"We won’t be silenced," say students arrested over Peres boycott call

Yara Sa'di

 

The Electronic Intifada

 

24 January 2012

 

Khalil Gharra (www.arabs48.com)

Three Palestinian students at the College of Engineering in Jerusalem (JCE) have been put under house arrest for a week and instructed not to contact any of their peers for using the social media website Facebook to urge a boycott of a speech by Israeli President Shimon Peres.

A couple of weeks ago, students received a message from the college authorities, notifying them of a visit by Peres scheduled for 10 January. The message emphasized that attendance during Peres’ speech was “compulsory.”

Three Palestinian students then posted on the college’s Facebook page that they would not attend the speech and asked others to follow suit. In response almost all the Palestinian students of the college boycotted the speech.
Following the event, the three students who urged the boycott were called for an interrogation at an Israeli police station. They were accused of threatening other students, as well as racism. They were then put under house arrest for a week, outside Jerusalem, and were instructed not to contact other students.

“Intense debate”

Khalil Gharra, one of the three targeted students, told The Electronic Intifada, “There was an intense debate on the Facebook page of the college’s first year students between students who rejected the college’s policy regarding the compulsory attendance of Peres’ speech and others who supported it.”

He added, “The debate revolved around the commitment of the students to the decision of the college, and around how the college should not be forcing students to attend a lecture delivered by a ‘political symbol.’ This act contravened the students’ freedom of expression. Within this context, I expressed my opinion, saying that I wouldn’t attend the lecture. And I advised others to do the same.”

Gharra added that another debate is now taking place on Facebook regarding the punishments that the police imposed on him and his friends. He said that many Palestinian students have protested over the case, and have expressed their support for the targeted students.

Referring to his interrogation, Gharra said: “An officer from a police station in the Talpiot area in Jerusalem contacted me more than once and asked me to go immediately to the police station to be interrogated in a case that I knew nothing about. I refused to do so as these kind of invitations are illegal. The next day I received a printed invitation to my room in the students’ dorms.”

According to Gharra, the letter stated, “If you do not arrive to the station immediately, we will come and arrest you in the late hours of the night.”

At the station he was told that he was accused of threatening behavior and of incitement to racism. Ghara said, “I denied all the charges against me. Later the interrogator consulted other interrogators and officers who are in charge of the case, and he decided that I should be deported from Jerusalem and that I’m not allowed to contact any student till 25 January. Moreover, he decided to put me under house arrest until 21 January.”

“Political persecution”

 

Ghara argued that this specific case should not be viewed separately from other restrictions on Palestinian student activism in Israeli universities. He said, “It’s clear to me from the investigation’s course that the case is about political persecution. However, they won’t stop us from our political activism. I won’t bend to the policy of repression that the police and the intelligence are practicing on Arab students. Our activism is legal and it’s our right to organize and express our opinion.”

Alaa Mahajna, the students’ lawyer, also argued that the case is not criminal but political. He said, “The students are suspected of threatening and incitement to racism following Shimon Peres’ speech. However, Peres is a controversial political figure, some consider him to be responsible for murdering more than a hundred innocent people during the Qana massacre [in Lebanon] in 1996, when he was the prime minister of Israel. The argument about whether to attend or boycott the speech was conducted through the public sphere — Facebook — where everyone could express his or her opinion. As a lawyer, I don’t see any legal basis for the suspicions against the students.”

“These legal actions are part of the whole process of political persecution, which aims to shut down the voice of the Palestinian students in Israeli universities,” he added.

Palestinian students in the college are organizing a petition to express their support for the targeted students, emphasizing their right to protest.

Moreover, the Palestinian students association at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem released a statement condemning the violation of the right to free expression. The association also confirmed the importance of boycotting Israelis who are involved in war crimes, referring to Peres’ role in the Qana massacre.

Yara Sa’di is a postgraduate student and activist from Haifa.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/we-wont-be-silenced-say-students-arrested-over-peres-boycott-call/10853

Activists resisting home demolitions face ‘IDF Price Tag’ attack

 

Wednesday, January 25 2012|+972blog

On Monday night, the IDF demolished Palestinian homes closely identified with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. Resistance and acts of solidarity will continue, but even resistance cannot keep pace with the massive Price Tag assault that is the Israeli Occupation. 

Salim Shawamreh stands on the ruins of his demolished home (photo: Jeff Halper)

By Jeff Halper

It has become commonplace among violent West Bank settlers to randomly attack Palestinian mosques, homes, olive orchards and individuals in order to send a message to other Israelis. They are called “Price Tag” attacks, after the “signature” the settlers leave scrawled on the walls of the burnt-out buildings. In the dark of night this past Monday, January 23, the IDF carried out its own Price Tag assault on ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

At 11:30 p.m. on that cold, rainy night, I got a panicky phone call from Salim Shawamreh, a Palestinian man from the West Bank town of Anata whose home has been demolished by the Israeli authorities four times and rebuilt as an act of resistance each time by ICAHD. “Army bulldozers are approaching my home,” he cried. “Now they’re beginning to demolish it!”

As has become routine, I alerted our activists, plus journalists and foreign diplomats, and we rushed out to Anata. We knew we could not save the homes, but we could resist; stand in solidarity with the families, soaked, with their belongings, in the rain; document what was happening and broadcast this latest war crime to the world. It was another of those thousands of attacks on Palestinians that occur daily but never reach the newspapers – probably because there are so many and they are so routine by now that they are not, in fact, “news.”

