spsc autumn 2012 newsletter

7/29/2019 SPSC Autumn 2012 newsletter

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NewsletterSummer/Autumn

2012


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Israel state sponsored cultureBrand Israel and the Palestiniancall for boycott

July 2012 marked seven years since the call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions(BDS) against Israel was launched by Palestinian civil society organisations. It is a rights-basedstrategy to force Israel to meet its obligations to recognise the Palestinian people's inalienableright to self-determination and comply with the requirements of international law.During those seven years, international solidarity campaigning has developed into a movementthat is strategic and built on strengthened networks across borders and continents. BDS todayis mainstream, in that trade unions and labour federations, churches, faith-based groups andstudent organisations on campuses around the world are taking BDS-related actions withincreasing success.

For further evidence of the impact of BDS we can look to the Reut Institute, advisers to the Israeligovernment on strategic and national security issues. Reut reported in 2010 that internationalsolidarity networks working toward BDS pose a strategic and potentially existential threat to thestate of Israel:

Reut works to devise and implement strategies for the Zionist response to the BDS campaign.Their so-called delegitimization challenge involves consultations, roundtable discussions,presentations and strategic meetings to help Israeli government officials, diplomats and Zionistactivists counter the BDS campaign around the world.

Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched the Brand Israel Project in 2005, the year of thePalestinian BDS call. Brand Israel is of critical importance in fighting delegitimization accord-ing to Reut, and aims to promote a strong Israelbrand that is associated with 'positive' values, suchas innovation, creativity, and contribution to human-ity [to] make delegitimization more difficult and createa more effective platform for traditional Israeli PR.

This is to be achieved through promotion of Israeliarts, innovation and technology, while avoiding any

discussion of Israels occupation and colonisation ofArab lands, the illegal separation Wall, the unequalstatus of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, andIsraels denial of the rights of Palestinian refugees toreturn to their homes and properties as stipulated inUN resolution 194.

Strategic implications are already apparent: Increased international interference inIsrael's domestic affairs; greater limitations on Israel's ability to use its militaryforce; economic boycotts and sanctions; and travel restrictions on officers,officials, and politicians due to application of universal legal jurisdiction In

addition, in many places Israel has been successfully branded by its adversariesas a pariah state that deserves the fate of South Africa's apartheid regime.


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What Israeli government spin doctors dont grasp is that the images and testimonies fromdecades of Zionist colonisation, occupation and apartheid reach homes, towns and communitiesaround the world. Today, committed Zionist supporters of Israel warn that the centre ground,the majority, the British public may not be expert, but they are not stupid (Matthew Gould, British

Ambassador to Israel, August 2012).This inability to understand that no amount of spin can distract us from their crimes is demon-

strated by Israels Foreign Ministry $2 million boost to Brand Israel following their 22-day militaryattack on Gaza during the winter of 2008/2009. Arye Mekel, the ministrys Deputy DirectorGeneral for Cultural Affairs, was explicit that the aim was to mask the destruction, the 1400Palestinians killed and 5,000 wounded, when he said that we will send well-known novelists andwriters overseas, theatre companies, exhibits. This way you show Israels prettier face, so weare not thought of purely in the context of war.

Batsheva is an Israeli dance company funded jointly by Israels Ministry of Culture and Sport andthe Municipality of Tel Aviv and whose tours are supported by Israels Foreign Ministry. Tours byBatsheva and other cultural groups, and initiatives that serve Brand Israels goal of providing acover for Israels war crimes, human rights abuses and apartheid need to be exposed and

actively protested.

Jonathan Mills, director of Edinburgh International Festival hosting Batsheva in August, refusesto withdraw the invitation to Batsheva, suggesting that bringing artists and audiences togetherthrough cultural exchange [is] essential in developing understanding and trust between peoples.In 2006 Palestinian filmmakers, artists and cultural workers made an appeal for action: like theboycott of South African art institutions during apartheid, cultural workers must speak out againstthe current Israeli war crimes and atrocities We call upon you to give way to action that wouldreplace words spoken too often and forgotten too quickly. We call upon you to make your voicesheard in calling for an end to this bloodshed and an end to this oppression that has lasted toolong.

Mills indifference to this appeal and to the 2005 Palestinian civil society call, whose signatoriesinclude arts and cultural organisations is in stark contrast with the increasing numbers of artists,trade unionists, and millions of people around the world who believe they have an active role toplay in ending Israels war crimes and atrocities.

Join the protests at the Edinburgh International Festival 30 Aug-1 Sept and during the BatshevaUK tour Oct-Nov 2012: [email protected], www.no2brandisrael.org


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Hunger StrikeFrom December last year a momentous movement grew within the prisons of

Israel and Palestine, led by Palestinian political prisoners, and leading to

demonstrations of solidarity around the world. Some of the most fervent

displays of solidarity were seen in Scotland, led by students organised asWe are all Hana Shalabi across the campuses of Scottish universities. What

follows is a partial, chronological account of unfolding events, in Palestine

and Scotland.

Khader Adnan begins hunger strikeOn 16 January 2012, Khader entered his 30th day of hunger strike and speaking strike inprotest of his administrative detention. His health is rapidly deteriorating and he is refusingtreatment until he is released. After being violently arrested on 17 December 2011, during

which he suffered injuries to his face and back, Khader was immediately taken to Al-Jalamehinterrogation center, where he began a hunger and speaking strike. On his fourth day ofinterrogation, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) sentenced him in his cell to seven days ofisolation in punishment for his ongoing hunger strike...

Addameer press release, January 17th 2012

Administrative Detention

administrative detention is a procedure the Israeli military uses to hold detaineesindefinitely on secret evidence without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. Over

300 Palestinian political prisoners are serving this term now, and tens of thousands ofPalestinians have experienced administrative detention since 1967.Shahd Abusalama, Electronic Intifada, January 21st 2012

Deal reached to end

Khader Adnans

detention; 66 day

hunger strike endsAccording to the deal, Adnanwill be released on 17 April three weeks before the original8 May expiry of his currentadministrative detention order.But under the deal hisadministrative detention orderwould not be renewed. Israelhas typically renewed

administrative detention ordersrepeatedly

Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada,

February 21st 2012


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Another Hunger Striker Challenges a Policy Unchanged: Hana Shalabi,

Day 14Hana was arrested on 16 February, less than four months after being released from over twoyears in administrative detention on 18 October 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange dealconcluded by the Israeli government and Hamas, whereby 1,027 Palestinian political prisonerswere released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. During her arrest, Hana and

her family were beaten and harassed by Israeli Occupying Forces. After being taken to SalemDetention Center, Hana was subjected to additional beatings, humiliation, and other starkviolations. She immediately began an open hunger strike and was subsequently placed insolitary confinement as punishment...

international humanitarian lawpermits limited use of administrative detention only inemergency situations, but does not allow for its use as punishment when there is not sufficientevidence for criminal procedures

Addameer press release, February 29th 2012

500 march in Glasgow for Hana ShalabiWith Hana Shalabis condition deteriorating in Israeli jails, students in Scotland are stepping uptheir actions in solidarity with Hana and all the other courageous Palestinian hunger strikersfighting for dignity and freedom.

