News from Bil'in

 

 

 

قوة من جنود الاحتلال الإسرائيلي يقتحمون قرية بلعين ويعتقلون شابين

الأحد 5\7\2009

      قامت قوة من جنود الاحتلال تقدر بمئة جندي من المشاة بالتسلل فجرا إلى قرية بلعين، ومن ثم محاصرة العديد من المنازل والقيام بالعبث بمعتوياتها وتفتيشها، من بينها بيت عودة ربحي أبو رحمة ( 20 سنة)، وبيت محمود عيسى ياسين (17 سنة) ومن ثم اعتقالهما. وقد حاول مجموعة من المواطنين والمتضامنين الدوليين منع اعتقال الشابين إلا أن الجنود اعتدوا عليهم وقد أبرزوا لهم الأورق والخرائط والأوامر العسكرية التي تبين "أن قرية بلعين منطقة عسكرية مغلقة".

    وتأتي هذا الحملة ضمن السياسة الإسرائيلية التي يقوم بها جنود الاحتلال للأسبوع الثالث على التوالي من خلال مداهمته للمنازل واعتقال الناشطين الذين يشاركون في المسيراة المناهضة لبناء الجدار والمستوطنات، حيث أُعتقل سبعة فتيان خلال افترة السابقة.

  لمزيد من المعلومات مراجعة :

عبدالله أبورحمة – منسق اللجنة الشعبية لمقاومة الجدار والإستيطان في بلعين

0599107069 أو 0547258210

E-mail-lumalayan@yahoo.com

  

Israeli Occupation Force Invades Bilin Village and Kidnap Two Youth

Sunday 5\7\2009

 

        At approximately 4:15 on the morning of 5.7.09 more than 100 Israeli Soldiers invaded Belin Village. Many of them were masked and all carried automatic weapons. They attacked several houses and arrested Oda Rebhe Abu Rahma, 20, and Mahmoud Issa Yassein, 17. Upon request the soldiers would not tell their families where they were taking them or the name of an officer in command. Palestinian and international presence questioned the soldiers and dearrested several people who were documenting the kidnappings. This is the third week of night raids in Bilin village. Israeli soldier have conducted night raids almost every night and have arrested seven village youth during this period.

 

For more information, Please call

Abdullah Abu Rahamah, the coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bilin.

0547258210  or  0599107069

         e-mail – lumalayan@yahoo.com

.

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Israeli gunboats seize Gaza aid ship

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10633.shtml
Press release, Free Gaza Movement, 30 June 2009

Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the Spirit of Humanity, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.

"This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip," said Cynthia McKinney, a former US Congresswoman and presidential candidate. "President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey."

According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are "trapped in despair." Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during Israel's December/January massacre are still without shelter despite pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel's disruption of medical supplies.

"The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of "Cast Lead." Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone" said fellow passenger Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland.

Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated that: "No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and reconstruction supplies, and children's toys. Our passengers include a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former US congressperson. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters."

Arraf continued, "Israel's deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release."

Kidnapped passengers from the Spirit of Humanity include:

Khalad Abdelkader, Bahrain

Khalad is an engineer representing the Islamic Charitable Association of Bahrain.

Othman Abufalah, Jordan

Othman is a world-renowned journalist with al-Jazeera TV.

Khaled Al-Shenoo, Bahrain

Khaled is a lecturer with the University of Bahrain.

Mansour Al-Abi, Yemen

Mansour is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera TV.

Fatima Al-Attawi, Bahrain

Fatima is a relief worker and community activist from Bahrain.

Juhaina Alqaed, Bahrain

Juhaina is a journalist & human rights activist.

Huwaida Arraf, US

Huwaida is the Chair of the Free Gaza Movement and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.

Ishmahil Blagrove, UK

Ishmahil is a Jamaican-born journalist, documentary film maker and founder of the Rice & Peas film production company. His documentaries focus on international struggles for social justice.

