#BDS: Unease over Jordan-Israel trade

Israel’s announcement last week that it planned to export 50,000 used cars to Jordan and Iraq created unease among Jordanian second-hand car dealers while advocates against normalising relations with Israel stepped up calls to boycott Israel-made goods and business dealings. 

Since 2006, Jordan has imported nearly US$10 million (Dh36.7m) worth of earth-moving equipment, road-construction equipment, new lorries and cars from Israel, Nabil Romman, president of Jordan Free Zones Investors Commission, said. Each year the Zarqa Free Zone (ZFZ), the largest of five public duty-free zones in the country, imports an average of 120,000 used cars, 40,000 of which are sold to the local market.

But Badi Rafayaa, the head of the Professional Associations’ anti-normalisation committee, said Israel wants to dump old cars, which pollute the environment and cause traffic accidents.

“The move is a clear sign of the Zionist entity’s devious intentions towards Jordan and Iraq … We will cooperate with civil-society institutions and will prevent those plans,” he said.

#BDS: Open Letter to Filmmaker Stephen Frears

DON’T NORMALIZE APARTHEID, WITHDRAW FROM HAIFA 2010

Dear Stephen Frears:

As fellow artists who have been critical of the state of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people, we were surprised to learn that your film “Tamara Drew” is scheduled to open the Haifa International Film Festival of 2010 (HIFF).  While unable to directly affect the oppressive situation on the ground, as conscious artists we can act to resist the normalization of Israel’s colonial and apartheid policies, as outlined in the Artists Against Apartheid Declaration.  We are asking you to join us in the Palestinian led campaign for a cultural boycott of Israel, and withdraw your film from this Israeli state-sponsored event.

During your visit to Palestine in 2007 you were quoted saying, “Until I saw it with my own eyes, I did not fully understand what occupation meant. Going to Palestine changed my life. I was so shocked by what I saw and so impressed by the children I met in Balata camp, who somehow, against all adversity, remained positive and hopeful about the future”.

#BDS: LEGAL ACTION AGAINST AGREXCO

FRENCH ORGANISATIONS BRING A LAWSUIT AGAINST THE ISRAELI COMPANY CARMEL-AGREXCO PRESS CONFERENCE

The Confédération Paysanne, UJFP (Union of French Jews for Peace), The Cimade, ISM France (International Solidarity Movement), CCIPPP (International Civil Campaign for the Protection of the Palestinian People) and AURDIP (Association Faculty members for the Respect of International Law in Palestine), members of the Coalition Against Agrexco (France), are bringing a civil lawsuit against Carmel-Agrexco before the Court of Marseilles. It is in Marseilles that the products – particularly flowers, fruits and vegetables – are unloaded.

The Israeli policy is based on a long-term violation of International law.

Israel appropriates lands that do not belong to it and then drives out Palestinians in order to install its own population. This systematic colonisation policy is dependant upon the economic exploitation of these territories, the latter being the condition for its viability. Thus, colonisation and economic exploitation of the territories constitute an indivisible system.

Carmel-Agrexco is the main instrument of agricultural colonisation.

First, because this company is directly linked to the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, which owns 50% of the company and determines its policy, but also because it is the main exporter of products originating in the settlements, notably those of the Jordan Valley, where 7.000 settlers have taken control of 95% of the land and control 98% of it’s water resources.

#BDS: يستعدّ الـ«سوبر ستار» لطرح ألبومه الجديد... في مقاهي ستاربكس

إلى جانب الدويتو مع شاكيرا، صوّر علامة أخيراً أغنية «قريب منك» على طريقة الفيديو كليب في أوكرانيا، وهي من ألحانه وكلمات محمد ماضي، وتوزيع وليد عبد المسيح. ويُتوقّع أن تكون الأغنية جزءاً من ألبومه الجديد الذي يضمّ 10 أغنيات. ويبدو علامة متفائلاً بإصداره الجديد: «سيكون أجمل ما قدّمت خلال مسيرتي، لأنني صنعته بطريقة مختلفة، حتى أنّني سجّلت بعض الأغاني في الاستديو أثناء متابعتي مباريات كأس العالم 2010 في كرة القدم».

