Saturday, May 31, 2008

Apartheid South Africa's intimate alliance with Apartheid Israel



The fact sheet, below, is on the Web at:

http://www.stopthewall.org/downloads/pdf/4PageFactSheetOctober9.pdf


Click on page 1, to enlarge it.


Click on page 2, to enlarge it.

Click on page 3, to enlarge it.

Here is a quote from page 3:

According to former Israeli Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan, “I don’t
understand this comparison between us and South Africa. What is
similar here and there is that both they and we must prevent others from
taking us over. Anyone who says that the blacks are oppressed in South
Africa is a liar. The blacks there want to gain control of the white
minority just like the Arabs here want to gain control over us. And we,
too, like the White minority in South Africa, must act to prevent them
from taking us over. I was in a gold mine there and I saw what excellent
conditions the black workers have. So there is separate elevators for
Whites and Blacks, so what? That’s the way they like it.” 17

The term Apartheid was introduced in 1948, the same year of the Palestinian
Nakbe, not by coincidence, as that decade was supposed to be the end
of colonization for peoples’ liberation struggles, but found expression of
greater colonization in Palestine and South Africa. Israel and Apartheid
South Africa expressed their affinity for each other from the start, but it
was in the 1980's that they pursued extensive economic and military
ties.

The South African air force and navy, used primarily to attack the
African National Congress (ANC), and to “intervene” in neighboring
states, were largely armed and trained by Israel. Israeli military advisers
helped South Africa to develop military strategies to use in Namibia and
Angola. That Israel and South Africa had ties in relation to nuclear
weapons capability underscores the special nature of Tel Aviv's
relations with the white government.

The South Africans began teaching the lessons of Israel's 1967
war/occupation at their maneuver school, and Israeli advisers began
teaching the Boers the arts of suppressing a captive population and
keeping “hostile neighbors off balance”.

In January 1986, the white government's radio delivered a commentary on
"the malignant presence" of "terrorism" in neighboring states and said
"there's only one answer now, and that's the Israeli answer." Israel was
said to have managed to survive "by striking at terrorists wherever they
exist." The then Israeli “Defense” Minister Ariel Sharon was personally
involved in the organization, training and equipping of "commando" units
in African countries where the Apartheid regime was involved. 18

The partnership between the two Apartheid regimes was extensive and
based on the determination of both to continue their criminal policies
and actions without having to face any consequences. This, in addition
to affectionately seeing the other as a “laboratory” for the
implementation of racist colonial policies, those of which were
“successful” would be implemented and nurtured.

Sources:

17- From Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed. Original quote from Yediot Aharonot, December 1987.
18- Jane Hunter, Israeli Foreign Policy, South End Press, 1987.


Click on page 4, to enlarge it.

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Archbishop Tutu:

Gaza has become "desolate and scary" due to Israeli siege and blockade


"Tutu raps global silence over Gaza"

"KERALA NEXT" (India)

May 30, 2008

On the Web at:
http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=134263509


GAZA CITY: South African Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu yesterday denounced what he called the international community's silence and complicity over the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip.


"My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all," Tutu said at the end of a three-day UN fact-finding mission to the impoverished Palestinian territory.

"Gaza needs the engagement of the outside world, especially its peacemakers," the Anglican archbishop said at a news conference.

Tutu was in Gaza on a UN fact-finding mission into the killing of 19 Palestinian civilians in a 2006 Israeli artillery attack.

Following an internal investigation, Israel concluded that shelling the civilians' homes was "a rare and grave technical error of the artillery radar system," and announced that no charges would be brought against Israeli forces involved in the incident.

Tutu said the coastal strip has become "desolate and scary" as a result of shortages of fuel and other basic goods.
"No people were in the streets. We were struck particularly by the absence of the sound of children playing or waving to (my) motorcade, like other countries," he said at the news conference, urging Israel to lift the blockade.

Dozens of Palestinians were captured yesterday in an Israeli military incursion in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops used loudspeakers to order residents of the Beit Hanun area to gather in a square, and then took away about 60 of them, according to a witness.