By the time we reached Salim’s house – which we rebuilt in 2003 and have called Beit Arabiya ever since, the “house of Arabiya,” home to Salim’s wife and mother of their seven children – it was gone. Salim himself was afraid to go down the hill to see it because of the soldiers, but I ran down. Even in the dark and rain I could see the ruins of the home, and the family’s belongings that had been thrown out. But I couldn’t tarry. The bulldozers had moved up the hill and were in the process of demolishing a Jahalin Bedouin enclave there – part of the Jahalin tribe that was being removed and relocated on top of the Jerusalem garbage dump near Abu Dis.

Our activists were already there, scuffling with the army and trying to reach the bulldozer to hamper its destruction. The soldiers, claiming that this was a “closed military area” but unable to produce any proper military order, attacked the activists physically and verbally. Itay Epshtain, ICAHD’s Co-Director, was hit with a gun and thrown to the ground. All the while, the soldiers cursed at “the anarchists and leftists.” One yelled at Rabbi Arik Aschermann from Rabbis For Human Rights to take of his skullcap because “he was a disgrace to Judaism.” But it was the women who received the most violent verbal abuse, in addition to physical. “May the Arabs here rape you!” one soldier yelled at an activist.

In the end, Beit Arabiya, six Jahalin homes and most of their animal pens were demolished before the army left. The bulldozer, protected by dozens of troops, belonged to a commercial contractor who was paid well for the demolitions by the Civil Administration, Israel’s military government in the West Bank that uses the word “civil” to downplay its military connections, and to make it appear that demolitions of “illegal” Palestinian homes are simply part of “proper administration.”

After staying with the families and promising to rebuild, we finally left to send out press releases; put out information on our website and social media; and begin mobilizing activists abroad and, through them, governments and UN bodies. Only when we returned early in the morning did we learn that yet another house had been demolished: that of the Abu Omar family, a family of 17 people who lived in a home that had been demolished last year, which ICAHD had rebuilt in our 2011 summer rebuilding camp. We had thought the bulldozer and soldiers had left for the Border Police base on the hill opposite Beit Arabiya and the Jahalin, but in fact they had only gone around Anata. At 3:30 a.m. they pounced on the Abu Omar family, forced them out of their home, removed their belongings and demolished it. The family was so dazed by the sudden violence, terror, confusion and need to protect the terrified children that they hadn’t even thought of phoning us.

The IDF attack on three sites that for years have been identified with ICAHD’s resistance activities was clearly an official, government-sponsored, violent Price Tag assault on Palestinians in order to “send a message” to ICAHD. Out of the tens of thousands of demolition orders outstanding in the Occupied Territory, they chose these three. In fact, the “message” had already been delivered. Already at the second demolition of Beit Arabiya in 1999, Micha Yakhin, the Civil Administration official responsible for overseeing the demolitions in that part of the West Bank, told me: “We will demolish every home you rebuild.”

ICAHD has rebuilt 185 demolished Palestinian homes in the past 15 years, all as acts of political resistance – not humanitarian gestures – all funded by donations. We will rebuild the homes demolished Monday night as well. The coming together of Palestinian families and community members, Israeli activists and international peace-makers to rebuild homes is one of the most significant forms of resistance, solidarity and mobilization. But Israel demolished 200 homes last year alone in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, of more than 26,000 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territory since 1967. Resistance cannot keep pace with the massive Price Tag assault that is the Israeli Occupation.

Jeff Halper is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He can be reached here.

http://972mag.com/idf-commits-price-tag-attack-against-activists-resisting-home-demolitions/33866/

Israeli navy attacks international observers, injures Palestinian, on monitoring boat in Gaza waters

Thursday December 29, 2011 06:25 by International Solidarity Movement - press release

At 10:55 am on Wednesday December 28th, an Israeli naval warship attacked the international observers and Palestinian captain of the Civil Peace Service Gaza (CPSGAZA) boat Oliva, injuring its captain in an apparent attempt to capsize it.

Rosa Schiano, Civil Peace Service Gaza (CPSGAZA)

“The Israeli navy passed near us and the fishermen, and started to go around us, creating waves,” said Rosa Schiano, one of the international observers. “The fishermen escaped, but we couldn’t because of a problem with our engine. We couldn’t move, and they went around us very quickly. The Israelis saw that we couldn’t move, and that the captain was trying to fix the engine, but they didn’t stop. We told them, ‘Please stop! Please stop!’ But they didn’t.”

When the warship was two meters away from the Oliva, one of the waves it had created nearly capsized the small boat, filling it with water and causing the Palestinian captain to fall out, injuring his left leg.

“Their intentions were to do something very bad,” said international observer Daniela Riva. “Coming so close to us was very dangerous, and they obviously knew that.”

After more than twenty minutes, the warship retreated, and the Oliva was rescued by a small Palestinian fishing boat, or hasaka, which threw it a line and towed it toward the shore.

The incident followed similar attacks on the Oliva during previous missions.

Background

Restrictions on the fishing zone are of considerable significance to Palestinian livelihood. Initially 20 nautical miles, it is presently often enforced between 1.5 – 2 nautical miles (PCHR: 2010). The marine ‘buffer zone’ restricts Gazan fishermen from accessing 85% of Gaza’s fishing waters agreed to by Oslo.”

