CUPW Resolution for Boycott and Divestment against Israel --

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Our vision of the post office		Composite Resolution of Resolutions nos. 338 and 339 Print | Send | Permalink | Feedback | Subscribe Share: Facebook Del.icio.us Digg.com April 24, 2008 - 16:55 On the CUPW Web site at: http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/10665/la_id/1.htm Convention 2008 / Resolutions CUPW will: Continue to demand that Israel immediately end all military assaults and abide completely by the most recent and unanimous Security Council resolution calling on them to do so. Call for and actively work towards an end to the suicide bombings, military assaults and other acts of violence that take the lives of innocent people and demand that the Israeli–West Bank barrier be immediately torn down. Demand that the Israeli Government immediately withdraw from the occupied territories and abide by UN resolution 242. Call on the Canadian government to increase humanitarian aid to Palestinians that have been affected by the ongoing conflict. Support the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self- determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194. With Palestine solidarity and human rights organizations, develop an education campaign about the apartheid nature of the Israel state and the political and economic support of Canada for these practices. Commit to research into Canadian involvement in the occupation and call on other Canadian unions to join us in lobbying against the apartheid like practices of the Israel state and call for immediate dismantling of the wall. We want to do this for these reasons: BECAUSE no lasting peace can be created unless there is implementation of international law, United Nations resolutions and respect for the human rights of both Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis equally. BECAUSE 35 years ago, the United Nations Security Council unanimously called for Israel to withdraw from territories it invaded in 1967 (West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem) in resolution 242. BECAUSE Israel has refused to implement resolution 242 for 40 years and, moreover, has illegally established Jewish-only settlements in these areas in further violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. BECAUSE the Israeli Apartheid Wall has been condemned and determined illegal under international law. BECAUSE over 170 Palestinian political parties, unions and other organizations including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions issued a call in July 2005 for a global campaign of boycotts and divestment against Israel similar to those imposed against South African Apartheid; BECAUSE the barrier severely restricts the movement of and work possibilities for Palestinians, violates international law, is partially built on land confiscated from Palestinians and is not a way to create lasting peace and security. BECAUSE CUPW has a constitutional policy in favour of peace and disarmament and has consistently worked within the Canadian labour movement to pressure the Canadian government to promote peaceful solutions in the face of war. BECAUSE the Canadian government cut funding for the Palestinian Authority after Hamas was democratically elected Print | Send | Permalink | Feedback | Subscribe Share: Facebook Del.icio.us Digg.com Page views: 23 None None
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Four more Palestinian children, murdered by Zionist troops:

Their mother was also killed by the Israeli military.

Zionists are Nazis.

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Protest the Massacre, Murder, and Rape of Palestine:12 noon, Sunday, at the JCC

Click on flyer to enlarge it.

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Protest a celebration of genocide at the Jewish Community Center (JCC)

[The JCC is celebrating Israel's so-called "Independence Day":
http://www.jewishannarbor.org/page.html?ArticleID=168438 ]

[But that day is al-Nakba (the Catastrophe) for Palestine]


Peaceful protest from 12 Noon until 2 P.M.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Outside the JCC
2935 Birch Hollow Drive
Ann Arbor, Michigan

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The protest is called by the Middle East Task Force of Ann Arbor, the Jewish Witnesses for Peace & Friends, and the Huron Valley Greens.

Contact them at:
al-nakba-protest@hotmail.com


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Is there any difference between Zionist Racism and U.S. Racism?Both represent White Power to Kill any Person of Color, Anywhere, at Any Time

"Bell verdict stirs up memories of Amadou Diallo"

By Ben Simon and Alex Lang

BRONX BEAT

(Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, New York)

April 25, 2008

On the Web at:

http://www.bronxbeat.org/cs/ContentServer?childpagename=Bronxbeat08%2FJRN_Content_C%2FRW1StoryDetailLayout2&c=JRN_Content_C&p=1175373852248&pagename=JRN%2FRW1Wrapper&cid=1175374690475&site=Bronxbeat08

Three Queens police officers who fired over 50 shots at Sean Bell and two friends were found not guilty on April 25, evoking memories of a similar incident in 1999 for some Bronx residents.


Owuse Matthew, a resident of the Bronx, who came from Ghana in the late 1990s, remembers the Amadou Diallo confrontation.


Diallo, a 22-year-old born in Guinea, was shot in front of his Wheeler Avenue apartment by police when they mistook his reaching for his wallet as a move to a gun. The officers involved in the Feb. 4, 1999 case were acquitted, but Diallo’s mother received a $3 million settlement on Jan. 6, 2004.


. “It’s the same incident,” Matthew said.