The Palestinian Ramattan news agency said one of its cameramen, Ashraf Al Kafarneh, was among those captured.

Meanwhile, a 29-year-old Palestinian civilian died of his wounds yesterday, one day after he was hit by Israeli gunfire in southern Gaza.


_________________________________________

Friday, May 30, 2008

Protest at UC Berkeley:

"Checkpoint Ahead! Palestinians Must Have I.D. Ready"



Students at UC Berkley

Posted by Edmund on May 9, 2008

In "The Philistine", at:

http://philistine.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/students-at-uc-berkley/


Click on photo to enlarge it.


Click on photo to enlarge it.


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One Response to “Students at UC Berkley”

  1. CT Says:

    good job guys, we thought about doing this at Binghamton University as well but unfortunately we didn’t have enough people involved to do it successfully, hopefully some of the ignorant people out there took something away from this

Leave a Reply


___________________________________

Campus event:

"The Palestinian Holocaust"

"The Palestinian Holocaust"


Click on poster to enlarge it.

_____________________________________


"Up the ‘Wall’ with Palestine Awareness Week"
Volume 41, Issue 30 | May 27 2008

"NEW UNIVERSITY" (University of California, Irvine)

On the Web at:
http://www.newuniversity.org/main/article?slug=up_the_wall_with155


As I stood at the Muslim Student Union table on Ring Mall last week, I noticed a young boy standing with his mother at the mock apartheid wall. David was 5 years old, and he carried a stuffed animal in his hand. As I approached them, his mother said, “I am usually at work at this time, but I just wanted my son to see this. I know it’s too much for a young child, but I want him to know that not everyone comes home at night without worrying that their house might have been destroyed or that their family may have been killed.” This year’s Palestine Awareness Week, “Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust,” was an opportunity to educate both young and old people about the urgent humanitarian crisis and historical injustice in Palestine.


The mock apartheid wall, situated on Ring Mall from May 12 through May 15, was perhaps the main attraction of the event. Curious passersby stopped to read about Palestine, often realizing that they should investigate the issue before trusting the biased, limited and often plainly inaccurate image of the situation presented by the mainstream media. The change of heart came easily to many people because aside from the fact that Israel’s genocidal activities should be cause for concern, they discovered where $10 million of our tax dollars go every day.


Hundreds of people from many different backgrounds came to hear the eight speakers at the event. The speakers all agreed that Palestinian suffering and subjection to injustice had to end, but offered a slightly varied set of solutions. They demonstrated that people working for freedom for the Palestinians should unite, no matter how they think this freedom should be attained. The MSU stressed that the source of a problem must always be examined before a solution can be found. Therefore, while the MSU acknowledged the deaths on both sides, it reminded its audience not to ignore the historical and political context of the situation. The problem began with the theft of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. This is why, as Rachel Corrie’s mother stated, there is no balance of power, and as Ilan Pappe stated, this is not merely a “conflict.”


Overall, the week succeeded in providing facts and historical background about the issue. However, it did not escape criticism. The most popular criticism of the MSU’s Palestine Awareness Week is that it is anti-Semitic, or more accurately, anti-Jewish. The MSU went the extra mile to clear up any misconceptions and to draw a distinction between the racist, genocidal Israeli apartheid and the Jewish faith. Four of the eight speakers were Jewish. In fact, a whole panel of the wall was dedicated to this distinction, acknowledging that the week’s events were not comprised of hate speech, but rather the truth about the injustices that Israel continues to perpetrate in the Holy Land.


In the very first lecture of the week, “What’s the Fuss? Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic,” Norman Finklestein argued the same position to an audience of nearly 600 attendees. It is puzzling that people continue to insist that the Jewish faith would advocate Israel and its atrocities, but this insulting misrepresentation of Judaism is not supported by the MSU.