لكن الألبوم الجديد لم يسلم من الانتقادات، وخصوصاً أن علامة يخطّط للتسويق له، وتوزيعه داخل مقاهي «ستاربكس». يشرح صاحب «لو شبّاكِك عَشبّاكي»: «بهذه الطريقة نضمن نسبة مبيعات موثّقة للأسطوانة الأصلية التي طلبت تحديد سعرها بفارق بسيط عن ثمن النسخة المزورة في محاولة لتقليص الخسائر نتيجة القرصنة». كما يؤكّد أنه لن يتخذ موقفاً فردياً من «ستاربكس» الداعمة للاحتلال الإسرائيلي «لم أصوّر إعلاناً لمصلحة «ستاربكس» كما أشيع، لكنني لن أتخذ موقفاً من شركة تتوزع فروعها على الأراضي اللبنانية والدول العربية التي تراعي مبدأ مقاطعة إسرائيل».

#BDS: URGENT ACTION: Edinburgh City Council: No complicity in war crimes!

Edinburgh City Council has shortlisted Veolia in the so-called ‘Alternative Business Model’ programme. Veolia is in the running for a range of Environmental Services contracts.

But Veolia is a criminal company deeply complicit in Israel's breeches of international law (see factsheet).

On Aug 10, SPSC received this response from the Council dismissing our report calling for the exlcusion of Veolia. After lobbying the Aug 19th FUll Council meeting, and with the help of the Greens and Labour groups, the Lib Dem/SNP-controlled administrationagreed to investigate the issue further. A report is due by December.

Join the campaign to make sure Edinburgh council does not involve us in violations of international law and in human rights abuses!

Email your councillors today to urge them to exclude Veolia and its subsidiaries from all Council contracts:

• Sample letter to Edinburgh City Council: boycott Veolia
• How to find & lobby your Edinburgh City Councillors to repudiate Veolia
• List & Contact Details of Edinburgh City Councillors

If you live outside Edinburgh/Scotland you can express your concerns to:
Councillor Dawe, Leader of the Council: jenny.dawe@edinburgh.gov.uk
Councillor Cardownie, Deputy Leader of the Council: steve.cardownie@edinburgh.gov.uk

Send in your response from your councillor to angus@scottishpsc.org.uk

#BDS: 'Color Red' in New York

Explosions, rocket alert, frightened kids. This time it's not in Sderot, but at exhibition initiated by Artists 4 Israel group in New York, meant to illustrate life under constant rocket attacks in southern Israel

The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden are all popular tourist destinations in New York, and very far away from the southern Israeli town of Sderot, which received extensive global exposure in recent years, after being the target of Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza.

However, the American public remained mostly indifferent and inactive. A special exhibition recently displayed in New York was created to change that.

The "Hamas in The Hamptons" exhibition was initiated by a group of New York-based street artists dubbed Artists 4 Israel, who previously appeared on Ynetnews.

During last Independence Day, the Israel fans traveled all the way from the Big Apple, despite a negative global impression and the risks involved, in order to show their support and sympathy with the residents of Sderot.

#BDS: St. Petersburg honors Gesher Theater

Russia's prestigious Alexandrinsky Theater to feature Israeli playhouse in coming annual festival in honor of its 20th anniversary

Saint Petersburg's International Alexandrinsky Theater Festival will host Gesher Theater this year, in honor of the Israeli theater's 20th anniversary.

Gesher will mount its production of Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer's “Enemies, a Love Story.”

The prestigious Alexandrinsky Theater Festival traditionally hosts theaters with unique cultural repertoires. Past feature theaters included Rome's Piccolo Teatro and St.Petersburg's own Maly Theatre; as well as celebrated theater figures such as German director Thomas Ostermeier and Polish director Khrystian Lupa.

The festival will feature special events dedicated to the Gesher Theater, including panels with director Yevgeny Arye and lead actor Israel 'Sasha' Damidov; as well as an exhibition of its posters along the years.

#BDS: Netherlands cancels tour by Israeli mayors over settlers' presence

Dutch Foreign Ministry cancels tour because participant list includes settlement representatives.

