Ramallah, June 23, 2009
Open Letter to Palestine solidarity activists and human rights defenders
Dear Friends,
The fifth anniversary of the decision of the International Court of Justice calling for the dismantling of the Wall is less than three weeks away. That construction of the Wall continues five years later is glaring proof of the impunity the international community grants to Israel. On this anniversary we call for human rights defenders worldwide to renew their efforts to fight against the Apartheid Wall.
As Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and the popular committees against the Wall and the settlements, we have been resisting the Wall since the beginning. Today, the people who mobilize in weekly protests to defend their land against the Wall face rapidly increasing repression by Israeli forces, and we call on you to stand with us against the arrests, injuries and killings of our people.
Five years ago, the ICJ seemed to reinforce our struggle. On July 9 2004, the ICJ ruled that:
- the construction of the Wall in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and that Israel must cease construction, dismantle the Wall and to make reparations for the damage caused
- no state may aid or assist the maintenance of the Wall and its regime and all states parties to the IV Geneva Convention are obliged to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law
Despite the clarity of this ruling, neither Israel nor the international community have indicated that they respect their obligations under international law. Instead, the Wall has simply disappeared from the agenda of international diplomacy. Yet, on the ground the destruction it causes continues unabated. In the first four months of this year, Israeli forces have already constructed more segments of the Wall than during the entire year of 2008. As a result of this project, a staggering 266,422 Palestinians living in communities up and down the West Bank have been surrounded, isolated and face displacement.
The United Nations has taken no action to implement the ICJ decision and, with the exception of a few principled governments, states have put no pressure or sanctions on Israel. International business continues to finance and provide material support to the Wall and the settlements. If the Obama Administration and the European governments are serious about their position against the settlements, then they must first force the implementation of the ICJ decision, which stresses the illegality of the Wall, settlements and the associated regime. In this way, political leaders can both implement international law and give the people confidence in peace and the future.
Left alone to defend our rights and the rule of international law, the popular committees have continued their mobilization with the support of human rights defenders from all over the world. They have slowed down the Wall's construction and won back land – yet the ultimate aim to tear down the Wall is still far away. Palestinian villages continue to pay a high price for their steadfastness: 16 people, half of them children, have already been killed by Israeli forces during protests, while hundreds more have been wounded or arrested. Entire villages endure curfews and closures of Wall gates as collective punishment. The regular use of live bullets against the people on their own land is only the latest of a long series of repressive measures that violate our political rights.
We ask you to stand with us on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the ICJ decision and to help protect the popular committees, return the Wall to the agenda and pressure your governments and the UN to comply with their obligation to ensure the implementation of the ICJ decision and to stop international business from profiting from Israeli crimes.
You can do so by:
- Organizing awareness raising events for July 9
- Contacting your media, urging them to cover the Wall and the struggle against it
- Writing to your consulates and MPs asking them to protest the repression of the popular committees and to work for the implementation of the ICJ decision
- Including the Wall in your campaigning and lobbying efforts
Thank you for your support.
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
www.stopthewall.org
***
Sample Letter to political representatives
Dear insert name of Member of Parliament
On July 9, 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) called for the dismantling of the Wall that was being constructing by the Israeli Government throughout the the Occupied West Bank. Today marks the fifth anniversary of that historic decision. For the past five years, Israel has continued construction of the Wall, in defiance of international law and the ICJ ruling.
Back in 2004, the ICJ ruling stated:
- the construction of the Wall in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and that Israel must cease construction, dismantle the Wall and to make reparations for the damage caused
- no state may aid or assist the maintenance of the Wall and its regime and all states parties to the IV Geneva Convention are obliged to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law
Despite the clarity of this ruling, neither Israel nor the international community have respected their obligations under international law. Instead, it seems that the Wall has simply disappeared from the agenda of international diplomacy. Yet, on the ground, the destruction it causes continues unabated. In the first four months of this year, the Israeli government has already constructed more segments of the Wall than during all of 2008. As a result of this project, a staggering 266,422 Palestinians living in communities up and down the West Bank have been surrounded, isolated and face displacement.
Despite the silence of the international community, Palestinian people, with the support of human rights activists around the world, continue their struggle to defend their rights and demand that Israel comply with international law. Today, the people who mobilize in weekly protests to defend their land against the Wall face rapidly increasing repression by Israeli forces, including the use of tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition. To date, 16 people, half of them children, have already been killed by the Israeli army during protests, while hundreds more have been wounded or arrested. Entire villages continue to endure curfews and arbitrary closures of Wall gates as collective punishment for these demonstrations.
