#BDS: Normalization between Gulf Arab States and #Israel

(...)

"Israel and the GCC discreetly work hand in hand: “I would be surprised if there is no knowledge about the Saudi positions (in Israel) or knowledge in Saudi of the Israeli positions,” said David Menashri, director of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University. “I would put it this way: The Gulf states, some of them, would like Israel to be more active against Iran, though they would never say it publicly,” said Meir Litvak, a regional expert at the Dayan Center think tank at Tel Aviv University. All this takes place under the umbrella of regional “defense strategy,” meaning the military exercises which keep Iraq and the Gulf under various kinds of Western political dominance so as to constrict oil supplies and justify ongoing arms purchases by the $700 billion dollar in annual spending US defense complex."


Read more

#BDS: Saudi Artist Ahmed Mater: A Normalizer with #Israel

"The Saudi artist Ahmed Mater has become the subject of an online campaign in Saudi Arabia calling for his immediate censure by the Saudi government, following the inclusion of his work Evolution of Man, 2010, in an exhibition in Israel.

The show, “West End”, opened this summer at Jer­u­salem’s Museum on the Seam, a socio-political contemporary art museum on the edge of the ultra-orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Mea She’arim. The display garnered extensive media coverage largely thanks to the participation, alongside 21 other artists, of seven non-Israeli artists of Middle Eastern origin. Of these, only two live permanently in the country of their birth: the Egyptian artist Moataz Nasr and Mater."

Read more

#BDS: Palestinian Freedom Riders to Challenge Segregation By Riding 'Settler' Buses to Jerusalem: 11.15.11

"Palestinian activists will reenact the US Civil Rights Movement's Freedom Rides to the American South by boarding segregated Israeli public transportation in the West Bank to travel to occupied East Jerusalem.

Palestinian activists will attempt to board segregated Israeli public transportation headed from inside the West Bank to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 60's.


Fifty years after the U.S. Freedom Riders staged mixed-race bus rides through the roads of the segregated American South, Palestinian Freedom Riders will be asserting their right for liberty and dignity by disrupting the military regime of the Occupation through peaceful civil disobedience.


The Freedom Riders seek to highlight Israel's attempts to illegally sever occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, and the apartheid system that Israel has imposed on Palestinians in the occupied territories.


Several Israeli companies, among them Egged and Veolia, operate dozens of lines that run through the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, many of them subsidized by the state. They run between different Israeli settlements, connecting them to each other and cities inside Israel. Some lines connecting Jerusalem to other cities inside Israel, such as Eilat and Beit She'an, are also routed to pass through the West Bank.


Israelis suffer almost no limitations on their freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory, and are even allowed to settle in it, contrary to international law. Palestinians, in contrast, are not allowed to enter Israel without procuring a special permit from Israeli authorities. Even Palestinian movement inside the Occupied Territories is heavily restricted, with access to occupied East Jerusalem and some 8% of the West Bank in the border area also forbidden without a similar permit.


While it is not officially forbidden for Palestinians to use Israeli public transportation in the West Bank, these lines are effectively segregated, since many of them pass through Jewish-only settlements, to which Palestinian entry is prohibited by a military decree."

#BDS Violation: Mikhail Baryshnikov dances his way to Tel Aviv

"In anticipation of his visit, for nine performances of a new play 'In Paris', 63-year-old dancer talks about staying young, politics, and why he won't boycott Israel.

September 11, 2011, was a rainy day in Paris. Outside the Theatre National de Chaillot, overlooking the Eiffel Tower, a large crowd huddled under umbrellas and watched the national ceremony marking a decade since the World Trade Center disaster in New York. In the bowels of the theater, in a subterranean dressing room with pink walls, Mikhail Baryshnikov sat cross-legged on a chair encased in blue velvet upholstery. In a little while he would get ready for the matinee performance of "In Paris," a new play he is starring in, which arrives in Tel Aviv for nine performances at the Suzanne Dellal Center beginning on November 15."

Read more

#BDS: Israel’s Exceptionalism: Normalizing the Abnormal

"In the Palestinian and Arab struggle against Israeli colonization, occupation and apartheid, the “normalization” of Israel is a concept that has generated controversy because it is often misunderstood or because there are disagreements on its parameters. This is despite the near consensus among Palestinians and people in the Arab region on rejecting the treatment of Israel as a “normal” state with which business as usual can be conducted. Here, we discuss the definition of normalization that the great majority of Palestinian civil society, as represented in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, has adopted since November 2007, and elaborate on the nuances that it takes on in different contexts.