During the Oslo Accords, specifically under the Gaza-Jericho Agreement of 1994, representatives of Palestine agreed to 20 nautical miles for fishing access. In 2002 the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan empowered Catherine Bertini to negotiate with Israel on key issues regarding the humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and a 12 nautical mile fishing limit was agreed upon. In June 2006, following the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit near the crossing of Kerem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom), the navy imposed a complete sea blockade for several months. When the complete blockade was finally lifted, Palestinian fishermen found that a 6 nautical mile limit was being enforced. When Hamas gained political control of the Gaza Strip, the limit was reduced to 3 nautical miles. During the massive assault on the Strip in 2008-2009, a complete blockade was again declared. After Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli army began imposing a 1.5 – 2 nautical miles (PCHR: 2010).

The fishing community is often similarly targeted as the farmers in the ‘buffer zone’ and the fishing limit is enforced with comparable aggression, with boats shot at or rammed as near as 2nm to the Gazan coast by Israeli gunboats.

The fishermen have been devastated, directly affecting an estimated 65,000 people and reducing the catch by 90%. The coastal areas are now grossly over-fished and 2/3 of fishermen have left the industry since 2000 (PCHR: 2009). Recent statistics of the General Union of Fishing Workers indicate that the direct losses since the second Intifada in September 2000 were estimated at a million dollars and the indirect losses were estimated at 13.25 million dollars during the same period. The 2009 fishing catch amounted to a total of 1,525 metric tones, only 53 percent of the amount during 2008 (2,845 metric tones) and 41 percent of the amount in 1999 (3,650 metric tones), when the fishermen of Gaza could still fish up to ten nautical miles from the coast.

Current figures indicate that during 2010 the decline in the fishing catch continues. This has caused an absurd arrangement to become standard practice. The fishermen sail out not to fish, but to buy fish off of Egyptian boats and then sell this fish in Gaza. According to the Fishermen’s Union, a monthly average of 105 tons of fish has been entering Gaza through the tunnels since the beginning of 2010 (PCHR 2009).

Video footage of the incident on December 28th:

http://www.imemc.org/article/62742

Interview: "Everyone can help Welcome to Palestine 2012"

Adri Nieuwhof 

 

The Electronic Intifada

 

19 December 2011

 

Israel’s deporting of dozens of international activists earlier this year generated bad publicity.

(Oren Ziv/ActiveStills)

Plans are underway to challenge Israeli apartheid during 2012 by having a large number of international activists land in Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and state openly that they wish to visit Palestine. Scheduled for 15 April, the “Welcome to Palestine 2012” initiative will be the second such attempt to affirm the right of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank to receive visitors.

In July this year, international airlines collaborated with Israel in preventing black-listed participants to board planes. More than a hundred activists with the Welcome to Palestine “Flytilla” reached the Tel Aviv airport, but they were detained by Israeli forces upon arrival, and subsequently deported.
The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof recently interviewed Mick Napier, chairman of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and a Welcome to Palestine 2012 organizer in the United Kingdom, about the project. Napier was one of the participants in this year’s “Flytilla” who was detained by Israel.

Adri Nieuwhof: Can you clarify how you become involved in Palestine solidarity activism and what drives you?

Mick Napier: Well, I spent years at university opposing the [US] invasion and devastation of Vietnam. I took from that the idea that it is possible to defeat even the greatest crimes. If we organize ourselves and link the people in colonial countries with a principled solidarity movement in the metropolitan countries, we can win.

AN: Can you tell us more about the Welcome to Palestine initiative?

MN: It is a French-Belgian initiative, with a few of us from the UK joining last year. As soon as I heard about it, I knew it would be a serious challenge [to] the fencing off of the Palestinians in the West Bank. In the same way as the [Gaza Freedom] Flotilla has done. With “Welcome to Palestine” we can show people the crimes Israel commits against the Palestinians.

In July, about 500 people were prepared to fly to Tel Aviv, and 125 arrived. We know we wrong-footed the Israelis. We know, if we multiply the numbers, we can challenge Israel and the compliance of our governments. Not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank as well.

AN: You participated in the first Flytilla. How was the reception at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv last July?

MN: The reception in Tel Aviv shows that Israel is a lawless state. Upon not infringing passport control after we said that we want to visit Palestinian friends in Bethlehem, we were frog-marched to a detention center and from there moved to two other prisons. We were assured by Israeli officers that we were guilty of something but not [told] of what. While we were in prison, the Israeli embassy in London issued a statement that we were not held in a prison.

AN: What are the lessons you have learned from the Flytilla?

MN: The Israeli authorities in the days before 8 July became hysterical. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu announced that people who fly to Tel Aviv to go to Bethlehem are a threat to the security of Israel. The Israeli police chief, who is a hooligan himself, called us hooligans who will be dealt with appropriately. We learned we should fly in huge numbers and [that it is important] to liaise with Palestinians and friends in Israel.

The Israelis have constructed enormous prisons for Palestinians. But prisoners have a right to visits. Our countries are in league with Israel. Israel denies the most basic rights to Palestinians. Their response to our initiative was to score an own-goal. The publicity and sympathy we received was quite remarkable.

Small towns adopted people who would go. Israel was portrayed as the problem, not the British citizens. Even quite right-wing communities wondered at the stupidity of Netanyahu and the police minister. The stupidity, the lack of subtlety and the belief they can solve any problem with oppression, it is all in our favor.

AN: With the first Flytilla, airlines received lists with names of people who would be denied entry to Israel, [and the] airlines did not allow them to board the plane. What role will the airlines play in the coming Flytilla?

MN: There are indications that airlines felt manipulated by Israel. European airlines have felt it is costly in terms of money and public relations. There will be demonstrations if we are not permitted on board. There will be a chance they [the airlines] will leave Israel to deal with us. Airlines should refuse to be the auxiliary prison guards for Israel’s illegal occupation.