Last Saturday, in action called and organised by the student Palestine societies in Scotland, over500 people marched on the BBC Scotland HQ in Glasgow demanding that they cover the storyof Shalabis heroic strike of over a month. Since that action, we have been encouraged to seedemonstrations called at the BBCs in Liverpool and Belfast over the coming week.

This action followed a one day global fast called for by Edinburgh Uni SJP which trendedworldwide on twitter and had thousands participating. It also runs in conjunction with a rollinghunger strike organised by Glasgow Uni Pal Soc and supported by Glasgow Caley Pal Soc,which has one person conducting a 24 hour fast every day whilst Hana remains on hungerstrike...We are all Hana Shalabi blog, March 29th 2012

Conditional Release: Hana Shalabi Expelled to Gaza StripAddameer and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) are alarmed at theannouncement that Hana Shalabi will be expelled to the Gaza Strip today, only three days afterpurportedly ending her 43-day hunger strike. Addameer and PHR-Israel condemn the IsraeliPrison Service (IPS)s denial of access to both parties to visit Ms. Shalabi in the days leading upto the deal for her release and expulsion to the Gaza Strip and since the deal was reportedlyfinalized on 29 March. Addameer and PHR-Israel fear that, given her grave medical condition,the restriction of access of Ms. Shalabis physician and lawyers, in addition to the prevention offamily visits, were used as methods of coercion. Furthermore, serious concerns exist regardingthe availability and arrangement of adequate medical care matching Ms. Shalabis urgent needsin light of her swift transfer

Addameer press release, April 1st 2012

Statement from Palestinian prisoners in the build up to the Karamah

hunger strikeThe various political currents in the prisoners movement who are held in the zionist jails have


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reached an agreement to escalate the ongoing hunger strikes in order to achieve the human

rights which Israel have denied prisoners for many long years.

Prisoners will begin an indefinite hunger strike this month. This means they will refuse all forms

of food and liquid (with the exception of water) until their demands are met. The hunger strike has

been initiated because this is the only tool that the Palestinian prisoners have to achieve their

rights...

The demands of the Karameh Hunger Strike are:1. An end to the policy of solitary confinement and isolation which has been used to deprivePalestinian prisoners of their rights for more than a decade.2. To allow the families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip to visit prisoners. This right has beendenied to all families for more than 6 years.3. An improvement in the living conditions of prisoners and an end to the Shalit law, whichoutlaws newspapers, learning materials and many TV channels.4. An end to the policies of humiliation which are suffered by prisoners and their families such asstrip searches, nightly raids, and collective punishment...Statement issued by Palestinian Prisoners, April 10th 2012

Mass hunger strike beginsAn estimated 1,200 Palestinian prisoners announced the beginning of an open hunger strikeyesterday, along with approximately 2,300 who refused meals and are currently preparing for awider campaign of disobedience...

Addameer press release, April 18th 2012

Palestinian Prisoners Day, BDS and G4SToday, on Palestinian Prisoners Day, we the undersigned Palestinian civil society and human

rights organisations salute all Palestinian political prisoners, especially those engaging in bravecivil disobedience through ongoing hunger strikes in protest to the ongoing violations of humanrights and international law. Emphasizing imprisonment as a critical component of Israelssystem of occupation, colonialism and apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people, wecall for intensifying the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to targetcorporations profiting directly from the Israeli prison system. In particular, we call for action to betaken to hold to account G4S, the world's largest international security corporation, which helpsto maintain and profit from Israels prison system, for its complicity with Israeli violations ofinternational law...Joint statement issued by various Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations, April 17th 2012

Students occupy BBC for Palestinian Prisoners on hunger strike!The BBC Scotland Headquarters were occupied, hundreds of demonstrators marched insolidarity with the Karamah (Dignity) Hunger Strike, and three people were arrested, as peoplein Glasgow marked Palestinian prisoners day yesterday.Before midday on Tuesday, over 30 activists entered the BBC Scotland building demandingmainstream media coverage for over 1200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who haveembarked on an historic indefinite hunger strike for their rights as political detainees...We are all Hana Shalabi blog, April 18th 2012

Scottish Trades Union Congress comes out in support of hungerstrikers...The response to the amazing bravery of the Palestinian hunger strikers was quite emphatic


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and inspiring:Congress notes:that despite prisoner releases, over 4,600 Palestinian political prisoners remain in detention,including 203 children.applauds the steadfastness of 1,200 Palestinian political prisoners whobegan an open-ended hunger strike on 17 April..congratulates the student Palestine solidaritynetwork for their mobilisation across Scotland in support of Palestinian political prisonersWe are all Hana Shalabi blog, April 26th 2012

National Demonstration for Hunger Strikers, Edinburgh 28/4/12Yesterday in Edinburgh, as Bilal and Thair reached their 60th day on hunger strike, over 600people marched through Scotlands capital in support of Palestinian political prisonersdemanding of the Scottish government three things; firstly, that it calls for the immediate releaseof all administrative detainees starting with those on hunger strike; second that it makes astatement supporting the demands of the Karamah hunger strikers now numbering in thethousands and thirdly that it divests from all companies - Israeli or otherwise involved in theillegal occupation of Palestine...

One can only imagine what the many thousands of tourists made of it but we can be sure thatthey know, just like the Scottish government knows, that Scotland stands with the Palestiniansas it has done for many years...We are all Hana Shalabi blog, April 30th 2012

Israeli court rejects Palestinian hunger strike prisoners' appealTwo Palestinian prisoners who are on their 70th day of hunger strike had their appeals againstimprisonment without charge or trial rejected by Israel's supreme court on Monday.Bilal Diab, 27, and Tha'er Halahleh, 33, are both at risk of death, according to Physicians forHuman Rights (PHR). Diab has been moved to a civilian hospital in Israel...

The Guardian, May 7th 2012

A letter from Thair Halahleh to his daughterA letter from Thaer Halahleh, on day 75 of hunger strike against his detention without charge, tohis two-year-old daughter Lamar, who he has never seen. Translated by Jalal Najjar.

My Beloved Lamar, forgive me because the occupation took me away from you, and took awayfrom me the pleasure of witnessing my first born child that I have always prayed to God to see,to kiss, to be happy with. It is not your fault, this is our destiny as Palestinian people to have ourlives and the lives of our children taken away from us, to be apart from each other and to have a

miserable life, nothing is complete in our lives because of this unjust occupation that is lurking onevery corner of our lives turning it into eeriness, a continuous pursuit and torture...

