Peterborough Coalition for Palestinian Solidarity

Week Against the Apartheid Wall: Toronto Events, Nov. 9-16

2009-10-26T13:11:00.001-04:00

Unite against Apartheid! Tear down the walls in Palestine! Break the siege in Gaza!

THE SEVENTH WEEK AGAINST THE APARTHEID WALL, NOVEMBER 9 – 16 2009.

The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, its popular committees and member organizations has called on activists to launch a week of global mobilization against the walls of apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza from November 9 to 16 2009.

Toronto Events: (for updated information visit http://www.caiaweb.org/event)

Wed November 11 - Students Against Israeli Apartheid - UT (SAIA-UT): Film Screening - Palestine Blues (time and location TBD)

Students Against Israeli Apartheid - York - Movie screening and panel discussion - details TBD

Thur November 12 - Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights - Ryerson (SPHR): Film Screening - The Iron Wall (time and location TBD)

Fri November 13 - 7:30pm - Public Forum "The Campus and Palestine Solidarity Organizing" - Ted Rogers School of Business, Room 2-166, 55 Dundas St. W, Ryerson University

The Week of Action Against the Wall:

On November 9 1989 – exactly 20 years ago – the Berlin Wall fell. The event was celebrated as a victory of the ‘Free World’. Today, however, the same powers back the construction of walls which are destroying Palestine.

Five years ago – the International Court of Justice ruled that the Wall is illegal and has required that it be torn down and all laws and orders related to it be reversed. The Court has reminded the international community of its obligation not to render any aid or assistance to the Wall and to ensure the implementation of international law. To date, the international community has not promoted any tangible move towards the ruling’s implementation.

The hypocrisy must end – justice has to prevail.

Gaza has been imprisoned by walls and razor wire for 15 years. The wall and its no-go zone confiscate almost 25% of the prime agricultural land of the starving Strip. About 15% of Gaza’s farmers are barred from working their farmlands, while tens of water wells and about 50% of livestock shelters and other related industry in the east part of the Gaza strip have been destroyed. Many farmers have been killed while tending to their land or have been displaced and forced into overcrowded urban centers.

In the West Bank, the Apartheid Wall carves out today’s Bantustans. It curves around settlements, which continue to grow despite disingenuous talks of a “settlement freeze.” So far its path has isolated 78 Palestinian villages, trapping them between walls, settlements and/or the Green Line while stealing land, water and other resources from hundreds more. Jerusalem remains isolated by the Wall and settlements, and an increasing number of Palestinians have found their homes demolished or taken over by settlers.

In response, the international community has put a veil of silence over these crimes – yet another Nakba for the Palestinian people.

In spite of this, Palestinian resistance to the Wall has grown. Protests have been a weekly undertaking in a number of West Bank villages. In an attempt to uproot what they have termed “a dangerous phenomenon”, Occupation forces have employed increasing violent means against protesting communities, targeting youth in particular. In barely more than a year, 6 have been shot and killed by soldiers, hundreds have been injured and dozens arrested in the villages struggling against the Wall.

Gaza has seen much worse. In response to their resilience under siege, the people of Gaza have faced an overwhelming military onslaught. More then 1,500 were killed as a result and thousands more injured this past winter when Occupation forces laid waste to the small coastal territory.

In their struggle, the Palestinian people shall not stand alone.

Unite against apartheid!

Public Forum: The Campus and Palestine Solidarity

2009-10-25T15:21:00.002-04:00

Friday, November 13 at 7:30 PM
Ted Rogers School of Business (Room 2-166)
55 Dundas Street West, Ryerson University, Toronto

Speakers:
John Greyson – Award-winning filmmaker, video artist and educator – York University; Yafa Jarrar – Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), Carleton University; Mary-Jo Nadeau – Faculty4Palestine, Wilfrid Laurier University; and Leah Katz – Not in Our Name (NION): Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism, York University

A public forum organized as part of the Week Against the Wall, by:
Faculty4Palestine; Not in Our Name (NION): Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism; Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA)-York; SAIA-U of T (an action group of OPIRG-Toronto); and the CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice

Information: info@NION.ca or faculty@caiaweb.org
www.NION.ca www.caiaweb.org/faculty www.caiaweb.org/campuscommittee

Teachers for Palestine: 'It's Time for Divestment' Panel Discussion

2009-10-18T16:11:00.003-04:00

ATTENTION TEACHERS AND EDUCATION WORKERS: LET'S TALK ABOUT DIVESTMENT

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has investments in:

Cement Roadstone Holdings
Lockheed Martin
Siemens
MDA
Finning International

Each of these companies play a role in Israeli apartheid, from partnering with a company that produces cement used in the construction of the Apartheid Wall, to distributing Caterpillar's D9 bulldozers used to demolish Palestinian homes.

It's time for divestment. Come learn more at a panel discussion hosted by Teachers for Palestine.

Wednesday October 28 at 7 p.m.
University of Toronto
Galbraith Building, 35 St. George
Room GB 119

Child Care Provided

For more info contact: tfp@tao.ca

****

Background:

DIVESTMENT

WE DID IT IN 1991 - IT’S TIME TO DO IT AGAIN

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) does not, as a matter of policy, consider investment on ethical or moral principles. There was one exception: in the 1990s the Plan, under public pressure, was allowed to divest from apartheid South Africa. For at least the past 40 years in Israel-Palestine another apartheid system very similar to that of the former South Africa has been put in place by Israel. Many prominent public figures, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, U.N. Special Rapporteurs John Dugard and Richard Falk, former Israeli education minister, Shulamit Aloni, and editor of the Israeli daily Haaretz, Danny Rubenstein, have drawn the parallels.

Over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations, including the Palestinian trade union movement, have called on the world to adopt a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, similar to that used against South Africa under apartheid. Israeli peace groups such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and Canadian Jewish organizations such as Not In Our Name and the Independent Jewish Voices have spoken out against Israel’s apartheid policies and human rights abuses.

In 2009 the OSSTF passed a motion demanding that the OTPP adopt the UN's “Principles for Responsible Investment”. This would require the Plan to divest from companies that are in direct violation of UN and ICC resolutions condemning Israeli Apartheid, and complicit in the
violation of the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

PALESTINE / ISRAEL: FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM TO TEACH

2009-10-13T14:31:00.003-04:00

A conference on elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education – rights
and repression

Friday, October 16, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 17, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street , Toronto

Friday Opening Panel:
Sharing Stories of Repression and Fightback
Panelists include Javier Davila, Adnan Husain, Golta Shahidi, and Palestinian educator, Saed Abu-Hijleh. Liisa Schofield will present a video short she made about Mohammad Othman from Stop the Wall who was arrested last month upon his return from Norway where he was campaigning for Palestinian rights.

Saturday: Keynote addresses: Yafa Jarrar and Sherene Razack
Also: Legal Context: Know Your Rights as Activists - Yutaka Dirks and Irina Ceric and
Sectoral Workshops: Post-Secondary Faculty - Academic Research, Conferences, Publication and Organizing * Post-Secondary Faculty -Teaching and the Curriculum * Elementary and Secondary Teachers – The Classroom, the Curriculum and Finding Spaces within the Union * Student Organizing * Community

Registration: $5–$30 sliding scale (includes lunch with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options). Please register by Wednesday October 14th at Noon to receive the lunch.

For further information and to pre-register, contact us at
freedomtoteach.registration@yahoo.ca

Organized by Educators for Peace and Justice, Faculty for Palestine , and
Students Against Israeli Apartheid

Also coming up this week:

Three important presentations to be delivered by visiting Palestinian scholar, Saed Abu-Hijleh.

Special thanks to Ottawa activists for coordinating the tour, and to the Departments and Palestinian Solidarity organizations providing venues for us to hear from Professor Abu-Hijleh..