The United Nations has taken no action to implement the ICJ decision and, with the exception of a few principled governments, states have put no pressure or sanctions on Israel. International business continues to finance and provide material support to the Wall and the settlements.
On the fifth anniversary of the ICJ decision, Palestinian people and their supporters call on governments around the world to force the implementation of the ICJ decision, which stresses the illegality of the Wall, settlements and the associated regime. In this way, political leaders can both implement international law and help create the conditions necessary for a lasting peace.
I therefore ask you, as my representative, to force our government to put pressure on the Israeli government to comply with international law and the ICJ ruling. Our government and the rest of the international community can no longer stand silently as construction of the illegal Wall continues and as more Palestinians lose their land and face military repression for protesting against these human rights violations.
Sincerely,
insert your name
CLICK HERE to find the contact info for your Member of Parliament
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Palestine House calls to boycott the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at The ROM
June 25. 09
Press Release
Subject : The Dead Scrolls, Exhibition
Palestine House calls to boycott the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at The ROM
It is of deep concern to Palestine House that the ROM has shown no interest in establishing to Palestine House and to the public that the ROM’s involvement with the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is consistent with the highest of ethical and legal standards. Indeed, the ROM’s reticence to release its legal opinion document, tends to confirm Palestine House’s suspicion that it only presents contortions of law leading to a suggestion that the ROM can probably get away with displaying the artifacts looted by Israel from the Palestine Archaeological Museum. This is not the ethical or legal standard Canadians expect of the ROM.
Palestine House understands that the ROM hopes to profit from the increase in attendance, revenue and profile associated with the exhibit. So does the State of Israel. The Israeli Consul General in Toronto has stated that the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is part of Israel’s attempt to “rebrand” itself. As such, Israel seeks to improve its image in the wake of its massive violations of international conventions and law through the exhibition of artifacts it looted in violation of international conventions and law. Israel’s public relations project is made possible with the ROM’s complicity and collaboration.
Palestine House believes that the ROM’s suggestion of convening a Palestinian cultural event is one that should be discussed further. However, Palestine House does not support the convening of any Palestinian cultural event at or in association with the ROM during the period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display at the ROM. This is to ensure that no one can draw a mistaken impression that the Palestinian Canadian community is complicit in or has consented to the display of these looted artifacts.
There remains an unfortunate impression that the ROM is profiting from its involvement with a collection of archeological artifacts acquired by Israel in violation of international conventions and law. As such, and to address this issue, Palestine House boycotts the exhibition unless that ROM admits the factual history, that these scrolls are Palestinain property.
For Further information please contact: Palestine House Media Office: 905 270 3622 Ext 221.
Press Release
Subject : The Dead Scrolls, Exhibition
Palestine House calls to boycott the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at The ROM
It is of deep concern to Palestine House that the ROM has shown no interest in establishing to Palestine House and to the public that the ROM’s involvement with the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is consistent with the highest of ethical and legal standards. Indeed, the ROM’s reticence to release its legal opinion document, tends to confirm Palestine House’s suspicion that it only presents contortions of law leading to a suggestion that the ROM can probably get away with displaying the artifacts looted by Israel from the Palestine Archaeological Museum. This is not the ethical or legal standard Canadians expect of the ROM.
Palestine House understands that the ROM hopes to profit from the increase in attendance, revenue and profile associated with the exhibit. So does the State of Israel. The Israeli Consul General in Toronto has stated that the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is part of Israel’s attempt to “rebrand” itself. As such, Israel seeks to improve its image in the wake of its massive violations of international conventions and law through the exhibition of artifacts it looted in violation of international conventions and law. Israel’s public relations project is made possible with the ROM’s complicity and collaboration.
Palestine House believes that the ROM’s suggestion of convening a Palestinian cultural event is one that should be discussed further. However, Palestine House does not support the convening of any Palestinian cultural event at or in association with the ROM during the period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display at the ROM. This is to ensure that no one can draw a mistaken impression that the Palestinian Canadian community is complicit in or has consented to the display of these looted artifacts.
There remains an unfortunate impression that the ROM is profiting from its involvement with a collection of archeological artifacts acquired by Israel in violation of international conventions and law. As such, and to address this issue, Palestine House boycotts the exhibition unless that ROM admits the factual history, that these scrolls are Palestinain property.
For Further information please contact: Palestine House Media Office: 905 270 3622 Ext 221.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
DEMONSTRATION AT THE OFFICES OF GARY GOODYEAR - PROTEST ATTACKS ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Thursday, June 18, 2009
11:00-11:45am
Gary Goodyear's constituency office
1425 Bishop Street N, Unit 3, Cambridge Ontario
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Van leaves downtown Hamilton 9:30am and returns 12:30pm - please email for details.
