#BDS: #Gaza students launch "boycott Israel" campaign #fuckIsrael

"Malaka Mohammed, an English literature student at the Islamic University of Gaza(IUG), is the president of the university’s English Language Club for female students. Under her leadership, the club of 15 members has embarked this fall on the Gaza Strip’s first campus-based boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel. “After knowing that there was something called BDS, I made up my mind to do something,” Mohammed said. “So when we had our first meeting, I proposed that we boycott Israeli goods at IUG.”

Student BDS activism in the Gaza Strip began with the January 2009 launch of thePalestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI), part of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). For nearly four years, the student campaign has organized at campuses across the coastal territory, mostly in support of the academic and cultural boycott of Israel."

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#BDS G4S blockaded in Oslo over support for Israeli apartheid

Early this morning, a group of activists from the Palestine Committee of Norway blocked the entrance to the offices of the security firm G4S in Oslo. The activists demanded that G4S stop all activities that contribute to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The blockade adds weight to a petition — signed by 21 Norwegian organizations — which was presented to G4S management last week.

The Palestine Committee writes in a press release:

“G4S is contributing to human rights violations against the Palestinians. This is ethically unacceptable,” says one of the activists, Vanja Alling.

G4S has, since 2002, promised to end its contracts with the Israeli military, police and illegal settlements in the West Bank, but this has proven not to be carried out in practise. Here are some of the revelations from [the Danish investigative group] Danwatch in 2011, showing that G4S is still involved in the occupation of Palestine:

• G4S provides equipment and services to the separation wall in the West Bank and military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza;
• G4S delivers safety equipment  and services to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank;
• G4S provides equipment and services to Israeli prisons in which Palestinians, among them children, are held in violation of the Geneva conventions. According to Israeli human rights organizations, Palestinians face torture in these prisons.

“Most Norwegian companies and individuals do not want to be associated with the brutal repression of the Palestinians. We know that several Norwegian companies and organizations are considering terminating their contracts with G4S due to their involvement in the occupation. The campaign against G4S will continue until the company no longer participate in the Israeli occupation,” says Vanja Alling.

The blockade lasted an hour and the activists promised to be back again soon.

“Withdraw now”

On 1 November, G4S management in Norway received a petition titled G4S contributes to the occupation of Palestine, signed by 21 groups, including  trade unions, political parties, Palestine solidarity organizations, funding organizations, Amnesty International, and YMCA-YWCA. The signatories stated: ”G4S must immediately withdraw from all activities on occupied Palestinian land and halt all deliveries to Israeli prisons in which Palestinian prisoners are imprisoned in violation of the Geneva conventions.”

Here’s the full text of the petition:

G4S CONTRIBUTES TO THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

In October 2011 the Danish research center Danwatch revealed that G4S is still involved in the Israeli occupation industry by supplying equipment and services to the Israeli military, prisons and illegal settlements in the West Bank. This has happened although the company has repeatedly said that it will stop these activities based on ethical considerations.

In April 2012, G4S decided to exit from their contracts with military checkpoints, one Israeli prison and one police station in the West Bank, when the contract terms expire. However, G4S has stated it will continue to provide security and alarm services for banks and supermarkets in Israeli settlements. In addition, G4S will continue to supply equipment and services to Israeli prisons. In these prisons West Bank Palestinians are detained in violation of the Geneva conventions. According to the Norwegian People’s Aid and Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees’ report “Dangerous Connections” from 2012, Palestinian prisoners are routinely subjected to torture in these centers. Israeli human rights organizations also claim that Palestinian children are being held there.

At the same time as the situation for Palestinians is becoming increasingly desperate as a result of the Israeli occupation, G4S chooses to participate in activities that directly contribute to maintaining illegal settlements and military repression. Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank violates international law and is condemned by the international community. Despite this, new settlements are being built and existing settlements expanded. Palestinian land and limited water resources are confiscated, and the possibilities for free movement for Palestinians are further tightened. Expansion of Israeli settlements has led to widespread destruction of Palestinian homes and forcible transferring of Palestinians. The Israeli settlement policy violates Palestinians’ rights to self-determination, equality, property, decent living conditions and freedom of movement.

The signed organizations believe that G4S’ deliveries to settlements, Israeli military, prisons and police are unethical, as this is a part of maintaining the occupation of Palestinian territories. G4S must immediately withdraw from all activities on occupied Palestinian land and halt all deliveries to Israeli prisons in which Palestinian prisoners are imprisoned in violation of the Geneva conventions.