* * * * * * * * * * **

#1 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m
"The Political Geography of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict"
Room 2125, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George St., University of Toronto

Hosted by the University of Toronto Department of Geography. Providing an overview of the historical geography of Palestine from the beginning of the Zionist project till today, Professor Abu-Hijleh will explain how the political map has changed, and identify the main forces that worked to shape it on the local, regional, and international levels. The presentation will also provide an evaluation of the different proposed schemes for the resolution of the conflict, and what they entail geographically.

#2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Guest speaker on "Sharing Stories of Repression and Fightback" panel at Israel/Palestine: Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Teach Conference Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street (co-organized by Faculty4Palestine, Students Against Israeli Apartheid, and Educators for Peace and Justice) TO PRE-REGISTER FOR TWO-DAY CONFERENCE send an e-mail to
freedomtoteach.registration@yahoo.ca

#3 MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 12:00 noon
"Education Under Military Occupation and Apartheid"
SESE Seminar Room, 12th Floor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), 252 Bloor St

Hosted by the OISE Graduate Students' Association Right to Education Committee. An overview of the different aspects of teaching and learning under the regimes set by the Israeli military occupation, identifying and classifying the different Israeli violations of the Palestinian Right to Education. The presentation explains how Palestinian students and academics are trying to
counter the effects of the Apartheid-like policies on the Palestinian educational system. Examples are given from the day-to-day life under occupation.

Saed J. Abu-Hijleh (2009)
Saed J. Abu-Hijleh is a Palestinian human geographer, poet, and radio show host, who is currently working as a lecturer of political and environmental geography at An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine. He is the founder & director of the Center for Global Consciousness (CGC), an independent media and cultural exchange institute dedicated to building bridges between Palestine and the world.

Mr. Abu-Hijleh holds a BS in International Development Studies from the University of Iowa and an MA in Political Geography from the University of Northern Iowa, USA. In the past fifteen years, Mr. Abu-Hijleh worked with key Palestinian public and private organizations in the fields of international development, public relations and protocol, and small and medium enterprises development projects. Mr. Abu-Hijleh is the former Director Public Relations Department of An-Najah University (2005-2007). Since 2004, Mr. Abu-Hijleh prepared and hosted a talk show on An-Najah University FM station called “Global Perspectives” in which he interviewed many
international personalities who visited Palestine on key contemporary political, economic, and cultural issues. Mr. Abu-Hijleh has conducted academic research on the political geography of Palestinian statehood and the multidimensional obstacles facing its realization. His current
research interests focus on the human geography of Palestinian identity & Diaspora, Israeli territoriality, Palestinian liberation theology, and the geography of the Palestinian environmental movement. He also conducted research on the new social media and the problems of media coverage in conflict zones. Mr. Abu-Hijleh is presently preparing to publish a poetry collection entitled “Words of a Palestinian Dinosaur!”

Like many other Palestinians who grew up under the Israeli military occupation, Mr. Abu-Hijleh started his political activism at an early stage in his life. He was only 10 years old when he joined student demonstrations against the occupation authorities. In April 1982, at the age of 15, he was seriously wounded by Israeli soldiers when they opened fire on a student demonstration in the city of Nablus. This did not stop him from continuing his activism for the realization of peace
and justice in Palestine and around the world.

On October 11, 2002, Israeli soldiers assassinated his mother Shaden Abu-Hijleh, a renowned Palestinian peace activist and philanthropist, and injured him and his father Dr. Jamal Abu-Hijleh. (www.remembershaden.org)

Poster Competition: Israeli Apartheid Week 2010

2009-10-07T17:03:00.002-04:00

We are proud to announce the first international Israeli Apartheid Week poster competition. First launched in Toronto in 2005, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. Last year, more than 35 cities around the world participated in the week's activities.

The aim of IAW is to contribute to the international opposition to Israeli apartheid and to bolster support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign in accordance with the demands outlined in the July 2005 call from Palestine (for full statement, including demands please see: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52)

We are calling on all creative artists/designers to submit poster designs for IAW 2010. The poster will be used internationally to promote IAW and to raise awareness about the BDS campaign.

Criteria:

1. The concept has to reflect its use as a poster – clearly indicating Israeli Apartheid Week 2010 (dates to be added at later stage).

2. The poster must express the politics of IAW (information on the history and politics of IAW can be found at www.apartheidweek.org)

### The submissions deadline is December 1, 2009 ###

Please submit entries ONLY via email to poster@apartheidweek.org as JPEG or PDF files. In the email you send, please include

* your full name,
* country of residence, and
* phone number.

The winning design will be used in various Israeli Apartheid Weeks across the globe.*

All submitted entries will be posted on the website in an online gallery of all submissions.

Please send any questions or comments to poster@apartheidweek.org

We look forward to receiving your submission!**
Israeli Apartheid Week International Coordinating Committee

* some cities might elect to use other designs.
**The IAW-ICC reserves the right to modify the winning entry in coordination with the winning artist/designer.

Free Mohammad Othman, Palestinian prisoner of conscience

2009-10-03T09:38:00.003-04:00

On September 22, Mohammad Othman was arrested by soldiers on the Allenby Bridge Crossing, at the Jordan-Palestine border. He is being held in administrative detention as a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for his human rights advocacy work. Even after his first trial yesterday, the charges against him have not been made clear.

Mohammad, 33 years old, is from Jayyous, a village devastated by the Apartheid Wall and the Zufim settlement. He has dedicated the last ten years of his life to the defense of Palestinian human rights, working primarily with Palestinian youth and with the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign.

Mohammad was arrested upon his return from Norway, where he met with senior officials, including Norwegian Finance Minister Kristen Halvorsen. Norway’s national Pension Fund recently announced its divestment from Elbit, an Israeli company that designs and manufactures military technology for the Occupation forces, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and security systems for the Wall and settlements.

Post-travel arrest is a common Israeli repression tactic, intended to deter Palestinians from international human rights advocacy. Recently, Muhammad Srour, an eye witness for the UN Fact Finding Mission on Gaza, was arrested on his way home from Geneva. In June 2009, Mohammad Khatib traveled to Canada to attend the preliminary hearings of an historic lawsuit launched by the Palestinian village of Bil’in against two Quebec-based companies building illegal Israeli settlements on Bil’in's land. Shortly after his return, Khatib was arrested during a raid on the village. There are many similar cases.

Mohammad Othman is one of 11,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. More than 800 of these prisoners are in “administrative detention”, held indefinitely without criminal charge. Mass imprisonment is a key component of Israel’s policy of isolating the Palestinian people and silencing their struggle for justice.

What you can do to help:

• Contact the Canadian in Tel Aviv to demand the immediate release of Mohammad Othman (sample letter below):

Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv
Email: taviv@international.gc.ca
Phone: (011 972 3) 636 3300
Fax: (011 972 3) 636 3383

• Contact your Member of Parliament to demand that they advocate for the release of Mohammad Othman (sample letter below):

To find contact info for your MP, go to the link below:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

• Sign the online petition for Mohammad:
http://www.petitiononline.com/stopwall/petition.html

• Follow the blog and facebook to free Mohammad Othman to see the
latest updates and action alerts.
Blog: http://freemohammadothman.wordpress.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36429272741&ref=ts
Detailed information about his detention and trial:
www.stopthewall.org or http://addameer.info/

---------------------------

Sample letter to the Canadian Embassy and MPs:

Dear x,

I am writing to you to express my deepest concern about the detainment of Mohammad Othman on, September 22, at the border between Jordan and the West Bank. He was returning home after a visit in Norway.

I fear that the detainment of Mohammad Othman is a result of his peaceful criticism of violations of international law by Israeli authorities. The charges against him have not been made clear even after his first court appearance, but there is reason to believe that he is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for his human rights work through legal organizations.