AN: Not everybody can participate in the next Flytilla on 15 April 2012. Do you have suggestions what people who want to support the Palestinians can do?

MN: Everyone can participate. Not just the hundreds of people that will fly. People are needed to explain why it is important to adopt the tactic, to explain why people are going to visit Palestinian friends openly. We need a support system on the ground like the Flotilla to inform the public in case we are detained.

The wider answer to your question is boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). We respond to the Palestinian call of boycott of any institution of the Israeli state. So [Israeli airline] El Al is most definitely not an option to fly that day.

Fundamental to what we do is the understanding — shared by Zionists — that Israel has become a toxic brand. The knowledge about Israel’s criminal behavior has spread far and wide in every European country. Therefore, when Israel crosses another red line by a massacre on sea, or by not allowing visits to prison for Palestinians, they dig themselves deeper into a hostile public opinion which is the basis of all BDS successes that have been secured until now.

Adri Nieuwhof is a consultant and human rights advocate based in Swizerland.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/interview-everyone-can-help-welcome-palestine-2012/10706

IDF fires tear gas, beats mourners after Tamimi funeral

 

Sunday, December 11 2011|Mya Guarnieri

On Sunday morning, thousands of mourners lined Ramallah’s streets for the funeral procession of Mustafa Tamimi, a 28-year-old Palestinian who was killed by the Israeli army this weekend. The procession continued to Nabi Saleh, where hundreds attended Tamimi’s burial. The army reportedly fired tear gas on some of the mourners, beat unarmed demonstrators, and arrested seven activists

Mourners carry Mustafa Tamimi's body through Ramallah (photo: Activestills)

Hundreds of mourners proceeded to Nabi Saleh, Tamimi’s village and the place he was shot by a tear gas canister during the weekly demonstration against the Israeli occupation and the illegal settlement encroaching on Nabi Saleh’s land. Tamimi was shot in the face at close range on Friday and died of the injuries Saturday morning.

Mustafa Tamimi's funeral procession (photo: Activestills)

Those attending the funeral in Nabi Saleh reported that the Israeli army gathered on the hills nearby. They also said that an armored military jeep used to shoot tear gas–a “tear gas jeep” as Abir Kopty put it–was waiting at the entrance of the village when the funeral procession arrived.

When the mourners shouted at the soldiers for killing Tamimi, soldiers cursed them.

After Tamimi’s burial, local youth headed in the direction of the spring that belongs to the village but has been appropriated by the neighboring settlement, Halamish. The army fired tear gas and skunk water on the unarmed demonstrators.

Soldiers and protesters clash in Nabi Saleh Sunday (photo: Activestills)

“In Palestine, even anger is not allowed,” Abir Kopty remarked on Twitter.

Fearful of violent clashes with the Israeli army, some residents of Nabi Saleh called on the youth to stop the protest. They attempted to go on with their demonstration, however, and witnesses on the ground in Nabi Saleh said that soldiers beat a protester to the point that an ambulance was needed.
After an ambulance arrived, Diana Alzeer reported on Twitter that the army continued to beat the unarmed demonstrators.  Emilie Baujard, a French journalist, reported that seven protesters were arrested. Leehee Rothschild noted that several Israelis were among those detained.

Several witnesses said that soldiers attempted to choke Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, who was evacuated to the hospital.

Abir Kopty and other witnesses reported that of the seven who were arrested, three were Israeli, one was Palestinian, and the rest were internationals.

A mourner confronts a soldier with a poster commemorating Tamimi (photo: Activestills)

Here are a few additional photos that Joseph Dana, who attended the procession in Ramallah, put on his Twitter account, @ibnezra, shared with permission:

Mustafa Tamimi's body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag and keffiyeh, being carried in Ramallah (photo: Joseph Dana)

A child overcome by grief as Mustafa Tamimi's body is loaded into a car to be taken to Nabi Saleh, where he will be buried (photo: Joseph Dana)

http://972mag.com/israeli-army-fires-tear-gas-on-mourners-in-nabi-saleh/29447/

Activists: Soldiers open fire toward Gaza demo

Published yesterday (updated) 14/12/2011 00:19

 

Palestinians demonstrate against Israeli incursions and land confiscation near
the barrier north of Beit Hanoun (MaanImages/Wissam Nassar, File)

 

 

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces fired toward Palestinian protesters on Tuesday during a demonstration against land confiscation near the Israeli border, activists said.

Saber Zaanin, local coordinator, said activists and internationals were fired upon while heading toward the destroyed Dumra village north of Beit Hanoun, inside Israel's buffer zone.

Israeli forces fired at them and tanks headed toward the wall. International solidarity activists got on a farming plow, which was pushed inside the buffer zone by 200 meters, he added.

Zaanin pointed out that the activity is a message for the people in Nabi Saleh that they "are not alone facing Israel and its walls", and that the "seeds of resistance planted in the buffer zone area are for peace."

An Israeli army spokesman did not immediately return a call late Tuesday.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=444705

Activist conference prepares for solidarity march

Published yesterday (updated) 11/12/2011 22:46

 

(REUTERS/Mohammad Torokman, File)

 

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Activists are preparing for a major international solidarity march next year, organizers said as a preparatory conference was set to open on Monday.

Arab and international solidarity groups from more than 20 countries will gather in Amman to prepare for the march to Palestine from neighboring countries, slated for March 30, or Land Day, in 2012.

Preparation committee director Ribhi Halloum told the Kuwait news agency on Sunday that protesters will head towards Palestinian borders from Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

The protest aims to move the right of return possessed by Palestinian refugees from theory to practice, Halloum said, adding that preparation work had started to ensure that the action is a success.

