#BDS: Activists shut down normalization conference in Jerusalem

Jerusalem activists successfully had the Ambassador Hotel cancel their hosting of events in the planned Israeli Palestinian Confederation Conference on Tuesday, 13 December. The conference, organized by Jerusalem University director Dr. Sari Nsaibeh and former Israeli foreign affairs minister Shlomo Bena’mi, was to see the election for the parliament and a chairman for the so-called Israeli- Palestinian Confederation. Protesters gathered outside the hotel to condemn the process of normalization of the occupation promoted by the conference, amidst the collapse of the peace process, continuing settlement construction and the confiscation of Palestinian land. Conference events taking place in Beit Jalah and Haifa over the next few days have promoted a false illusion of Palestine already being liberated and contributed to the normalization of the Israeli occupation. One demonstrator commented that “how would such a confederation even be possible under the occupation?” The management of the Ambassador Hotel announced their decision to cancel the conference events in a printed statement posted at the hotel’s entrance. A hotel manager stated that “we have been manipulated by the conference organizers, who did not reveal to us its real purposes. We refuse to take part in their attempts to veil the reality of Palestinian suffering.” Read more here.

#BDS Solidarity with #Palestine: Photos: Palestine solidarity at Occupy Montreal

On 13/11 in Montreal people gathered at Occupy Montreal/Occupons Montréal to protest the Israeli military raid on the Freedom Waves flotilla action that challenged the Israeli military blockade on Gaza via the Mediterranean sea.
This action took place at Occupy Montreal/Occupons Montréal to highlight the connection between struggles for social & economics justice in Quebec and the Palestinian struggle for freedom. In North America politicians who are moving to enforce socially violent austerity economics, like the Conservative government in Canada, are the very same policy makers and politicians who continue to back the illegal Israeli military siege on the Palestinian people in Gaza. For more info, click here.

#BDS: Bring Down the Walls Week in the US: November 14 - 18

From the iconic sites of the Israeli wall and the US/Mexico border, we are witnessing a world-wide proliferation of walls and reinforcement of borders. These not only delimitate the nation state but proliferate in its interior, reproducing social divisions along lines of race, class and gender, and reflecting and reinforcing existing power relations.
From November 14th till November 18th, Students for Justice in Palestine, Mechxa and the Bring Down the Walls DeCal organized a week of public events to analyse, discuss and deconstruct the ideological, political and economic infrastructure which allows walls to exist.

Schedule

Mural Painting on Sproul Plaza!
Performances and speakers
Teach-ins:
Bringing down the walls from theory to action!
Ramon Quintero & Ilaria Giglioli, co-facilitators of the Bring down the Walls! DeCal
Keith Fieldman, professor in Ethnic Studies
Maria Lewis, activist with Students for Justice in Palestine
From Berkeley to Palestine - the right to education
Mira Nabulsi, Palestinian Researcher and Graduate of An-Najah National University, Nablus- Palestine.
MEChxA members
Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, Students for Justice in Palestine & Budget Cuts activist
Beyond the walls of prisons
Hatem Bazian, professor in Ethnic Studies
Alejandro Garcia, graduate student in History
Borders, militarism and the environment
Rodrigo Sierra, graduate student at UNAM Ecology Institute
Irene Bonilla, environmental activist
Ziad Abbas, Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance
Nancy Hernandez, Water Writes Mural Project Manager at The Estria Foundation
Film Screening of Salt of the Sea

#BDS: Solidarity with #Palestine: NYC and Boston Screening: Hip Hop Is Bigger Than The Occupation & Concert for WAAW

Existence is Resistance and Hunter Students for Justice in Palestine presented a live show featuring Palestinian Rap Trio DAM, Palestinian Female MC and Songstress Shadia Mansour alongside M1 of Dead Prez.
The show was held at the Shrine Live Music Venue in Harlem. And at Occupy Boston on November 13, 2011. More info here.