-Against political interference by government in the legitimate autonomy of SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council)
-Against McCarthyist silencing of critical voices on Palestine/Israel
-Against the Conservative Party's attack on Canada's critical and artistic communities and institutions
-For academic freedom, and freedom of speech around Palestinian rights
-For fully funded post-secondary education
-For Goodyear's immediate resignation
The Political Action Committee of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, local 3906 (representing over 2,400 precarious academic workers at McMaster University) as well as Faculty4Palestine, a pan-Canadian network with over 400 members in over 40 universities and 10 colleges, is asking concerned members of the academic, labour and social justice communities in Southern Ontario to join us in demanding the immediate resignation of Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear at his Cambridge, ON constituency office at 11am on
June 18th.
This protest comes in response to the minister's unprecedented interference in academic freedom last week when he personally called the president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (the main funding body for academic research in Canada) and demanded they reconsider their funding of a peer-reviewed conference at York University titled "Israel/Palestine: Mapping models of statehood and paths to peace," a demand to which the SSHRC president, in part, acquiesced.
SSHRC's funding of projects like this conference are the result of a rigorous and well-established "blind" peer-review process in which at least two highly qualified specialists examine and evaluate each funding application (without knowing who submitted the application) to ensure the highest degree of quality. This peer-review meets or exceeds all global standards for academic integrity and has helped Canadian researchers gain international recognition.
While there are significant problems with the individualist "academic capitalism" approach the SSHRC funding system tends to promote, the principle of academic freedom that this system represents is a central pillar of the Canadian democracy that the Conservative Party claims to be exporting (militarily) around the world.
This interference by a federal minister in the peer-reviewed process is an unacceptable threat to the principle and practice of academic freedom and to the democratic project of the university as a space for critical reflection on society, immune from political intimidation.
It comes hot on the heels of other Conservative measures to undermine freedom of expression in Canada, especially on issues related to policies of the state of Israel which are clear violations of international law (eg. settlements in occupied territories, the apartheid wall). These include the arbitrary and unilateral stripping of funding from the Canadian Arab Federation for their
stance against Israeli war crimes in Gaza and the refusal to allow British MP and outspoken advocate of Palestinian human rights George Galloway to enter the country.
It is clear that Harper's contempt for democratic dialogue in Canada, and the Conservatives' targeting of critical voices on Israel and in defense of Palestinian rights, must be challenged.
Indeed, the Conservative agenda to silence free expression on issues of contemporary importance, and to submit all critical expression to the hypocritical and arbitrary scrutiny of a fundamentalist interpretation of "Canadian values," is intimately linked with the same party's commitment to the outdated and globally discredited neoliberal agenda that aims to drastically reduce federal funding to the arts and university sectors or to use federal funding and policy to shape these sectors to serve corporate, rather than public interests.
The Harper Conservative's ideological crusade to submit every aspect of Canadian society to the dictates of the free market necessitate the silencing of the critical voices which would challenge this backwards vision of the future. Harper's attacks on academic freedom cannot be separated from his attacks on public sector workers, his eagerness to gut medicare and other aspects of the social safety net, his drive to deregulate telecommunications and other industries, his pathological addiction to the ecologically catastrophic oil sands project, his moves to privatize water and other "natural resources," his internationally condemned free-market cowboy approach to indigenous rights, his sneering antagonism towards efforts to address systemic racism, sexism and homophobia in Canadian society, his unconstitutional abuse of the Security Certificate program and tolerance for secret trials, his reprehensible attacks on immigrants, refugees and those without status, his complete acquiescence to the worst aspects of the Bush doctrine of racist continental "security," and the zeal with which he cuts social programs to fund an increasingly deadly and imperialistic Canadian foreign policy.
Join us, then, in demanding Goodyear's resignation.
For more information on Goodyear's McCarthyist approach, please see the following Globe and Mail article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/goodyear-questions-mideast-forum-funds/article1175909/
For more information about the planned demonstration, please contact Max Haiven at the Political Action Committee of CUPE local 3906: 905-865-3075, politicalaction@cupe3906.org or Mary-Jo Nadeau at Faculty4Palestine: faculty@caiaweb.org.
CALL FOR ACTION: Support academic freedom! Challenge these attacks on academic conference!
Write to Minister Goodyear. Tell him that you object to a second peer review, and ask him to account for his actions.