Kaltham Ghloom, Bahrain

Kaltham is a community activist.

Derek Graham, Ireland

Derek Graham is an electrician, Free Gaza organizer, and first mate aboard the Spirit of Humanity.

Alex Harrison, UK

Alex is a solidarity worker from Britain. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Denis Healey, UK

Denis is Captain of the Spirit of Humanity. This will be his fifth voyage to Gaza.

Fathi Jaouadi, UK

Fathi is a British journalist, Free Gaza organizer, and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.

Mairead Maguire, Ireland

Mairead is a Nobel laureate and renowned peace activist.

Lubna Masarwa, Palestine/Israel

Lubna is a Palestinian human rights activist and Free Gaza organizer.

Theresa McDermott, Scotland

Theresa is a solidarity worker from Scotland. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Cynthia McKinney, US

Cynthia McKinney is an outspoken advocate for human rights and social justice issues, as well as a former US congressperson and presidential candidate.

Adnan Mormesh, UK

Adnan is a solidarity worker from Britain. He is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Adam Qvist, Denmark

Adam is a solidarity worker from Denmark. He is traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.

Adam Shapiro, US

Adam is an American documentary filmmaker and human rights activist.

Kathy Sheetz, US

Kathy is a nurse and filmmaker, traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.

  

 

 

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Canadian author calls for boycott on Israel

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=99172&sectionid=351020701

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:56:51 GMT

Naomi Klein is a Canadian journalist, author and activist.

Bestselling author Naomi Klein has called on the international community to boycott Israel for occupying the Palestinian territories.

"It's a boycott of Israeli institutions, it's a boycott of the Israeli economy," the bestselling writer told AFP on Friday.

Klein made the remarks after joining a protest against Israel's separation wall and witnessing Israeli forces clashing with protesters in the occupied West Bank village of Bilin.

About 200 villagers and foreign activists protested the barrier which Israel says it needs to prevent attacks, but which Palestinians say aims to grab their land and undermine the viability of their promised state.

"Boycott is a tactic ... we're trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa," said Klein.

"It's an extraordinarily important part of Israel's identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy," the Canadian writer added.

AGB/MD

Israel admits Tube advert map 'mistake'

The advert marked the West Bank and Gaza with only a faint line  Israel's tourist ministry has admitted to a "mistake" over adverts on the London Underground after complaints that they "wipe Palestine off the map".   The ads include a map which campaigners say shows the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip - as well as Syria's Golan Heights - as integral parts of Israel.   The ministry said that in general, maps should not be used on billboards.   But it denied a Transport for London statement that it had asked for the offending posters to be removed.   Transport for London said it has received about 600 complaints about the poster, while the Advertising Standards Authority said it had had 300.   Hugh Lanning of the London-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the adverts were a "disingenuous attempt to remove the Palestinians from the public mind, and create a false impression about what constitutes Israel".   The posters were "selling a lie" by suggesting tourists could visit Gaza when the Hamas-run strip is subject to a strict Israeli blockade under which even some doctors and humanitarian workers have been denied entry, PSC said.   The map shows Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights in the same striking yellow colour; the faintest of white lines mark out the Palestinian territories - though not the Syrian one which Israel annexed in 1981.   Insufficient vetting   Israel occupied the three Arab territories, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 war. It has since cemented its hold by settling hundreds of thousands of its citizens there.   Oren Drori, Head of Marketing Administration for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, described the adverts as a "professional mistake" with no geopolitical intentions.   He said he did not think maps should be used on billboards to advertise tourism in any country and the adverts had not been sufficiently vetted.   "We are not tearing anything down," he said. But the ministry had decided to "fast-forward" to the next set of posters scheduled in the campaign, after learning that there was "a bit of a harsh response" to the map advert, he said.   No more map adverts would be posted, he said, and existing ones would be removed as they reached the end of their scheduled display times over the next two weeks, he said.   The Syrian Embassy in London, which had lodged its own protest, described the advert as "offensive".   US President Barack Obama is trying to kick-start talks to reach an negotiated agreement creating a state of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not signed up to the idea.   The fate of the Golan Heights is key to any peace negotiations between Israel and Syria.