Sean Bell was killed on his wedding day, Nov. 25, 2006. Bell and two friends were leaving the Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica, Queens, where Bell had his bachelor party. A confrontation with police occurred when the group left the club.


Matthew recalls the rallies by the West African community after the 1999 shooting and said it was similar to the Bell incident.


“It is kind of strange,” he said. “He didn’t have a gun. He wasn’t a threat. There should be a punishment.”


NYPD Peer Support Counselor Michael C. Blot, however, believes the two cases have different circumstances. He said the Diallo incident happened on the victim’s way home, while Bell was in a situation that could have called for police intervention.


“I would not say (the cases are the same),” said Blot, who has lived in the Bronx for the past 40 years. “These people were in an environment conducive to police action. Diallo is an incident that should have never happened.” Blot said he was upset with the Diallo verdict, but thought the Bell verdict was “justified.”


He said that after seeing the facts in the Bell case he thought the police should not be guilty of criminal charges. “The cops may have panicked, but they probably had reason to panic” he said. “I am sorry for the Bell family. They lost a son. But I don’t think the cops meant to kill anybody. They are doing their jobs. They’re not perfect.”


Many others disagreed with Blot and expressed outrage over Supreme Court Judge Arthur J. Cooperman’s not guilty verdict, which was issued shortly after 9 a.m. on April 25.


“I don’t think the verdict was right,” said Natalie Alonzia, a Bronx resident. “I think there should be some kind of time. There should be justice for the Bell family. It makes you think the police can shoot first and ask questions later.”


Alonzia wasn’t the only person outside of the Bronx Courthouses who disagreed with the ruling.


“(The verdict) sucks. They didn’t need that many shots. They fired 16 rounds, reloaded then fired more,” said Jose Lopez.


Officers Michael Oliver, Gescard F. Isnora and Marc Copper were found not guilty of criminal charges in the death of Bell.


Oliver, who fired 31 times and Isnora, who fired 11 times, faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter, felony assault, and reckless endangerment. Cooper, who fired four times, faced up to a year in jail if convicted of reckless endangerment. The officers still face departmental disciplinary action.


Isnora testified in the grand jury that he believed one of Bell’s friends, Joseph Guzman, was getting a gun from Bell’s car. Bell, Guzman, and Trent Benefield were in the car when the police say they approached the vehicle and identified themselves as officers. The prosecution, however, alleged that the officers did not identify themselves. Bell then tried to drive away as the officers began shooting at his car.


No guns were found in Bell’s automobile.


The case is another reason for people to remember that they have to be careful around the police, said Mathew, the West African immigrant.


“They are supposed to be peace makers,” Matthew said. “If you are a peace maker, you don’t shoot like that and kill.”


Lopez said he could have understood the police’s point of view if there was a shootout. But, he thought that they used excessive force. For him the case is a reminder that it all can be taken away in a moment.


“It could happen to anybody,” said Lopez. “It could happen to you.”

bds@2110@columbia.edu

asl2126@columbia.edu

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"Israel": Using White Privilege to Assassinate the Children of Palestine, from the Air, Sea, and Land

"A Palestinian child running from Israeli armoured vehicles in the Palestinian town of Nablus"

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"Gaza teen killed in Israeli air raid: medics"

26 April 2008

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iaLkotiexLectb1XE1Ur0XpwoCQQ

GAZA CITY (AFP) — A teenager was killed and eight other people were wounded in a dawn raid by Israeli warplanes on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical services said on Saturday.

The 14-year-old girl died when a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft hit her house in Beit Lahiya north of Gaza City, they said, adding that the eight others were hurt in the same incident.

Witnesses also reported Israeli soldiers supported by tanks detaining people in the area.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed there had been an operation, saying that "the air force launched two raids on Saturday morning against armed elements in the northern Gaza Strip."

"There were also exchanges of fire, but none of our people were hit," she added.

Later the spokeswoman said that "the operation in the north of the Gaza Strip ended by mid-morning Saturday."

Also overnight, two members of Islamic Jihad were seriously wounded in another Israeli air strike against northern Gaza, the militant movement said in a statement.

At least 437 people, most of them Palestinian, have been killed since peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians were resumed at a US-sponsored talks in Annapolis in November, according to an AFP count.

