19 oct 2018
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The Palestinians are struggling for survival under the Israeli occupation while the world remains mum over Israel’s unabated terrorism, B’Tselem has warned.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council on 18 Oct. 2018, head of B’Tselem, Hagai El-Ad said: “It is very difficult, if not impossible, to fully convey the indignity, the outrage and the pain of a people denied the benefit of human rights for more than fifty years. Here, in these chambers, it is hard to articulate the flesh and blood meaning of the exposed lives Palestinians endure under occupation”, said Hagai. “But no matter how hard it is to describe, the real hardship is that of facing such an intolerable existence day in and day out, of trying to live, and raise a family, and develop a community, under these conditions”, he stated. “It has been almost two years to the day since I last had the honor of speaking before the Council. Two more years of occupation, two years in which the routine of the first 49 years of occupation continued. Since I last spoke here, 317 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces”, added Hagai. “Israel has demolished 294 Palestinian homes and has continued making arrests on a daily basis, including of minors; Israeli settlers have vandalized and uprooted thousands of olive trees and grapevines; Israeli security forces have continued to regularly enter Palestinians houses, sometimes coming in the dead of night to wake children, register their names and take their pictures; Palestinians have lost countless hours waiting at checkpoints, with no explanation. And so the routine of the occupation marches on.” |
“All this is often referred to as ‘the status quo.’ Yet there is nothing static about this reality. It is a calculated and deliberate process of slowly splitting up an entire people, fragmenting their land, and disrupting their lives: separating Gaza from the West Bank, breaking up the West Bank into small enclaves, and walling off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.”
“Eventually, what remains are isolated bits, the easier to oppress: a family slated for eviction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan; a community such as ‘Urif, south of Nablus, trying against all odds to hold on to its land and farm it in the face of Israel’s long arm of unchecked settler violence; or Area A of the West Bank, conveniently said to be “under full Palestinian control,” but in fact essentially large Bantustans, slowly but surely being hemmed in by ever more new or expanding Israeli settlements,” Hagai’s address read.
“None of this is random. All of it is policy-driven. Two of the latest and most conspicuous examples are Israel’s conduct in the recent protests in Gaza, and its plans for Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian shepherding community. Some 200 people live in Khan al-Ahmar, just a few kilometers east of Jerusalem, in an area where Israel has long endeavored to minimize Palestinian presence and expand settlements.”
“For one thing, there’s no argument that the homes were built without permission from the Israeli authorities. But this is the case not because Palestinians are inherently law-breakers, as some in Israel suggest. Rather, it is because they have no other alternative. It is all but impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits from the Israeli authorities because the Israeli-established planning regime in the West Bank is meant, by design, to serve settlers and dispossess Palestinians,” stated Hagai.
“Secondly, the government failed to mention that the two relocation sites it so generously offered leave something to be desired: one is beside a garbage dump and the other next to a wastewater treatment facility. Moreover, relocation would completely undermine the community’s ability to make a living.”
“The Gaza Strip, with a population of nearly two million, has essentially become an open-air prison. Its inmates have been staging protests for the past six months, after suffering for more than a decade under an Israeli-imposed blockade that has led to economic collapse, soaring unemployment rates, polluted drinking water and dwindling power supplies, and ultimately, to deep despair.”
“Since March 30, more than five thousand Palestinians have been injured by live Israeli gunfire and more than 170 killed – including at least 31 minors. The youngest were just little boys. Majdi a-Satari, Yasser Abu a-Naja and Naser Musbeh were just eleven years old when they were killed,” B’Tselem’s head warned.
“As long as this methodical, relentless process doesn’t trigger international outrage and international action, Israel can successfully continue to carry off this contradiction in terms: oppressing millions while somehow still being considered a ‘democracy.’”
“Take a look at the discriminatory planning mechanisms and the separate legal systems in the occupied territories. They are reminiscent of South Africa’s grand apartheid.”
“I am not a traitor, nor am I a hero. The heroes are the Palestinians who endure this occupation with courage and perseverance; who wake up in the middle of the night to find soldiers barging into their homes; who know that if a loved one is killed, impunity is all but guaranteed to the perpetrators; who stay on their land knowing that it is only a matter of time before the bulldozers arrive”,
“We reject the occupation. We reject it because the current reality is wholly and utterly incompatible with what is right and what is just. It is a reality wholly and utterly incompatible with a life of freedom and dignity for all 13 million people – both Israeli and Palestinian – living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. And that is the future we strive for.”