On May 15, thousands of protesters massed on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, trying to force their way across on the anniversary of the mass dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 creation of the state of Israel. Four were killed on the Syrian border and ten in Lebanon by Israeli fire.

On the anniversary of the 1967 war when Israel captured the Golan from Syria as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hundreds of demonstrators stormed a ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights, with Damascus saying 23 demonstrators were killed and Israel saying it was aware of 12 casualties.

 

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=444153

'Price tag' suspect emailed death threats from house arrest, police says

Published 20:45 27.11.11 Latest update 20:45 27.11.11

 Man indicted for incitement for racism, vandalism wrote to leading Peace Now activists: 'Today you die,' and 'I'll kill you. The end is near.'

By Oz Rosenberg

 A man believe to be linked to a series of "price tag" attacks against Israeli peace activists has been continuously emailing death threats to leading Peace Now activists, just a week after being released to house arrest.

The man, 21, was indicted less than two weeks ago for incitement for racism and vandalism of property, after had admitted to spraying graffiti in several locations in and around Jerusalem, reading "price tag" and "death to the Arabs."

	The 'price tag' graffiti outside Peace Now official Hagit Ofran’s door reads 'Ofran, Rabin is waiting for you.'
	Photo by: Tomer Appelbaum

"Price Tag," is the name given by extremists to activities against Palestinians, peace activists or security forces in response to what are considered to be actions against the settlements or illegal outposts in the West Bank.

He was subsequently released to house arrest and forced to wear an electronic bracelet.

However, police officials have indicated that the man had continued his "price tag" activities from within his Jerusalem home, sending death threats to Peace Now management, without even bothering to conceal his name.

Peace Now chief Yaniv Oppenheimer said that "at about 3:30 I suddenly received a threatening email." That message, the Peace Now activist said, was "'Today you die.' Then I spoke with the others and found out that I was only the last to receive such an email. Hagit [Ofran] got one and others too."
The suspect sent death threats to all of the Peace Now activists, only differently phrased. To Ofran, the group's head of settlement tracking, he wrote "Hagit Ofran, R.I.P.," while to the head of Jerusalem activities Danielle Blumenstyk he wrote "I'll kill you. The end is near."

The man, the name of whom is still under gag order, is linked to an attack on Ofran's home earlier this month, in which swastikas graffiti slogans were prayed on her Jerusalem home.

The graffiti warned: "Hagit Ogran, Rabin is waiting for you", referring to the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, by a right wing-activist.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/price-tag-suspect-emailed-death-threats-from-house-arrest-police-says-1.398087

Palestina Amore

 Some Italians have made it their mission to mobilise support on behalf of the Palestinian cause.

 

Al Jazeera World Last Modified: 27 Nov 2011 06:54

 

 On May 31, 2010, an Israeli military raid on an aid flotilla sailing to the blockaded Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of nine unarmed peace activists, prompting international condemnation over what was perceived as a brutal and unjustified use of force.

Five of those on board of one of the ships were Italian nationals who were part of the humanitarian mission attempting to break the blockade by delivering goods and construction materials to the occupied Palestinian territory. Israeli sanctions on Gaza since 2001 have led to widespread poverty and rampant unemployment there.

But the deadly attack on the flotilla has only served to further motivate Italian supporters of the Palestinian cause. The Palestine Forum, a network of Italian committees and associations, is pushing for greater political support for the Palestinians, while the Rome Palestinian Solidarity Network is continuing to organise a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli products.

"If I speak of Zionism as a colonialist ideology supported by imperialist countries, then the struggle against Zionism is not only a Palestinian struggle. It is mine, yours and ours." Mila Pernice, a journalist and member of the Palestine Forum

Mila Pernice, a journalist and presenter with Citta Apera, a radio channel in Rome, and a member of the Palestine Forum, says the network is gaining public support.

"We offer political support more than just humanitarian or cultural support. In the past few years we've succeeded in getting more people to be part of our activities. The Forum has helped raise awareness and mobilise people," she explains.

"Why do we support the Palestinian cause? Because it's an obvious injustice happening before the entire world. And because we are against imperialists and colonialists. If I speak of Zionism as a colonialist ideology supported by imperialist countries, then the struggle against Zionism is not only a Palestinian struggle. It is mine, yours and ours."

Rossana Platone, a retired teacher, witnessed the events that led to the birth of Israel and, along with her left-leaning family, initially supported the Israeli government. But her stance changed during the 1967 war.

"The occupation of Palestinian land and the successive colonisation of this land were the reasons why I changed my point of view," she explains.

She is now part of a group called Stop Agrexco in Rome which encourages a boycott of Israeli agricultural products, particularly those from the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Agrexco is the company that exports most of Israel's food products to Italy.

She says the pro-Palestinian movement has received a "positive response from many people," but that she is also aware of the limits of their actions: "We don't think we can change the world by distributing leaflets. But small things can make a difference. We are not in the government. We don't have the power to change things. Each helps in their own way. But we are realistic about what we can achieve."

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2011/10/2011102014202207205.html

Siegel files harassment charge against local rabbi

 Wednesday, November 23, 2011    Last updated: Thursday November 24, 2011, 1:50 AM

 

BY HOWARD PROSNITZ

 

STAFF WRITER

 

Teaneck Suburbanite

 

A well-known local activist for Palestinian causes has filed harassment charges against a River Road rabbi, who allegedly stood in front of his Elm Avenue home shouting obscenities.