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Israel has turned Gaza Strip into a "concentration camp"--

Top Stories

Posted to the web on: 25 April 2008 "SA ‘regrets’ snub at UN over Gaza" by Hopewell Radebe Diplomatic Editor BUSINESS DAY (South Africa) Full article on the Web at: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A756338 THE government yesterday expressed regret that there had been a walkout in the closed meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council chaired by SA following an attempt to have the council comment on the humanitarian security situation in the Middle East. The US, France and Britain walked out of a debate on the Middle East on Wednesday after Libya compared the situation in the Gaza Strip to Nazi “concentration camps". Xolisa Mabhongo, chief director of multilateral affairs, said a proposal was presented by the Libyan delegation that was not acceptable to some members of the council. This was after the UN secretariat had tabled a report on the effect of the Israeli military siege of Gaza, the manipulation of fuel supplies and attacks on fuel depots, on the already grave situation. The UN report warned that if Israel did not reverse its policies, the UN would be forced to discontinue its food assistance to 650000 Palestinian refugees as well as its garbage collection for 500000 people in Gaza. It said the lack of fuel had also had an adverse impact on water supplies and sanitation and there were obvious health risks associated with the flow of untreated sew age into the Mediterranean . Israel also continued to refuse the UN permission, despite its assurances to the contrary, to allow the delivery of materials for UN humanitarian infrastructure projects in the Palestinian territories.... ________________________________

The world chokes on U.S. & Zionist racism --

NEWS AMERICAS

"New York police cleared of killing" http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/71D40173-B97B-48B7-B401-8EB53C11FC23.htm Aljazeera April 25, 2008

Bell's supporters were distraught following the verdict [Reuters] Three police detectives in the US city of New York have been found innocent of killing of a black man shot dead on his wedding day. A New York State Supreme Court judge cleared the two of manslaughter and other charges and a third of reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell who was shot dead after a party in November 2006. The case has caused outrage in New York's black community. After the verdict, loud sobs were heard in the courtroom and outside, about 200 demonstrators shouted in frustration. "They're murderers, criminals, and they are going to rot in hell where they belong," one man shouted. About 1,000 police officers were deployed around the court in the Queens area after the verdicts were handed down. Reasonable doubt Mike Oliver, Marc Cooper and Gescard Isnora fired more than 50 bullets during the incident. Bell was killed inside his car outside a nightclub [EPA] The three waived their right to a jury trial and decided to have the judge decide guilt or innocence. Defence lawyers had said jurors in the borough of Queens were likely to be biased against the policemen due to the intense media coverage the case has generated. Judge Arthur Cooperman said the charges could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. "Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums," Cooperman said. Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey in New York said there was likely to be an appeal against the verdict and a federal investigation. Saloomey said the officers still could be forced to pay compensation and may face disciplinary action. 'Armed and dangerous' The eight-week trial centred on whether the detectives had reason to believe they faced imminent danger when the shots were fired and whether they made it clear to Bell and the two survivors that they were police officers. On the night of the shooting, Isnora, the undercover officer who fired first, followed Bell and his two friends to Bell's car believing they had gone to fetch a gun to settle a dispute at the club. The defence argued that the victims as drunken thugs who the officers believed were armed and dangerous. Prosecutors had attempted to convince the judge that the victims had been minding their own business, and that the officers were inept and trigger-happy. The case has revived painful memories of other police-related shootings in the city, such as the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo - an African immigrant who was hit by 41 bullets by police officers who said they mistook his wallet for a gun. \

"Israel has used various means to reduce the supply of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip, starting with bombing the only power station..."

"Gaza Fuel Cuts: Civilians Pay the Price"

Photos Show Impact on Daily Life

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

On the Web at:

http://www.hrw.org/photos/2008/gazafuel0408/

(Jerusalem/New York, April 23, 2008) – Over the past two years, Israel has used various means to reduce the supply of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip, starting with bombing the only power station in June 2006. In October 2007, Israel began restricting shipments of gasoline, diesel and other fuels. Israel’s control of Gaza’s borders and its refusal to allow the movement of goods across the border with Egypt – with Egyptian complicity – means that these essential goods are only available from Israel.

Israel’s stated goal is to exert pressure on Hamas, the de facto authority in Gaza, to stop firing rockets indiscriminately into civilian-populated areas in Israel – attacks that constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law. But the energy cuts have had no discernible impact on Hamas’s ability to carry out these attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Instead, they have had a terrible impact on civilian life in Gaza, crippling sanitation facilities and curtailing access to schools, hospitals, and other services essential for the civilian population.

Deliveries of gasoline and diesel in March 2008 were 80 percent and 57 percent lower respectively compared to March 2007, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza. There have been no gasoline deliveries since March 18, 2008, and no deliveries of ordinary diesel since April 2, 2008.

The restrictions on electricity and fuel to an effectively occupied territory amount to collective punishment of the civilian population, a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Unlawful attacks by one side to a conflict do not justify unlawful actions by the other.