“The world must let Israel know that it will no longer stand idly by, that it will take action against the continued dismantling of the Palestinian people,” vowed Hagai.
“Eventually, what remains are isolated bits, the easier to oppress: a family slated for eviction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan; a community such as ‘Urif, south of Nablus, trying against all odds to hold on to its land and farm it in the face of Israel’s long arm of unchecked settler violence; or Area A of the West Bank, conveniently said to be “under full Palestinian control,” but in fact essentially large Bantustans, slowly but surely being hemmed in by ever more new or expanding Israeli settlements,” Hagai’s address read.
“None of this is random. All of it is policy-driven. Two of the latest and most conspicuous examples are Israel’s conduct in the recent protests in Gaza, and its plans for Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian shepherding community. Some 200 people live in Khan al-Ahmar, just a few kilometers east of Jerusalem, in an area where Israel has long endeavored to minimize Palestinian presence and expand settlements.”
“For one thing, there’s no argument that the homes were built without permission from the Israeli authorities. But this is the case not because Palestinians are inherently law-breakers, as some in Israel suggest. Rather, it is because they have no other alternative. It is all but impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits from the Israeli authorities because the Israeli-established planning regime in the West Bank is meant, by design, to serve settlers and dispossess Palestinians,” stated Hagai.
“Secondly, the government failed to mention that the two relocation sites it so generously offered leave something to be desired: one is beside a garbage dump and the other next to a wastewater treatment facility. Moreover, relocation would completely undermine the community’s ability to make a living.”
“The Gaza Strip, with a population of nearly two million, has essentially become an open-air prison. Its inmates have been staging protests for the past six months, after suffering for more than a decade under an Israeli-imposed blockade that has led to economic collapse, soaring unemployment rates, polluted drinking water and dwindling power supplies, and ultimately, to deep despair.”
“Since March 30, more than five thousand Palestinians have been injured by live Israeli gunfire and more than 170 killed – including at least 31 minors. The youngest were just little boys. Majdi a-Satari, Yasser Abu a-Naja and Naser Musbeh were just eleven years old when they were killed,” B’Tselem’s head warned.
“As long as this methodical, relentless process doesn’t trigger international outrage and international action, Israel can successfully continue to carry off this contradiction in terms: oppressing millions while somehow still being considered a ‘democracy.’”
“Take a look at the discriminatory planning mechanisms and the separate legal systems in the occupied territories. They are reminiscent of South Africa’s grand apartheid.”
“I am not a traitor, nor am I a hero. The heroes are the Palestinians who endure this occupation with courage and perseverance; who wake up in the middle of the night to find soldiers barging into their homes; who know that if a loved one is killed, impunity is all but guaranteed to the perpetrators; who stay on their land knowing that it is only a matter of time before the bulldozers arrive”,
“We reject the occupation. We reject it because the current reality is wholly and utterly incompatible with what is right and what is just. It is a reality wholly and utterly incompatible with a life of freedom and dignity for all 13 million people – both Israeli and Palestinian – living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. And that is the future we strive for.”
“The world must let Israel know that it will no longer stand idly by, that it will take action against the continued dismantling of the Palestinian people,” vowed Hagai.
17 oct 2018
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The United States (US) has expressed its strong disagreement with the United Nations General Assembly vote in favor of a resolution granting the State of Palestine additional powers to be able to assume the chairmanship of the Group of 77 developing countries.
The United Nations General Assembly voted on Tuesday in favor of appointing Palestine as head of the group of 77, a coalition of developing nations at the UN, in a move that allows it to act more like a full U.N. member state during meetings in 2019. While 146 counties voted in favor, only three - Israel, the U.S. and Australia - voted against. 15 countries abstained. "Palestinians are not a member state of the UN, not a state at all," the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley reacted dryly in a statement. "The mistake of the UN today undermines the hopes of a peace by fueling the illusion maintained by some Palestinian leaders that they can advance towards their goals without direct peace negotiations" with the Israelis, she added, saying that "the vote did not help the Palestinian people." Palestine’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, Wednesday hailed the resolution as “a new political victory.” "This vote shows multilateralism in its best light," he told the General Assembly. "This vote is an expression of respect for the G77 decision" to entrust its presidency to the Palestinians, he said. |
11 oct 2018
By consensus, the Program and External Relations Commission (PX), of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on Wednesday, adopted two resolutions on Palestine, in the framework of its 205th plenary meeting.