The complaint filed by Rich Siegel against Rabbi David B. Schwartz is scheduled for a probable cause hearing in Teaneck Municipal Court on Dec. 7 at 9:30 a.m.

Police responded to a call from Siegel at 7:55 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5 complaining that a man in his 60s, walking a large grey dog, was standing in front of his house yelling at him.

Police stopped a man, later identified as Schwartz. who matched the description. According to the police report, Schwartz acknowledged that he had been yelling at Siegel's home, but said he was exercising his right of free speech. He said he has the same right to yell at Siegel's home as Siegel has to display pro-Palestinian bumper stickers on his car.

Siegel's car has two rear bumper stickers: "Free Palestine: End the Occupation" and "Stop US Aid to Israel."

In an interview, Siegel said after receiving the police report, he did an Internet search of Schwartz and discovered that he is a rabbi who serves on the board of directors of the Union for Traditional Judaism located on American Legion Drive.

Reached by phone on Sunday, Schwartz declined to comment. Rabbi David Bauman, executive director of the Union for Traditional Judaism, did not return a voicemail message seeking comment.
Siegel said that he has frequently observed Schwartz standing outside his house.

"It became clear that he was coming to stare at the house and the bumper stickers," he said.

On one occasion, Siegel's wife and 6-year-old daughter were outside when Schwartz walked by with his dog.

"My daughter asked if she could pet the dog. He stood there and glared at them," Siegel said. "There is a segment of the Jewish community that is simply unwilling to tolerate free speech on the Palestinian issue," Siegel said said, noting that his car has been vandalized on numerous occasions and hostile notes have left on it. "Obviously these people disagree with me, but they use violent means to attempt to stop me from expressing my point of view."

Email: prosnitz@northjersey.com

http://www.northjersey.com/news/134442983_Siegel_files_harassment_complaint_against_local_rabbi_.html

Home of Israeli left-wing activist defaced in latest 'price tag' act

• Published 13:27 12.09.11
• Latest update 13:27 12.09.11

Right-wing activists thought responsible for graffiti proclaiming 'death to the traitors' and 'price tag Migron'; Peace Now urges government to take steps against 'new Jewish underground'.

By Oz Rosenberg

The home of a well-known left-wing activist in Jerusalem was defaced with graffiti proclaiming "death to the traitors" and "price tag Migron" on Sunday night, a move apparently carried out by rightists angry over the government's decision to demolish illegal structures in a West Bank settlement.

The activist whose home was vandalized, who requested not to be named, said she found the graffiti on Monday morning after informed by a neighbor.

	Price tag - Emil Salman - September 12, 2011

"We know there is someone who is making sure we are scared," she said. "I'm sure the police will handle this and I'm sure it will find those responsible."

The activist said that although this is the first time graffiti is sprayed on her home, she has received multiple emails and phone calls with the same messages, as have some of her colleagues.

The Peace Now movement responded by saying: "This is a serious incident that requires emergency steps against what seems like a new Jewish underground. The atmosphere of hate… is seeping from elements in the Knesset deep into Israeli society."

MK Eitan Cabel (Labor) decried the incident, which he said reflected a dangerous pattern. "These fanatics apparently feel there is someone who will protect them and their criminal acts, and it's not God."

On Sunday, two right-wing activists attacked four Arab employees of the Jerusalem municipality using tear gas. Police has yet to arrest any suspects. On Sunday evening, right-wing activists held a demonstration in from of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem to protest the demolition of three houses in the settlement of Migron earlier this month.

Last Wednesday, Israeli settlers in the West Bank vandalized an Israel Defense Forces base, carrying out a "price tag" operation against the army for the first time since adopting the policy in recent years.

Unknown perpetrators infiltrated a base in the Binyamin region and snuck their way to a mechanics workshop on site, where they slashed the tires and cut the cables of 12 army vehicles. 

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/home-of-israeli-left-wing-activist-defaced-in-latest-price-tag-act-1.383966

International activists protect Gazan fishermen

THURSDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2011 10:46

HAMA WAQUM, ISLAM ONLINE 

Gaza, (Pal Telegraph) - The Civil Peace Service (CPS) Gaza human rights observation boat has returned to the waters off the Gazan coast after being grounded for two months due to Israeli naval attacks.

CPS Gaza aims to monitor human rights violations committed off the coast of Gaza, in which Gazan fishermen are invariably the victims.  However in July, the CPS boat, Oliva, was attacked three times, with the final attack forcing the boat to retire to shore after the engine was rammed beyond repair. On September 25th, the boat made her first trip at sea, in which she was not attacked by the Israeli Navy.

Continuation of attacks

On 13 July, the Oliva crew and captain were encircled by one Israeli Navy warship, which fired water cannons continuously for fifteen minutes, aiming for the faces of the crew, as well as their cameras and radio equipments. The engine broke in the attack and the boat struggled to escape as the attack continued.

The following day, the boat was attacked by two Israeli Navy vessels, the force of the water cracking a section of the boat’s floor. The crew was forced to seek refuge on a fishing boat in order to make it back to shore. Once aboard the fishing trawler, one crew member reported that one Israeli naval officer instructed another to sink the boat with the water.

In this attack, the Navy officers also intimidated the fishermen with whom the CPS crew had sought refuge, demanding, ‘Where are your fish? Where are your fish?’ After the crew attempted to deter further attacks on the fishing boat by informing the Israeli Navy that they were international observers, a Navy officer responded by saying, ‘Leave and if we see you here again we will shoot you and the children [on board the fishing vessel] and the Europeans or Americans,’ according to one of the CPS crew members.