#BDS Information about the Wall Released in Greek for Week Against the Apartheid Wall

Find in the link below an updated leaflet about the Apartheid Wall, in Greek, released and distributed on the occasion of the Week Against the Apartheid Wall 2011. For more info, click here.

#BDS: Bahrain: Washington Conference with Zionist Participation Takes Opposition by Surprise

"A planned conference in support of the Bahraini uprising caused a stir among opposition activists after it was revealed that prominent pro-Israeli figures were invited to attend.

“Americans for Democracy and Human rights in Bahrain,” a conference organized by the Institute for Gulf Affairs, was supposed to be held in Washington Wednesday.

An informed opposition source said that the conference has been postponed but didn’t disclose the reasons behind the change of plans.

The goal of the conference was to shed light on the ongoing human rights violations occurring in Bahrain, especially as they are receiving very little media attention in the Arab world.

According to the Institute for Gulf Affairs website, the event was intended to be a follow up to a previous conference held in Beirut last summer.

However, a closer look at the names of the participants raised questions about how far the opposition was willing to go in order to be heard?

Among those invited by the organizers to attend, for example, are Elliot Abrams, US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Simon Henderson from the Washington Institute for Near East Affairs, all of whom are well-known for their unswerving support for Israel."

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#BDS: Osez le boycott - NON à la colonisation sous mon sapin

"Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous le 17 Décembre, à 14h00, devant diverses grandes surfaces et centres commerciaux de Bruxelles et de Wallonie.
En cette période de préparation des fêtes de fin d’année, nous ciblerons les cosmétiques AHAVA (www.ahava.be) et les appareils électroménagers SODASTREAM (Sodaclub) (www.sodastream.be), tous deux fabriqués dans des colonies de Cisjordanie. Les produits SODASTREAM (Sodaclub) sont distribués par les enseignes Krëfel, Media Markt, Van Den Borre, Carrefour et Makro…
Tout comme le 22 Octobre, nous souhaitons démultiplier nos lieux de diffusion, vous trouverez ci-après les zones géographiques envisagées (Bruxelles et Brabant Wallon, Luxembourg, Liège, Mons-Borinage, Wallonie-Picarde, Charleroi, Namur). N’hésitez pas à proposer une localisation supplémentaire que vous jugeriez pertinente."

Continuer à lire

#BDS: Boycott SodaStream - toujours en vente dans les magasins

"Maale Adumin colonie israélienne en territoire palestinienL’entreprise Israélienne Soda Stream (ex Soda Club) est installée dans la colonie illégale de Ma’ale Adumin à Jérusalem-Est, en territoire palestinien occupé.

Les magasins lyonnais qui vendent les produits fabriqués dans les colonies en toute connaissance de cause soutiennent la colonisation israélienne de la Palestine qui est illégale et constitue un obstacle à la paix, comme le rappellent l’ONU, l’Union Européenne, la Cour de Justice Internationale, la Cour Européenne de Justice.

Poursuivons la lutte pour les droits des Palestiniens ! Poursuivons la campagne de boycott !

Participons aux actions pour faire retirer les produit Soda-stream des rayons !"

Continuer à lire

#BDS: Israeli #SodaStream: Maybe Green, Definitely Not Clean

"It seems like a great idea – to buy a counter top device that converts tap water into sparkling fizzy water. Add a line of 100 flavours of sweet syrups; in the words of the sales clerk I spoke to, 'it’s a fun thing.'

SodaStream (sometimes marketed as Soda Club) is sold around the world including in my city, often by big chain stores like Costco, Kmart and Amazon (USA); Sears, The Bay, and Home Outfitters (Canada); Tesco, Asda and Argos (UK); Migros (a large coop network in Switzerland); Carrefour (France & other countries); Edeka, Adler, and Karstadt, (in Germany where it is distributed by Brita, the international water filter company. Brita products are sold in Israel by SodaStream.)