Lamar my love... I will make it up to you for everything, and tell you the whole story, and yourdays that will follow will be more beautiful, so let your days pass now and wear your prettiestclothes, run and then run again in the gardens of your long life, go forward and forward nothingis behind you but the past, and this is your voice I hear all the time as a melody of freedom...We are all Hana Shalabi blog, May 12th 2012

Mass Hunger Strike Concludes After Agreement is ReachedAfter nearly a full month of fasting, around 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners ended last nighttheir mass hunger strike upon reaching an agreement with the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) toattain certain core demands. Addameer lauds these achievements of the prisoners movement


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and can only hope that Israel will implement any policy changes in good faith. Addameerespecially commends those individuals who engaged in open hunger strike for over two months,displaying remarkable steadfastness in the struggle for their most basic rights...The written agreement contained five main provisions: the prisoners would end their hungerstrike following the signing of the agreement; there will be an end to the use of long-term isolationof prisoners for security reasons, and the 19 prisoners will be moved out of isolation within 72hours; family visits for first degree relatives to prisoners from the Gaza Strip and for families fromthe West Bank who have been denied visits based on vague security reasons will be reinstatedwithin one month; the Israeli intelligence agency guarantees that there will be a committeeformed to facilitate meetings between the IPS and prisoners in order to improve their dailyconditions; there will be no new administrative detention orders or renewals of administrativedetention orders for the 308 Palestinians currently in administrative detention, unless the secretfiles, upon which administrative detention is based, contain very serious information...

Addameer has observed that Israel has consistently failed to respect the agreements it executeswith Palestinians regarding prisoners issues. For this reason, it will be essential for all supportersof Palestinian political prisoners to actively monitor the events of the next few months to ensure

that this agreement is fully implemented....Addameer press release, May 15th 2012

Celtics Green Brigade in show of solidarity with hunger strikersOn the 13th of May, as the deal to end the mass Palestinian hunger strike was about to emergefrom the rumour-mill, far away from Palestine in Scotlands biggest city Glasgow, ...[a message]of solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers was... [displayed by] supporters of Celtic FootballClub. This was the final game of the season when Celtic were given the league trophy andcrowned Scottish Football Champions and amid all the displays, colour, noise and partyatmosphere a flurry of Palestine flags and a banner reading Dignity is more precious than food

appeared in one particular corner section of the stadium.We are all Hana Shalabi blog, May 25th 2012

Palestinian prisoners hunger strikes continue as Israel violates

agreements... the realization of the agreement was left for Israel to decide and since the end of the masshunger strike in the early hours of 15 May, rumours of Israel reneging on its promises havesolidified into facts...

The signed agreement led many to believe that Israel would curtail its use of administrativedetention, especially after it announced that all administrative detainees would be released at theend of their current detention periods unless substantial evidence was provided against them.However, two weeks after the agreement, more than 25 prisoners have had their detentionsrenewed without such significant evidence presented...

Despite expectations, solitary confinement is still in use too...Linah Alsasfin, Electronic Intifada, June 5th 2012

An Appeal to Save the Life of Mahmoud Sarsak

Our brother and son, Mahmoud Sarsak, is a 25 years old professional footballer from Rafahrefugee camp in the Gaza Strip, today entering his 67th day of hunger strike. We ask you tosupport Mahmoud and his demand for fair treatment. Your voice can contribute to saving his lifeand to a little victory against injustice.


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He is one of over 4400 Palestinians held in Israeli jails in violation of Articles 49 and 76 of theFourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the transfer of occupied peoples (Palestinians), to theterritory of the occupier (Israel). Grave breaches of these Articles are considered war crimes ininternational law...Mahmoud Kamel Muhammad Sarsak, Father of Mahmoud. Published on Stop the Wall website, May 24th

2012

Students from We Are All Hana Shalabi campaign join protest forMahmoud SarsakA protest was held today outside Ramle prison where Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak,on his 82nd day of hunger strike, remains imprisoned without charge. Activists from Haifa andJaffa were joined by students from the We Are All Hana Shalabi campaign in Scotland as theydemanded Sarsaks immediate release from jail and freedom for all Palestinian prisoners held inthe occupation jails. Around 50 protestor gathered outside the prison with pictures of Sarsak,chanting for his release...We are all Hana Shalabi blog, June 8th 2012

Protests and support for Mahmoud Sarsak at Scotland v Israel footballgame in EdinburghIsraels national football team had to endure a barrage of pro-Palestinian chanting throughouttheir 8-0 defeat by Scotland in the Womens Euro qualifier at Tynecastle on Saturday, in a protestaimed at highlighting the plight of what FIFA president Sepp Blatter termed, Israels allegedillegal detention of Palestine football players...

Around 140 campaigners from groups including Friends of AL-Aqsa Scotland, and the ScottishPalestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) waved Palestinian flags and banners calling for Sarsaksrelease...SPSC website, June 17th 2012

Mahmoud Sarsak freedIsrael has released a member of the Palestinian national football team who lobbied for hisfreedom by going on hunger strike for more than three months. Mahmoud Sarsak greetedwell-wishers in his native Gaza on Tuesday after three years in Israeli custody without chargesor trial...During his hunger strike, the 25-year-old athlete shed nearly half his weight.The Guardian, July 10th 2012

Hunger striker Hassan Safadis head violently slammed against cell

door by prison guardsPalestinian hunger strikers Hassan Safadi and Samer Al-Barq continue to be severely mistreatedby the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), in the forms of physical brutality and psychological torture.

Addameer, Al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) express their utmost outrageat recent violent incidents that have left these already-weakened detainees on protracted hungerstrikes with trauma and injury. Mr. Al-Barq is today on his 87th day of hunger strike, which hebegan only one week after his previous 30-day hunger strike ended; Mr. Safadi is today on his57th day of hunger strike, which he also began shortly after the end of his previous 71-dayhunger strike.

Addameer press release, August 16th 2012


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Scotlands Dirty WaterWater apartheid is a daily reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. But Scotland is not free

from complicity in this. As the Scottish Green Party raises a motion in Parliament urging the

Government to withdraw subsidies to Eden Springs UK, Tariq Al-Bazzcharts the link between

this Scottish water company and its Israeli parent company which sources its water on illegally

occupied territory on the West Bank.

In Scotland we have it pretty good as far as water is concerned. Theres loads of it, and we caneven afford to sell some to our poor neighbours down south. But what if those neighbours choseto bomb our cities, invade our country and proceed to surround all our population centres withsettlements guarded by heavily armed troops? What if they poured lots of money into thesesettlements, gave settlers loads of privileges, and commandeered our water for themselves? Itcouldnt happen here, you might say. Everyone has an equal right to water even if we do haveto pay for it. Thats what the people of Palestine thought before they were hounded out of theirland and occupied by the state of Israel. Water apartheid is now a daily reality for Palestinians

living in Gaza and the West Bank.

The facts speak for themselves. Israelis use three times as much water as Palestinians.Palestinian water usage barely reaches the minimum daily standard of 100 litres per person perday as defined by the World Health Organisation. Israel exerts strict control over wateravailability, and ensures that its own population is plentifully supplied with water, whilst restrictingthat provided to Palestinians.

Water is legally defined as (Israeli) publicproperty. As such a permit is required to drill

new wells or fix existing ones. Permits gothrough eighteen stages of approval invarious administrative departments.Furthermore, quotas limit the drawing ofwater from each well. In many cases,Palestinians are deprived of access towater resources by being deprived ofaccess to their land in general. Israeli landgrabs are frequently carried out byestablishing military areas on naturalreserves, especially in the Jordan Valley.

Israel also makes no effort to maintain the water system. Neglect of infrastructure is a deliberateIsraeli policy which also goes well beyond the water sector. The amount of public expenditure inthe Territories in all fields is less than the fiscal revenues that Israel collects from the Palestinianpopulation.