Sincerely

Amnesty International Norway
AUF Oslo (Workers’ Youth League - Oslo)
EL&IT forbundet (Electricians and information technology workers union)
Fagforbundet (Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees)
Fagforbundet i Oslo (Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees - Oslo)
Fellesforbundet avd 023 Raufoss Jern og Metall (Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions - iron and metalworkers)
Fellesforbundet avd 850 Oslo Grafiske Fagforening (Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions -  Oslo graphic workers union)
Fellesorganisasjonen (Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers)
Fellesutvalget for Palestina (Association of Norwegian NGOs for Palestine)
Handel og kontor i Norge (Union of Employees in Commerce and Offices)
Industri Energi (Industry Energy workers union)
KFUK-KFUM Globals Midtøsten-komité (YWCA-YMCA Global Middle East comittee)
LO i Oslo (Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions - Oslo)
Norsk Folkehjelp (Norwegian People’s Aid)
Norsk Transportarbeiderforbund (Norwegian Transport Workers’ Union)
Palestinakomiteen i Norge (Palestine Committee of Norway)
Palestine Network Norway
Rødt (Red Party)
Sosiale institusjoners forening (Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees-branch 701 social workers union)
Sosialistisk Ungdom (Socialist Youth League of Norway)
Sosialistisk Venstreparti (Socialist Left Party of Norway)

SOURCE 

#BDS campaign is essential for effective pressure on Israel, Abir Kopty

Boycott campaign is essential for effective pressure on Israel, Abir Kopty

The Palestinian cause is not a charity. The international community, however, has often failed to grasp the nature of the struggle for justice, preferring to channel funds to Palestinian "development" projects to compensate for the lack of will to put serious pressure on Israel. That mentality has been challenged by two recent reports that suggest that lip service to justice for Palestinians could be transformed into critical action.

link to www.thenational.ae

#BDS South Africans to protest toy store supporting ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians

South Africans to protest toy store supporting ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians
Report by "Stop The JNF-South Africa" - "It is unconscionable that while hundreds of Palestinian children are held in Israeli prisons, a toy shop that purportedly celebrates children, is knowingly supporting an Israeli para-statal complicit in gross human rights violations." Read more: link to www.labournet.net

Protest against Wadi Araba treaty near Israel's embassy in Amman

Massive protest against Wadi Araba treaty near Israel's embassy in Amman
Hundreds of Jordanians attended the popular sit-in that was staged on Friday in the courtyard of Kaloti Mosque near the Israeli embassy in Amman to protest Wadi Araba peace agreement. Read more: link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

#BDS: EU urged to re-think trade deals with Israeli settlements in West Bank #fuckIsrael

"The European Union imports around 15 times more produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank than Palestinian products, despite its consistent condemnation of Israel's settlement policy as illegal under international law, according to a report.

Based on figures supplied by Israel to the World Bank, the estimated value of settlement imports to the EU is $300m (£187m) a year. The comparative figure for Palestinian produce is less than $20m. "With more than 4 million Palestinians and over 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied territory, this means the EU imports over 100 times more per settler than per Palestinian," says Trading Away Peace: How EuropeHelps Sustain Illegal Israeli Settlements, published by a consortium of 22 organisations across Europe."

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#BDS: Pro-Palestine campaigners celebrate #Veolia’s loss of £40million contract in Canterbury #UK #fuckIsrael

"Veolia Environment has failed in its bid to secure an 8-year, £40 million contract with Canterbury City Council in Britain. The council announced today that the current holder, Serco, was the successful bidder. This was despite Veolia’s website headline on November 10, 2010, that it had won a joint contract worth a total of £70 million awarded by Dover District Council, working in partnership with Shepway District Council and Kent County Council.

Veolia has been a target for human rights campaigners due to its involvement in Israeli projects in East Jerusalem and the West Bank which negatively impact on Palestinian human rights, including a transport infrastructure to illegal settlements and Israeli army bases in the West Bank."

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#BDS: Open Letter to Alanis Morissette: You oughta know it’s apartheid, don’t play Israel. #fuckIsrael

"Dear Alanis Morissette,

We are writing to you to ask that you not cross the Palestinian picket line by playing in Israel in December. As we write, the people of Gaza, who live in the world’s largest open-air prison,  are being subjected to nightly airstrikes by Israel, a few miles from where you would be playing to a segregated audience. Last week, humanitarian activists trying to break the illegal, immoral siege of Gaza were kidnapped in international waters, tasered and imprisoned in Israel. Their crime? Showing solidarity to the Palestinian people.