The two Muslim speakers also had unique criticism. It is interesting to note that while all eight speakers had a similar message, the Muslim speakers were accused of expressing “thinly-veiled hate speech” or being “radical.” However, the messages from the Jewish speakers were only labeled as “dramatizations.” The speakers were referred to as “misled” or “misinformed activists” with good intentions. Even more interesting is that Anna Baltzer had already predicted these criticisms. When Baltzer was asked how she handled criticism of her work, she said that she considered it “the light version of harassment.” She explained that people claimed she was just a naïve and misinformed young girl, whereas the hatred and criticisms that Muslims endure are much worse.


What about raising cultural awareness? The Palestinian people don’t have too much time to focus on that, as they’re too busy dying and being expelled from their homes. As David’s mother taught him, the world is not always a happy place. Besides, since Anteaters for Israel so thoughtfully took care of raising awareness about Arab culture by presenting the campus with Arabic food and Arabic music during this year’s iFest, MSU decided to focus on politics.


Why don’t we focus on what Muslims are doing around the world, instead? The MSU does not stand by the un-Islamic activities of self-proclaimed Muslim leaders, which is exactly what we ask of the Jewish people. Just as there is no Islamic country in the world today, Israel does not represent Jewish people. Although no oppressed people in the world today are as ignored or as directly affected by American foreign policy as the Palestinians, MSU also holds activities to help other oppressed people. For example, this year’s “Fashion Fighting Famine” event collected money to send to Darfur as humanitarian aid, and the “Fast-a-thon” was a fundraiser for all those hurt by the African Food Crisis.


Due to the awareness that the campus gained from this year’s Palestine Awareness Week, it is important to remember the wise words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” Using this as a guideline, people around the world can start to come together to work for true peace in the Middle East, finally ending what is often considered a never-ending conflict.


Maisam Alomar is a first-year psychology major. She can be reached at malomar@uci.edu.


_____________________________________

"Israeli forces fired at a crowd of Palestinian protesters..."


Middle East:

"Thousands protest against Israel in Gaza"

On the Web at:
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2210757459


Rafah, 30 May (AKI) - Israeli forces fired at a crowd of Palestinian protesters and injured at least seven during a demonstration against the Gaza blockade on Friday.

Over 10,000 protesters took part in the demonstration organised by the Islamist Hamas movement at the Sufa Crossing, near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli and Palestinian news sources said several people were seriously injured in the shooting.

Thousands of protesters waved Hamas flags, burned tires and chanted anti-Israel slogans.

On Thursday, Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu condemned Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip calling it an "abomination".

He also attacked what he called international complicity over the blockade...

________________________________________________

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Boycotting Israel for its crimes...


“ The complicity of Israeli academia in the occupation: the case for boycott”.

Details on BRICUP's Web site, at:

http://www.bricup.org.uk/

Click on flyer to enlarge it.


Meeting sponsored by BRICUP (British Committee for the Universities of Palestine).

____________________________________

Archbishop Tutu:

"...our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all."

"Tutu: Gaza blockade abomination"

BBC, May 29, 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7425082.stm
Desmond Tutu, 29 May, 2008
Desmond Tutu was speaking at the end of an official two-day visit to Gaza


Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu has called Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip an "abomination".


He strongly condemned what he called international "silence and complicity" on the blockade, which he compared to the actions of Burma's leaders.

Speaking at the end of a two day mission to the area, the former archbishop said the humanitarian situation there could not be justified.

Earlier, 60 Palestinians were detained in an Israeli raid on northern Gaza.

Residents in the Beit Hanoun area were summoned to a local square by Israeli troops with loudhailers before dozens were taken away, witnesses said.


'International complicity'


Mr Tutu was in Gaza on a United Nations fact-finding mission into the killing of 19 Palestinians by Israeli shellfire in November 2006.

My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all. It is almost like the behaviour of the military junta in Burma
Desmond Tutu
The former archbishop of Cape Town said the international community's "silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all"....








_________________________________________

"Lecturers threw their weight behind an effective boycott of Israeli universities..."