In addition to not authorising construction of new water networks and repeatedly rejectingrequests to be connected to existing networks, the Israeli Civil Administration often destroys or

confiscates the modest structures that Palestinians build to collect water. Through settlementsand Mekerot, (the state water company), Israel damages existing Palestinian access to water bydrilling deeper, more advanced wells in close proximity to Palestinian wells or streams, causinga reduction in the yield of Palestinian water sources.


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The extreme water crisis felt by Palestinians is only magnified by the blatant overuse of water innearby Israeli settlements. As mentioned above, the average Israeli consumes up to 350 litresof water each day. Israeli settlers typically consume even more, despite living among a majorityPalestinian population denied proper access to water. In the Jordan Valley, for example, thereare 56,000 Palestinians and 9,400 settlers. Settlers use six times more water than Palestinians.This discrepancy in water allocation is particularly brutal in the hot summer months when Israelisettlements are provided with an uninterrupted flow of water while Palestinians are often cut offfrom the pumps.

All this colonial domination by Israel flies in the face of international law and human rights.According to the Israeli human rights organisation, BTselem Article 55 of the HagueRegulations limits the right of occupying states to utilize the water sources of occupied territory.The use is limited to military needs and may not exceed past use. Use of groundwater of theOccupied Territories in the settlements does not meet these criteria and therefore breaches

Article 55.

But what relevance does all this have to us in Scotland? Well, it seems that the ScottishGovernment has been complicit in supporting water apartheid in Israel. In October last year theGovernment, announced the award of a 200,000 Scottish Enterprise Grant to Eden Springs UK.Eden Springs is the largest provider of water coolers to workplaces and offices in Scotland. Itsupplies drinking water to most Scottish Health Boards, to a large number of Scottish Councils,Universities, Colleges, and office complexes. The grant followed a meeting in January 2010,between John Swinney, then Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Sustainable Growth, and the UKManaging Director of Eden Springs.

Eden Springs UK is owned by Eden Springs Ltd of Israel. This company extracts water from the

Salukia spring in the Golan Heights, where it also has a bottling plant. The Golan Heights ispart of Israels colonialist expansion in the Middle East. It is Syrian Territory illegally

occupied by Israel since June 1967. The UN condemns Israel's actions in illegally occupyingthe West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights and in Security Council resolution 242 emphasised"the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" and affirmed that a just and lasting peacecan only be established when there is a "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territoriesoccupied". In effect, Eden Springs is stealing water from the Golan Heights.

Of course Eden Springs UK does not itself source its water from the Golan. Its main depot is inBlantyre, although it has other sites in Inverness, Aberdeen, & Dundee. However, this is part of

an international company whose complicity with water apartheid in Palestine is well established.Alex Salmond has said in the past you cant have normal relationships if you believe anothercountry has been involved in what Israel has been involved in. I agree with him and asktherefore that his administration withdraws its support from an organisation that is complicit inIsraeli apartheid. It is time that the Scottish Government acted on its principles and withdrew itsgrant to Eden Springs.


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The Rise of Neo-fascism in IsraelOn 29th May Israels Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that Africans have beenadded to the list of infiltrators posing a threat to the Jewish homeland.

On 1st June Interior Minister Eli Yishai referred to African migrants as a demographic threat who

could end the Zionist dream. After putting into effect a law that allows the detention ofimmigrants for three years, Mr Yishai also added that most of those people arriving here areMuslims who think the country doesnt belong to us, the white man. He has also describedasylum-seekers as rapists and criminals. Few weeks before Miri Regev, a spokesman of thegoverning Likud Party, referred to Sudanese people in Israel as a cancer.

On 4th June Israeli media reported that Haifa's council had warned local businesses that theyrisked losing their licences if they employed African refugees.

The series of fascist statements publically released by the Israeli authorities along with theirracist policies against asylum-seekers fleeing war in Sudan and Eritrea would no doubt sparkoutrage worldwide and be deplored by all citizens with a minimum of consciousness of thebrutalities of Nazi-Fascism of the 30s. Nonetheless, remarkably but not surprisingly, these grossevents have hardly reached the mainstream world media. This scenario sums up unequivocallyIsraels institutionalised oppression of minorities (apartheid) together with the internationalcomplicity (or silence at the very least) of countries that have made cooperation with the Zioniststate an integral part of their policy.

Most outrageously, the release of these statements provoked, and was concomitant to, a series

of numerous barbaric, yet unpunished, attacks against refugees and their shops, homes andbuildings, including a childrens nursery. For example, on 28th May a 22-year-old Eritreanasylum-seeker was attacked by five young Israelis who vandalised her internet caf and pulleda knife on her. Her neighbours looked on while the police promptly came to check her visa,completely ignoring what had just happened to her. Similarly, on 5th June the home of 10Eritreans in Jerusalem was firebombed, leaving 4 seriously injured and the graffiti: "Get out of theneighbourhood." Hundreds of Zionist protesters marched through Tel Aviv, chanting Africansout! and grilled kushi (grilled blacks). Shopkeepers in Sderot have been refusing to servemigrants.

This far from comprehensive list of racist episodes is the ultimate symptom of the racistsentiment ingrained in every section of society as a direct effect of the Israeli apartheid system.On the other hand, episodes of intolerance and crime towards immigrants are not anIsrael-exclusive phenomenon. Sadly, neo-fascist and neo-nazist movements are also rising allover Europe. This trend has been fuelled by the more or less explicit scapegoating campaignagainst immigrants used by the ruling classes to divert the focus from the true causes ofeconomical recession and social injustice (i.e. capitalism). The rhetoric on immigration control,where European establishment parties have found a common cause, is arguably just thesanitised version of Netanyahus promise to build the worlds largest detention centre and deportall those within, starting with the Sudanese.

Israeli authorities have shown special preference and sympathy to neo-fascist Europeanmovements by hosting their leaders (e.g. Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party) andreinforcing the shared position on the threat of migrants, especially Muslims. Interestingly,


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according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, neo-fascist European movements are rising inpart because they have opportunistically (and temporarily) rejected anti-semitism in favour of amore successful rhetoric against Muslims. Likewise, it is not at all surprising that neo-fascistEuropean movements in search for allies for their racist campaigns have chosen the State ofIsrael as supporter, a state where prohibition of racial discrimination is not included in the BasicLaw, as noted by the UN Committee for Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), who earlierthis year issued a very concerning report on racial discrimination of minorities in Israel andhuman rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

CERD is responsible for ensuring compliance to the Convention for Elimination of RacialDiscrimination ratified by 135 countries including Israel. On 9th March CERD issued itsconcluding observations on the report submitted by Israel, which was expected to describeconcrete measures taken by the state to address several racial discrimination concerns reportedby CERD in a previous report.