It is helpful to think of normalization as a “colonization of the mind,” whereby the oppressed subject comes to believe that the oppressor’s reality is the only “normal” reality that must be subscribed to, and that the oppression is a fact of life that must be coped with. Those who engage in normalization either ignore this oppression, or accept it as the status quo that can be lived with. In an attempt to whitewash its violations of international law and human rights, Israel attempts to re-brand [1] itself, or present itself as normal -- even “enlightened” -- through an intricate array of relations and activities encompassing hi-tech, cultural, legal, LGBT and other realms."

Read more: http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1749

#BDS: Boycott The Creative Community for Peace

"Artists Against Apartheid calls on allies to boycott the Creative Community for Peace(CCFP), which is in fact a complicit propaganda institution seeking to normalize Israeli apartheid and strongarm entertainers into its service. Fearing encroaching pressure from the Palestinian led globalBDS movement, CCFP has mobilized to counteract the cultural boycott of Israel, making itself a target of the human rights campaign in the process.

Capitalizing on ignorance, the CCFP proudly calls Israel “the only democracy in the region“ surrounded by states known for their human rights violations, while offering no solutions to any human rights violations anywhere in the Middle East. Of course CCFP does not acknowledge the human rights violations being carried out daily by the Israeli state throughout Palestine-Israel."

Read more

#BDS: Lettre adressée à Bijan Chemirani qui est invité à jouer au festival de Oud Jérusalem

"Bijan Chemirani,

Dans quelques semaines vous prévoyez de donner un concert à Jérusalem, dans le cadre du Festival international de Oud.

Bijan Chemirani, le pays dans lequel vous vous apprêtez à aller jouer n’est pas un État comme les autres. Israël maintient depuis de nombreuses années un blocus sur la bande de Gaza, laissant périr toute une population qui n’a pas accès aux droits les plus fondamentaux. Israël mène une véritable politique d’apartheid à l’encontre des citoyens arabes palestiniens qui ne bénéficient pas des même droits et des même services que les citoyens juifs israéliens. Israël continue à construire et à agrandir ses colonies sur les terres palestiniennes. Israël refuse toujours le droit au retour de millions de réfugiés palestiniens, bafouant ainsi les nombreuses résolutions de l’ONU."

Continuer à lire

#BDS: New Book calls for direct action against British companies complicit in Israeli apartheid

"

Corporate Watch has just released a book,  Targeting Israeli Apartheid: A Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Handbook, encouraging campaigners to take direct action against the British companies complicit in Israeli apartheid, militarism and colonisation.

The book, based on extensive research in Palestine and the UK, and interviews with Palestinian and Israeli campaigners, takes its cue from the unified Palestinian call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS):

“We representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era.”
- Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, 2005."

Read more

Barnes and Noble coupons are always available for specialized books:

#BDS: #Iran chess player disqualified after refusing to play against Israeli

"One of Iran's top grandmasters was expelled from an international chess tournament Tuesday after he refused to play a match against an Israeli opponent, the director of the tournament said.

The Iranian, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, was scheduled to play Ehud Shachar in the fourth round of the Corsica Masters, a pairing determined by computer. The director, Leo Battesti, said in a telephone interview that Maghami had asked him to change the pairing but was told that doing so would violate tournament rules. Maghami then failed to appear at the scheduled time to play Shachar."

Read more

#BDS: «قطار الحرمين»: الوجهة فلسطين

بعد حملة استمرّت ثلاث سنوات قادتها «اللجنة الوطنية الفلسطينية لمقاطعة إسرائيل وسحب الاستثمارات منها وفرض العقوبات عليها» بالتعاون مع حلفائها حول العالم، نجحت اللجنة في إقناع السعودية بحرمان شركة «ألستوم» المرحلة الثانية من مشروع «قطار الحرمين» الذي يربط مكة المكرمة بالمدينة المنورة. وبذلك خسرت الشركة الفرنسية قيمة العقد للمرحلة الثانية التي تبلغ 10 مليارات دولار، علماً بأنّها كانت قد فازت بعقد المرحلة الأولى سابقاً.