Last month the United Nations issued a report: “Gaza in 2020, a Liveable Place?” [1] focusing on Gaza’s precarious situation, particularly regarding power supply, water, education and employment. Gaza’s 1.6 million people, most of them refugees and over half of them children, are held in a tiny piece of land with their movements controlled by Israel and their basic human rights denied, they are also terrorised by drone planes and military incursions regularly. Can you imagine that human beings are being treated like this? Can you imagine playing for the state that does this? Amnesty International, an organisation that you have supported, has documented Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, as have many other NGOs. [2]"

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#BDS Victory: ANC backs Israel boycott #fuckIsrael

"An African National Congress (ANC) International Solidarity Conference has backed the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

The support for BDS follows an international statement presented by Dutch former anti-apartheid activist Adri Nieuwhof signed by 35 organisations from 19 countries.

In the statement, Ms Nieuwhof called for BDS against Israel as an expression of solidarity with Palestine’s “fight for freedom, justice and equality”.

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#BDS: U.N. Human Rights Council Calls for Boycott of U.S. Companies that do business in Israel #fuckIsrael

"A report soon to be released by the United Nations that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.

The report attempts to instigate a campaign of boycott, divestment, sanctions, and legal action against a litany of international companies doing business in Israel. In addition to American companies, the U.N. targets include major European firms such as Veolia Environnement, Group 4 Security, the Dexia Group, the Volvo Group."

Read the full report here

A #BDS Movement That Works #fuckIsrael

"IN 2005, 173 Palestinian civil society organizations and 71 members of parliament, political parties, and unions in Jordan united to issue a powerful nongovernmental call for global nonviolent resistance to occupation through acts of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.(1) They had three goals: an end to occupation and return to the pre-1967 Green Line, equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and recognition of the Palestinian right of return.

The strongly united 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS electrified progressives around the world. European activists responded strongly, but in the United States, where the mainstream news media have tended to voluntarily censor undistorted news reports about Israel’s ever-widening theft of Palestinian lands, public consciousness was generally absent, while sympathy for the Jewish legacy of trauma from the Holocaust remained the dominant theme.

It’s time to reassess: Where is the U.S. BDS movement now? The answer is that, while it still lags behind the BDS movements in Europe, Australia and elsewhere, it’s catching up fast, on campuses across the country and in local communities, as a genuinely grassroots movement led by focused, smart, strategic young Arab Americans — with the generous, if unintended assistance of Bibi Netanyahu, whose unashamed racism and crudeness has stunned the world, leaving Israel’s defenders without a credible spin on his words and actions."

Read mohttp://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/3720re

#BDS SA Welcomes ANC's Adoption of Israel Boycott #fuckIsrael

"Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions SA (BDS) welcomed the position adopted on Sunday by the ANC's International Solidarity Conference to support the international boycott against Israel.

There had been widespread support for the position from international delegates, with the exception of a delegate from Germany, who argued that Israel could not be compared to apartheid South Africa, BDS said.

"The ANC chairperson, Baleka Mbete, strongly responded, saying that she has been to Palestine herself and that the Israeli regime is not only comparable but 'far worse than apartheid South Africa'," BDS said."

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#BDS: Shaming the Natural History Museum About Its Choice of Veolia As Support #UK #fuckIsrael

"Today from 12 to 2 pm about 10  Palestine Solidarity Campaigners joined together in our weekly campaign against Veolia outside London’s Natural History Museum. We were not alone with our message of solidarity with Palestine. During the action, we reached out to more than 1,000 visitors and we were supported by literally hundreds of them.

Furthermore, we managed to gather more than 100 signatures for our petition against the Museum’s partnerships with Veolia."

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#BDS: Protests drive #Ahava out of Covent Garden #UK #fuckIsrael

"The UK branch of Israeli cosmetics store, Ahava, is moving from its central London shop after years of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Protesters claim that the products sold in the store are manufactured in a factory in Israeli settlement, Mitzpe Shalom in the West Bank but are "misleadingly" labelled as produced in Israel.

The owner of the shop, currently in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, is looking for other sites after owners of neighbouring stores complained to the landlord following protests.

Supporters claim it has been "chased out" of its location by regular "noisy and intimidating" demonstrations."

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#BDS: Prominent #Bahrain Activist @MARYAMALKHAWAJA withdraws from UNESCO conference which is honouring Israeli President #fuckIsrael

"Maryam AlKhawaja has withdrawn from a UNESCO conference on human rights. In an open letter to the organisers, written in a personal capacity, Maryam explains that whilst she was "honoured" to be invited to participate in an event which will honour her father, Abdulhadi AlKhawaja, she is "utterly disappointed" that he is to be honoured alongside Shimon Peres. The letter, which has been reprinted on Electronic Intifada, also contains a list of human rights violations which Peres is allegedly responsible for."

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