The resolutions, sponsored by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, dealt with the issues of Jerusalem and two sites in Hebron and Bethlehem, as well as education and culture, among others.
One resolution stated, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, that, ”The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, a site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and on the List of World Heritage in Danger, is the sacred city of the three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” reaffirming that “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.”
It also reaffirmed that, “The two Palestinian sites of Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi/Tomb of the Patriarchs in AlKhalil/Hebron and the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem” are “an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and shares the conviction affirmed by the international community that the two sites are of religious significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam.”
It also deplored “the ongoing Israeli excavations, works, construction of private roads for settlers and of a Wall inside the Old City of Al-Khalil/Hebron which are illegal under international law and harmfully affect the authenticity and integrity of the site, and the subsequent denial of freedom of movement and freedom of access to places of worship.”
The resolution also asserted regret for “the visual impact of the Wall on the site of Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem as well as the strict ban on access of Palestinian Christian and Muslim worshippers to the site, and demands that the Israeli authorities restore the original character of the landscape around the site and lift the ban on access to it.”
In the past year, all twelve decisions on the Middle East have been agreed upon after negotiation between the parties, facilitated by the UNESCO Secretariat.
UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, commended “the spirit of dialogue and the sense of responsibility that led to this result. A trend towards consensus is now emerging.”
The decision adopted in the Commission will be submitted for final approval to the plenary session of the Executive Board, next week.
The resolutions, sponsored by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, dealt with the issues of Jerusalem and two sites in Hebron and Bethlehem, as well as education and culture, among others.
One resolution stated, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, that, ”The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, a site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and on the List of World Heritage in Danger, is the sacred city of the three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” reaffirming that “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.”
It also reaffirmed that, “The two Palestinian sites of Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi/Tomb of the Patriarchs in AlKhalil/Hebron and the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem” are “an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and shares the conviction affirmed by the international community that the two sites are of religious significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam.”
It also deplored “the ongoing Israeli excavations, works, construction of private roads for settlers and of a Wall inside the Old City of Al-Khalil/Hebron which are illegal under international law and harmfully affect the authenticity and integrity of the site, and the subsequent denial of freedom of movement and freedom of access to places of worship.”
The resolution also asserted regret for “the visual impact of the Wall on the site of Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem as well as the strict ban on access of Palestinian Christian and Muslim worshippers to the site, and demands that the Israeli authorities restore the original character of the landscape around the site and lift the ban on access to it.”
In the past year, all twelve decisions on the Middle East have been agreed upon after negotiation between the parties, facilitated by the UNESCO Secretariat.
UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, commended “the spirit of dialogue and the sense of responsibility that led to this result. A trend towards consensus is now emerging.”
The decision adopted in the Commission will be submitted for final approval to the plenary session of the Executive Board, next week.
Palestinian spoken-word artist and poet, Rafeef Ziadah, will join Malawian author Upile Chisala, Motswana poet TJ Dem, South African artist, Lebo Mashile and 18 other poets from across Africa and the globe at this year’s Poetry Africa Festival (PAF) in Durban, South Africa. The festival – now in its 22nd year – is hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Center for Creative Arts (CCA), and takes place in Durban, South Africa from 15 to 20 October 2018.
“Our line-up this year features a diversity of poets with a range of voices,” explains curator Siphindile Hlongwa of the CCA. Each of those voices is also articulating their various struggles for freedom and dignity.
For Palestinian refugee Rafeef Ziadah, poetry has been an important way to tell the story of her people and their struggle for liberation. “My experiences and those of the majority of Palestinians have been shaped by dispossession and exile enforced by Israel's settler colonial regime…This reality is the backbone of the poetry I write,” explains Ziadah, who first shot to fame when her poem “We Teach Life, Sir” went viral on YouTube.
A shared history of colonialism and dispossession that links Africans to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation is what makes Ziadah’s inclusion at this year’s Poetry Africa Festival so significant.
Poetry Africa’s extensive, week-long program features performances, readings and book-launches, seminars, workshops, poetry competitions, open mic opportunities, campus and school visits.