CERD noted that Israel failed to implement most of CERDs previous recommendations. Thereport depicts a horrifying picture of the Israeli State, where racial discrimination is deep-rootedin all aspects of its legislation. Other than asylum-seekers and refugees, sections of societydeeply affected by racist legislation include Jewish minorities (e.g. Ethiopians, Mizrahi, Russiansand Sephardim), non-Jewish minorities and the indigenous Bedouin populations. CERD alsoreports a gender-related dimension to this racial discrimination with a continued low level ofeducation and managerial employment for women. The list of concerns also includes thelong-acknowledged, yet unchallenged, violation of the most basic human rights againstPalestinians in the Occupied Territories. In particular, CERD stressed its concerns for actionsthat change the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the

Occupied Syrian Golan. This is no doubt a sanitised definition of ethnic cleansing. CERDreiterated its previous recommendations of ensuring equal access to social and economicalrights (with special emphasis on land, work and education) as well as political participation to allcitizens. It also issued additional recommendations on abrogation of racial discrimination ofJewish minorities and dispossession of indigenous Bedouin communities, with the explicitrequest to withdraw the brutal 2012 Law for the Regulation of the Bedouin Settlement in theNegev, which legalises the ongoing policy of home demolitions and forced displacement ofBedouins. CERD finally noted with concern Israels refusal to acknowledge the 2001 DurbanDeclaration of the International Conference against Racism and Related Intolerance andrequests that measures are taken to implement all recommendations by 2016.

With due respect to CERDs efforts, notes of concerns and reiteration of recommendations havehistorically proven ineffective to even minimally alter Israels policies of racial discrimination andhuman rights violations. Radical action in line with the struggle against apartheid in South Africamust be taken: SUPPORT THE CALL FOR BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT ANDSANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL!

Karolin Hijazi


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Securing Injustice

Despite its track record of complicity in human rights abuses in the UK and abroad, G4S is being

handed control of public services - everything from policing to asylum markets to the welfaresystem. Even after the Olympics dbcle, G4S looks set to take over even more control of ourcommunities.

Campaigns have begun to highlight the record of G4S and to work to prevent it from putting profitbefore human rights & dignity. Recent demonstrations have targeted the companysheadquarters and activists have protested outside the G4S AGM at London Stock Exchangedressed in prison uniform to highlight G4S' complicity in the illegal detention and abuse ofPalestinian prisoners. An 'Alternative Report' was also distributed which reveals a companyraking in millions of profit on the back of human misery and violations of international law.

Supporting Israeli ApartheidIsrael systematically denies Palestinian political prisoners their basic rights, including the right toa fair trial and to protection from arbitrary detention. In 2007, G4S Israel signed a contract withthe Israeli Prison Authority to provide security systems for major Israeli prisons. G4S providessystems for the Ketziot and Megiddo prisons, which unlawfully hold Palestinian politicalprisoners from occupied Palestinian territory inside Israel. The company also providesequipment for Ofer prison, located in the occupied West Bank, and for Kishon and Moskobiyyehdetention facilities, at which human rights organisations have documented systematic torture

and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners. At Al Jalame prison,Palestinian children are locked in solitary confinement for days or even weeks. By providingequipment to these prisons, G4S is actively participating in these violations of international law.

G4S is involved in other aspects of the Israeli apartheid and occupation regime: it has providedequipment and services to Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank that form part of the route ofIsraels illegal Wall and to the terminals isolating Gaza. It also has contracts for equipment andservices for the West Bank Israeli Police headquarters and with private businesses based inillegal Israeli settlements.

On Palestinian Prisoners' Day and to coincide with the mass hunger strike by Palestinianprisoners, Palestinian civil society organisations signed a call urging the global solidaritymovement to take action to hold to account G4S, the worlds largest international securitycorporation, which helps to maintain and profit from Israels prison system, for its complicity withIsraeli violations of international law.

Profiting from International conflictG4S is one of a few multinational security companies that dominate what it describes as asylummarkets. In February 2012, G4S was one of three multinational security companies that tookover all provision of asylum accommodation in the UK for the next five years. G4S has beenrepeatedly accused of providing poor services in its prisons and immigration detention centres.In June 2011, it was revealed that a record 773 complaints were lodged in 2010 against G4S bydetainees, including 48 claims of assault. There is the shocking case of Jimmy Mubenga, the

Angolan refugee who in October 2010 collapsed and died after three G4S guards used force to


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restrain him during his forcible deportation; despite witness testimony, G4S will face no legalsanction.

Privatising the PoliceIn December 2011, G4S police work went to a whole new level when the Lincolnshire Police

Authority outsourced its core policing functions to G4S, claiming the deal could save 28million. The 10-year 200 million contract makes G4S responsible for the operation of theforces control centre, human resources, training, finance and custody suites. Under the termsof the contract, two-thirds of the forces staff are to join G4S. It is also bidding for seven-yearcontracts worth 1.5 billion for Surrey and West Midlands Police to provide a wide range ofservices, including investigating crimes, patrolling neighbourhoods anddetaining suspects. Both Unison and Unite, the two largest public sectortrade unions, warned that the radical plan to privatise policing woulddamage public safety.

Punishing welfare claimantsIn April 2011, G4S won three contracts to run the coalition governmentsWork Programme in Kent, Surrey and Sussex; Greater Manchester,Cheshire and Warrington; and North East Yorkshire and the Humber.Over the lifetime of the programme, G4S is contracted to find long-term

jobs for 125,000 of the 250,000 job-seekers it will see. The DWP hasallocated 5 billion to the work programme over seven years, of which G4S could take a 250million share.

Profiting from PrisonersG4S prides itself as the first private company to open and run a prison in the UK. In October2011, Birmingham prison became the first-ever prison in the UK to be transferred from publicmanagement to the private sector. G4S won the 15-year contract, worth 468.3 million.

Another controversial aspect of G4Ss involvement in the prison industrial complex is itsexploitation of the cheap, captive labour of prisoners. G4S has 400 prisoners working 40 hoursa week in its six prisons, being paid next to nothing. At Altcourse prison in Liverpool, G4Sworks with Norpro, an engineering firm that has converted three former metal workshops intoa factory floor using 25 prisoners to produce high-quality office furniture at an economic price.

Taking actionActivists from various anti-G4S campaigns are coming together for a UK-wide gathering at theWorkstation, Sheffield on Saturday 6th October to share, network, strategise and plan how tobuild an even more effective Stop G4S campaign. The gathering is open to all who opposeG4S and want to work with others to Stop G4S from taking over public services for privateprofit while violating human rights. The event will launch the UK 'StopG4S' campaign coalition,bringing together grassroots campaigns, networks and organisations with the aim of providingsupport, resources, guidance and skill-sharing.

Please respond to: [email protected] to reserve a place, find out more or to request

a speaker to attend a meeting to discuss the campaign. If you or your organisation (if

you have one) wish to endorse this call please let us know.

John Snowdon, Convenor, Boycott Israel Network


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Interview with Mohammed al-Azraq,on tour in Scotland with the

Lajee CentreYouve now finished your tour of Scotland

and the UK. What are your reflections on the

Lajee Centres visit? What did the young

people from the Centre get from it? Has it

been difficult for some of them to adjust to

life back in the camp?

The tour was good in all ways: more peoplearound the areas that we visited now knowmore about the Palestinian struggle and theoccupation in Palestine. This kind of project isso important because it works on a human level.It gives the opportunity for people who have nochance to visit Palestine to meet Palestinians inthe UK and to know the realities of life for thePalestinian people. All the kids who were withus in the tour were so happy to visit a country

that has the most important things that we missin Palestine: the freedom, right to move freely,fresh water, big schools, and they saw the seawhich is for most of them the first time, becausethey are not allowed to go there in Palestine. Asthey told us, it was for them a great experienceto feel freedom and seeing and meeting otherpeople in the world and building relations withthem. The kids during the tour compared thingsthey saw there with life in Palestine and howkids they meet in the schools in the UK or in thehomes of the families that hosted them live.