The Netherlands on Sunday cancelled a tour of the country by a forum of Israeli mayors because their group included representatives of West Bank settlements.

The professional delegation, funded by the Joint Distribution Committee, a Jewish-American charity, was supposed to fly to the Netherlands next month to study public policy and local governance.

But when the Dutch Foreign Ministry found out that regional council heads from the Judea and Samaria regions – including from the West bank settlements Efrat and Kiryat Arba - were due to participate, they decided to cancel the tour.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded in a statement: "This is undoubtedly useless and harmless politics, and we hope that this is not the final word on the topic."

#BDS: The Silence of the Israeli Intelligentsia

The ongoing buzz in the Israeli media around statements issued by artists and academics against lecturing or performing in the colony of Ariel – built on occupied Palestinian land – betrays a stark contradiction in the positions of the Israeli intelligentsia. While they are now calling for a boycott of settlements, they have remained apathetic or even content regarding the far more significant heavy hand of the military-security-political establishment in society, including in academia and cultural institutions.

Another recent controversy has raged around academic freedom and the autonomy of the university. It was occasioned by attacks by two right-wing organizations, the Institute for Zionist Strategies and Im Tirtzu, on the alleged post-and anti-Zionist bias in social science departments at some Israeli universities.

The connection between the two controversies may not be apparent at first. However, they both demonstrate that the liberal-to-left Israeli intelligentsia’s mindset is fully in line with the reigning orthodoxy that accepts the military as a benign fact of life.

In response to the attacks on the universities, statements defending academic freedom and the autonomy of the university were quickly issued by the heads of Israel’s major universities, the association of academic faculty, and individual academics. Even the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities gave an opinion: “we cannot accept attempts by external and foreign bodies to intervene in appointing faculty members, determining curricula, and the manner in which material is taught."

Does the Academy consider the military and the defense establishment “foreign bodies?” Apparently not.

#BDS: Boycott!'s letter to Pete Seeger

We are members of an Israeli group called “Boycott! supporting the Palestinian call for boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) from within”. We are appealing to you because of commitment you have demonstrated during many years to social justice. We have recently heard that you plan to participate this November in the event “With Earth and Each Other: A Virtual Rally for a Better Middle East”, in benefit of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.
You might not have heard initially about the BDS call and movement, a broad coalition of Palestinian organizations that have amongst other things, called on artists not to entertain apartheid Israel. Their call has been joined by Desmond Tutu and Bill Fletcher, Jr. amongst many others. These calls are the direct result of the systematic and ongoing oppression of Palestinians by Israel and Israel's decade’s long refusal to stop violating Palestinians human rights.

It is clear that you believe you are heading to an event that will be promoting peace. This “virtual rally for a better middle east” will be promoting a mainstream Israeli institution that claims to promote cooperation and peace. However this is done in a “non political” context while ignoring the imbalance of power and the daily injustice the Palestinians are enduring. Just very recently in the Negev, Israeli Bedouins had been evicted by force from their lands to make room for whatever seems best to the Jewish majority and authority. This is sadly a common event, one of many faces of the Israeli Apartheid.

#BDS: Israeli Beauty Products Company Ahava Complicit in the Sins of Occupation

Ahava is owned by entities deeply involved in Israel's settlement project in the occupied West Bank. Activists are fighting to show it can't hide its dirty side.

Walk into any Ricky's store, a beauty shop chain in New York, and you will find a shelf filled with Ahava products. For $28, you can buy mineral toning cleanser; for $22, Dead Sea liquid salt; and for $9, purifying mud soap. The products made by Ahava (which means "love" in Hebrew) seem innocent enough, perfectly enticing for anyone fond of beauty products.

But looks can be deceiving. As activists from the peace group CodePink's Stolen Beauty campaign are fond of chanting at protests, Ahava can't hide its "dirty side."