I ask you to take all appropriate measures, including official inquiries and protests, to ensure Mohammad’s immediate and unconditional release. Furthermore, whilst being held, he should be protected from any form of torture or ill-treatment, and the conditions of his detention should fulfill the requirements of international law.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

York Faculty Members Rally to Pay Costly Fines Imposed on Students Against Israeli Apartheid

2009-10-03T09:33:00.003-04:00

For Immediate Release
October 1st, 2009

STUDENTS AND FACULTY TAKE UNITED STANCE IN DEFENCE OF FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS: York Faculty Members Rally to Pay Costly Fines Imposed on Students Against Israeli Apartheid

We are a concerned group of York faculty members -- concerned for the rights of free speech at York, concerned for the right to dissent, concerned for Palestinian human rights.

During the Spring of this year, 40 of us agreed to make personal contributions to help Students Against Israeli Apartheid-York (SAIA-York) defray the cost of a $1000 fine imposed upon the club by the York administration following a February 12th demonstration in Vari Hall. We did so because we see these fines as part of a larger pattern of repression on those who speak out at York in defence of Palestinian human rights on our campus.

In recent years, York administrators have attempted to expel a student and to discipline a faculty member for speaking out on campus in support of Palestinian human rights. In addition, they have on numerous occasions disciplined and fined SAIA and its members. Such actions bring discredit to the university, and they create a climate hostile to free speech and legitimate dissent.

For this reason, we have chosen to support SAIA with our wallets. And we will do so again, should it be necessary. In the coming weeks and months, we will be informing the York community about further actions in defence of free speech and Palestinian human rights.

Sincerely,

Concerned Faculty For Palestinian Human Rights
-30-

Please join us in demanding that York University President Mamdouh Shoukri denounce the use of prohibitory fines and sanctions against student clubs like SAIA-York as an instrument to silence Palestine solidarity activism and free speech on campus. Direct your letters to mshoukri@yorku.ca and CC SAIA-York as well saiayork@riseup.net. Feel free to use the sample letter provided below, however you are strongly encouraged to write your own.

SAMPLE LETTER:

President Shoukri,

I am writing to you today to strongly denounce the punitive measures taken against Students Against Israeli Apartheid-York (SAIA-York), in which the club was suspended for a total of 30 days and fined $1000 (alongside an additional $250 charged directly to the student acount of one of its members). I find it both shameful and morally reprehensible to sanction SAIA-York so severely simply for organizing a Palestine solidarity rally at a time when the people of Gaza were being indiscriminately bombed by the Israeli military for 22 consecutive days without reprieve, culminating in the deaths of over 1,400 people - most of which were innocent civilians.

If York is truly 'open to the world', as its own mission statement proudly claims, the fundamental right of students to legitimate dissent and peaceful assembly on campus must remain paramount. Vari Hall is at the core of student life and activism on campus and its rightful claim as 'student space' must never be compromised or outlawed. As President of York, it is your responsibility to protect free speech on campus, not to sanction and police those who refuse to stay silent on issues of moral consequence. Should such repressive administrative measures as those levied against SAIA-York continue in the future, you will no doubt be hearing from me again!

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME

2nd annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival (26 Sept - 2 Oct)

2009-09-15T13:32:00.001-04:00

Dear CAIA Supporters,

We encourage everyone to attend the 2nd annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) taking place across the GTA September 26 - October 2. All details below.

In Solidarity,
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid

*Please Post Widely*

Toronto Palestine Film Festival
Non-Stereotypical Cinema from Palestine
September 26-October 2, 2009
www.tpff.ca

Join us at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival!

The 2nd annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) is pleased to present a wide selection of award-winning short, feature, documentary, experimental and animation films to Toronto audiences.

From September 26 to October 2, TPFF will showcase 34 films, including Canadian and North American premieres, and will host a contemporary art exhibit, a film & food brunch and several forums. Check out our programme to learn more about TPFF (www.tpff.ca).

TPFF opens the festival with the internationally acclaimed film Amreeka, on Saturday September 26, 2009, 6:30 at the Bloor Cinema (560 Bloor St. W & Bathurst).

Amreeka is a comedy-drama about Muna, a single mother who leaves Ramallah with her teenage son, Fadi, to provide him with a better future in small-town Illinois. As Fadi learns to navigate high school hallways, Muna, a former bank employee, scrambles together a new life cooking up hamburgers at the local White Castle. (trailer)

Award-winning independent filmmaker and television writer Cherien Dabis has been named one of Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch” in 2009. Amreeka is her feature writing and directorial debut, which won the Director’s Fortnight, FIPRESCI Prize (Critic’s Prize) Cannes Film Festival 2009.

TPFF closes on October 2 at the Bloor Cinema, with two excellent films that can’t be missed.

Laila’s Birthday, directed by celebrated Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, tells the story of Abu Laila, a judge turned taxi driver, who must purchase a cake for his daughter’s birthday. This becomes an epic task as Abu Laila navigates the chaos of daily life in Ramallah. The film is a revealing and humorous portrait of a city and a decent man at their breaking point.

Checkpoint Rock shines a spotlight on music in Palestine. Beginning with renowned musician Marcel Khalife at Mahmoud Darwish’s funeral, the film traverses Palestine/Israel and presents a diverse range of musical performances along the way. Rappers, a wedding singer and classical musicians express their personal struggles through their music.

Advance tickets, TPFF 10 Pass or Memberships can be purchased online or at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore (73 Harbord St.). Buy early and avoid disappointment at the door!

We look forward to seeing you at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival.

Protest Toronto International Film Festival City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv:

2009-08-29T12:59:00.005-04:00

TIFF Celebrating Israeli colonialism, ethnic cleansing and apartheid!

Dear CAIA allies and supporters,

We urge you to write to the Toronto International Film Festival protesting its decision to Spotlight Tel Aviv for its inaugural City-to-City program. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) issued a statement urging all filmmakers and audiences to boycott this Spotlight on Tel Aviv. For the full PACBI statement please see:
http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1085

As the PACBI statement points out:

“The ‘diversity’ celebrated by the Spotlight is in fact based on the erasure of the physical presence of the Palestinians, their culture, heritage and memory. The adjacent Palestinian city of Jaffa and numerous villages were emptied of their indigenous inhabitants to make way for Tel Aviv. Many refugees from Jaffa and other destroyed villages that Tel Aviv replaced reside in
Toronto today, denied the right to return to their homes.

Such a celebration at this time, therefore, can only be seen by Palestinians and supporters of a just peace around the world as an act of complicity in whitewashing Israel’s war crimes and other grave violations of international law. It is a cynical and immoral politicization of the TIFF.”

Please send letters of protest to TIFF co-director and City-to-City programmer at CBailey@tiff.net and to TIFF’s press office at proffice@tiff.net

A sample letter is provided below, though it is always better to draft your own original letter.

For more information please email us at: endapartheid@riseup.net

In Solidarity,
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
www.caiaweb.org

SAMPLE LETTER

Re: City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv

I am writing to you out of my concern about the Toronto International Film Festival’s City-to-City spotlight on Tel Aviv.

According to your website, the spotlight “will showcase the complex currents running through today’s Tel Aviv. Celebrating its 100th birthday in 2009, Tel Aviv is a young, dynamic city that, like Toronto, celebrates its diversity”. Nowhere in this description of Tel Aviv is there mention of the fact that Tel Aviv is built on destroyed Palestinian villages. In 1948, the inhabitants of these villages were forcibly removed in order to make room for the city of Tel Aviv. Today, many of the former inhabitants of these villages and Tel Aviv’s neighbouring city of Jaffa reside in Toronto because they are refugees who have been denied the right to return to their homes.