 

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Israeli MANIACS Attack Palestinian Civilians

http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=475:israeli-maniacs-attack-palestinian-civilians&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=183

Sunday, 05 April 2009 

Jerusalem, April 6, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - As part of the ongoing Israeli measures in Jerusalem, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked Al-Sadya neighborhood in east Jerusalem. The attackers tried to storm houses of the Al Jabir family.

Bloody clashes erupted in the area as the settlers, backed by the Israeli army, surprisingly came into the area on Sunday evening. Hundreds of Palestinians gathered to challenge the settlers who tried to advance into the area.

Israel escalated its repressive bloody actions as the new fundamentalist mayor, Nir Barka, recently took office.

The settlers attacks resulted in 10 Palestinians wounded and 4 Palestinians captured by the Israeli army.

The mayor has requested the demolition of tens of Palestinian houses in Kafir Silwad to minimize the Palestinian polulation of occupied Jerusalem.

More than 150 Israeli settlers armed with guns and heavy military equiptment attacked Hebron city. Many houses were stormed in towns of Jabir, Wadi Nasara and Wadi Ehsan near the holy mosque of Abarahm.

Four Palestinian shops were occupied by maniac settlers in the old market of Hebron City. Dogs, animals and other means are being used by Israeli settlers to force Palestinians into leaving their houses.

Thousands of Hectares of Palestinian land were confiscated as successive Israeli governments implemented plans of Judaizing Jerusalem. Thousands of houses were occupied and tens of Israeli settlers forcibly dwelled in the occupied houses.

Haaretz said that new rightist Israeli government plans to encourage settlement expansion across the West Bank and Jerusalem. It's expected that a new big plan will be set into practice.  It's an effort to tie the Malli Admim settlement and occupied Jerusalem. The plan which included more than 3600 housing units was frozen after strong pressure from the U.S. government.

 

 

 

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Italians boycott Israeli goods for 3 days

 

Rome，2009 Mar 28，IRIB

 

In a move in support of the Palestinian nation and in protest against the recent crimes of the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip, the Italian people boycotted Israeli goods for three days.

 

According to IRIB reporter from Rome, Italians residing in different cities descended on supermarkets and urged people not to buy Israeli goods.

 

They are also scheduled to gather in front of the United Nations office in Rome to hold an anti-Zionism demonstration.

 

 

 

Israel supporters

 

  

 

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9524/27902233.jpg

 

 

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Innocent drinks offer a taste to Coca-Cola

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/06/innocent-drinks-sell-stake-coca-cola
 
Innocent, the defiantly non-corporate maker of fruit smoothies, juices and veg pots, has finally lost its innocence after selling a stake to US giant Coca-Cola for £30m.
 

Innocent, which markets itself as eco-friendly and distributes drinks in vans made to look like cows, has sold a minority stake of between 10% and 20% to Coca-Cola in order to raise funds so it can expand into Europe.

 
The sale of the stake marks a watershed moment for the 10-year-old company as it becomes the latest high profile success story to sell-up to a corporate giant.

 
Innocent joins alumni which include UK sandwich chain Pret a Manger, which sold a minority stake to McDonald's, ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's, which sold up to Unilever, and Cadbury, which took over trendy organic chocolate company Green & Black's.

 
Based at Fruit Towers in West London, Innocent markets itself by running "village fetes" and the Fruitstock festival in Regent's Park and defended Coca-Cola's investment by saying it would not crush the company's ideals and eco-friendly positioning.

 
"Every promise that Innocent has made, about making only natural healthy products, pioneering the use of better, socially and environmentally aware ingredients, packaging and production techniques, donating money to charity and having a point of view on the world will remain," said co-founder Richard Reed. "We'll just get to do them even more."