"Lecturers back boycott of Israeli universities"

TIMES OF LONDON

May 29, 2008

On the Web at:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4025716.ece


Lecturers threw their weight behind an effective boycott of Israeli universities and academics yesterday, in protest over Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

In a move that campaigners have branded illegal, members of the University and College Union, UCU, said Israeli academics had “apparent complicity” in the “humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel”.

The union, which represents over 120,000 academics, voted to “consider the moral and political implications of education links with Israeli institutions” by a clear majority in a show of hands at their annual conference in Manchester...


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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Vote to consider Boycott of Israel


"U.K. academic union moves to consider boycott of Israeli academia"


By Asaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies

HA'ARETZ
May 29, 2008

Full article on the Web at:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988087.html

Brief excerpt--


"Members of the University and College Union in England (UCU) passed a motion at their annual conference on Wednesday to consider severing ties with Israeli universities.

"Tom Hickey, who teaches philosophy at the University of Brighton, says the motion highlighting the 'humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel' is just shy of a full boycott, The Telegraph said.

"The UCU, the largest trade union and professional organization for academics and lecturers working throughout the United Kingdom, called on its colleagues to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned.

"The motion noted 'the continuation of illegal settlement, killing of civilians and the impossibility of civil life, including education' as a result of the occupation...."


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Monday, May 26, 2008

Seattle Divest from War and Occupation

Stop investing in the War on Iraq, in the War on Palestine, and in any future war on Iran.


(Click on banner to enlarge it.)


Seattle Divest from War and Occupation



Campaign Sponsors


We are seeking sponsoring organizations that will commit to collecting 1,000 signatures each between now and the end of September.


So far, the following organizations have signed on as campaign sponsors:


To add your name to the list, please send an email message to seattle@divestfromwar.org



Campaign Endorsements

The Seatttle Divest from War campaign is endorsed by the following individuals and organizations. To add your name to the list, please send an email message to seattle@divestfromwar.org


Elected Officials

  • Amy Hagopian, former Seattle School Board member (nonpartisan)
  • Tim Hill, former King County Executive (Republican)
  • Sally Soriano, former Seattle School Board member (nonpartisan)


Organizations


Antiwar

  • Bob and Gerri Haynes, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (*)
  • Tom Krebsbach, Political Action Network In Support Of the Palestinian People (*)
  • Chanan Suarezdiaz, Washington chapter president, Iraq Veterans Against the War (*)


Academic

  • George Salzman, University of Massachusetts Boston (*)

(*) Organizations listed for identification purposes only.

_________________________________________

Seattle movement to divest from War on Palestine, War on Iraq, War on Iran:


"Activists seek divestment linked to Iraq"

April 10, 2008, 10:13 PM

Full article on the Web at:


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/358686_divest11.html


"...In a stance against apartheid, the city and the University of Washington had policies years ago against owning stock in companies that did business in South Africa.


"The latest proposal would prohibit the city from investing employees' retirement funds in corporations that participate in or profit from the U.S. occupation of Iraq or the Israeli government's activities within the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.


"Also disqualified would be corporations with a presence in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Finally, the measure would require the city to divest from Israeli government bonds should Israel launch a military attack on Iran..."


_____________________________________


The divestment petition, as of May 16, 2008, is below, and is on the Web at:

http://divestfromwar.org/materials/signature-form-05-16-2008.pdf


Click on image to enlarge it.
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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Ask Dearborn City Council to boycott the Racist state of Israel


Effort to boycott, and to divest from, the Apartheid state of Israel, at Dearborn City Council, in Michigan:

Click on image to enlarge it.

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

Boycott against Apartheid Israel to be voted on, May 28-30, 2008:

The UCU (University and College Union ) will soon vote on boycotting the racist state of Israel --

Circling the Boycott Wagons


April 7, 2008

On the Web at:

http://fanonite.org/2008/04/07/circling-the-boycott-wagons/


I hope that the UCU boycott campaign has circled the wagons as pro-Israel groups launch an attack. I don’t think this is a very sound argument it suggests three things that science should be universal, that it should be above politics and that the UCU boycott is descriminating on the basis of “ethnicity, religion…etc”. Is it just me or are they none too subtily suggesting anti-semitism again?