In addition to ignoring Palestinian history, the spotlight is also part of an Israeli propaganda campaign known as ‘Brand Israel’. In 2008, Israel chose Toronto as a test city for ‘Brand Israel’. This campaign is an effort by the Israeli government to improve its image globally. The campaign’s goal is to draw attention toward Israel’s medical, scientific and cultural accomplishments in order to shift attention away from its numerous crimes against the Palestinian people. The ‘Brand Israel’ campaign is a blatant example of how Israeli cultural institutions play a vital role in whitewashing Israeli war crimes. Israeli consul general Amir Gissin said that the culmination of the campaign would be a major Israeli presence at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Whether or not TIFF sees it this way, the City-to-City program is being viewed by the Israeli state as an important aspect of its international propaganda campaign.

This past winter the world watched in horror as Israel launched a full-scale military assault on the people of Gaza. Over 1400 Palestinians were killed in this attack, including over 400 children. TIFF showcasing Tel Aviv and Israel is equivalent to the festival choosing to showcase Cape Town at the height of South African Apartheid. It is simply unacceptable and inexcusable.

In support of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) statement calling for a boycott of the Spotlight, I will not be attending any of these films and will be encouraging others to do the same. I strongly urge TIFF to reconsider its celebration of Tel Aviv and Israel – a state that has been described as an Apartheid regime by prominent figures such as South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter.

****

Artist John Greyson takes up BDS Campaign, Pulls out of TIFF in protest:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/250.php#continue

ALERT: Tell Amnesty International that Entertaining Apartheid Israel Deserves No Amnesty!

2009-08-06T19:56:00.001-04:00

ISSUED BY: The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israel), British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (UK), New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI), New York City Labor Against the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK), US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel

August 5, 2009

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and groups around the world have been calling for months for musician Leonard Cohen to cancel his planned September concert in Israel. With the international community failing to take action to stop Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, and inspired by the international boycott movement that helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, Palestinian civil society has launched calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, including an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Ninety-three artists, writers and other cultural workers have signed onto the Palestinian cultural boycott call. Many dignitaries signed the "No Reason to Celebrate" pledge and refused to participate in any artistic or literary event during Israel's year-long 60th anniversary celebrations.

Feeling the heat of the protests, Cohen and his PR staff tried to schedule a small concert in Ramallah to “balance” his concert in Israel. However, Palestinians rejected the Ramallah concert and any claimed symmetry between the occupying power and the people under occupation.

Now Cohen and his PR staff are trying to whitewash the concert in Israel by using Amnesty International USA’s good name. According to a July 28th article in the Jerusalem Post, Amnesty International USA will serve as sponsor of a new fund. The fund will launder the money raised at Cohen’s concert in Israel by using it to finance programs for “peace.”

In response, sixteen groups and coalitions issued a July 30th Open Letter to Amnesty International calling on Amnesty to be true to its values and immediately withdraw support for Leonard Cohen’s ill-conceived concert in Israel. The groups noted that by supporting Cohen’s concert, Amnesty International is undermining a successful effort by Palestinian and international civil society to end Israel's occupation and other violations of international law and human rights principles. Amnesty International also is partnering in the initiative with Israeli institutions that undermine peace, including a bank directly involved in supporting Israeli settlement construction. The only alleged Palestinian partner has announced it is not taking part.

TAKE ACTION

Please email Amnesty International, calling on Amnesty to withdraw from support for Cohen’s concert. Amnesty International is recognized by many as defending human rights worldwide, so please be respectful and courteous in your message.

You can write and email your own letter, or use the sample letter below and email it, or send an editable form letter via the website of the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel: http://boycottisraelnyc.org/category/629/tell-amnesty-international-entertaining-apartheid-israel-deserves-no-amnesty
Further below, for reference, is the full Open Letter to Amnesty International.

-If you send your own email, please email your letter to:

lcox@aiusa.org, cgoering@aiusa.org, ZJanmohamed@aiusa.org,
ikhan@amnesty.org, ccordone@amnesty.org, msmart@amnesty.org, drovera@amnesty.org

(Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; Zahir Janmohamed, Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA; Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General; Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International (UK) Senior Director, Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International (UK) Middle East Director, Research and Regional Programs; Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International (UK) Researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories)

-If you email your own letter, please cc it to: noamnesty4israeliapartheid@gmail.com so that we can keep track of the responses.

SAMPLE LETTER TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Dear Amnesty International,

I hold Amnesty International’s worldwide work for human rights and international law in high esteem. For this reason, I was very troubled to learn that Amnesty International has agreed to manage a fund that will disburse the proceeds from Leonard Cohen’s planned concert in Israel in September. I call on Amnesty International to be true to your values, distance yourself from efforts to normalize Israel’s occupation and apartheid, and immediately withdraw support for Leonard Cohen’s ill-conceived concert in Israel.

By supporting Cohen’s concert, Amnesty International will be subverting the worldwide movement to boycott Israel, a non-violent, effective effort by Palestinian and international civil society to end Israel's violations of international law and human rights principles. Accepting funds from the proceeds of Cohen’s concert in Israel is the equivalent of Amnesty accepting tainted funds from a concert in Sun City in apartheid South Africa.

Ninety-three artists, writers and other cultural workers have signed onto the Palestinian cultural boycott call. Many dignitaries signed the "No Reason to Celebrate" pledge and refused to participate in any artistic or literary event during Israel's year-long 60th anniversary celebrations.

In his protest resignation from Amnesty International over this issue, Irish author and composer, Raymond Deane, wrote:

"By assisting Cohen in his ruse to bypass this boycott, Amnesty International is in fact taking a political stance, in violation of the premise of political neutrality with which it so regularly justifies its failure to side unambiguously with the oppressed. Amnesty is telling us: resistance is futile, the voice of the oppressed is irrelevant, international humanitarian law is a luxury."

Furthermore, the Israeli partners in the concert, the Peres Center for Peace and Israel Discount Bank, actively hinder efforts to achieve a just peace. A columnist in Israel’s Ha’aretz Daily called the Peres Center for Peace a patronizing and colonial organization that is in the business of training “the Palestinian population to accept its inferiority and prepare it to survive under the arbitrary constraints imposed by Israel.” According to research by Who Profits, a project of Israel’s Coalition of Women for Peace, Israel Discount Bank is deeply involved in supporting Israel’s settlement enterprise. Israeli settlements violate the very tenets of international law that Amnesty International works to uphold.

Finally, the only Palestinian organization falsely reported in the July 28th Jerusalem Post article as being a partner in this project, the Palestinian Happy Child Center, has confirmed that it is not taking part. There is no Palestinian organization participating in this whitewash.

Thank you for your attention to this vital human rights issue. I look forward to learning of Amnesty International’s withdrawal of its support for the Leonard Cohen concert in Israel.

Sincerely,

Your name
Your city and country of residence

-------------------------------Original Open Letter to AI------------------------

Entertaining Apartheid Israel Deserves No Amnesty!

Open Letter to Amnesty International

July 30, 2009

In May, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) called on singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen to heed the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel and avoid complicity with Israel’s violations of international law by cancelling his planned September concert in Israel, particularly in view of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza earlier this year. Sadly, according to a July 28 article in the Jerusalem Post, Amnesty International USA has agreed to cooperate with Cohen in dealing with Israel on the basis of business as usual. Amnesty International USA will serve as sponsor of a new fund that will whitewash the money raised at Cohen’s concert in Israel by using it to finance programs for “peace.” Being one of the world’s strongest proponents of human rights and international law, you shall thus be subverting a non-violent, effective effort by Palestinian and international civil society to end Israel's violations of international law and human rights principles. We call on you to be true to your values and immediately withdraw support for Leonard Cohen’s ill-conceived concert in Israel.