 
Reed stressed that the founders, which include two friends from Cambridge University Adam Balon and Jon Wright, were not seeing the investment as an exit strategy and that all the funds were remaining in the business to fund European expansion.

 
"The founders will continue to lead and run the company, we will be the same people in the same offices making the same products in the same way," he said. Innocent employs around 250 staff.

 
When asked if Coca-Cola had an option in the future to take a controlling stake in the company, Reed would not be drawn beyond saying that "nothing is definite in the future but of course both sides hope the relationship will prosper".

 
In 2007 Innocent came in for flack from many of its fans for agreeing to a trial partnership of its children's smoothies in US fast-food giant McDonald's Happy Meals.

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Motorola drops bomb-fuse unit after boycott campaign

 

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10450.shtml 

5th April, Press release, The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel.  

Motorola has sold a controversial unit that produced bomb fuses and other equipment for the Israeli military, according to the Israeli financial newspaper Globes. The sale rids Motorola of some activities that had made it the target of a growing boycott in the US and worldwide. No explanation was offered in the media reports for the sale by Motorola Israel -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola -- of its unit called Government Electronics Department (GED) to the Israeli company Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd.

The sale came just days after a 30 March protest in Brooklyn by The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI) kicking off a city-wide campaign to boycott Motorola over its support for Israeli apartheid. Ryvka Bar Zohar from NYCBI commented, "We are heartened that Motorola has eliminated at least its production of bomb fuses for bombs that Israel dropped on the Palestinian and Lebanese people. But we will continue our campaign to boycott Motorola until it is clear that it has eliminated production and sale of all products used to support Israeli apartheid."

Human rights advocates in Boston and California also recently protested against Motorola. These campaigns build on the national "Hang Up on Motorola" campaign initiated by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, as well as initiatives by the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. University students have also recently taken up the call to boycott Motorola, achieving a divestment success at Hampshire College. Previously, Motorola had been the target of a successful boycott campaign for its support of the government of apartheid South Africa.

Motorola Israel produced fuses used in cluster, "bunker-buster," and other bombs. Cluster bombs are specifically condemned by an international consensus of human rights organizations, and banned by many countries. The US government has voiced concern over the use of these bombs and recently took steps towards a complete ban on their use. Human Rights Watch researchers reported that they found Motorola parts at the site of the bombing that began Israel's latest assault on Gaza that killed around 1,400 Palestinians, more than 400 of whom were children.

While the sale of GED eliminates Motorola's production and sale of bomb fuses, it has not yet been verified whether the sale of GED will rid Motorola of all other products that are boycott targets. Motorola Israel acquired a $100 million contract to provide a data encrypted cellular network, "Mountain Rose," to allow the Israeli army, which consistently and severely violates Palestinian human rights, to communicate securely anywhere they operate. Motorola supplied the Israeli military with the Wide Area Surveillance System (WASS) and other high-tech configurations of radar devices and thermal cameras. These surveillance systems are installed around Israeli settlement/colonies and the apartheid wall, both of which Israel has constructed in the Palestinian West Bank in violation of international law.

On 30 March, NYCBI organized more than 50 New Yorkers in a morning protest outside the Motorola office in Brooklyn. Protest chants included: "No More Fuses, No More Bombs, Moto's Killing Kids and Moms," and "Motorola You Can't Hide, You're Supporting Apartheid." Signs read "Goodbye Moto! Goodbye Apartheid!," and "Israeli Apartheid, We Don't Buy It, Boycott Motorola." The protest coincided with Palestinians' annual commemoration of Land Day, and was part of the Global Day of Action for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel, that included more than 40 events worldwide. An NYCBI online Motorola boycott pledge has very quickly gained over 160 signatories.