#BDS: Why we are boycotting the Batsheva Dance Company

The following is an open letter to the Batsheva Dance Company from two groups organizing a boycott of its upcoming shows in New York City: 

Dear Batsheva Dance Company,

We are a group of New York-based human rights activists and artists calling for a boycott of your performances at the Joyce Theater in New York City due to your collaboration with the Israeli state and its Brand Israel campaign. Launched in 2005, Brand Israel is a government public relations initiative which uses cultural productions to distract from Israel’s daily human rights violations.  In 2009 Arye Mekel of Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated, "We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theater companies, exhibits... This way you show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.” While efforts to promote a positive image of Israel abroad persist, Palestinians continue to suffer from Israeli state policies. 

#BDS: Chicagoan arrested calling for boycott of Israel’s Guantanamo

Chicago, IL - Chicago police at downtown Millennium Park arrested an activist who was participating in a protest organized by the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago, Aug. 23. At the Chicago Sister Cities annual International Festival, more than 30 activists protested Israel’s inclusion in the program and called for the cutting of Chicago ties with Israeli apartheid.

The activist was arrested while the protest was ending outside of the International Festival tent. The protesters were on their way out when the police began shoving the activists and grabbed the young Arab male protester and placed him under arrest.

Minutes earlier, after picketing and chanting directly outside of the front entrance of the tent, activists brought the message into the actual venue. Protesters chanted in the tent for a few minutes to make the message clear: “Drop Petach Tikva!” - Chicago’s sister city in Israel. The pianist who was performing in the hall at the time stood at attention out of respect once he heard the protesters’ message.

#BDS: August 12 Olympia Center forum on the Oly Food Co-op boycott

I remember when I first learned of the conflict in Israel/Palestine. I was a child, about the age of 10, sitting in the living room of my Palestinian friend's home. They were discussing how they missed and feared for their families who were still in Palestine; about how their family's farm had been destroyed, their lands taken, and their home demolished, again. I remember wondering how anyone could do such a horrible thing to such wonderful people. I was not able to understand why nothing was being done to stop these atrocities.

Over thirteen years have gone by since that day, and since then I have been involved in Palestinian solidarity work in a number of different ways. I have lobbied the government, protested in the streets, participated in dialogues, as well as other forms of non-violent action. As the years went on, I watched as multiple peace talks failed. I watched as countless UN resolutions and international laws were broken. It slowly became very clear to me that all of these efforts seemed to make no tangible difference in the policies of the Israeli government towards the Palestinian people.

I began to seriously question the strategies that I had been using and began to search for a viable alternative, an alternative that has been proven to work in the past to bring about social change. I also knew that whatever the alternative was, it had to be a strategy that allowed me, an ordinary citizen, to take matters into my own hands. This factor was especially important to me because we are living in a country whose government has remained complacent on these issues. That is when I first learned about the Global BDS movement. The Global BDS movement has been gaining momentum since July 9, 2005 when a group of over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations issued a call for boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) towards the state of Israel until the government of Israel chooses to comply with international law and end its occupation of Palestine. The movement is based upon the success of the BDS movement to end South African apartheid. Since the call was issued, thousands of individuals and organizations have endorsed the call including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Klein, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb and several others.

#BDS: No matzo, no peace

Matzo and bath salts are stirring up controversy over at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, where a fraction of its 12,000 owner-members is moving to boycott products that come from Israel.

The boycott is being pushed by the Sacramento Boycott, Divestments, Sanctions Working Group. The group says the boycott would end when Israel stops its Gaza blockade, exits the West Bank, grants Arab Israelis the same rights as Jewish Israelis and lets Palestinian refugees return.

More than anything, the controversy is a war of symbols, as the half-dozen Israeli brands that would be affected constitute less than 1 percent of SNFC inventory.

“If we can stop carrying products tested on animals, surely we can stop carrying products that violate human rights,” activist and Co-op member Maggie Coulter said at a meeting of the Co-op board on September 7.

That meeting drew two dozen people to the Co-op on Alhambra Boulevard, where boycott backers accused Israel of creating a system of apartheid for Palestinians. They said rather than support the nation by buying its goods, the store should do its part in pressuring Israel to make concessions to Palestine.

Opponents questioned the legality of a boycott, which would alienate Jewish customers and set a double standard for other human-rights violators, including China and countries in Africa and the Mideast. Besides, they said, the board should stick to managing SNFC finances and leave the politicking to President Barack Obama.