The Jerusalem Post report indicates that Cohen and his PR staff, having been criticized for trying to normalize Israel’s occupation and apartheid, are trying to whitewash the concert in Israel by using Amnesty International USA’s good name. According to the article, “All of the net proceeds from Leonard Cohen's September 24 concert at Ramat Gan Stadium will be earmarked for a newly established fund to benefit Israeli and Palestinian organizations that are working toward conciliation,” and the fund will be “sponsored by Amnesty.” Curt Goering, the senior deputy executive director of Amnesty International USA, told the Post, "We saw this as an exciting opportunity with potential to recognize, support and pay tribute to the Israelis and Palestinians who have been working for peace and human rights amid a difficult environment and insurmountable odds. I see our participation as complementary to what we do, even though this initiative is different from Amnesty's ongoing work."

WHY WE ARE CALLING ON AMNESTY TO WITHDRAW FROM THE PROJECT

By supporting Cohen’s concert in Israel, Amnesty International is actively undermining a particularly successful effort by Palestinian and international civil society to end Israel's occupation and other violations of international law and human rights principles. We find this position by Amnesty particularly frustrating and puzzling given your call for an arms embargo against Israel following its atrocities in Gaza earlier this year, which your organization described as constituting war crimes.

Accepting funds from the proceeds of Cohen’s concert in Israel is the equivalent of Amnesty accepting funds from a concert in Sun City in apartheid South Africa. Profits earned through violations of human rights and international law are tainted and should not be accepted by any morally consistent human rights organization, particularly when this money is intended to be used to whitewash the very violations behind those profits.

Furthermore, your Israeli partners in this venture actively hinder efforts to achieve a just peace. The Peres Center for Peace, with its multi-million dollar annual budget and fifteen million dollar building, is listed incongruously by the Jerusalem Post as both a beneficiary of the fund and a member of the new fund’s Board of Trustees. The Peres Center has been denounced by leading Palestinian civil society organizations for promoting joint Palestinian-Israeli projects that are “neither effective in bringing about reconciliation, nor desirable” and that enhance “Israeli institutional reputation and legitimacy, without restoring justice to Palestinians, in the face of continued Israeli Government violations of international law and fundamental Palestinian human rights, including breaches of the Geneva Conventions.” A columnist in Israel’s Haaretz Daily called the Peres Center patronizing and colonial, explaining that “Efforts are being made to train the Palestinian population to accept its inferiority and prepare it to survive under the arbitrary constraints imposed by Israel, to guarantee the ethnic superiority of the Jews.”

Your other indirect partner in this project, according to the Jerusalem Post, is Israel Discount Bank, a key sponsor of the Cohen concert. Who Profits, a project of Israel’s Coalition of Women for Peace, reports that Israel Discount Bank has branches in the settlements of Beitar Illit and Maale Adumim, has financed construction in the settlements of Har Homa, Beitar llit and Maale Adumim, and is a major shareholder in a factory in a settlement. Amnesty hardly needs any reminder that all Israeli colonial settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory are not only illegal under international law but are considered war crimes in the Fourth Geneva Convention. Your intention to indirectly partner with a bank that profits from the occupation and to oversee a fund that uses some of that legally and morally stained money contradicts Amnesty’s founding principles and commitment to human rights.

The latest attempt by the Cohen team to find an alternative Palestinian fig leaf has also failed. The only Palestinian organization falsely reported in the Jerusalem Post article as being a partner in this project, the Palestinian Happy Child Center, has confirmed that it is not taking part. There is no Palestinian organization participating in this whitewash.

BACKGROUND ON THE BOYCOTT

With the international community failing to take action to stop Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, and inspired by the international boycott movement that helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, Palestinian civil society has launched calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, including an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Endorsed by nearly sixty Palestinian cultural and civil society organizations and inspired by the South African anti-apartheid boycotts, PACBI calls on “the international community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel‘s occupation, colonization and system of apartheid.” These Palestinian calls have inspired a growing international boycott movement which gained added momentum following Israel’s assault on Gaza last winter.

In April, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) and over 100 Israelis called on Leonard Cohen to cancel his planned September concert in Israel. Protests against Cohen’s plans to play in Israel were then held at Cohen’s concerts in New York, Boston, Ottawa and Belfast, among other cities. Feeling the rising heat of the protests, Cohen tried to schedule a small concert in Ramallah to “balance” his concert in Israel. However, Palestinians rejected the Ramallah concert. The Palestinian group that was supposed to host the Ramallah event cancelled its invitation to Mr. Cohen after realizing the adverse effects this would have on the boycott movement, which is widely supported by Palestinians. Reflecting the general mood in Palestinian society against any claimed symmetry between the occupying power and the people under occupation, a July 12 PACBI statement explained, “Ramallah will not receive Cohen as long as he is intent on whitewashing Israel‘s colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel. PACBI has always rejected any attempt to ‘balance’ concerts or other artistic events in Israel--conscious acts of complicity in Israel‘s violation of international law and human rights--with token events in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

For all the above reasons, we strongly urge you to distance Amnesty International from this discredited project and its tainted money.

Signed:

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, The Alternative Information Center (AIC), American Jews for a Just Peace (US), Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (UK), Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israel), British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (UK), New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI), New York City Labor Against the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK), US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel

Cc:
-Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
- Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
-Zahir Janmohamed, Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA
- Colm Ó Cuanacháin, Amnesty International (UK) Senior Director, Campaigns
-Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International (UK) Senior Director, Research and Regional Programs
-Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International (UK) Researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Report/Updates on ROM Pickets: Looted Scrolls

2009-07-16T15:20:00.001-04:00

Dear CAIA friends and allies:

Last Friday’s picket at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), protesting the Exhibition of the looted Dead Sea Scrolls, was a success (see video, pictures and media coverage below). Friday pickets are ongoing: please join us this Friday July 17, to keep up the pressure on the ROM and to continue to inform the public about the theft of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In Solidarity,
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid

Video from Last week ROM picket:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQEMzy951d4

Pictures from Last week ROM picket:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chelseylichtman/sets/72157621267379719/

Media Coverage:
Robert Fisk (Independent): You won't find any lessons in unity in the Dead Sea Scrolls http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-you-wont-find-any-lessons-in-unity-in-the-dead-sea-scrolls-1741943.html

Lea Kaplan (Jerusalem Post): Toronto Jews rally around museum taking flak over
Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443820292&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter&FORM=ZZNR3

*Picket Call-out – Please Post Widely*

ROM Exhibiting Stolen Artifacts – Picket this Friday (July 17)

Dead Sea Scrolls Illegally Removed from Occupied Palestinian Territories

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Date: Friday July 17
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen’s Park
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Join the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) and Women in Solidarity with Palestine for a picket of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) this coming Friday July 17. Help us protest the ROM’s failure to comply with international law and its ethical obligations by:

- Demanding the ROM recognize the Scrolls are looted Palestinian artifacts.
- Demanding the ROM dissociate itself from the Israeli Antiquities Authority which has systematically looted millions of Palestinian artifacts.

We have tried every avenue to avoid a picket – representatives from the Palestinian community and other organizations have attempted dialogue with the ROM – but none of the concerns have been addressed. We are left no choice but to publicly protest, as the ROM has refused to make public the documents it claims prove the legality of the exhibit. It has also refused to seek a UNESCO opinion on the matter.

Please join us for this important picket! Bring noise makers!

Background
----------

Since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, millions of artifacts have been systematically removed, looted and excavated from Palestinian territory, endangering Palestinian cultural and archaeological heritage.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The bulk of the artifacts were excavated from Qumran in the West Bank, between 1947 and 1956 by the Palestine Archaeological Museum in a joint expedition with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and the Ecole Biblique Française. The Scrolls were displayed at the Palestine Archaeological Museum (the Rockefeller Museum) in East Jerusalem until 1967.