We won’t be intimidated

On July 20, Oliva suffered the attack that would ground her for two months, in front of a journalist from the Guardian Jerusalem office. For 20 minutes the boat was attacked with water by two Israeli Navy boats, and then rammed by one of the Israeli warships, which had a maniacal clown poster on its side.  The engine was wrecked in the attack and Oliva had, until now, been stranded ashore.

Vera Macht, a German member of the CPS Gaza project explained that the project will continue to run and document human rights violations, "We won't be intimidated,” she explained, “Olivia will sail out again to document abuses until international law is respected by Israel in the sea of Gaza. Fishermen are harassed, attacked, arrested and even killed by Israeli armed forces, even within the imposed 3 nautical mile limit."

On September 25, 2011, Oliva set sail again, despite warnings that the human rights observers would be shot if the project continued. The boat cut its trip short because of weather conditions; the crew experienced reduced intimidation by the Israeli Navy and were not directly attacked.

Every Israeli attack on the Oliva has occurred within the Israeli-imposed 3-mile nautical limit, which forbids vessels from travelling further out to sea. This limitation overwhelmingly affects fishermen in catching adequate fish as the three miles have been fished extensively in the four years since the limit was imposed. According to the Oslo Accords agreements, a fishing limit of 20 miles was agreed, but fishermen have been restricted to three miles since Hamas took control of the costal enclave in 2006. This prevents Gaza’s fishing communities from accessing 85% of the Oslo-agreed fishing waters.

Joe Catron, a US citizen, was aboard the CPS Gaza boat during two of the warship attacks, "The bravery of Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza coast is like nothing I've ever seen. These courageous men, who continue struggling to provide for themselves, their families, and their country, despite the raw military aggression they face on a daily basis, inspired all of us. I'm honored to have played a small, fleeting role in supporting their fight."

http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/10226-international-activists-protect-gazan-fishermen.html

Zionist bullying "doesn’t work"; Students for Justice in Palestine interviewed

Maureen Clare Murphy 

The Electronic Intifada 

21 September 2011

Palestine solidarity activists from across the United States will meet in New York City next month.

 

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Scott Denny 

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Flickr 

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Campus activists working with Students for Justice in Palestine and similar groups are gearing up for a national Students for Justice in Palestine meeting to be held at Columbia University in New York City on 14-16 October. Hundreds of students from around the United States are expected to attend.

The Electronic Intifada recently interviewed three organizers of the conference — Aman Muqeet, a graduate student at Florida International University; Gabriel Schivone, an undergraduate student at Arizona State University; and Tanya Keilani, a graduate student at Columbia University — about the conference goals and objectives, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement at US campuses and the challenges activists face from Zionist groups and school administrations.

Maureen Clare Murphy: How did the SJP national conference get organized and why is it happening now?

Aman Muqeet: The movement started building off last year’s US Social Forum in Detroit. … Then the Anti-Defamation League made that statement that SJPis one of the ten most anti-Israel organizations in the United States. After that, [SJP activists] came together and made a statement which was signed by 67 SJPs from the US. And that was the point of unity where the 67 groups came together and signed on this. Our conversations [about the national conference] culminated I would say eventually in January or late December, when Gabriel actually had made a conference in Arizona. All the conversation, all of this happened online, in email and developed [eventually] to have it at Columbia University.

Tanya Keilani: A few members from Columbia SJP went to the BDSconference in Montreal [in October 2010] and we also saw students from other SJPs there, for example Hampshire SJP. It was also that conference that allowed us to start having these conversations and provided us with an opportunity to meet other students who were working on similar campaigns, who were dealing with similar challenges and struggles and had the same goals, and that’s been really exciting. With this culmination of these meetings that are happening in different places and these conversations that are happening online, it’s been an amazing thing to be able to speak with students who really share this commitment to justice in Palestine.

As an undergrad I was actually part of another group in Texas, the Palestine Solidarity Committee, which is based in Austin at the University of Texas, and that’s been around since 1982. It’s been very interesting being here at SJP in Columbia and communicating with other groups who may not be SJPs but are kind of operating basically in the same way. … I remember being in undergrad and feeling pretty isolated in Texas and not really having any sort of contact with SJPs outside of our state. This is a really great opportunity for us all to really come together.

Gabriel Schivone: When I attended the BDS conference at Hampshire college in November 2009, I saw first-hand and was able to interact and observe SJP— [there were] upwards of fifty schools coming together to try to answer and try to figure out things on a national, centralized sort of level.

MCM: Palestine solidarity organizing on campus is much more visible than when I was a student ten years ago. What factors do you attribute to this upswing in awareness in Palestine solidarity organizing on US campuses?

AM: After Operation Cast Lead [Israel’s winter 2008-09 attacks on Gaza], the movement started building. I don’t think [momentum should be] credited to Operation Cast Lead, but I think after Operation Cast Lead, things have been moving forward very fast.

TK: We’ve also been seeing all these BDS victories. I feel like that’s also been a really big push for students. BDS is something we can all come together around. Just having a little bit of success here and there, even if it’s small, really pushes us to work on these campaigns and make sure that we have a presence on each campus and make sure that we have a consolidated movement.

I remember as an undergrad we never mentioned BDS until the [2005 Palestinian civil society call] came out. Then it was something that we discussed and thought, you know, is this something we want to take on, how do we feel about this. At the time that was a really scary thing to think about taking on BDS, and now that’s very different. It’s definitely a challenge and it’s nothing that SJP groups look at as an easy task. But it’s definitely something that more and more SJP groups are on board with and feel like is a necessary part of their programming for the year.