Tell him you support the call for his resignation
(see http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2009/10/c4859.html)
He can be reached at GOODYG@PARL.GC.CA
Thursday, June 18, 2009
11:00-11:45am
Gary Goodyear's constituency office
1425 Bishop Street N, Unit 3, Cambridge Ontario
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Van leaves downtown Hamilton 9:30am and returns 12:30pm - please email for details.
-Against political interference by government in the legitimate autonomy of SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council)
-Against McCarthyist silencing of critical voices on Palestine/Israel
-Against the Conservative Party's attack on Canada's critical and artistic communities and institutions
-For academic freedom, and freedom of speech around Palestinian rights
-For fully funded post-secondary education
-For Goodyear's immediate resignation
The Political Action Committee of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, local 3906 (representing over 2,400 precarious academic workers at McMaster University) as well as Faculty4Palestine, a pan-Canadian network with over 400 members in over 40 universities and 10 colleges, is asking concerned members of the academic, labour and social justice communities in Southern Ontario to join us in demanding the immediate resignation of Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear at his Cambridge, ON constituency office at 11am on
June 18th.
This protest comes in response to the minister's unprecedented interference in academic freedom last week when he personally called the president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (the main funding body for academic research in Canada) and demanded they reconsider their funding of a peer-reviewed conference at York University titled "Israel/Palestine: Mapping models of statehood and paths to peace," a demand to which the SSHRC president, in part, acquiesced.
SSHRC's funding of projects like this conference are the result of a rigorous and well-established "blind" peer-review process in which at least two highly qualified specialists examine and evaluate each funding application (without knowing who submitted the application) to ensure the highest degree of quality. This peer-review meets or exceeds all global standards for academic integrity and has helped Canadian researchers gain international recognition.
While there are significant problems with the individualist "academic capitalism" approach the SSHRC funding system tends to promote, the principle of academic freedom that this system represents is a central pillar of the Canadian democracy that the Conservative Party claims to be exporting (militarily) around the world.
This interference by a federal minister in the peer-reviewed process is an unacceptable threat to the principle and practice of academic freedom and to the democratic project of the university as a space for critical reflection on society, immune from political intimidation.
It comes hot on the heels of other Conservative measures to undermine freedom of expression in Canada, especially on issues related to policies of the state of Israel which are clear violations of international law (eg. settlements in occupied territories, the apartheid wall). These include the arbitrary and unilateral stripping of funding from the Canadian Arab Federation for their
stance against Israeli war crimes in Gaza and the refusal to allow British MP and outspoken advocate of Palestinian human rights George Galloway to enter the country.
It is clear that Harper's contempt for democratic dialogue in Canada, and the Conservatives' targeting of critical voices on Israel and in defense of Palestinian rights, must be challenged.
Indeed, the Conservative agenda to silence free expression on issues of contemporary importance, and to submit all critical expression to the hypocritical and arbitrary scrutiny of a fundamentalist interpretation of "Canadian values," is intimately linked with the same party's commitment to the outdated and globally discredited neoliberal agenda that aims to drastically reduce federal funding to the arts and university sectors or to use federal funding and policy to shape these sectors to serve corporate, rather than public interests.
The Harper Conservative's ideological crusade to submit every aspect of Canadian society to the dictates of the free market necessitate the silencing of the critical voices which would challenge this backwards vision of the future. Harper's attacks on academic freedom cannot be separated from his attacks on public sector workers, his eagerness to gut medicare and other aspects of the social safety net, his drive to deregulate telecommunications and other industries, his pathological addiction to the ecologically catastrophic oil sands project, his moves to privatize water and other "natural resources," his internationally condemned free-market cowboy approach to indigenous rights, his sneering antagonism towards efforts to address systemic racism, sexism and homophobia in Canadian society, his unconstitutional abuse of the Security Certificate program and tolerance for secret trials, his reprehensible attacks on immigrants, refugees and those without status, his complete acquiescence to the worst aspects of the Bush doctrine of racist continental "security," and the zeal with which he cuts social programs to fund an increasingly deadly and imperialistic Canadian foreign policy.
Join us, then, in demanding Goodyear's resignation.
For more information on Goodyear's McCarthyist approach, please see the following Globe and Mail article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/goodyear-questions-mideast-forum-funds/article1175909/
For more information about the planned demonstration, please contact Max Haiven at the Political Action Committee of CUPE local 3906: 905-865-3075, politicalaction@cupe3906.org or Mary-Jo Nadeau at Faculty4Palestine: faculty@caiaweb.org.
CALL FOR ACTION: Support academic freedom! Challenge these attacks on academic conference!
Write to Minister Goodyear. Tell him that you object to a second peer review, and ask him to account for his actions.