In 1967, the Scrolls were confiscated and illegally removed by Israel when the Israeli military occupied East Jerusalem. Since 1967, additional excavations and findings by the Israel Antiquities Authority took place in Qumran and the surrounding area. Those artifacts have also been illegally removed from Palestinian territory. Today the ROM, in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, is importing and exhibiting artifacts illegally removed from the occupied Palestinian territory.

Under international law and in accordance with Israel's obligations as a signatory to the 1954 UNESCO convention and protocol for the "Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict", Israel is not entitled to these artifacts. The repatriation of the Scrolls and millions of other artifacts to Palestine remains a key issue for those seeking peace and justice in the Middle East.

In 2005, Canada signed on to several UNESCO conventions and protocols aimed at preventing the removal and the exhibition of illegally removed artifacts from occupied territories. It adopted its international obligations as part of domestic Canadian legislation in the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, which makes it a criminal offense, for example, to import cultural property in violation of the conventions.

By exhibiting the Dead Sea Scrolls the ROM is complicit in the theft of Palestine’s cultural heritage that continues to take place regularly through Israel’s military occupation and apartheid system with the unlawful removal of approximately 200,000 artifacts annually from the occupied territory since 1967.

For more information please contact Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid at
endapartheid@riseup.net or Women in Solidarity with Palestine at wsp.toronto@gmail.com.

ROM Exhibiting Stolen Artifacts – Picket July 10th

2009-07-06T17:30:00.003-04:00

*Please Forward Widely*

ROM Exhibiting Stolen Artifacts – Picket this Friday (July 10)

Dead Sea Scrolls Illegally Removed from Occupied Palestinian Territories

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Date: Friday July 10
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Join the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) and Women in Solidarity with Palestine for a picket of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) this coming Friday July 10. Help us protest the ROM’s failure to comply with international law and its ethical obligations by:

- Demanding the ROM recognize the Scrolls are looted Palestinian artifacts.
- Demanding the ROM dissociate itself from the Israeli Antiquities Authority which has systematically looted millions of Palestinian artifacts.

We have tried every avenue to avoid a picket – representatives from the Palestinian community and other organizations have attempted dialogue with the ROM – but none of the concerns have been addressed. We are left no choice but to publicly protest, as the ROM has refused to make public the documents it claims prove the legality of the exhibit. It has also refused to seek a UNESCO opinion on the matter.

Please join us for this important picket! Bring noise makers!

Background
----------

Since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, millions of artifacts have been systematically removed, looted and excavated from Palestinian territory, endangering Palestinian cultural and archaeological heritage.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are one the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The bulk of the artifacts were excavated from Qumran in the West Bank, between 1947 and 1956 by the Palestine Archaeological Museum in a joint expedition with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and the Ecole Biblique Française. The Scrolls were displayed at the Palestine Archaeological Museum (the Rockefeller Museum) in East Jerusalem until 1967.

In 1967, the Scrolls were confiscated and illegally removed by Israel when the Israeli military occupied East Jerusalem. Since 1967, additional excavations and findings by the Israel Antiquities Authority took place in Qumran and the surrounding area. Those artifacts have also been illegally removed from Palestinian territory. Today the ROM, in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, is importing and exhibiting artifacts illegally removed from the occupied Palestinian territory.

Under international law and in accordance with Israel's obligations as a signatory to the 1954 UNESCO convention and protocol for the "Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict", Israel is not entitled to these artifacts. The repatriation of the Scrolls and millions of other artifacts to Palestine remains a key issue for those seeking peace and justice in the Middle East.

In 2005, Canada signed on to several UNESCO conventions and protocols aimed at preventing the removal and the exhibition of illegally removed artifacts from occupied territories. It adopted its international obligations as part of domestic Canadian legislation in the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, which makes it a criminal offence, for example, to import cultural property in violation of the conventions.

By exhibiting the Dead Sea Scrolls the ROM is complicit in the theft of Palestine’s cultural heritage that continues to take place regularly through Israel’s military occupation and apartheid system with the unlawful removal of approximately 200,000 artifacts annually from the occupied territory since 1967.

For more information please contact Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid at endapartheid@riseup.net or Women in Solidarity with Palestine at wsp.toronto@gmail.com.

Stop the Wall Campaign: Open Letter to Palestine solidarity activists

2009-06-29T16:14:00.003-04:00

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

Palestine House calls to boycott the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at The ROM

2009-06-25T17:16:00.001-04:00

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.

DEMONSTRATION AT THE OFFICES OF GARY GOODYEAR - PROTEST ATTACKS ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM

2009-06-17T15:54:00.002-04:00

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Thursday, June 18, 2009
11:00-11:45am
Gary Goodyear's constituency office
1425 Bishop Street N, Unit 3, Cambridge Ontario
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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

PICKET INDIGO SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

2009-06-16T11:35:00.000-04:00

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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

CAIA APPLAUDS TORONTO PRIDE’S DECISION NOT TO BAN ANTI-APARTHEID QUEER GROUP FROM PARADE

2009-06-02T17:16:00.012-04:00

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

LABOUR FOR PALESTINE: SECOND ISSUE OF JAFA NOW AVAILABLE!

2009-05-31T18:57:00.006-04:00

Labour for Palestine is pleased to announce the second issue of Jafa - Labour Bulletin in Solidarity with Palestine.

This second issue has a special focus on Israel's war on Gaza. We reprint a range of solidarity resolutions that were passed by unions around the world, analysis of the aftermath, and discussion around next steps for labour solidarity. We also launch a new section, *Histadrut Watch*, which will monitor the activities of Israel's racist trade union federation.

We encourage you to order a bundle for your workplace and trade union office or to download the first two issues at http://www.caiaweb.org/labourcommittee

We would also love to receive your opinions, stories and contributions for the next issue!

For more information or to order a bundle of Jafa, please contact labour@caiaweb.org

Call Your MPP: Queens Park Motion Against Israeli Apartheid Week

2009-05-21T16:18:00.002-04:00

In yet another desperate move to curtail freedom of expression, on May 11, Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman filed a motion in the Ontario legislature condemning the use of the term “Israeli Apartheid Week”. The motion is coming to a vote on Monday May 25. Motion #93 (a private members motion) reads:

“In the opinion of this House the term Israel Apartheid Week is condemned as it serves to incite hatred against Israel, a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights, and the use of the word ‘apartheid’ in this context diminishes the suffering of those who were victims of a true apartheid regime in South Africa.”

A vote for this resolution is a vote against freedom of expression. In a supposedly ‘free society’ people have a right to factually argue about whether Israel is an Apartheid state or not. People also have a right to organize Israeli Apartheid Week and other events that are critical of Israel or
any other nation-state. The job of MPPs is not to ban events and terms simply because they disagree with them.

Supporters of Israel have many opportunities to engage in debates about the use of the term Israeli Apartheid. Attempting to suppress discussion of the issue through motions such as the one before the house clearly illustrates that they are all too aware of the weakness of their position and are very afraid of this debate.

** Call or Email YOUR MPP TODAY – ASK THEM TO VOTE AGAINST THIS MOTION **

Contact info for your MPP is available at this link:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do?locale=en

Sample Letter to Email / Talking Points:

Dear (Name of Your MPP):

I’m writing to ask you to vote against Motion #93, to be discussed on Monday May 25, 2009 that calls for the condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week. This motion was filed by Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman.

Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual series of lectures held on university campuses in Toronto and many cities around the world.

Attempting to suppress discussion of Israel through motions such as the one before the house is not consistent with a society which respects freedom of expression. Supporters of Israel have many opportunities to put forward their facts and arguments to dispute the use of the term Israeli apartheid. If Israel is not an Apartheid state, the facts should stand for themselves and there is no need for the provincial government to suppress the use of the term Israeli Apartheid.