The world’s largest producer of home carbonation systems, sold in 41 countries, SodaStream claims to be environmentally friendly because it uses its own reusable bottles, saving the production and transport of millions of disposable plastic containers and saving money and time for consumers .As some of the syrups use natural products, while others use sugar and artificial sweeteners, it is promoted also as “healthy” in natural food, eco-friendly, green and biological shops.

It sounds too good to be true – and so it is."

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Uncovered: #Israel’s role in planned #US lawsuit to fight #BDS

"A group of pro-Israel activists, backed by StandWithUs, a national US pro-Israel US organization, is planning to take legal action to force the Olympia Food Co-op to rescind its historic decision to boycott Israeli products.

The Electronic Intifada has obtained a copy of a 31 May 2011 letter sent to the Board of Directors of the Olympia Food Co-op in Olympia, Washington, threatening “expensive” legal action if the pro-Israel activists’ “demands” to end the boycott of Israeli products are not met.

Other documents, supported by interviews, confirm that the Israeli government has taken part in discussions about, and been given advance knowledge of, the planned lawsuit and another planned action against Evergreen State College in Olympia in response to Palestine solidarity activism by students."

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#BDS Petition: Republic of Korea President: Cancel the sale of the T-50 Jets to #Israel

"In recent years South Korea has dramatically increased its military relationship with Israel. On average, it imports $280 million US of Israeli-manufactured defense products per-year. In accordance with Palestinian Civil Society's call for a military embargo on Israel, we call on the South Korean Government to cancel the sale of its T-50 Golden Eagle Jet and cut all defense ties with Israel until it demonstrates the will to abide by the principles of International Humanitarian Law. We urgently ask you to join us in petitioning this request to the South Korean Government."

Sign petition here

#BDS: #CSU debates whether to resume study abroad in #Israel

"Eighty-one California State University faculty, staff and administrators, and 46 students and alumni, have signed an open letter opposing the reinstatement of study abroad programming in Israel. The letter, sent Friday to Cal State’s chancellor, Charles B. Reed, outlines six concerns, among them threats to student safety and the possibility that students of Middle Eastern origin would face discriminatory treatment in entering and moving around Israel. The letter asserts that it would be "one-sided" to restart the study abroad program in Israel without establishing similar programs in cooperation with Palestinian universities, and states that "CSU participation with the government of Israel in the proposed study abroad program could be interpreted as an endorsement of the international crime of apartheid."

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#BDS Call: Israeli 'leftists', rabbis and Arabs discuss Israeli book that incites to kill Arabs

(...)

"He noted that lecturers with a broad spectrum of opinions have been invited to the discussion.

“We have been able to bring to the discussion people from all sides,” he said. “We brought Professor Rachel Elior, who is a leftist and who once headed the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, as well as Dr. Eli Hadad who is an expert on halakha and democracy. We’ve also invited Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway from the Department of Philosophy and Islam at Al Quds University to represent the Muslim world, and Rabbi Yisrael Ariel from the Yitzhar yeshiva. We wanted the author of the book, Rabbi Yitzchak Shapira, to come as well but he will be marrying off his daughter that evening so he will be unable to attend.”

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#BDS Call: Cancel International Society for Justice Research Conference in Israel

"The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is deeply disturbed by the decision of the International Society for Justice Research (ISJR) to hold its 14th Biennial Conference at the College of Management Academic Studies (COMAS) in Israel in September 2012. We urge the ISJR to relocate this conference to another country that does not embody injustice through maintaining a regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid[1], as Israel does. We also appeal to all members of ISJR to refrain from participating in the conference if it is convened in Israel."

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#BDS: BDS update: BDS unites East and West

"As people of conscience around the world marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, ever new actions help bring Palestinians closer to achieving a state of dignity, says Eric Walberg

Just in case there was an iota of doubt left in your mind, Israel was officially declared an apartheid state during a session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in Cape Town on 7 November.

Among depositions, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza cited the Fourth Geneva Convention and the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which prohibits “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

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