The festival will also host a week-long praise poetry workshop led by Zulu history custodian and praise poet for King Goodwill Zwelithini, BM Mdletshe. “It is our hope that this will be the beginning of many more workshops that celebrate our cultural heritage not only of the Zulu people, but of Africa as a whole,” explains Hlongwa. “The bigger picture is to eventually open this up to cater for the various African languages across the continent.”
Source: Afro-Palestine Newswire Service
“Our line-up this year features a diversity of poets with a range of voices,” explains curator Siphindile Hlongwa of the CCA. Each of those voices is also articulating their various struggles for freedom and dignity.
For Palestinian refugee Rafeef Ziadah, poetry has been an important way to tell the story of her people and their struggle for liberation. “My experiences and those of the majority of Palestinians have been shaped by dispossession and exile enforced by Israel's settler colonial regime…This reality is the backbone of the poetry I write,” explains Ziadah, who first shot to fame when her poem “We Teach Life, Sir” went viral on YouTube.
A shared history of colonialism and dispossession that links Africans to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation is what makes Ziadah’s inclusion at this year’s Poetry Africa Festival so significant.
Poetry Africa’s extensive, week-long program features performances, readings and book-launches, seminars, workshops, poetry competitions, open mic opportunities, campus and school visits.
The festival will also host a week-long praise poetry workshop led by Zulu history custodian and praise poet for King Goodwill Zwelithini, BM Mdletshe. “It is our hope that this will be the beginning of many more workshops that celebrate our cultural heritage not only of the Zulu people, but of Africa as a whole,” explains Hlongwa. “The bigger picture is to eventually open this up to cater for the various African languages across the continent.”
Source: Afro-Palestine Newswire Service
4 oct 2018
October 3, 2018 / Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)/ Europe
The European Union’s program “Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament” cynically aims at reducing 70 years of Palestinian suffering under Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, military occupation and apartheid to a “conflict” that can be resolved through dialogue.
On the 13th of August 2018, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel sent a letter to Mr. Ralph Tarraf, the Head of the EU delegation in the West Bank and Gaza, among other EU officials, regarding the EU program “Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament”. The letter pointed out that the program violates the relevant BDS guidelines agreed upon by the vast majority of Palestinian civil society.
The letter also stated that the EU and its programs are highly complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and international law. This program cynically aims at reducing 70 years of Palestinian suffering under Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, military occupation and apartheid to a “conflict” that can be resolved through dialogue.
The letter called on the EU to end all forms of complicity and to halt all its normalization programs.
The campaign has received no answer from the EU delegation. We therefore share the letter publicly so that Palestinians and Europeans alike will realize how harmful these EU-funded normalization projects are to the popular Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
PACBI calls on all Palestinian participants to withdraw from this normalization project to avoid becoming themselves complicit in undermining the Palestinian struggle for our inalienable rights under international law.
Subject: Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society, would like to point out that your program “Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament” to be held in December of this year, as we learned, violates the boycott and anti- normalization guidelines agreed on by the vast majority of Palestinian civil society.
This program aims at bringing together Palestinian and Israeli young leaders on a joint trip to the EU headquarters, to familiarize them with the mechanisms and different bodies of the Union. The participants will then engage in joint discussions with members and representatives of the EU, encouraging them to share their views on the future of the “conflict” with their Israeli and European counterparts. The reduction of 70 years that Palestinians have suffered under a settler colonial occupation, to a conflict resulting from a psychological barrier that could be eliminated by joint dialogue amongst two equal parties, which this program tries to achieve, falls under the definition of normalization, an act rejected by Palestinian civil society.
These attempts give a false and distorted picture of the Israeli occupation and Apartheid regime, which has recently escalated its ethnic cleansing policies against Palestinians, i.e. what is happening now in Khan Al- Ahmar, the Jordan Valley and Negev.
During a time in which Israel is adopting the racist “Jewish nation-state” law, which turns apartheid’s policy into a constitutional law, and while it continues its crimes against peaceful Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip for the right of return and ending the siege, the EU must stop its disgraceful complicity with these crimes instead of financing projects aimed at covering the face of this colonial and racist system.
The EU maintains a network of military relations, arms research, banking transactions [pdf] and trade with settlements, and with Israeli companies, banks and institutions deeply complicit in human rights violations. For example, the EU imports goods from Israeli settlements with an annual estimated value of $300 million [pdf]. This is more than 17 times the average annual value [pdf] of Palestinian goods imported by the EU between 2004 and 2014.