They questioned everything: why we dont have this or why we dont live like that and all thesethings. After the tour the kids understood that life in the refugee camp or Palestine in general isso far from how other people around the world live and they miss lots of things, even the basicthings in life. But as many of them wrote in the evaluation, all these things will make themstronger in struggling to achieve a life like all people in the world.

Part of your project is to raise awareness of the lives and struggle of Palestinian refugees.

Which particular message (or messages) do you feel had the greatest salience withaudiences in the UK in terms of getting across this message?

In all the meetings and the activities we had, people were so willing to know about the reality ofthe situation in Palestine and how Palestinian people deal with all these problems they have in


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their life. During the talks we also felt that the most important thing is to give people theinformation about what is going on here and peoples daily lives. Our message to people was toshare this information with everyone they can. And they were very happy to do that; many peopleeven stood up and said that they will do it even before we asked them, because as some of themsaid, it is important for people in the UK and the world to know about it because the mediadoesnt tell them anything or talks about it in a distorted way. People even feel that the media

hides lots of things.

I asked you this on the night but I was wondering if you could put it down on paper. What

does the right of return mean to you personally and could you explain why the right of

return is so important in finding a just political resolution to on-going Israeli apartheid

and occupation?

The right of return is very important for me, as it is for all Palestinians. We are generations ofrefugees who live in camps or cities we know that we are not originally from, and the occupationthrew us and forced us to live in the situation that we are in now. We look at our right to return asthe way to have our rights back and to live as everyone lives and to stop people calling usrefugees. We ask not for return to where our families came from: we ask for the right to choosewhere we want to live in our country. Maybe some refugees will not even go back and they willlive outside Palestine but we have the right to choose where we want to live, not to be forced tolive in a refugee camp or areas that the occupation chooses for us. Now 70 percent of the

Palestinian people are refugees. That makes the main issue of a just solution the granting ofrefugees their right of return to their home land. The right of return is a natural right for refugeesand it is not only called for by the Palestinians: the UN has Resolution 194 that gives Palestinianrefugees the right of return.


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It was mentioned during our talk in Aberdeen that you were on hunger strike as a political

prisoner during the first intifada. Could you tell us a bit more about that? What is your

sense of the prisoners movement at present have Israels supposed compromises

taken all the energy out of it? How do you see the political prisoner movement in Palestine

in the wider context of the Palestinian struggle and resistance?

I was on a short hunger strike for 5 days and Salah wason hunger strike for 20 days. The hunger strikethat we were part of was to end theoccupation policy in the jailsagainst prisoners and to have therights that any human has to live asa human. We went on strike to ask tohave family visits, good food, to stoptorture and the policy of isolation, tohave the right of education, and many

other basic things. Many prisoners havedied during the strikes in the history ofthe political prisoners movement askingfor normal rights. During the Palestinianstruggle the jails have played a strong rolein the Resistance, as we have alwayscalled it the first line of the struggle. Also themovement of prisoners still in jails or nowreleased totals more than 750,000 since

1967.

You have taken part in Lajee Centre projects for many years and travelled widely with the

group. What is your sense of where the Palestine issue sits in the wider international

context compared to in the past? Are you optimistic for the future? What do you think are

the fundamental things that have to change for Palestinians to have justice?

Before the 2nd Intifada the Palestinian issue was very weak and ignored internationally. But if wewant to compare it now with 10 years ago there are big differences: people around the world

have now started to understand more about the conflict and the reality of the situation here. Yetwe still have a long way to go to make the world move more and to understand the Palestinianissue and we have to continue working on this because it is very important and it can make adifference towards justice for Palestinians. The international movement did a lot to end apartheidin South Africa and if we have a strong movement working for Palestine in the same way we willachieve lots of things that can change the situation on the ground here.

We believe that the change will come from people not from governments, and people around theworld will play strong parts in ending the occupation of Palestine. It is not only an occupation; itis a part of the international colonization project and it is a duty of everyone around the world to

work to end the injustice not only in Palestine but also everywhere on this earth.


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Stop the JNF campaign updateIt has already been a good year for the Stop the JNF campaign, with the resolution of the ScottishTrades Union Congress in April to join the campaign against the JNF, including supporting asubmission to the charities commission for the revocation of the JNFs charitable status. TheUnion of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) has also supported a resolutionagainst the JNF: ...Conference is appalled at the actions of a registered charity called the Jewish

National Fund. This so called charity raises money here in the UK and uses the funds for theacquisition and control of land in Israel and the occupied territories, actively discriminatingagainst the Palestinian people....

The Stop the JNF campaign hosted a series of activities during the weekend of May 11-12th.The focal point of the weekend was the protest against the JNFs fundraising shoot at CowansLaw on the Friday. The JNF had found one of the most remote locations possible for their annualfundraising event in Scotland, having given up on their pro-am golf event in Bonnyton afterseveral years of strong protests. Nonetheless protestors outnumbered those participating (andtherefore complicit) in the JNFs fundraising. The money raised at such events goes towards

what the JNF UK refers to as ...develop[ing] the Negev, the defining Zionist mission of the 21stcentury. This includes working with other Israeli authorities to destroy the unrecognisedvillages of Bedouin Palestinians, such as the village of Al Araqib, in order to plant the JNFs

Ambassadors Forest and other similar programmes of ethnic cleansing and settlement.

The protest at Cowans Law was followed by a fundraiser for the Plant-a-Tree in Palestineproject, with fantastic performances from the amazing Rafeef Ziadah and Phil Monsour. ThePlant-a-Tree project is part of an international initiative including Stop the Wall, the InternationalJewish Anti-Zionist Network, the Palestinian Farmers Union, and the Middle East Childrens

Alliance. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the JNFs tree-planting activities in what isnow Israel; activities which have been instrumental in helping to put new facts on the ground byplanting over the land of destroyed Palestinian villages. Plant-a-Tree is fully supportive of theStop the JNF campaign. The funds raised by the campaign are used to allow solidarity work withPalestinians to reclaim the right to land which has been destroyed by Israeli forces, e.g. for thebuilding of Israels apartheid wall, or for security reasons. Money raised on the night will gotowards one such planting action which will take place in conjunction with a Plant-a-Treedelegation visiting Palestine in early 2013, with delegates staying with Palestinian farmers andtheir families, learning more about the role of the JNF and its subsidiary Himnuta (doing theJNFs dirty work in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem), and taking part in planting

activities alongside Palestinians.

On Saturday May 12th a small but focussed Stop the JNF UK conference considered futureoptions for taking the campaign forward. There are big plans now in place and it is hoped thatsignificant progress can be made in the UK by the end of 2012.

