#BDS: Action Alert: Tell Wikimedia Not to Hold 2011 Annual Conference in Israel!

"Wikimania, the annual conference of the Wikimedia community, is set to be held in Haifa in August. Tell Wikimedia that its mission of cultivating collaboration and a shared culture cannot be furthered in a gathering held in an apartheid state that occupies and oppresses Palestinians!

Wikimania, the annual international conference of the Wikimedia community, which include Wikipedia, is set to be held in Haifa, Israel from 4-7August 2011.

Israel seems a strange choice for the annual conference, which promotes neutrality and subjectivity, collaboration, and a shared culture for participants of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and its sister projects.

The country’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are certainly not in line with Wikimedia’s mission to promote neutral information. The annual gathering has in recent years been held in Germany (2005), USA (2006), Taiwan (2007), Egypt(2008), Argentina (2009) and Poland (2010), and a number of groups are calling on the media community to change this year’s location."

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#BDS: Add this to your boycott list: British musician and producer Mark Ronson returning to Israel

"British musician and producer, who gave one of 'best concerts Israel has seen' two years ago, to perform in Holy Land once again in April

About two years after his previous visit to Israel, British musician Mark Ronson will return to the Holy Land with his band in April for one concert, Ynet has learned.

Ronson will arrive in Israel as part of a world tour after performing in Europe, Asia and Australia. The PLUG Productions company said negotiations were being held with the musician but failed to provide additional details."

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#BDS: New Addition to the Boycott List: Isabelle Huppert and Mathieu Amalric to visit Israel

"Renowned French actress Isabelle Huppert and actor and film director Mathieu Amalric will be the guests of the eighth annual French Film Festival, scheduled to take place in the Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Sderot and Rosh Pina cinematheques in April.

Huppert, who has visited Israel once before, will arrive with the film "Copacabana". Amalric, who is well-known for his role in Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," will present his film "On Tour", which won him the Best Director Award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival."

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#BDS: New H&M Stores to open in Israel

"New stores to be inaugurated this month, joining Swedish fashion chain's four other Israel branches

Swedish fashion chain H&M will open two new stores in Israel in the next two weeks. The first store will be inaugurated at Petah Tikva's Avnat Mall on March 24, and the second will open at Netanya's Sharon Mall on March 31.

The two new stores will join the four branches which were opened in 2010 in Tel Aviv's Azreili Mall, Jerusalem's Malcha Mall, Haifa's Grand Canyon shopping center, and Kfar Saba's G Center."

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#BDS: Add this to the boycott list: Blackfield band to begin tour in Tel Aviv

"Despite unfavorable reviews, Aviv Geffen and Steven Wilson celebrate first decade as musical duo with their third album and international concert tour, which will begin in Tel Aviv

Ten years have passed since Aviv Geffen and Steven Wilson received unfavorable reviews when they sang "Cloudy Now" together. The future did look cloudy at the time, and yet the Blackfield band managed to launch its career."

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#BDS: Qatari President of the Asian Football Federation and Normalization with Israel

"Bin Hammam suggested that the popular revolts against authoritarian rule sweeping the Middle East and North Africa could contribute to improving relations, at least as it regards soccer, between Israel and the Arabs. He said Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup would help to break down barriers in the region.

“The vision of Qatar 2022 is peace in the Middle East, and Palestine and the Israelis is the best example of where we’d like to see that—this World Cup changing the lives of youth for the two nations,” Bin Hammam said.

Bin Hammam stopped short however of putting his money where his mouth is: pushing the AFC to readmit Israel. That would create an environment in which Israeli and Arab perceptions of one another could be broken down and in which Bin Hammam’s ambition to build bridges through soccer could flourish."

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#BDS: النصريحات المشينة للرئيس القطري للإتحاد الآسيوي لكرة القدم

في هذه المقابلة والمقال يشير بن همام إلى أهمية الفصل بين الرياضة والسياسة، ولكن يشدد بعد ذلك الدور المهم الذي ستلعبه قطر، من خلال استضافتها لكأس العالم، في نشر السلام بين العرب وإسرائيل.

بالطبع هذا النوع من السلام الذي يتمناه بن همام مستحيل في ظل انتهاكات إسرائيل لحقوق الفلسطينين وممارستها للفصل العنصري. ولن يحصل طالما تستمر إسرائيل بسياستها العدوانية ضد العرب وتجاهلها للقوانين الدولية والإنسانية. و ينعكس ذلك في استطلاعات الرأي حيث ترى الشعوب العربية إسرائيل عدوتها الأولى (استطلاع الرأي).

وان كان يرغب بن همام في رؤية السلام، فليستخدم طاقته للضغط على الفيفا لمنع إسرائيل من اللعب في المباريات العالمية، بدلاً من ان يطالب إسرائيل ببعض الرحمة والسماح للرياضيين الفلسطينين حقهم الطبيعي وهو حق حرية التنقل.

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#BDS: 'Buy Gaza' Movement Gains Momentum

"GAZA CITY, Mar 18, 2011 (IPS) - Palestinians are calling for boycotts against Israeli products and companies. But in the Gaza Strip -- at the heart of the Israeli occupation -- it is often impossible for residents to follow their own call to action.

The Israeli currency (the shekel) is the only monetary system in use, and Israeli products dominate key markets, particularly household items such as dairy products and detergents. Although Israel is finally allowing import of the supplies needed to produce most items locally, the four-year-long siege has taken its toll and industries must build up their businesses virtually from scratch.

"It's been a long time under siege, and we have been a captive market," said Sameh Nasr, executive manager of Arjan, a Gaza beverage company that participated in this month's industrial exhibition at Islamic University in Gaza City. "We have to educate the people that they can 'buy Gaza' again."