Recent attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions on the Israel-Gaza crossings, for the stated purpose of breaking Israel’s blockade, have led to further interruptions and worsened the fuel crisis. An April 9, 2008 attack by Palestinian militants on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal – the only crossing where Israel permits fuel delivery – killed two Israeli civilians. Since then, Israel has continued to block all supplies of gasoline and ordinary diesel, which is used for electric power generators as well as vehicles. These fuel cuts have brought transportation in Gaza to a virtual halt. On April 23, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced that it would have to halt its food assistance program to 650,000 refugees owing to the fuel crisis....

Gas stations in Gaza have been closed since April 7, 2008. The United Nations says limited fuel supplies are having “a severe impact upon daily life for the population, and UN operations.”

Rocket attacks on Israeli border posts by Palestinian militants and a strike by gas station owners to protest the Israeli restrictions has exacerbated the problem. The owners say they are delivering to hospitals and other essential facilities.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has limited fuel reserves. It has reduced its services to emergency cases. Doctors and health care professionals face problems getting to work due to limited public transportation.

Car mechanics are doing a brisk business converting car engines to run on cooking gas because gasoline is in low supply.

School children are walking long distances or not making it to school because transportation has been greatly reduced. Universities have cancelled classes.

Few trucks are on Gaza’s roads. Fuel shortages are affecting an already crippled economy.

A main street near Jabaliya on a morning of April 12, 2008 is virtually empty due to severe shortages of gasoline. All photos © 2008 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch

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"Clinton threatens to 'obliterate' Iran if Israel attacked"

"Clinton threatens to 'obliterate' Iran if Israel attacked"

April 22, 2008

On the Web at:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g8uptD1-xxWKIJiK7hpLKtgW7olA

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pennsylvania (AFP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton threatened to "totally obliterate" Iran if the Islamic Republic was ever "reckless" enough to launch a nuclear attack on Israel.

She later said her remark was an attempt to lay out a rationale for a Cold War-style system of deterrence with Iran, but her rival Barack Obama accused her of saber-rattling, as Pennsylvania held its crucial presidential primary.

Clinton took her hawkish line in an interview with ABC television, when she was asked what she would do as president if the Islamic Republic were to launch a nuclear strike on Israel.

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said.

"In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

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If Zionist conquerors would stop destroying the Muslim world...

If Zionist conquerors would stop destroying the Muslim world...

Imagine the brain-power and material wealth of the Muslim world, harnessed to build up a common public health, education, transport, clean water, and technology network.

Imagine every child going from nursery school through university, for free.
Everyone would have a job, and a computer.

Imagine a normal high-speed rail network, that could take over 1 billion people almost anyplace on this map, with no visa, at 300 kilometers per hour. The trip from Al-Quds (Jerusalem) to Baghdad would begin at breakfast, and end right after lunch:

Click on the map, a couple of times, to enlarge it.

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"Nakba"- The Catastrophe inflicted on Palestine in 1948

NAKBA…
Means catastrophe in Arabic

Come hear and see the Palestinian story of 1948, a time of ethnic cleansing, displacement, dispossession, and exile of the Palestinian people. A time when Israel was “Invented”

Tuesday April 22^nd, 2008

6:30pm-8:30pm

Lesley University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Wolford 201

“The greatest enemy of the knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of the knowledge” Stephen Hawking

Sponsored by: Cultural Club, GSSAS, and the Social Studies division of Lesley College

Another boycott against Israel:Up for a vote in May 2008--

"Union committee to reconsider Israeli academics boycott"

Search Education

by Anthea Lipsett Thursday March 27, 2008 Full article on the Web at: http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,,2268513,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=8 The University and College Union (UCU)'s national executive committee (NEC) has agreed to reconsider a boycott of Israeli academics at its annual congress in May. An internal motion to discuss the possibility of a boycott of Israeli academics was put to the NEC meeting on March 14. It notes the "apparent complicity of the Israeli academy" in Israeli government policies towards the Palestinians, and states the UCU should "promote a wide discussion by colleagues of the appropriateness of continued education links with Israeli academic institutions". According to the Stop the Boycott Coalition (STB) - academics and Jewish and non-Jewish groups who are against a boycott - Tom Hickey, Brighton University academic and Socialist Workers Party activist, put forward the motion, which was seconded by Linda Newman, UCU's president. A similar motion at UCU's inaugural annual congress in May last year sparked prolonged international outrage after members agreed to take steps towards a vote on introducing an academic boycott of Israeli universities. However, in September, the UCU cancelled regional meetings organised for members to discuss the "moral implications" of existing links with Israel after taking legal advice that a boycott call ran the risk of infringing discrimination legislation and was also considered to be outside the aims and objectives of the union.... _______________________________________