Get involved visit www.stopthejnf.orgto find out more


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From Scotland to Palestine:The new youth solidarityIn May and June this year 22 people from Scotland visited Palestine for ten days as part of astudent delegation. Many of the students are active members of the We Are All Hana ShalabiScottish youth network for Palestine and had been involved in the recent campaign in support ofthe Karamah Hunger Strikers. The delegation met with groups and individuals from a range ofpolitical organisations in Al-Quds, the West Bank and Haifa.

As many of the students had been involved in Palestine activism for some months before the trip,there was a great level of engagement and enthusiasm to participate in actions and work closelywith activists on the ground in Palestine. One of the main aims of the delegation was tostrengthen the existing relationships between the Scottish youth solidarity movement and Pales-tinian youth activists. As well as attending the weekly popular resistance demonstrations in Beit

Ommar, Nilin and Nabi Saleh, the group participated in an action organised by Palestinians fromHaifa at Ramleh prison and a protest at the Muqata in Ramallah organised by activists from theHerak Shababi Palestinian youth movement. The group also organised a demonstration at theBritish Consulate in East Jerusalem in protest at the British Governments ongoing complicity inIsraels abuse of Palestinian political prisoners. The demonstration was supported by severalJerusalem-based activist groups.

The enthusiasm displayed by the group throughout the trip was mirrored in the response from thePalestinian activists we met with. There is a new generation of activists emerging in Scotlandand Palestine who pursue political unity across a broad range of standpoints in order to struggle

for common aims. The potential that the youth have, not only to breathe new life into the struggleand offer an alternative vision for the solidarity and resistance movement, but to unite manyfactions who previously would have refused to work together to the detriment of the movementas a whole should not be underestimated.

This March in Edinburgh nearly 600 people demonstrated at the Scottish Parliament, callingupon the government to support Palestinian prisoners and to support the aims of BDS. InRamallah, a city commonly referred to as the bubble of the West Bank, activists have clashedwith the Palestinian Authority as they marched through the streets calling for the youth of Pales-tine to wake up and join the resistance. Members of Herak Shababi are engaging in new,

creative forms of resistance, such as the initiative which sees groups of Palestinian womenpicnicking at the Al-Kaws spring in Nabi Saleh as a way of reclaiming land that has been inacces-sible to Palestinians for decades because of the occupation.

The solidarity between the youth movements in Scotland and Palestine is strong. Funds raisedat the hunger strike demonstrations in Scotland were declined by the Herak Shababi activists,who expressed that they would rather the money went to the We Are All Hana Shalabi group sothat we can continue with our work in support of human rights for Palestinians. The group hasreturned from the delegation newly-inspired and even more committed to building a strong move-ment in Scotland in support of Palestine, and will enter this coming academic year prepared toinject new life into student Palestine societies at universities and colleges across Scotland.


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Human Rights Reports Continue to Highlight Israelscontravention of International Law

The UN Human Rights Councils Universal Periodic Review "has great potential to promoteand protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world.

Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) carried out by the UN Human Rights Council reviews andassesses the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. The firstcycle of reviews were completed between 2008-2011, and the second cycle review is currentlyunderway. From 21st January to 1 February 2013, the UN Human Rights Council will reviewIsraels human rights record during the period 2008-2012. As part of this process, the PalestinianHuman Rights Organisations Council (PHROC) has submitted a joint written submission to theCouncil highlighting Israels failure to adhere to its obligations under international law in theOccupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

The findings of the 2008 UPR of Israel were extremely critical, with multiple human rightsviolations identified. Among the many recommendations made to Israel by the Human RightsCouncil, Israel was asked to:

adhere to its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law with

respect to the Palestinian people;

refrain from imposing blockades on the Gaza Strip;

immediately cease work on the construction of the wall being built in the Occupied

Palestinian Territories;

stop all illegal measures aimed at annexing East Jerusalem;

ensure access to Bedouin populations to basic public services;

refrain from evicting Arab residents from their homes in Jerusalem;

cease action that would alter the demographic situation of Palestine;

ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture

The current PHROC submission to Human Rights Council presents clear and unequivocalevidence that Israel has ignored all HRC recommendations.

While there continues to be no significant or meaningful action from the international community,it remains business as usual for the Occupation. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office(FCO) currently includes Israel in its list of countries of human rights concern, yet the UK votedagainst or abstained from voting to censure Israel in response to many of the most seriousbreaches identified in the 2008 UPR. More recently, in a move condemned by AmnestyInternational, the EU announced it would strengthen its bilateral relations with Israel by

endorsing a package of 60 new areas of cooperation. While our governments show suchshameful inability, or unwillingness, to take a moral stand and uphold and protect human rightsand fundamental freedoms, it is vital that activists everywhere continue to pressure them to takeaction.


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Scottish TUC delegates joinPalestine freedom struggle unanimously!In April this year 450 delegates to the Annual Conference of the Scottish Trades Union Congress(STUC), the umbrella group for every trade union in Scotland, voted unanimously and repeatedlyagainst Israeli apartheid. The delegates voted to:

campaign to expose the role of the racist JNF (Jewish National Fund) in the Israeliapartheid system

support the participants in the Welcome to Palestine initiative who tried to travelpeacefully to Palestine via Tel Aviv Airport

fully support the Palestinian-Brazilian call for the World Social Forum-Free Palestine inBrazil in November

support the Palestinian hunger strikers and the work of Addameer, the Palestinianprisoner support organisation.

Congress delegates congratulated students from Scottish universities for their work organisingIsraeli Apartheid Week 2012 events, and those who initiated action in support of the Palestinianprisoners on hunger strike. They also called for support for a national demonstration on April 28thin solidarity with the hunger strikers.

These decisions of the Scottish TUC in support of the Palestinian freedom struggle, by a unionconfederation representing half a million organised workers in every sector of the economy, willbe widely seen as a continuation of the international solidarity the STUC also provided to theliberation struggle in South Africa. Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city, named a city centre streetafter Mandela in 1986 while he was still on Robben Island. How long till there is a PalestineSquare or Palestine Street in our major cities?

Many organisations across Europe and internationally are mobilising for theWorld Social Form: Free Palestine (28 Nov-1 Dec) in Porto Alegre. Ask your trade

union, group, organisation to:

Endorse the call for the World Social Forum: Free Palestine

Send a delegate or delegates from your organisation to participate in the

program

Make a donation toward sending a delegation of UK activists so they can

participate and report back to your organisation

Send a message of solidarity to be read out during the gathering

For details VISIT: www.uk-wsf-fp.info, or EMAIL: [email protected]


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Images of SolidarityOne morning in August 2010 I was browsing my Flickr site* when I came across a digital

message in a bottle. We have just set up our new Flickr page,http://www.flickr.com/photos/beitummarkids/ It would be good if you could help the kids bycommenting on their photos. It was signed by French activist Cyrille Lala who explained that he

had been running a photography workshop in a summer school in the small town of Beit Ummar,near Bethlehem. The message was not sent to me personally but to anyone onFlickr with an interest in Palestine. I responded to his request, andthereby opened a new door in my personal solidarity work withPalestinians.