Anyway Science has never been above politics - we could never imagine an argument of the Universality of Science being used to prevent a boycott of Nazi scientists for example. This doesn’t even address the point of the boycott which is, as far as I’m aware, that Israeli educational institutions should be boycotted because Israel itself hinders and stops Palestinian education. In fact the attack against the boycott argues for the very same just treatment of Israelis that the boycott argues Israel should give Palestinians. No discrimination on ethnicity etc and all the freedoms required of academics such as freedom of movement etc. It seems they’re suffering a bad case of double think. Until the restrictions are removed from Palestinians Israeli academics should suffer too - due to their responsibility in the situation.


Personally I think intellectuals have a greater responsibility in society to speak out against crimes such as those of the Israeli Apartheid State. Indeed this view was held by survivers of the Holocaust such Victor Klemperer, a Jew living under Nazi rule who avoided the gas chambers by a near miracle, he wrote about a German Professor friend whom he had admired, but who had finally joined the pack:


If one day the situation were reversed and the fate of the vanquished lay in my hands, then I would let all the ordinary folk go and even some of the leaders, who might perhaps after all have had honourable intentions and not known what they were doing. But I would have all the intellectuals strung up, and the professors three feet higher than the rest; they would be left hanging from the lamp posts for as long as was compatible with hygiene.


With this greater responsibility in mind, I think its correct to boycott intellectuals to raise awareness of their complicity in crimes and also that Israelis should suffer similar restrictions as Palestinian academics - a more appropritate use of the ‘Universality of Science’ argument.


Four Int’l Academic Organizations Slam British Boycott


Four international academic organizations signed a joint declaration denouncing British academics for attempting to impose a boycott on Israeli research institutions...




Thursday, May 22, 2008

Zionists put zero value on Palestinian life;

U.S. government puts zero value on Black life


Link to BlackAmericaWeb.com

Commentary:

"Kathryn Johnston’s Killing Should Force Us to Take Another Look at The Whole ‘War on Drugs' "

Date: Thursday, May 03, 2007

By: Gregory Kane, BlackAmericaWeb.com

On BlackAmericaWeb, at:

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/kane503


Kathryn Johnston could have been your grandmother. She could even have been my mother.


Johnston was either 88 or 92 years old, depending on which news report is correct. Last November, the elderly woman -- who lived alone in what must have been a rough Atlanta neighborhood, with only a .38-caliber revolver to protect herself from intruders -- fired one shot when three men invaded her home.


There are documented instances of bonafide criminals fleeing when they hear gunshots. But the men behind this home invasion were a different breed of criminal: The ones who act under cover of authority. All three were narcotics officers for the Atlanta Police Department.


With Amadou Diallo in New York, it was 41 shots. With Sean Bell in the same city, it was 50. The three rogue cops fired 39 shots at Johnston, one of which killed her. Then the cops lied about it. They also lied when they asked for the warrant that gave them legal authority to break into Johnston’s home.


Think about what you would do if your mother or grandmother became -- in one terrifying evening -- the poster woman for collateral damage in the “war on drugs.” Just when you think that we’ve already reached a new low in the “war on drugs,” along comes another outrage to top it. Johnston’s death and the circumstances surrounding it should be the ultimate low that forces us to think about either abandoning the “war on drugs” or finding new ways to fight it.





AP Video


In 1999, we had the incredible tale of Tom Coleman lying over 40 people into lengthy prison terms. Coleman was an “undercover narcotics cop” in the town of Tulia, Texas. He was also a perjurer and a thief. Most of the 40-plus people sent to prison based on his bogus testimony were black.