إقرأ\ي المزيد

#BDS Success: #Yardbirds cancel concert in #Israel

"Many Yardbird fans are thrilled to hear that these British legends, famous for the unmatched single “For Your Love,” will not play in apartheid Israel.   Professor Haim Bresheeth, Mike Cushman, Professor Adah Kay, and Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, calling themselves “ancient geezers,” wrote an OPEN LETTER to the Yardbirds on August 30.  They stated:

“…The world famous Yardbirds appear to have respected the South African liberation movement’s call for artists and musicians to assist them by denying legitimacy to the racist state. Have you thought through the implications of your appearance at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv on October 29? You’re telling Palestinian civil society organisations that are similarly calling for a cultural boycott of Israel that their dispossession and their oppression don’t matter. The Palestinian Teachers’ Federation; the Writers’ Federation; the League of Palestinian Artists; the General Union of Palestinian Women; and many others – your performance at the Barby will in effect tell all of these people that you side with the Israeli military occupation, that you don’t mind helping to airbrush the cruelties of racism and ethnic cleansing, and that you’re happy to behave as if there isn’t a Palestinian struggle for liberation and justice."

Read more

#BDS to Hindi Zahra: Do not Perform in #Israel

"Palestine activists are appealing to Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra to cancel shows scheduled in Israel this month.

Rabat - Hindi Zahra (b.1979) was intensely criticized as soon as news emerged of her scheduled performances in Tel Aviv on November 11 and 12. Her fans in Morocco were shocked to learn that the Moroccan-French singer was performing in Israel. Cultural normalization with the Zionist state is still a red line for many Moroccans. They have always been critical of cultural festivals and events that take place in their country that include Israelis.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) wrote an open letter to Zahra demanding that she not perform in Tel Aviv. Her performance, they argue, would contribute to whitewashing the image of the Israeli occupation. Activists on twitter and Facebook launched a campaign calling on the artist to cancel her gig."

Read more

#BDS Video: Boycott Max Brenner, Join the BDS!

#BDS: نداء إلى هندي زهرة: لا تغنّي للجلّاد

حالما انتشر خبر تقديم هندي زهرة أمسيتين في تلّ أبيب (11/12 تشرين الثاني/ نوفمبر المقبل)، انهالت ردود الفعل على خطوتها، أوّلها من المغرب حيث نزل الخبر كالصاعقة على جمهور المغنية المغربية الفرنسية (1979). التطبيع الفني مع الكيان الصهيوني كان ولا يزال خطاً أحمر بالنسبة إلى المغاربة الذين لطالما انتقدوا مهرجانات وأنشطة ثقافية تحتضنها المملكة وتشهد مشاركة وفود إسرائيلية.

وتزامناً مع توجيه «الحملة الفلسطينية للمقاطعة الأكاديمية والثقافية لإسرائيل» رسالة إلى زهرة تطالبها بعدم المساهمة في تلميع صورة الاحتلال من خلال الغناء في تل أبيب، أطلق ناشطون على تويتر وفايسبوك حملة تناشد الفنانة الاحجام عن هذه الخطوة. هكذا، كتبت الناشطة إشراق معتوق على تويتر: «الغناء في تل أبيب تطبيع مع سياسات التمييز العنصري التي يمارسها الكيان الصهيوني ومع احتلال الأراضي الفلسطينية». وتابعت «الغناء في تل أبيب يعني دعم سياسة التطهير العرقي التي تحوّل الفلسطينيين إلى لاجئين».

إقرأ\ي المزيد

#BDS: رسالة من طلاب فلسطين الى المغنية المغربية الأمازيغية هندي زهرة: لا تتنكري لدماء الضحايا في فلسطين!

نحن في حملة طلاب فلسطين للمقاطعة الأكاديمية لإسرائيل تلقينا خبر اعتزامك الغناء في تل أبيب بكثير من الدهشة والأسف. نأمل منك الا تنسي أن الدولة التي ستغنين فيها قامت بعمليات وصفت بانها إبادة جماعية وتطهير عرقي لأكثر من 750 ألف فلسطيني عام 1948 وإخضاع 3.6 مليون فلسطيني في الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة والقدس الشرقية تحت وطأة الاحتلال والاستعمار والفصل العنصري-الأبارتهايد منذ عام 1967، وتاريخ حافل من عمليات الإعدام الميدانية غير القانونية بحق القيادات والنشطاء الفلسطينيين إضافة إلى اعتقال وسجن عشرات الآلاف من أبناء الشعب الفلسطيني منذ عام 1948 وبناء جدار الفصل العنصري، والعدوان الهمجي الأخير على قطاع غزة المحتل وقتل ما يقارب 1440 مدني، منهم 400 طفل على الأقل خلال 22 يوم فقط. و الان ,و خلال كتابة هذه الرسالة لك, تقوم الطائرات الاسرائيلية بقصف الكثير من المواقع السكانية في القطاع مما أدى الى مقتل 9 أشخاص.

إقرأ\ي المزيد