Through its program “Horizon 2020”, the EU has approved more than 200 projects in collaboration with Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, accused of deep complicity with Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. The other beneficiary of EU funding is the Technion, a major center for the development of Israeli weapons systems used to commit crimes against Palestinian civilians.
European banks continue their trade relations with Israeli banks [pdf], despite the central role played by the latter in financing, providing services, or supporting illegal settlements established by Israel in occupied Palestinian territory (or Syria). A recent report by “Human Rights Watch” concluded that “companies can not fulfill their human rights responsibilities if they continue to carry out activities inside or for the [Israeli] settlements.”
Despite the pressure placed on the EU by hundreds of trade unions, European civil society organizations and more than 60 members of the European Parliament, it still has stubbornly refused to enforce the human rights clause in the FTA with Israel. This continued even after a legal report published by a UN agency last year revealed that Israel had established a system of apartheid against the entire Palestinian people. Apartheid is the second most serious crime against humanity in international law.
The EU continued support for the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime makes it a partner in crime, despite its occasional empty declarations calling for the achievement of a just peace that respects the rules of international law and the principles of human rights. Therefore, we call on the EU to stop all aspects of its complicity with Israel’s occupation and apartheid. We also call on it to stop all similar normalization projects aimed at perpetuating this occupation regime, at a time when the European people are calling for holding it accountable and imposing sanctions on it. Such a call is similar to those imposed on the apartheid regime in South Africa in the past, and on some countries nowadays, for their violations of human rights.
If the EU is indeed concerned with playing a positive role in supporting the march of freedom, justice, equality and human rights of the Palestinian people, then, the time has come for it to end its complicity and double standards.
Via the official BDS National Committee website.
The European Union’s program “Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament” cynically aims at reducing 70 years of Palestinian suffering under Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, military occupation and apartheid to a “conflict” that can be resolved through dialogue.
On the 13th of August 2018, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel sent a letter to Mr. Ralph Tarraf, the Head of the EU delegation in the West Bank and Gaza, among other EU officials, regarding the EU program “Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament”. The letter pointed out that the program violates the relevant BDS guidelines agreed upon by the vast majority of Palestinian civil society.
The letter also stated that the EU and its programs are highly complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and international law. This program cynically aims at reducing 70 years of Palestinian suffering under Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, military occupation and apartheid to a “conflict” that can be resolved through dialogue.
The letter called on the EU to end all forms of complicity and to halt all its normalization programs.
The campaign has received no answer from the EU delegation. We therefore share the letter publicly so that Palestinians and Europeans alike will realize how harmful these EU-funded normalization projects are to the popular Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
PACBI calls on all Palestinian participants to withdraw from this normalization project to avoid becoming themselves complicit in undermining the Palestinian struggle for our inalienable rights under international law.
Subject: Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society, would like to point out that your program “Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament” to be held in December of this year, as we learned, violates the boycott and anti- normalization guidelines agreed on by the vast majority of Palestinian civil society.
This program aims at bringing together Palestinian and Israeli young leaders on a joint trip to the EU headquarters, to familiarize them with the mechanisms and different bodies of the Union. The participants will then engage in joint discussions with members and representatives of the EU, encouraging them to share their views on the future of the “conflict” with their Israeli and European counterparts. The reduction of 70 years that Palestinians have suffered under a settler colonial occupation, to a conflict resulting from a psychological barrier that could be eliminated by joint dialogue amongst two equal parties, which this program tries to achieve, falls under the definition of normalization, an act rejected by Palestinian civil society.
These attempts give a false and distorted picture of the Israeli occupation and Apartheid regime, which has recently escalated its ethnic cleansing policies against Palestinians, i.e. what is happening now in Khan Al- Ahmar, the Jordan Valley and Negev.
During a time in which Israel is adopting the racist “Jewish nation-state” law, which turns apartheid’s policy into a constitutional law, and while it continues its crimes against peaceful Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip for the right of return and ending the siege, the EU must stop its disgraceful complicity with these crimes instead of financing projects aimed at covering the face of this colonial and racist system.