There are very specific political, legal and moral arguments about whether Israel is an apartheid state or not. You may agree or disagree with them, but MPP’s should not be in the business of curtailing debate and banning discussion. You have an obligation to protect freedom of expression, even if the views put forward are ones you disagree with. On that note, I ask you to
vote against this motion and encourage you to set a meeting with organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week to hear their views and understand the issues they raise.

Yours Sincerely,

May 15the Event: Israel and Canada Military and Political Connections

2009-05-12T16:10:00.002-04:00

"Canada’s close links to Israel, and support for its illegal occupation of Palestine are well known. But the recent assault on Gaza, fully backed by the Harper government, exposed the real meaning of this connection. Hear KOLE KILIBARDA explain the military and industrial links and YVES ENGLER describe the political context of the Israel/Canada connection."

ISRAEL AND CANADA: MILITARY AND POLITICAL CONNECTIONS
Friday, May 15 7:30 PM
Room 5-250
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
University of Toronto
252 Bloor Street West (at St. George subway)

Speakers:
Kole Kilibarda – author, “Canadian and Israeli Defense-Industrial and Homeland Security Ties” (2009), a report for The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting research project; and Organizer with Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Yves Engler – author, The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy; and Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority (with Anthony Fenton)

Discussant: Jason Kunin
Moderator: b.h. Yael

May 11th: Academic Boycott Debate - York University

2009-04-29T16:10:00.004-04:00

Hosted by the York Centre for International and Security Studies

Academic Boycotts and Contemporary Conflict

Boycotts have emerged in recent decades as a favoured means of grassroots opposition to certain politics and practices. Often these boycotts are directed at firms or industries in the name of environmental or humanitarian goals. In the past few months, framed as an attempt to build on the successes of a similarly structured campaign against historic South African apartheid, calls for boycotts have been raised in response to Israeli action in Gaza. These calls have included a request for the boycotting of Israeli academic institutions. Boycotts raise fundamental issues for universities and other academic institutions: how do boycotts affect the university's commitments to free speech and inquiry, which are central to our functions? To what degree are public universities state institutions, and so appropriate targets for boycotts which oppose state policy? Are boycotts sustainable and peaceful ways for intellectuals to intervene in conflicts, or are they counter-productive? With this series, YCISS invites the community to explore these and other issues by presenting a range of perspectives for consideration and discussion.

Having now featured separate seminars by both Omar Barghouti and Edward Beck, YCISS invites the community to come together for a respectful yet rigorous debate about issues that the boycott raises for Canadian Universities.

A Debate on the Academic Boycott of Israel

This panel-style debate will explore themes of academic freedom and repression in relation to calls for an academic boycott of Israel, with an emphasis on the role and responsibilities of Canadian universities.

Dr. Abigail Bakan
Dr. Costanza Musu
Dr. Clive Seligman
Dr. Alan Sears

Monday, 11 May 2009
4:30-6:30pm
Moot Court, Osgoode Hall
York University

May 5th: Medecine, War and Occupation: The Case of Gaza

2009-04-27T15:34:00.003-04:00

"Medicine, War and Occupation: The Case of Gaza" with Dr. Ghada Karmi

May 5th 2009 at 7:00PM – Free

University College Rm. 161
15 Kings College Circle, University of Toronto

Dr. Karmi is a physician, academic and author based at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter.

Sponsored by: NECEF, Health Studies Program (UofT), Canadian Arab Federation, Canadian Friends of Sabeel, Science for Peace

UCSB Professor Faces Bogus Charge of Anti-Semitism

2009-04-23T15:54:00.004-04:00

SOLIDARITY ACTIONS REQUESTED:

* Email the UCSB Chancellor and responsible authorities on campus to express your outrage and register your protest (see sample letter and email addresses below)

* Sign the petition http://www.petitiononline.com/cdafsb/petition.html

*************************************************

PROFESSOR WILLIAM I. ROBINSON, UC CALIFORNIA (from Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UC Santa Barbara)

Dear colleagues,

UCSB has become the latest front in the war against Academic Freedom.

Professor William I. Robinson, a Sociology and Global Studies professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been attacked by the Anti-Defamation League and two of his former students. In January of this year, he forwarded an email condemning the Israeli attacks on Gaza. The email contained an editorial by a Jewish journalist condemning Israel's actions in Gaza as well as juxtaposed images of Nazi atrocities with congruent images of Israeli atrocities against Palestinians. The email was an optional read for students, intended to spark conversation by relating contemporary events to conceptual ideas discussed in class.

One week later, the ADL wrote him a letter charging him with anti-Semitism and sundry violations of the Faculty Code of Conduct (none of which were coherent claims). Another week passed, and the Academic Senate Charges Officer then notified him that two of the students in the class to which he circulated the email had filed complaints against him.

The complaints are that 1) critique of Israel is evidence of anti-Semitism and 2) the Israeli-Palestinian issue should not be discussed in a class on Globalization.

This case has already escalated way too far. Throughout the process, the Charges Officer violated several elements of the charges procedure, shirked his responsibilities, and ultimately acted as a co-complainant by fabricating charges that were not raised by the students. The charges have reached the Committee on Committees, which is now in the process of convening an ad hoc Charges Committee to assess the complaints against Professor Robinson.

Based on patently absurd and malicious claims, the charges should have been dismissed out of hand from the beginning. Further consideration of the charges by the Academic Senate serves only to sanction politically-motivated attacks on academic freedom. The longer this case is pursued, the worse its chilling effect; it will spread fear among those who wish to present controversial and critical subjects. Even though the original complaint is regarding Israel/Palestine, the rights at stake extend beyond this specific topic. Academic freedom is a right that enables scholars to express diverse perspectives over contentious topics, free from the intimidation of political repression campaigns. If the case against Professor Robinson continues to go forward, it will lead down a slippery slope that may expose academics to repression tactics for addressing controversial issues such as stem cell research, evolution, feminism, LGBT rights, etc. It is incumbent upon members of the UCSB campus and the broader academy to roundly oppose this silencing campaign.

This is an obvious attack on Professor Robinson’s academic freedom, one that ominously recalls similar campaigns against other critics of Israel across the nation. This is part of a broader campaign to automatically vilify and attack any and all critiques of Israel’s policies and practices through unfounded use of the term “anti-Semitic.” A critique of the Israeli state, its policies, and the leaders responsible is not and should not be considered an affront to Jewish people as a collective, the Jewish religion, or Jewish heritage. In fact, conflating the state of Israel with the Jewish people essentializes the assorted political opinions of a diverse religious group by reducing them to the set of policies espoused by the prevailing regime.

For more information on the case, including continuing updates, http://sb4af.wordpress.com.

If you wish to contact the student campaign, please email: cdaf.ucsb@gmail.com.

Thank you for your time,
Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UC Santa Barbara

***

Send an Email:
The e-mail should be addressed to UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang and cc’d to the following faculty and administrators involved in the case. Please copy and paste the addresses.