In 2005, following 13 years of fruitless negotiations that were accompanied by continued Israeli human rights abuses, hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations called on the world to implement campaigns of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli institutions and businesses. Supporters of the growing worldwide BDS movement argue that a moral campaign of nonviolent public pressure like that used to topple apartheid in South Africa will pressure Israel to change its treatment of Palestinians. Adalah-NY, a member group in NYCBI, has carried out a highly successful New York campaign to boycott diamond mogul and Israeli settlement-builder Lev Leviev.
 

 

 

 

 

 

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1346 children lost one or both parents during Israel’s assault on Gaza

http://www.imemc.org/article/59779

 

The Islamic Relief Organization in the Gaza Strip reported that 1346 Palestinian children lost one parent or both during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

 

Mohammad Abu Darraz, head of the Child Center at the organization, reported that in most cases orphaned children lost their fathers.

Darraz stated that there are 5200 orphans in the Gaza Strip, and added that the organization received so far 500 forms asking for sponsorships for orphaned children, but the organization only managed to approve 200.

Israel is facing accusations if committing war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza as it shelled civilian areas and used White Phosphorous shells.

Numerous eyewitness accounts revealed that Israeli soldiers used civilians as human shields during the war which is a direct violation to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

This is besides the shelling of homes, schools, universities, UNRWA facilities, and even mosques.

Israel embarked the war against Gaza on December 27 2008, and ended it in a "unilateral ceasefire" declaration on January 18, 2009. 1340 Palestinians were killed, more than half of them were children and women. At least 5000 Palestinians were wounded.

 

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APOLOGIES

Assalaamualaikum and peace dear readers,

Sincere apologies for not updating the site properly for a while.

I will be back up and running very shortly :)

Thank you for understanding.

Ws
PEACE OUT

INSOMNIAC

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Belgian campaign targets bank financing Israeli settlements

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10434.shtml
Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada, 1 April 2009

A demonstrator in Brussels takes out his anger at Dexia's funding of settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, January 2009. (Han Soete)

In a remarkably short period of time, activists in Belgium have built a strong basis for the campaign "Israel colonizes -- Dexia funds," asking the bank to divest from its subsidiary Dexia Israel because of its financing of the expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli settlements violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibiting the Occupying Power to deport or transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies, as well as Article 53 prohibiting the destruction of property on occupied territory. The Dexia campaign is flourishing in Belgium and may potentially spread to other countries where Dexia subsidiaries are based.

The French-Belgian bank Dexia bought the Israeli Municipality Treasure Bank in 2001 and established Dexia Israel. Centrum voor Ontwikkeling, Documentatie en Informatie Palestijnen (CODIP), an organization focusing on Palestine, raised its concern about the transfer in a letter to Dexia's board of directors in April 2001. The organization argues that Dexia's investment in an Israeli bank involved in public loans might give the impression that the bank "supports Israel's policy of occupation, colonization and discrimination."

Seven Belgian organizations decided to join forces in the Dexia Committee in 2008. The committee summoned the help of the Who Profits from the Occupation? project to investigate the relationship between Dexia and Israel's occupation. In late October 2008, Who Profits informed the Dexia Committee that Dexia Public Finance Israel is involved in activities in the illegal settlements. This was clear from statements by the CEO of Dexia Israel to the Israeli parliament, that since 2005 long-term loans and other financial services were given to at least seven Israeli municipalities in different regions of the occupied West Bank, including Ariel, Alfei Menashe, Beit Aryeh, Beit-El, Elkana, Har Hebron, Kedumim and Givat Zeev.

READ MORE HERE

Adri Nieuwhof is a consultant and human rights advocate based in Switzerland.

Israeli Army T-Shirts Mock Gaza Killings

Insomniac: wars create monsters - Israel has many monsters.
If this isn't enough evidence of Israel's ethnic cleansing policy, I don't know what is.





http://www.haber27.com/news_detail.php?id=25187
20 Mart 2009 Cuma 17:06

The Israeli army is at the centre of a second controversy over the moral conduct of its soldiers in as many days.

