ANN ARBOR NEWS (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
September 6, 2007
On the Internet at:
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1189089649276030.xml&coll=2
"Your article of Aug. 30 - 'Proposed boycott of Israeli goods stirs controversy at co-op' - paraphrases an opponent of the boycott, Robert Oppenheimer, as saying that 'he has a photograph of Nazi storm troopers in 1933 boycotting his grandfather's shoe store in Cologne, Germany, and doesn't like the idea of boycotts in general.' I know and respect Oppenheimer, but I am a boycott proponent and a member of the Boycott Israeli Goods campaign.
"Like Oppenheimer, I am a Jew and my family has been deeply affected by the German Nazi regime, having lost many relatives to that government. I visited Palestine recently and I saw that what the Israeli troops were doing is close to what the storm troopers were doing in Oppenheimer's picture. Israeli troops (the Israel Defense Forces) were not merely blockading shops, but were bulldozing them to rubble, along with Palestinian homes, orchards, fields and roads.
"No one stood up to the abuses that my relatives went through, but what happened to them motivates me to try to stop the Israeli human rights abuses. A boycott of South African goods and institutions forced that country to change. I believe that a boycott of Israeli goods and institutions is a legitimate, nonviolent and effective way to promote changes needed in Israel to protect the rights of all the people in Israel and Palestine."
"--Sol B. Metz, Ann Arbor"
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"People's Food Co-op is not all that divided"
ANN ARBOR NEWS
September 4, 2007
On the Internet at:
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/118891723279550.xml&coll=2
"Boycotts are a time-honored and effective means of political activism. The international isolation of the Afrikaner regime of South Africa in trade, culture and sports was important in ending the scourge of apartheid.
"The state of Israel, like South Africa, enforces a fierce regime of separation and brutalization of the Palestinian Arabs living under its 40-year occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as President Jimmy Carter argued in his recent book.
"Israel also systematically discriminates against its own non-Jewish citizens. Unsurprisingly, Israel has become the focus of economic and cultural boycotts. The British higher education union has just approved a boycott of Israeli academia.
"The activists who have put the boycott on the agenda of the People's Food Co-op deserve praise for their efforts. Your story on Aug. 29 stated that the proposal has "divided'' the co-op, but also notes that 87 new members joined the co-op in July, up from the usual 40. Many of the new members "want to vote in September.''
"The boycott organizers were all members of the co-op (and probably most of their supporters). It appears the co-op is less "divided'' than under attack from the local Israel lobby."
"--Harry F. Clark, Ann Arbor"
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"Israeli boycott group invites public to session"
ANN ARBOR NEWS
September 3, 2007
On the Internet at:
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1188801633248000.xml&coll=2
"I write in behalf of Ann Arbor Boycott Israeli Goods (AA-BIG) about our campaign that led to the referendum on boycotting Israeli goods at the Ann Arbor People's Food Co-op.
"AA-BIG emphasizes Israel's flagrant violations of Palestinian human rights and the humanitarian crisis they have created in the West Bank and Gaza. We state, "A growing number of Americans believe what much of the world already sees, that Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of expansion and ethnic cleansing which is creating an Apartheid-like situation, and that it will reverse this policy only if it is persuaded by outside pressure.''
"The co-op will join the international movement to support the Palestinians' nonviolent resistance to Israel's violent occupation if it boycotts Israeli products. Co-op members will vote on the boycott referendum Sept. 1 through 30, by mail or in the store.
"In preparation for the vote, AA-BIG will sponsor an information night on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Ann Arbor District Library, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and William Street. We will show Anna Baltzer's film 'Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories and Photos' followed by a discussion. Ms. Baltzer is a Jewish-American, and her film tells about her experiences working with the International Women's Peace Service, documenting human rights abuses and supporting nonviolent direct action in the West Bank. She gives a compelling, factual account of the situation in Palestine. We invite everyone to join us."
"--Linda L. Wotring, Ann Arbor"
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"Film festival reverses Israel ban"
Published: 09/06/2007, JTA
On the Internet at:
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/104023.html
"A California film festival repudiated an announcement that it would ban Israeli movies.
"Jennifer Hsu, director of the San Diego Women's Film Festival, reportedly issued a statement supporting a ban on Israeli films during the festival, scheduled for the first week of October.
"But the board of directors of the San Diego Women's Film Foundation, which sponsors the festival, repudiated those remarks in a statement published on the foundation's Web site.
" 'We are pleased that the Film Foundation recognized the festival director's errant behavior and has moved expeditiously to correct the injustice of excluding Israeli filmmakers,' said Tad Seth Parzen, president of the American Jewish Committee's San Diego chapter.
"The board of directors apologized for Hsu's statement, which it said was made without the board's consent..."
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And the campaign to divest from Israel has re-started at Wayne State University, in Detroit, Michigan: "
WSU Campus Debate:
"A forum for Wayne State University students to debate divestment from Israel."
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
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