Four years later, New York City police crashed through the doors of 57-year-old Alberta Spruill’s home and set off a flash grenade. They actually had handcuffs on her before they realized their confidential informant had sent them to the wrong house. The drugs they were looking for weren’t there. The man police were looking for was already in jail. Spruill died of a heart attack induced by the flash grenade.


As in the Spruill case, a confidential informant figured in the death of Johnston. But this wasn’t a case of the informant giving bad information. It was one of the cops actually trying to get the informant to lie so they could cover up the raid on Johnston’s home.


This trio of jump-out boys -- Gregg Junnier, Jason R. Smith and Arthur Tesler -- got a tip that drugs were in Johnston’s house. Instead of following Police Procedure 101 -- getting an informant to make a drug buy from the house -- the cops decided to skip that part. They lied in the affidavit for a warrant and said a buy had already been made. After they shot Johnston, they handcuffed her as she lay bleeding and planted three bags of marijuana in her basement. Then they told their informant to say he had bought drugs at Johnston’s house.


The lie didn’t hold up for long. Junnier cracked the first time he talked to FBI agents investigating the case. Once he started blubbering the truth, the entire conspiracy became undone. The web of lies unraveled. Now prosecutors aren’t just looking at the conduct of Junnier, Smith and Tesler, but at the entire Atlanta Police Department.


“Prosecutors said Atlanta police officers regularly lied to obtain search warrants and fabricated documentation of drug purchases, as they had when they raided the home of … Kathryn Johnston,” said a story in the April 27 edition of The New York Times.


We don’t know how many heads will roll for this one, or how high the head-hunting will go, but Tesler may have provided a clue. the Times story says that “Mr. Tesler’s lawyer, John Garland, said his client was following his training when he put false claims in an affidavit.”


Tesler rejected a plea agreement and will stand trial. Junnier and Smith pleaded guilty last week to a number of charges in state and federal court, among them voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to violate Johnston’s civil rights. Junnier will serve 10 years in federal prison and will serve nearly 13.


Both got off way too easy. But the harshest punishment shouldn’t be meted out to the foot soldiers in the “war on drugs.” That fate should be reserved for the generals who run it.


________________________________________________

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Palestinians "face escalating aggression, killings, imprisonment, ethnic cleansing and siege."


"Hamas condemns the Holocaust:

"We are not engaged in a religious conflict with Jews; this is a political struggle to free ourselves from occupation and oppression"

by Bassem Naeem

GUARDIAN (U.K.)

May 12, 2008 2:30 PM | Printable version

On the Web at:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bassem_naeem/2008/05/hamas_condemns_the_holocaust.html


As the Palestinian people prepare to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba ("catastrophe") - the dispossession and expulsion of most of our people from our land - those remaining in Palestine face escalating aggression, killings, imprisonment, ethnic cleansing and siege. But instead of support and solidarity from the western media, we face frequent attempts to defend the indefensible or turn fire on the Palestinians themselves.


One recent approach, which seems to be part of the wider attempt to isolate the elected Palestinian leadership, is to portray Hamas and the population of the Gaza strip as motivated by anti-Jewish sentiment, rather than a hostility to Zionist occupation and domination of our land. A recent front page article in the International Herald Tribune followed this line, as did an article for Cif about an item broadcast on the al-Aqsa satellite TV channnel about the Nazi Holocaust.


In fact, the al-Aqsa Channel is an independent media institution that often does not express the views of the Palestinian government headed by Ismail Haniyeh or of the Hamas movement. The channel regularly gives Palestinians of different convictions the chance to express views that are not shared by the Palestinian government or the Hamas movement. In the case of the opinion expressed on al-Aqsa TV by Amin Dabbur, it is his alone and he is solely responsible for it.


It is rather surprising to us that so little attention, if any, is given by the western media to what is regularly broadcast or written in the Israeli media by politicians and writers demanding the total uprooting or "transfer" of the Palestinian people from their land.


The Israeli media and pro-Israel western press are full of views that deny or seek to excuse well-established facts of history including the Nakba of 1948 and the massacres perpetrated then by the Haganah, the Irgun and LEHI with the objective of forcing a mass dispossession of the Palestinians.