Tell him you support the call for his resignation
(see http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2009/10/c4859.html)
He can be reached at GOODYG@PARL.GC.CA
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
PICKET INDIGO SHAREHOLDERS MEETING
**********************************
When: Thursday, June 25th @ 9:30 a.m.
Where: MaRS Centre, 101 College St, Toronto (College and University SE corner)
TTC: Queens Park Subway or College streetcar
***********************************
Come out on Thursday, June 25th - Indigo Books and Music Inc. will be holding its annual shareholders’ meeting at the MaRS Centre in downtown Toronto. The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) invites its friends, supporters and allies to join us in protest to send a clear message to majority shareholders Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz that their continuing support of the Israeli military through the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers is unacceptable! HESEG provides scholarships and other support to young people who go to Israel to join the Israeli military.
In December 2008 and January 2009 the Israeli military bombarded and invaded Gaza in a brutal attack which killed 1,400 Palestinians and wounded 5,000. Four thousand buildings were destroyed and 20,000 severely damaged – 50,000 Gazans were left homeless.
CAIA picketed Indigo book launches for Michael Ignatieff and Larry King in April and May of this year and will continue to build the campaign to boycott Chapters/Indigo until their majority shareholders publicly announce that they are cutting all financial ties to HESEG.
If you have drums or noisemakers bring them along to make sure that Indigo Books and Music Inc. shareholders hear our message!
For more information please see www.caiaweb.org or email us at endapartheid@riseup.net
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
CAIA APPLAUDS TORONTO PRIDE’S DECISION NOT TO BAN ANTI-APARTHEID QUEER GROUP FROM PARADE
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA)
Statement for Immediate Release
2 June 2009
**CAIA APPLAUDS TORONTO PRIDE COMMITTEE’S DECISION NOT TO BAN ANTI-APARTHEID QUEER GROUP FROM CITY’S ANNUAL PRIDE PARADE**
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QUAIA) attacked by pro-Israel B’nai Brith; Toronto’s Pride Committee stands up to political pressure to exclude QUAIA from city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ pride.
On May 27, a National Post article by Joseph Brean incorrectly reported that Queers Against Israeli Apartheid “has been banned this year” from Toronto’s annual Pride parade. In response, Pride Toronto has issued a public statement which makes absolutely clear that “it has no intention of banning any participants from the Dyke March and the Parade because of their political agenda”. CAIA applauds Pride Toronto for standing up to attempts to discipline this year’s Pride parade grand marshal, El-Farouk Khaki, for speaking at a recent public event organized by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
CAIA stands with Pride Toronto in its refusal to cave in to pressure tactics from B’nai Brith and other groups that aim to silence well-founded criticism of the Israeli state for its ongoing violations of international law. Violations include Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories; its settlement-building and construction of an apartheid wall on occupied land; its refusal to respect the right of Palestinian refugees to return; and its recent attacks on Gaza which resulted in 1400 Palestinian deaths and over 500 injuries in 23 short days.
Despite boisterous and persistent claims by B’Nai Brith, criticism of the Israeli state is not anti-semitic or “hateful and divisive propaganda”.
B’nai Brith has issued several press releases recently, each aimed at silencing critics of Israeli policy, including queer community activists and artists. B’nai Brith has, for example, tried without success to shut down a reading of Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza, featuring the acclaimed writer and theatre artist, Anne-Marie MacDonald. Queer Jewish artist Reena Katz has also been attacked for her support of the Palestinian cause. At the same time, B’nai Brith chooses to ally itself with Christian fundamentalist homophobes.
As an organization committed to ending racism and homophobia, CAIA recognizes Queers Against Israeli Apartheid as a vital and legitimate LGBTQ group in the tradition of the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee (SNAAC). SNAAC was active for many years in Toronto and organized the city’s LGBTQ community against South African apartheid. Comparisons between Israeli apartheid and South African apartheid have been made by a number of well-known figures including former US President Jimmy Carter and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
In the face of growing support and understanding of the Palestinian plight, including that faced by Palestinian queers, the Zionist movement is responding with intimidation and repression. We are fully convinced these actions will fail and be seen for what they are: a desperate attempt by a failing movement to shut down free speech and the right to organize.
CAIA fully supports Pride Toronto’s refusal to exclude QUAIA and stands in solidarity with queer activists and artists and all those who refuse to remain silent in the face of silencing and intimidation.
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) statement, also endorsed by:
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (University of Toronto)
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (York University)
Faculty4Palestine
Labour4Palestine
Teachers4Palestine
Educators for Peace and Justice
To contact, send e-mail to endapartheid@riseup.net
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