The EU maintains a network of military relations, arms research, banking transactions [pdf] and trade with settlements, and with Israeli companies, banks and institutions deeply complicit in human rights violations. For example, the EU imports goods from Israeli settlements with an annual estimated value of $300 million [pdf]. This is more than 17 times the average annual value [pdf] of Palestinian goods imported by the EU between 2004 and 2014.
Through its program “Horizon 2020”, the EU has approved more than 200 projects in collaboration with Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, accused of deep complicity with Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. The other beneficiary of EU funding is the Technion, a major center for the development of Israeli weapons systems used to commit crimes against Palestinian civilians.
European banks continue their trade relations with Israeli banks [pdf], despite the central role played by the latter in financing, providing services, or supporting illegal settlements established by Israel in occupied Palestinian territory (or Syria). A recent report by “Human Rights Watch” concluded that “companies can not fulfill their human rights responsibilities if they continue to carry out activities inside or for the [Israeli] settlements.”
Despite the pressure placed on the EU by hundreds of trade unions, European civil society organizations and more than 60 members of the European Parliament, it still has stubbornly refused to enforce the human rights clause in the FTA with Israel. This continued even after a legal report published by a UN agency last year revealed that Israel had established a system of apartheid against the entire Palestinian people. Apartheid is the second most serious crime against humanity in international law.
The EU continued support for the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime makes it a partner in crime, despite its occasional empty declarations calling for the achievement of a just peace that respects the rules of international law and the principles of human rights. Therefore, we call on the EU to stop all aspects of its complicity with Israel’s occupation and apartheid. We also call on it to stop all similar normalization projects aimed at perpetuating this occupation regime, at a time when the European people are calling for holding it accountable and imposing sanctions on it. Such a call is similar to those imposed on the apartheid regime in South Africa in the past, and on some countries nowadays, for their violations of human rights.
If the EU is indeed concerned with playing a positive role in supporting the march of freedom, justice, equality and human rights of the Palestinian people, then, the time has come for it to end its complicity and double standards.
Via the official BDS National Committee website.
On Wednesday, Head of the UN Security Council, Bolivian Ambassador, Sacha Sergio Llorenti Soliz, said that he will seek a visit to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in October.
This came during a press conference held by Soliz, in which his country holds the rotating presidency of the Council, at the permanent headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
“The council should go to Gaza and the West Bank,” he said. “We will insist on that. We hope the visit will turn into a reality on the ground.”
“For more than 50 or 70 years, the United Nations has not fulfilled its promise to establish a sovereign Palestinian state … The Council has visited many regions of the world and we believe that this region is one of the most important.”
Palestinian Authority officials have often demanded that a delegation of council members visit the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, “to see the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
However, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, the completion of such a visit requires the unanimous approval of all 15 members of the council, which is strongly rejected by the United States of America, a permanent member with veto power alongside Russia, Britain, France and China.
The Ambassador confirmed that the representatives of 10 Security Council member States had sent an official letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Gutierrez, that the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolai Miladinov, should submit written, not verbal, On the Palestinian issue and the extent to which Israel has complied with Council resolution 2334.”
Resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016 demanded that the United Nations Secretariat submit credible reports on Israel’s compliance with the terms of the resolution calling for “an immediate cessation of all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”
The same resolution stressed that “the settlements have no legal legitimacy and are a flagrant violation of international law.”
This came during a press conference held by Soliz, in which his country holds the rotating presidency of the Council, at the permanent headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
“The council should go to Gaza and the West Bank,” he said. “We will insist on that. We hope the visit will turn into a reality on the ground.”
“For more than 50 or 70 years, the United Nations has not fulfilled its promise to establish a sovereign Palestinian state … The Council has visited many regions of the world and we believe that this region is one of the most important.”
Palestinian Authority officials have often demanded that a delegation of council members visit the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, “to see the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
However, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, the completion of such a visit requires the unanimous approval of all 15 members of the council, which is strongly rejected by the United States of America, a permanent member with veto power alongside Russia, Britain, France and China.
The Ambassador confirmed that the representatives of 10 Security Council member States had sent an official letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Gutierrez, that the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolai Miladinov, should submit written, not verbal, On the Palestinian issue and the extent to which Israel has complied with Council resolution 2334.”
Resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016 demanded that the United Nations Secretariat submit credible reports on Israel’s compliance with the terms of the resolution calling for “an immediate cessation of all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”
The same resolution stressed that “the settlements have no legal legitimacy and are a flagrant violation of international law.”