But it should be made clear that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian government in Gaza denies the Nazi Holocaust. The Holocaust was not only a crime against humanity but one of the most abhorrent crimes in modern history. We condemn it as we condemn every abuse of humanity and all forms of discrimination on the basis of religion, race, gender or nationality.


And at the same time as we unreservedly condemn the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews of Europe, we categorically reject the exploitation of the Holocaust by the Zionists to justify their crimes and harness international acceptance of the campaign of ethnic cleansing and subjection they have been waging against us - to the point where in February the Israeli deputy defence minister Matan Vilnai threatened the people of Gaza with a "holocaust".


Within 24 hours, 61 Palestinians - more than half of them civilians and a quarter children - were killed in a series of air raids. Meanwhile, a horrible crime against humanity continues to be perpetrated against the people of Gaza: the two-year-old siege imposed after Hamas won the legislative elections in January 2006, which is causing great suffering. Due to severe shortages of medicines and food, scores of Palestinians have lost their lives.


It cannot be right that Europeans in general and the British in particular maintain a virtual silence toward what the Zionists are doing to the Palestinians, let alone supporting or justifying their oppressive policies, under the pretext of showing sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust.


The Palestinian people aspire to freedom, independence and peaceful coexistence with all their neighbours. There are, today, more than six million Palestinian refugees. No less than 700,000 Palestinians have been detained at least once by the Israeli occupation authorities since 1967. Hundreds of thousands have so far been killed or wounded. Little concern seems to be caused by all of this or by the erection of an apartheid wall that swallows more than 20% of the West Bank land or the heavily armed colonies that devour Palestinian land in a blatant violation of international law.


The plight of our people is not the product of a religious conflict between us and the Jews in Palestine or anywhere else: the aims and positions of today's Hamas have been repeatedly spelled out by its leadership, for example in Hamas's 2006 programme for government. The conflict is of a purely political nature: it is between a people who have come under occupation and an oppressive occupying power.


Our right to resistance against occupation is recognised by all conventions and religious traditions. The Jews are for us the people of a sacred book who suffered persecution in European lands. Whenever they sought refuge, Muslim and Arab lands provided them with safe havens. It was in our midst that they enjoyed peace and prosperity; many of them held leading positions in Muslim countries.


After almost a century of Zionist colonial and racist oppression, some Palestinians find it hard to imagine that some of their oppressors are the sons and daughters of those who were themselves oppressed and massacred.


Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust but find themselves punished for someone else's crime. But we are well aware and warmly welcome the outspoken support for Palestinian rights by Israeli and Jewish human rights activists in Palestine and around the world.


We hope that journalists in the west will begin to adopt a more objective approach when covering events in Palestine. The Palestinian people are being killed by Israel's machine of destruction on a daily basis. Nevertheless, we still see a clear bias in favour of Israel in the western media.


The Europeans bear a direct responsibility for what is befalling the Palestinians today. Britain was the mandate authority that handed over Palestine to Israeli occupation. Nazi Germany perpetrated the most heinous crimes against Jews, forcing the survivors to migrate to Palestine in pursuit of safety. We, therefore, expect the Europeans to atone for their historic crimes by restoring some balance to the inhuman and one-sided international response to the tragedy of our people.


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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Jews protest Israeli "genocide of the Palestinian people"


Traffic: 6 Incidents
Weather: 67°F Go






Posted: Thursday, 08 May 2008 5:22PM

On KCBS Radio, at:

http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2153667.php?


"Protests Mark Israel's 60th Anniversary at SF Jewish Center"

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Between 25 and 30 people were arrested following a protest at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center Thursday, as the facility marked the 60th anniversary of Israel.

The demonstrators were arrested for trespassing, when they interrupted an educational program on Israel making the 60th anniversary of the state. They were cited and released.


"We are here as Jews to break the perceived consensus that all Jews are in support of colonization,and apartheid, and genocide of the Palestinian people," said Libby Goldberg, with the group No Time to Celebrate. "Also that there is no safety for Jews in dispossession of other people's land."