The exhibition was the fourth such event sponsored by the Palestinian Federation of Industries (PFI), which represents about 2,000 factories in Gaza that are working to get back on their feet. In addition to the production of food both through agriculture and manufacture, Gaza has long been known for the fine craftsmanship of its furniture. "

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#BDS: Montreal: Photos: Artists Against Apartheid XV

"Montreal’s ongoing Artists Against Apartheid concert series in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation continued for Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 on Sunday, March 13th at O Patro Vys in the Plateau district of Montreal.

Celebrated poets, musicians & hip-hop artists performed to a capacity crowd in Montreal gathering for an concert series taking place as part of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting the Israeli state due to the systematic human rights abuses against the Palestinian people."


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#BDS: Action Alert: Statement in Support & Defense of BDS!

"

A Jewish response to the February 2011 Statement of Jewish Zionist Organizations on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)

Because academic, cultural and commercial boycotts, divestments and sanctions of Israel:

• are being called for by Palestinian civil society in response to the occupation and colonization of their land,
• are a moral tool of non-violent, peaceful response to more than sixty years of Israeli colonialism, and,
• rightfully place accountability on Israeli institutions (and their allies and partners) that use business, cultural, and academic ties to white-wash Israel’s responsibility for continuing crimes against humanity,

The undersigned organizations and individuals stand firm in our support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) initiatives against Israel until it meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law."

Read more and sign the petition.

#BDS: Bad romance: Poland and Israel's "love story"

""There is no more reliable and loyal adherent of your stance and aspiration for a better and a fairer world order in the European Union than Poland."

- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, 9 April 2008

"We cannot pretend that Iran's behavior is normal and that a terrorist is a freedom fighter. You have a real friend in Europe and it is important that both countries will strengthen each other's image."

- Prime Minister Tusk at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 23 February 2011

"The Jewish people are an indelible part of Polish history, and Poland is an indelible part of Jewish history ... Our deep bilateral cooperation is based on common values and a shared history, as well as on the aspiration to a common future in which we want to achieve the same goals."

- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Tusk, 23 February 2011

Last month witnessed the launch of the first Polish-Israeli governmental forum held in occupied Jerusalem. The biannual dialogue accelerates an existing partnership between the two countries which includes trade agreements, joint military training exercises and arms deals under an ongoing "Polonization of Israeli Technology" drive."

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#BDS: Boycott roundup

"Canada

A student-led divestment initiative at Carleton University in Ottowa is gaining ground after a massive show of support during a student council meeting last month. Meanwhile, students at York University and the University of Toronto officially launched their divestment campaigns during Israeli Apartheid Week events last week.

Canadian civil society news website Rabble reported on 7 March that activists with Students Against Israeli Apartheid at Carleton University had collected more than 2,000 letters from students on campus in support of a comprehensive initiative to divest the university's pension fund from Israeli ties.

"The support for divestment culminated in an extraordinary show of student solidarity at the [Carleton University Student Association] council meeting on 17 February," Rabble reported ("Carleton students push student union to support divestment from illegal occupation," 7 March 2011)."

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#BDS: طلبة جامعة إدنبرة الاسكتلندية يقاطعون المنتجات الإسرائيلية

لندن 18-3-2011 وفا- حققت حركة مقاطعة إسرائيل انتصارا إضافيا مع تصويت طلبة جامعة ادنبره في اسكتلندا على قرار بمقاطعة إسرائيل.

وذكر موقع التضامن مع الشعب الفلسطيني، اليوم الجمعة، أن اتحاد الطلبة في جامعة أدنبرة العريقة  باسكتلندا صوتوا بأغلبية 270 لصالح مقاطعة البضائع الإسرائيلية، مقابل 20 ضد.

ونص قرار المقاطعة على عدم بيع أية منتجات إسرائيلية في المحال التجارية داخل مباني اتحاد الطلبة بجامعة إدنبرة، كما سيحث اتحاد الطلبة على تشجيع الموردين على التوقف عن شراء وتوزيع المنتجات الإسرائيلية، وتضمن القرار نصا يؤكد أن إسرائيل 'دولة تمييز عنصري'.

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#BDS: Vous invitez Israël, alors BDS-France s’invite

"Lorsqu’un salon, un évènement culturel ou sportif méprise l’appel au Boycott, Sanctions et Retraits des Investissements contre Israël lancé par la Société Civile Palestinienne le 10 juillet 2005 en invitant l’occupant sioniste, alors soyez sûrs qu’il recevra la visite des militants pro-palestiniens, comme cela s’est passé aujourd’hui au Salon du Tourisme à Paris.


Une cinquantaine de militants de BDS-France et d’ISM s’étaient donnés rendez-vous en ce dimanche 20 mars 2011 au Salon du Tourisme de Paris où Israël et El Al, la compagnie aérienne nationale israélienne tenaient un stand."


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#BDS: Australia: Council defeats attempt to overturn Israel boycott

"It was ironic, but only supporters of Palestine were clapping after a majority of Marrickville councillors decided on March 15 in favour of hiring a venue to a newly-formed local Jewish group that is hosting an Australian Rules Peace Team with connections to Israel.

Independent councillor Victor Macri, who had put the motion, did not look at all happy.

The council meeting chambers was packed with supporters of the council’s stand on the global Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. A smaller number of anti-BDS campaigners were also present, including some sporting pro-Israel paraphernalia.

Members of the Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance (a group formed to campaign against the council’s BDS decision) tried to argue that if the council allowed the booking, it would be contravening its own BDS decision. But this did not wash with the councillors or on the director of community services Gary Moore who was explicitly asked."

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