The revelations centre on t-shirt designs made for soldiers that make light of shooting pregnant Palestinian mothers and children and include images of dead babies and destroyed mosques.

The t-shirts were printed for Israeli soldiers at the end of periods of deployment or training courses and were discovered by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

One, printed for a platoon of Israeli snipers depicts an armed Palestinian pregnant women caught in the crosshairs of a rifle, with the disturbing caption in English: "1 shot 2 kills".

Another depicts a child carrying a gun also in the centre of a target.

"The smaller, the harder," read the words on the t-shirt.

According to a soldier interviewed by the newspaper, the message has a double meaning: "It's a kid, so you've got a little more of a problem, morally and also the target is smaller."

Another shows an Israeli soldier blowing up a mosque and reads "Only God forgives".

Above a ninja figure, yet another shirt bears the slogan "Won't chill until I confirm a kill".

The revelations, coming so soon after Israel's offensive in Gaza in which hundreds of civilians were killed - many of them women and children - are causing outrage.

Perhaps the most shocking design shows a Palestinian mother weeping next to her dead baby's grave, also in the crosshairs of a rifle.

It suggests it would have been better if the child had never been born, with the slogan "Better use Durex".

The controversy follows more revelations by other soldiers about abuses and the shooting of civilians during Israel's offensive during the Gaza offensive.

Ex-soldier and campaigner with Breaking The Silence, Michael Maniken, told Sky News Online this week's revelations suggest a pattern of immoral conduct in the army.

"The army keeps on saying we're talking about a few rotten apples but it seems the army doesn't understand there's a norm in this kind of action," he explained.

"We're hearing about this time and time again and the army seems disconnected from reality."

A spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) told Sky News Online, the t-shirts were printed on the private initiative of the soldiers and their designs "are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless. This type of humour is unacceptable and should be condemned

Babar Ahmad wins damages (please continue to appeal for his release)

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We have ordered a large stock of our Gaza Fact Sheets (which should be in stock starting wednesday) and are making them available at cost: $4.50 per 50 flyers (+ postage). Please order some to distribute on your campus, to your neighbors, family, and friends, or to place on car windshields, etc.

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Anti-Israel protest staged at Sweden tennis match

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5261R220090307

MALMO, Sweden (Reuters) - Anti-Israeli protesters clashed with riot police outside an Israeli-Swedish Davis Cup tennis match in Sweden on Saturday, but did not break through police lines.

Due to security concerns, the three-day match is being played in an empty stadium in this southwestern port city, which has a large immigrant population.

Several hundred left-wing militants carrying banners saying "Turn left, smash right," and "Boycott Israel" joined a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration by about 6,000 people.

About 200 of the militants began pelting police with stones, fireworks and paint bombs, Reuters witnesses said, while organizers of the official demonstration shouted at the masked protesters not to use violence against the authorities.

Police said they arrested eight protesters and detained more than 100, most of whom were released after identity checks.

Malmo, which is Sweden's third largest city and is ruled by a left-of-center coalition, was heavily criticized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and by Israeli players for its decision to close the stadium to the public.

Around 1,000 police officers have cordoned off a large area around the stadium to prevent protesters from getting in.

Sweden took a 2-1 lead over Israel on Saturday when Robert Lindstedt and Simon Aspelin won the doubles match over Andy Ram and Amir Hadad. The best-of-five tie will be wrapped up on Sunday.

Tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors have been heightened by a three-week Israeli offensive in the Gaza strip which began on December 27 and killed about 1,300 Palestinians and 14 Israelis.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Grassman; Reporting by Kim McLaughlin; Editing by Charles Dick)

15km charity walk for Friends of Al Aqsa

Campaign to boycott Israeli products in 50 West Bank towns

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&Do=&ID=36289

Date: 07 / 03 / 2009 Time: 13:52

[Ma'anImages] Nablus – Ma'an – Palestinian activists will launch a boycott campaign in the coming days targeting Israeli products in 50 villages in the northern West Bank. The chair of the Popular Committees in Nablus, Khalid Mansour, told Ma'an that according to official statistics, Palestinians consume 2.6 billion shekels worth of Israeli goods each year. According to official Palestinian statistics, 28 percent of this money goes towards the purchase of Israeli cement. Palestinians consume 30 million shekels worth of medicines produced in Israel every year, and 10 million worth of gold manufactured in Israel. Mansour explained that subcommittees will be formed in each of the 50 villages in order to monitor the boycott and speak about the campaign in schools. "We know change will go slowly, but we are determined to imitate what Gandhi did in India when he boycotted English salt," Mansour said.

Academics blast Science Museum’s Israel Day

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23656652-details/Academics+blast+Science+Museum+s+Israel+Day/article.do


Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent

03.03.09 THE Science Museum was today accused of promoting Israeli universities whose research was used in the military campaign in Gaza.

More than 400 academics, a Nobel laureate and the former chairman of the Commons science select committee urged the museum to cancel workshops due to be held this week that showcase Israeli scientific achievements for children.

They accuse the London museum of promoting scientists and universities “complicit in the Israeli occupation and in the policies and weaponry recently deployed to such disastrous effect in Gaza”, and vowed to picket the event if it goes ahead.

The Israel Day of Science seminars highlight the work of seven universities. Forty professors and politicians are among the signatories who want the workshops cancelled. They include Jonathan Rosenhead from the London School of Economics, who is leading the protest, Steven Rose from the Open University and architect and historian Charles Jencks.

The Zionist Federation is running the seminars at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry today and at the Science Museum on Thursday. The federation's chairman, Andrew Balcombe, said the events were educational and non-political.

The Science Museum said in a statement: “Scientists speaking at the event include a marine biologist, a physicist who works on experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland, a nanotechnology expert, a water scientist and a geneticist.”

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Message from If Americans Knew:

 

Dear Friends,

The anniversary of Rachel Corrie's murder – March 16th – is fast approaching. Please help keep her memory and work alive by distributing flyers and putting up posters in your area. 

We have flyers and posters commemorating Rachel available at cost now:

• Flyers: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/about_us/rc-cards.html
• Posters: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/rachelposter.html

We plan on handing flyers out by the hundreds and hope that you will join us.

Thank you,

If Americans Knew

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ISRAEL: Something bad is happening to us

Insomniac: Damn right.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957536.html

By Haaretz Editorial

Three years ago, the CBS television network broadcast photos of American soldiers abusing prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The horrifying pictures led to the trials of eight soldiers, dismissals and a storm of outrage in America. At the trial of one prison guard, who was sentenced to eight years in jail, a psychologist gave his evaluation: that the man was an entirely ordinary person, without any particular violent tendencies, who served as a guard for many years in civilian life but never behaved sadistically toward American prisoners. The situation of occupier and occupied, as opposed to that of citizen versus citizen, causes ordinary people to become violent and lose restraint. At Abu Ghraib, the trial found, there was institutionalized contempt at every level. The prison guards understood that "this is the way to behave here."

Last night, the investigative television program "Fact" broadcast pictures of our own Abu Ghraib affair. It is doubtful whether a country that has grown used to 40 years of occupation, and the stories that accompany it, will be shocked. We have become accustomed to treating the Palestinians as inferior people. Generations come and go, and new soldiers abuse the residents of occupied Hebron in almost the same manner. Stories similar to those broadcast last night were exposed by the Breaking the Silence group three years ago. The saying "occupation corrupts" has become a slogan of the left instead of a warning signal to everyone.