The center had already beefed up security and police presence in preparation for the event.


"We want to be a venue where people feel comfortable about coming and expressing their views and our value is to welcome that, but not to have it impact negatively," said Susie Krumpler, speaking for the J.C.C.


Listen KCBS' Margie Shafer reports Margie Shafer
(MGO)

___________________________________


Jews demand boycott against Apartheid Israel;
JCC has them arrested:


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Protesters inside Jewish Community Center, demanding boycott against Apartheid Israel.

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20 arrests outside Jewish Community Center (JCC)

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No TIme to Celebrate
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60 years of apartheid- 60 years too long!


"20 Jewish activists arrested, disrupting Jewish Community & Relations Council’s (JCRC) 60th anniversary of Israel celebration"


May 13th, 2008 |

On the Web at:

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/05/13/60-years-of-apartheid-60-years-to-long-20-jewish-activists-arrested-disrupting-jewish-community-relations-councils-jcrc-60th-anniversary-of-israel-celebration/


Jewish Activists Draw Attention to 60 years of Palestinian Forced Exile and Dispossession

By M.
Published in Indybay 08-05-2008. To view original article click here


San Francisco—In response to Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations, 20 Jewish activists were arrested, demonstrating Jewish opposition to Israel’s 60-year-old policy of dispossession, and highlighting the often-silenced struggle of Palestinian refugees. For over two hours, 20 Jewish activists disrupted San Francisco’s anniversary event, bunkering against the main atrium of the Jewish Community Center (JCC).



In conjunction, over fifty Jewish and Palestinian supporters held a rally outside the center to call attention to ongoing Israeli policy of apartheid against the Palestinian population. With banners reading, “Jews in Solidarity with 60+ years of Palestinian Resistance,” activists declared anniversary, “No Time to Celebrate.”



“The dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a brutal example of Israel’s long history of ethnic cleansing and collective punishment against Palestinians,” said Sara Kershnar, an anti-Zionist Jewish activist who was arrested. “We are here today to condemn the JCRC’s celebration of this history along with unconditional economic and political support for Israeli policy.”


The action in San Francisco, organized by the local International Jewish Solidarity Network, is part of “No Time to Celebrate,” a national Jewish campaign opposing Israel’s 60th Anniversary celebrations, while simultaneously amplifying the American Jewish community’s critique of Israeli policy. The Israeli Consulate and the Jewish Community and Relations Council (JCRC), who have attempted to silence any and all criticism of Israeli policy, a were the sponsors
of this event.



“As Jews of conscience, acting in solidarity with 60-plus years of Palestinian resistance, we’re here today to promote an “Independence” that does not depend on an ethnically or religiously exclusive state or on the displacement of indigenous people,” said Eric Romann, IJSN organizer. “We want is joint liberation, not isolation.”


Throughout the month of May, Jewish organizations in cities across the U.S. and Canada are sponsoring celebrations of “Israeli Independence Day.” Simultaneously, Palestinians around the world are mourning 60 years since the Nakba—Arabic for the “catastrophe”—of 1948, when Zionist militias destroyed and depopulated over 400 Palestinian
villages and caused over than 725,000 Palestinians to become refugees in order to create the Israeli state*.



Today, there are over 4.5 million registered Palestinian refugees, and more than one million not registered, scattered throughout the world**. These Palestinian refugees are still awaiting the implementation of international law allowing the Right to Return to their homeland. The majority of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, descendents of those refugees who fled their homes and villages in 1948, are subject to Israel’s crushing blockade and are undergoing intolerable living conditions. Israel’s policies of preferential laws and treatment for Israeli-Jews—not Palestinian Israelis—within Israel-proper, and military impunity for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are reflective of a long history of horrific
discrimination.


For more information, please visit notimetocelebrate.wordpress.com/.
* United Nations Conciliation Commission, 1949
** UNRWA, December 2006