GS: More and more other groups have been taking BDS on as well, as we can reconcile BDS and the tactics of education and outreach, fitting in very comfortably to why we were formed in the first place. We’re seeing that in the short term, if there’s no direct victory at first, there are still very small ones, like Tanya was saying. Like the East Timorese guerrilla leader said, to resist is to win — and that education and outreach in order to mobilize public opinion is exactly what we’re all about.

MCM: What outcomes do you want from the conference, and do you anticipate that the SJP chapters will have a more centralized structure after the conference?

GS: [The conference aims toward] campaign building — sharing our individual experiences and tactics and strategies, and hearing others and trying to develop things like a centralization of political power — brain power. Not necessarily structure; but maybe that’s something we have to take up at the conference. The SJPs up to this point have been a really decentralized system of freely-associated chapters, which doesn’t really have to change and it’s nothing new — the labor movement or the anti-war movement against USaggression in Vietnam [was built on this model], for example. They’re a bunch of movements or organizations and groups, but the power centralized as a national force and that’s why it was able to gain so much ground and have an effect on policy.

TK: We have clearly-defined goals that we have come up with together as the national organizing community. In addition to movement building and campaigns, two more goals are political development and skill development. Political development is very important for us because as students, we may be in different places in our lives and in our ways of thinking about Palestine. This is a really great way for us to come together and critically think about these issues and how they affect us and how they affect the world. [It also encourages us to] envision our futures and think about activism and where we feel like we best fit and how we can use our resources properly. And how we can think about what’s happening when it comes to, for example, issues like statehood, when it comes to BDS, and how we want to think about these things. How we want to work with other people or not work with other people.

As far as skill sharing goes, that’s something I’ve always really valued because I’ve been doing Palestine activism for a while now. I remember starting out as an undergrad and feeling very overwhelmed but also very committed. It’s important for students in different places to really emphasize self-education and peer education, and we have a lot of different skills that we can all bring together. We don’t operate in a structural way. Zionist organizations have a lot of centralized leadership which gets their tips from other organizations, from staff people who have handbooks given to them each year and are told what to say and what their argument should be. We operate in a grassroots, organic, collective sort of way and that’s our strength. But it also means that we do have to be committed to teaching each other, working with each other, and sharing those skills.

AM: The Zionist organizations have a lot of money. Most of the Palestine solidarity groups don’t have much money. And we are working on a very, very tiny budget. Michael Oren came to FIU and they spent $20,000 on that event. So we are working on very, very small events but are having much bigger turnouts and are making a lot of difference.

MCM: Can you briefly describe what campus solidarity organizing is looking like at your different schools and other US campuses?

GS: I’m from Tucson, on the US-Mexico borderland. A lot of what we were doing consciously over a year at the University of Arizona, where I was at before, was foundational cross-movement building and organization between migrant justice, indigenous resistance and the Palestine justice movement. Building solidarity roots and highlighting each other’s struggles, especially highlighting significant parallels as well as discussing significant differences in the realities of the death and suffering. The mechanisms of oppression and responses like resistance, activism, protests to them, between and among all of our movements together. That’s been a lot of what we’ve been doing in Arizona and we managed to make some noise in the last year with that.

TK: One of the main groups we work with [in New York] is LUCHA, which is an immigrant rights group. As is the case with Arizona, we find that our struggle has a lot in common with other struggles and so immigrant rights is also something that we can relate to. New York is a place for immigrants from everywhere; in the case of Arizona and Texas, my solidarity work with Palestine was more based in the Latino community. Here it’s very different, but many of the issues are the same.

MCM: As the Palestine solidarity movement claims more and more victories along with that comes the backlash and SJPs have been a main target of that backlash. Aman already mentioned how the Anti-Defamation League namedSJP on its list of the top ten anti-Israel groups in the United States. The Electronic Intifada recently reported on how the Israeli government has sit in on meetings to undermine the boycott measure passed at Evergreen State College. And last December SJP activists initiated a letter signed by dozens of campus groups protesting FBI repression of the solidarity movement. What kind of challenges you have personally faced in campus organizing and what are SJP chapters doing about it?

AM: Zionist groups like Christians United for Israel, and Hillel and the other organizations step up when you have an SJP on the campus. They start having more events and they start becoming more active. We’ve also taken our student government head-on because AIPAC had sponsored some of our student leaders on free trips to Israel. That’s one way [they are working], they’re sponsoring student government leaders and other students who they think might be useful for them.

TK: We do face intimidation, we do have people come into our events, whether it’s Pamela Geller, whether it’s Campus Media Watch. They do take notes, they do take photographs, they do try to intimidate us. And it doesn’t work. But it is a challenge that we face and we also have issues coming from the administration. Sometimes the administration will work with us and other times they won’t. We’ve had some difficulties in the past year with Columbia working with [Zionist organizations], trying to let them know where we’re at. I think a lot of Zionist groups try to make sure that they’re on the side of the administration and that the administration is not on our side, and so that’s one of our biggest challenges here.

At Columbia, one thing we’ve recently dealt with is the fact that the Zionist group here sponsored a dinner with the Black Student Association. It was a nice little meeting and they had speakers and it was done in private. We don’t have the ability to invite people out to a fancy dinner and let them know that they should be a part of our cause. But at the same time that’s not really what we’re looking for. We’re looking for real solidarity.

Maureen Clare Murphy is managing editor of The Electronic Intifada.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/zionist-bullying-doesnt-work-students-justice-palestine-interviewed/10408