It occurred to me that Cyrille and the kids of BeitUmmar might value a follow-up workshop later inthe year to consolidate some of the work he hadbeen doing in the summer school. He was very

enthusiastic about my idea and fixed things for me tovisit Beit Ummar that October. Thus I found myselfwalking up from the Hebron road past the Israeliwatchtower, across Youssefs back garden to the houseof Moussa and Beka Abumaria. ThisPalestinian/American couple hosted international activistsin their house, and were leading figures in the localPalestine Solidarity Committee, a network of villagesthroughout the Occupied Territories dedicated to developinggrass-roots opposition to the occupation. They had raised

money to build a new community education centre which was aperfect workshop venue.

I gradually got to know the kids through their choice of imagery as well as their descriptions oftheir personal lives. My first question to them was What do you want to photograph. I stifledback the tears when I heard their replies. I want to get the soldiers, who raid our house at night,I want to photograph all the settlements on the hills around us. Its one thing hearing aboutthese things from afar, but when they come from the mouths of fourteen and fifteen year oldsthats another matter.

Two weeks of inspiring, chaotic, frustrating, and ultimately immensely satisfying work followed.Six young Palestinians laughed and squabbled their way through our after-school sessions, andat the end of it all produced some cracking images. In between these sessions, I helped localfarmers plant trees, sang Bandiera Rossa with Italian activists as we picked olives, and, ofcourse, demonstrated with the townsfolk against Israeli land theft in their area. No-one can gothrough these experiences without sensing a quantum leap in the rage, grief, and sympathypreviously felt for the Palestinian people. But what to do with all this?

I knew I had to tell the story - the central, and simplest aspect of solidarity. Speaking to friendsI was struck by their response of incredulity at some of the things that I had witnessed. How couldthese things be allowed to happen? That question is a good start to a conversation about theabominations that occur in the only democracy in the Middle East. I organised a couple ofexhibitions locally, designed to illustrated the highs and lows of life for Beit Ummar kids. It isimportant to show the courage, vitality and determination of these kids as well as the darker side


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of their oppression. For these are the next generation of freedom fighters.

I also had to think how I could build on my experiences. I was very aware that my lack of Arabicplaced more than a few constraints on the pace and depth of learning. We had arranged thatMoussa, Beka or Jeff, another activist, would interpret, but I was often left holding the baby whenthat days interpreter was called elsewhere. I also asked myself why someone from the outsideshould need to come in and run this kind of a workshop in the first place. There must be enoughPalestinian photographers who could do this kind of thing. We had tried to recruit one of the

several press photographers who covered the Friday demonstrations to lead follow-up sessions,but they were usually too busy. If I were to do this again I had to find my own Arabic speakingco-worker.

Enter Mr. Ahmad Al-Bazz. I had admired Ahmads work on Flickr, and when he commented onone of my pictures this seemed a good opportunity to get in touch. He was immediatelyenthusiastic about the prospect of working together. He lived in Nablus and suggested NabiSaleh, a small village between Nablus and Ramallah as a possible venue. He had good contactsthere and they were more than willing for us to work with the kids using the general format of theBeit Ummar workshops.

Ahmads contribution to this second project was invaluable.He brought along much better learning materials than Icould hope to muster, and was great at explainingsome of the practical exercises we hadarranged for the kids. He also helped tostimulate ideas on further solidarity work afterthe project ended its first phase in Nabi Salah.Instead of having small localised exhibitions in

my own city of Edinburgh as before, we built up anetwork of good collaborators in Scotland andPalestine who are currently planning to exhibit inEdinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen. Thesecities are paired with Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus andGaza, each of which will mount an identical exhibitionsimultaneously with their counterparts in Scotland. Theseexhibitions will form the backdrop to other activities; a video conversation between Scots andPalestinians in the paired cities, a discussion on childrens right in the OPT, as well as song andpoetry by Palestinian activists.

Of course, this expanded project has its costs. We need to print and frame in both Gaza City andthe West Bank (as travel and communications are strictly controlled by the Israelis) and alsorequire funding for venues, hospitality, travel and publicity. We are grateful to groups such asScottish Friends of Palestine and Scottish PSC for their contributions so far, as well as NablusUniversity, the Lajee Centre, Bethlehem, Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Parliamentwhich have pledged to provide four of the venues. But we still need more. So if you feel able tocontribute to our fund Cameras for Palestine please dont hesitate to [email protected] who will let you know how best to do this. Your solidarity will be mostwelcome.

see http://www.flickr.com/photos/68605447@N02/ for pictures from Nabi Saleh


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Visiting PalestineIan McDonald visited Palestine earlier in the year as part of a Stop the JNF delegation.

You have been involved with Palestine solidarity for many years: why did you decide to make thetrip over there and why did you decide to do it with the Stop the JNF campaign?

Solidarity with Palestinian people involves many different actions and many different campaigns.They are all part of a whole, with the boycott campaign as the main focus, that aims to weakenthe apartheid Israeli state. So on my first trip to Palestine I had the opportunity to track the JNF,an organisation that has played a central role in the colonisation of Palestine over the last 64years. The JNF followed behind the bulldozers which destroyed the village of Ajur in 1948 andcreated the British Park, and again in 1967 when it developed Canada Park after the destructionof Imwas, Yalu and Beit Nuba. In the present day the JNF have their own bulldozers, put to useas they steal and develop the land of the Bedouin population in the Naqab and Jordan Valleyareas.

You saw a lot of different areas where the JNF have been involved can you tell us about thesite which had the greatest impact on you and why you think this was?

It is difficult to say really. Every day involved visiting another example of forced dispossessionand expulsion, whether from 1948, 1967 or on-going today. The visit to Imwas, which was razedto the ground by the Israeli army (commanded by celebrated 'peacemaker' Yitzhak Rabin), wasa particularly lasting memory for me. The pictures of Imwas as a thriving village alongside onesof a bare landscape after destruction in 1967 and then as a JNF park (a fact on the ground) onoccupied territory inside the West Bank remain clearly in my mind. So do the efforts of the Imwas

Society to keep alive the hopes of a return to the land there by tracing all the villagers and creat-ing a model of the village from both photos and memories. It is vital that this infamous crime isnot forgotten.

Could you tell us a bit more about the Plant-a-Tree in Palestine project you took part as part ofyour visit?

There is great symbolism in trees and they have been a central feature in both Israeli oppressionand now Palestinian resistance. Over a million Palestinian olive trees have been destroyed as aresult of Israel's insatiable drive to take control of the Palestinian land. Physical destruction is

compounded by the damaging impact this has on Palestinian economic life. Millions of treeshave also been planted by the JNF and they make a great noise about the 'environmental'aspects of their work. In truth these trees are planted to lay claim to the land that has been stolenand to prevent Palestinian people from returning. We saw this scenario in action in Al Araqibwhere the JNF had destroyed the olive trees at the same time as destroying the village. Theyhave replaced these with water hungry eucalyptus trees. The water is transported to the area intrucks whilst the villagers, who are Israeli citizens, live in an 'unrecognised village' withoutconnection to water, sewage or electricity systems. I believe the Plant a Tree in Palestinecampaign is an act of both resistance and solidarity by a number of organisations, Palestinianand international. The aim is to reclaim land and re-establish productive use of it. The campaignalso has the potential to reach out to many people who can learn more about the Palestiniansexperience and join their struggle for freedom and justice.


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DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

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spsc autumn 2012 newsletter

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