This time, it was regular soldiers in the Kfir Brigade. They exposed their backsides and sexual organs to Palestinians, pressed an electric heater to the face of a young boy, beat young boys senseless, recorded everything on their mobile phones and sent it to their friends. One of their "mischievous acts" was to test how long a Palestinian who was being choked could survive without breathing. When he passed out, the experiment was stopped. The soldiers described activities to "break the routine" that consisted entirely of abuse. It was enough for a boy "to look at us the wrong way" for him to be beaten.

Earlier, at the trial of First Lieutenant Yaakov Gigi, officers spoke of burnout, of "something bad happening to the brigade," of a Wild West, of a moral crisis. The commander of the brigade, Colonel Itai Virov, said "we failed on several parameters." His words reflect a denial of the depth of the failure. This continuing routine, far from the eyes of the commanders, must lead to a series of investigations, and perhaps to dismissals as well. It is unconscionable for the head of the Hebron Brigade, the division commander, the GOC Central Command and even the chief of staff to ignore the ongoing behavior of soldiers in the brigade responsible for routine security in the West Bank. Colonel Virov admitted that there was a conspiracy of silence in the brigade - in other words, a norm of abuse and its concealment. To change norms, one has to shock and be shocked, not be satisfied with a few imprisonments and empty words about a loss of values.

Perfectly ordinary people, as the American psychologist said of the Abu Ghraib abusers, are capable of behaving like monsters when they receive a message from the top that it is permissible to abuse, beat, choke, burn, make people miserable and generally do anything that man's evil genius is capable of inventing to others who are under their control. Something bad is happening to us, they are saying in the Kfir Brigade. That "something" is the occupation.

20miles4gaza

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30/03/09: Organize for boycott Israel day of action

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10316.shtml

Appeal, Secretariat of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, 19 February 2009

In December 2008, Israel decided to mark the 60th anniversary of its existence the same way it had established itself -- perpetrating massacres against the Palestinian people. In 23 days, Israel killed more than 1,300 and injured at least 5,000 Palestinians in Gaza. The irony of history is that Israel targeted those Palestinians -- and their descendants -- whom it had expelled from their homes and pushed into refugeehood in Gaza in 1948, whose land it has stolen, whom it has oppressed since 1967 by means of a brutal military occupation, and whom it had tried to starve into submission by means of a criminal blockade of food, fuel and electricity in the 18 months preceding the military assault. We cannot wait for Israel to zero in on its next objective. Palestine has today become the test of our indispensable morality and our common humanity.

We therefore call on all to unite our different capacities and struggles in a Global Day of Action in Solidarity with the Palestinian people and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel on 30 March 2009.

The mobilization coincides with the Palestinian Land Day, the annual commemoration of the 1976 Israeli massacre of Palestinians in the Galilee in struggle against massive land expropriation, and forms part of the Global Week of Action against the Crises and War from 28 March 28 to 4 April.

We urge the people and their organizations around the globe to mobilize in concrete and visible boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) actions to make this day a historic step in this new anti-apartheid movementand for the fulfilment of the rights and dignity of the people and the accountability of the powerful. In our 30 March BDS actions, we will particularly focus on:

• Boycotts and divestment from Israeli corporations and international corporations that sustain Israeli apartheid and occupation.
• Legal action to end Israel's impunity and prosecute its war criminals through national court cases and international tribunals.
• Cancelling and blocking free trade and other preferential agreements with Israel and imposing an arms embargo as the first steps towards fully fledged sanctions against Israel.

The time for the world to fully adopt and implement the Palestinian call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions is now. This campaign has to become an urgent part of every struggle for justice and humanity, by adopting widespread action against Israeli products, companies, academic and cultural institutions, sports groups, international corporations supporting Israeli policies of racism, ethnic cleansing and military occupation and pressuring governments for sanctions. It must be sustained until Israel provides free access to Gaza, dismantles the Apartheid Wall and ends its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands; recognizes the right of the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and respects, protects and promotes the rights of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.

Gaza Crisis