To: henry.yang@chancellor.ucsb.edu

CC: mgscharl@math.ucsb.edu, gene.lucas@evc.ucsb.edu, moliver@ltsc.ucsb.edu, mazer@lifesci.ucsb.edu, joel@geog.ucsb.edu, joel.michaelsen@senate.ucsb.edu,sarah@isber.ucsb.edu, butler@chem.ucsb.edu, scott@theaterdance.ucsb.edu, hcallus@music.ucsb.edu, gaulin@anth.ucsb.edu, spieker@gss.ucsb.edu,stemmer@mrl.ucsb.edu, caselle@lifesci.ucsb.edu, goulias@geog.ucsb.edu, amar@lawso.ucsb.edu, Stephanie.smagala@senate.ucsb.edu, ettenberg@psych.ucsb.edu,hualee@ece.ucsb.edu, mithun@linguistics.ucsb.edu, zok@engineering.ucsb.edu, helen.henry@ucr.edu, cdaf.ucsb@gmail.com

To Whom It May Concern,

I am a dismayed [undergraduate/graduate/alumna/faculty member] at [your university] writing you to express support for Sociology and Global Studies Professor William I. Robinson. As you may know, Professor Robinson and academic freedom have come under recent attack on the UCSB campus. Toward the end of February 2009, Professor Robinson received notice from the Academic Senate’s Charges Committee that two of his students had filed charges against him. The students alleged that an email forward he’d circulated to his class, criticizing Israel’s then-ongoing siege on Gaza, comprised anti-Semitism. These charges are patently absurd and should be dismissed out of hand before further damage is done to the university’s purpose and reputation.

I demand the immediate dismissal of all of the charges against Professor Robinson as frivolous, unfounded, and malicious. Any further consideration of these baseless attacks is unacceptable. I join other students and faculty in pledging that we will not accept any resolution of this matter that is unfavorable to Professor Robinson and academic freedom.

I also insist that the attack on Professor Robinson’s academic freedom, one that ominously recalls similar campaigns against other critical academics across the nation, be publicly condemned. This condemnation is essential to preserve full and fair discussion within the most important of the U.S.’s civic institutions. Any genuine consideration of these absurd attacks will have a severe chilling effect on the production and dissemination of scholarly research in all disciplines. Further, the attacks must be condemned to protect faculty and students from wasting valuable time and energy defending themselves against frivolous allegations and political repression.

In fact, a critique of the Israeli state, its policies, and the leaders responsible is not and should not be considered an affront to Jewish people as a collective, the Jewish religion, or Jewish heritage. Conflating the state of Israel with the Jewish people essentializes the assorted political opinions of a diverse religious group by reducing them to the set of policies espoused by the prevailing regime. The charge of anti-Semitism is made in bad faith; its real purpose is to automatically vilify and stifle any honest critiques of the state of Israel’s policies and practices.

[Insert personal message]

Sincerely,

[your name and contact information]

U of O Professor Dismissed: Administration opposes his views on Palestine - Israel

2009-04-19T16:59:00.005-04:00

To read Prof. Rancourt's statement and to sign the petition in support of him CLICK HERE

For further information, updates, and access the petition link, please go to the newly updated website: http://rancourt.academicfreedom.ca/

The following excerpt (and endnote) from Prof. Rancourt's statement is particularly important for grasping the links to Palestine:

It appears that among the real reasons for the university’s attempts to discipline me since September 2005 and for its recent most harsh actions against me under President Allan Rock’s mandate might be the administration’s opposition to my political views about the Palestine-Israel conflict, which, starting in 2005, I have expressed in articles, on radio, in my blog postings, at public venues, and in my classes. In September 2005 the dean cancelled my Physics and the Environment course following a complaint (regarding an email comment about Zionism), channelled through the university’s Canadian Studies Institute director Pierre Anctil to the VP-Academic. A complaint against an invited speaker in the course, Professor Michel Chossudovsky – who spoke about Middle East geopolitics, from the Jewish Student Association then gave rise to a sustained but failed attempt to discipline me. In 2006 I invited two Canadian-Palestinian speakers to address the class in my Science in Society course. This was followed by a damning January-2007 editorial in The Ottawa Citizen and I was subsequently removed from teaching all the first-year courses that I had developed. The Ottawa Citizen is a CanWest newspaper and its director is a member of the university’s Board of Governors. CanWest Global Communications Corporation is a staunch advocate and supporter of Israeli policy. In 2007 I criticized the university’s official position on the academic boycott of Israel on my UofOWatch.blogspot.com blog. The repression against me intensified when new university president Allan Rock, a staunch supporter of Israeli policy, arrived on the scene in July 2008. I was disciplined for the UofOWatch blog with an unpaid suspension in September 2008, by a decision of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors (EBOG). The latter suspension was followed by many more severe actions against me (see below) and is being used by the university as an argument in my dismissal.

[ENDNOTE 3]: Allan Rock’s ardent support for Israeli policy is evidenced both in his political career and in his actions on campus as president at the University of Ottawa: In 2004, under Martin’s Liberal government and as Canada’s Ambassador to the UN, Allan Rock changed Canada’s longstanding foreign policy on Israel from abstaining on human rights resolutions for Palestine to being one of the few countries in the World that vote with the US and Israel against UN human rights resolutions for Palestine. In July 2008 the media reported that Allan Rock participated in a trip to Israel “partly financed by the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA)”, along with five other Canadian university presidents. The media reported that Mr. Rock’s visit “yielded immediate results” as “the University of Ottawa agreed to launch an exchange program in law.” After a few months in office, President Allan Rock announced his plan in October 2008 for the University of Ottawa. This plan included what he calls putting “Canada’s University in the service of the World”. In explaining it to students on October 24, 2008, he talked about exchange programs. When one student asked if Palestinian students would be allowed to participate in the exchange programs with Israel, Mr. Rock stated that he could not answer that. In the fall of 2008, the University of Ottawa chapter of the independent student-run Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) took a principled stand in line with its mission statement and refused to sponsor a Hillel event due to that organization's stated unqualified support for Israeli policy. Allan Rock responded by pressuring the student union (SFUO) president to write a letter condemning OPIRG. A letter from the SFUO president delineated the administrative relationships between the SFUO and OPIRG and this letter was made public by Allan Rock on his president’s “Rock Talk” blog. Allan Rock also publicly stated that he would look for an “administrative” mechanism to deny OPIRG student-levy funding (which has been approved by a student referendum). In 2009 the Rock administration banned a student poster announcing Israeli Apartheid Week – a move widely criticized in some media such as the CBC and in the student media. This type of interventions by a president of the University of Ottawa in the affairs of student groups and associations was unprecedented. It is consistent with the increased political influences in recent years from pro-Israel-policy groups on Canadian campuses – documented in the media, such as in this CBC-Ottawa radio report: http://cbc.ca/ottawa/media/audio/allinaday/20090220carleton.ram

International Appeal in Solidarity with Palestinian Arab Railway Workers in Israel

2009-04-18T18:36:00.004-04:00

Support Arab railway workers in Israel in their struggle to keep their jobs! Call on Israel Railways to revise its new policy requiring army service as an employment condition!

This policy is clearly discriminatory: it disqualifies Arab workers because Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are exempt from service in the Israeli army. The appeal was developed in cooperation with Arab railway workers who have been sacked as a result of this policy.

This appeal has been endorsed by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and many others.

To read a brief and informative Backgrounder on the issue, and to Download and endorse the appeal, go to:

http://www.laborers-voice.org/article_details.aspx?TopID=964&catid=46

Write a protest letter to Israel Railways
Copy-paste the sample letter below or write your own message to:

Yitzhak Harel, CEO

Israel Railways

Fax: +972 (0)3 6937480

Email: pniyot@rail.co.il

CC your email/fax to Sawt el-Amel:

Sawt el-Amel

Email: laborers@laborers-voice.org

Fax: +972 (0)4 6080917

Sample letter to Israel Railways:

Dear Mr. Yitzhak Harel,

I am concerned about Israel Railways’ new policy requiring army service and weapons training as an employment condition for guards at level crossings. Since Arab citizens of Israel are exempt from obligatory army service, it can be assumed that all or most Arab crossing guards will be laid off as a consequence of this policy decision.

This contradicts the fundamental right of workers to equality and non-discrimination in employment, and consequently, the policy should be revised.

I would much appreciate to hear your position on this issue.

Sincerely,