In recent months, there has been an escalation in the boycott of Israeli brands for political reasons.

“Since the Palestinians announced a boycott on products from the territories, I have had a 40% drop in production in recent months,” said yesterday Avi Ben-Zvi, owner of Plastco, a glass plant in Ariel, “exports to Europe have completely stopped, and traders in the territories have stopped working with us.  The damage is huge.”

Haifa University students prepare to rally against leftist teachers

Students at Haifa University reportedly prepared a list of "Pro-Palestinian" professors and a group of activists were preparing a boycott campaign targeting their classes and lectures. 
Israel's Hebrew Language daily newspaper Ma'ariv said a campaign began on Tuesday, targeting 20 lecturers from the sociology and political science departments who they said "participate in demonstrations against Israeli troops and the Israeli government" or who have publicly spoken out against them. 
"We won’t choose courses of these lecturers and we won’t attend their lectures. It is unthinkable that at a time when our friends are fighting or receiving blows from activists on a ship that calls itself a peace ship that these lecturers stand up and demonstrate and speak out against these soldiers," one student was quoted as saying. 
"What is taking place here is fascism," another student told the paper, "this is the beginning of a repulsive attempt to shut people up who think differently. If the lecturers make statements that try to make historic justice, they deserve praise."
The University issued a statement to the paper, saying "Haifa University takes a serious view of any attempt to carry out an academic boycott or an attempt to harm academic freedom."

Aviv Geffen to open for U2

Israeli rock musician chosen to warm up legendary Irish band during mega concert in Athens' Olympic stadium

Israeli musician Aviv Geffen will be the opening act for legendary Irish rock band U2, which will perform at the Olympic stadium in Athens, Greece on September 3.

Geffen will join forces with acclaimed band SnowPatrol, and the two acts will warm up the crowd before Bono and his friends take the stage.

On Thursday, Geffen published a confirmation on his MySpace page. "We are proud to announce Aviv Geffen will open for U2 on September 3, 2010 on their '360' Tour at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece! 

Church boycott calls ring louder

The world's churches have long been one of the battlegrounds of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. With the strengthening of the BDS movement, a number of churches across the globe have seen the boycott of Israeli and Israeli settlement goods hotting up, and recent weeks have witnessed some notable victories. 

BUST ELBIT: Stop bankrolling Israeli wars and ghettos

I. Introduction
The call to divest from Elbit Systems Ltd. has become a key element of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement aimed at ending Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people.

One and a half years after Stop the Wall Campaign initiated campaigning efforts within the framework of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) to pressure international investors and public authorities across the world to divest from the Israeli corporation, victories for the Bust Elbit campaign are beginning to mount rapidly. The Bust Elbit campaign is part of the wider BDS efforts which seek to hold Israel and its supporters accountable by pressuring Israel on all fronts - politically, culturally, and economically.

Founded in 1967, the Israeli company has become one of the world’s premiere “security and defence,” firms, specializing in military electronics, surveillance systems, Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs or “drones”), and security systems. It is a symbol for the Israeli economy, which essentially thrives on and fuels war, repression and control in Palestine and around the globe.

Elbit Systems is built on the expertise of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Research Institute and has profited greatly from supplying the Israeli military with a variety of equipment used to sustain Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people. It produces the drones used in the wars and attacks against Gaza and Lebanon and provides equipment for the Israeli Merkava tanks. The Israeli Apartheid Wall, which is crippling Palestinian communities by isolating them in walled-in ghettos, has provided a massive source of revenue for Elbit. Elbit Systems provides “intrusion detection systems” for the Wall, in particular around Jerusalem1. Subsidiaries Elbit Electro-Optics (El-Op) and Elbit Security Systems supplied and incorporated LORROS surveillance cameras in the Ariel settlement section as well as around Ar Ram2. One product made by Elbit Systems, “Torch”, is manufactured specifically for use on the Wall3.

Elbit offers its experience in ghettoizing and killing Palestinians to repress other people. In 2006 its American subsidiary Kollsman Inc. won a contract to participate in the creation of the US – Mexico border wall, dubbed by activists the ‘Wall of Death’4.

On Local Boycott and Deception

By Khalil Nakhleh
Like many thousands of Palestinians in Ramallah, I feel utterly confused by the dishonesty of being railroaded concerning local boycott of 'settlements' products. Because we—my wife and I—are committed to the principle and act of boycott, as a means of resistance, I decided to clarify the primary issues involved, in order to minimize, as much as possible, daily contradictions.  I embarked on sorting out, systematically, methodically and with clarity, related major issues.
Enemies and Friends
The distinction is not as clear as it sounds. The Ramallah “Government”, its ministries, agencies, and commissions, repeat one line, and want to ram it down our throats. This line can be simplified as follows:
“Our primary enemy, at this historical juncture, is the illegal settlements in the West Bank. Therefore, and in order to punish these settlements, and force them out, we, and our international ‘friends’, must boycott their products.”
The words used do not reflect conviction, on the part of the “Government”, that: these are Zionist settler colonies; and having been established on stolen Palestinian lands in the West Bank, since 1967, is only another phase of the Zionist settler-colonial project that started in the rest of Palestine, since much earlier than 1948; and this is not, necessarily, the final phase of this onslaught. But we are “dooped” into thinking that this is so.

Israeli ships not welcome in Vancouver

Vancouver – Locally-based activists, called out by the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Coalition (BIAC), are mounting a picket line at the Port of Vancouver’s Delta Port facility at Roberts Bank, south of Vancouver, as part of a mounting international campaign to put pressure on the government of Israel.
The Israeli ship Djibouti, owned by Zim, one of the ten largest shipping companies in the world, is scheduled to land at Delta Port at 7:00 a.m. this morning.

“The behaviour of the Israeli government has been going from bad to worse,” explained BIAC spokesperson Gordon Murray. “We are going to be out there today to tell Zim and other Israeli companies that their business won’t be allowed to continue normally as long as Israel’s blockade on Gaza continues,” he said.
“Israel has been behaving as a rogue government,” said Mike Krebs, the other BIAC spokesperson for the demonstration. “People from Vancouver are coming out to emulate actions that have already been taken in South Africa, Scandinavia, India and Oakland, California, where Israeli ships have been prevented from unloading their cargo in a normal manner.”
“Israel has been violating international law and acting with impunity for far too long,” Murray said. “It’s obvious to us that they won’t change their behaviour unless their forced to,” he concluded.