report on Gaza patients in need of medical care, June 2010 download report

Photo Palestinian man working at sewing machine in Gaza Strip.

This paper reviews Israel’s exit policy at the Erez Crossing as it affects Palestinian patients and Israeli-imposed restrictions on their passage from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, Jordan and Israel in order to undergo medical treatment unavailable in Gaza. The paper argues that there is a consistent Israeli policy of distinguishing between life-threatening cases and cases that affect quality of life, analyzing both the medical-ethical and legal aspects of the subject.

(…اكثر)

guardian.co.uk Miri Weingarten, Wednesday 30 June 2010

Photo: Israeli apartheid wall cutting through Palestinian territories.

A new “anti-boycott bill”, the third in a series of proposed laws that aim to curtail the ability of civil society to criticise Israeli government policy, will punish Israelis or foreign nationals who initiate or promote a boycott of Israel.

The bill not only prohibits boycotts of legal Israeli institutions, but also of settlement activities and products. It seeks to impose fines on Israelis who “promote boycotts” and transfer the fines to boycotted organisations.

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Terry Crawford-Browne, Electronic Intifada 30 June 2010

Photo Uriel Sinai/Getty Images Israeli soldiers stand guard as the Israeli navy raids one of the ships in the Freedom Flotilla.

The international banking sanctions campaign in New York against apartheid South Africa during the 1980s is regarded as the most effective strategy in bringing about a nonviolent end to the country’s apartheid system. The campaign culminated in President FW de Klerk’s announcement in February 1990, releasing Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners, and the beginning of constitutional negotiations towards a non-racial and democratic society.

If international civil society is serious about urgently ending Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, including ending the occupation, then suspension of SWIFT transactions to and from Israeli banks offers an instrument to help bring about a peaceful resolution of an intractable conflict. With computerization, international banking technology has advanced dramatically in the subsequent 20 years since the South African anti-apartheid campaign.

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June, 2010 by Nadia Hijab counterpunch.org

Photo ActiveStills Israeli soldiers in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestine.

After locking itself up for hours on end, Israel’s security cabinet finally emerged to announce an easing of its blockade on Gaza, a move immediately welcomed by the United States. Israel and the U.S. hope to defuse world outrage over the collective punishment of the 1.5 million Palestinians who live there and to prevent future flotillas from trying to break the siege.

Will they succeed? It is tempting to think that the flagrant illegality of attacking unarmed humanitarians on the open seas is bound to lead to an end to the blockade. However, Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani has warned against over-optimism. He notes that after the horror of Israel’s 2008-9 attacks on Gaza the blockade was not only kept in place; it was tightened.

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Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel PACBI June 2010

Photo Palestinian youth walking along the Israeli apartheid wall.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), established in April 2004 by a small group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals and widely supported by leading civil society associations, unions and networks, [1] has not witnessed a sustained surge in cultural boycott of Israel such as has occurred in the last year and a half, since the Israeli war of aggression on Gaza.

Today there are campaigns for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel in the US, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Norway, among others.

(…اكثر)

launch for Montreal Artists declaration in solidarity with Palestine

Thursday July 22 20h
Suggested donation 5-10$
La Sala Rossa
4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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Toronto Star Wednesday June 2, by Thomas Walkom

Photo Israeli military tanks roving in Palestine.

Canada’s politicians are wary of criticizing Israel. So is much of Canada’s media. As a fringe group called Queers Against Israeli Apartheid found when they were banned from using their name in Toronto’s annual Gay Pride parade, the established order has little patience for those deemed overly critical of the Jewish state.

That’s why My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play about an American pro-Palestinian activist killed by Israeli troops, was cancelled in Toronto three years ago (another theatre troupe eventually staged it).

(…اكثر)

Join us for Tadamon’s Anti-Apartheid Soccer Tournament!

It’s the 2010 FIFA World Cup in post-apartheid South Africa!!!! Come kick the ball around in Parc Jeanne-Mance for a friendly “anti-apartheid soccer tournament,” an activity in solidarity with Palestinians living under Israeli apartheid.

Sunday July 4th
Games will begin at 1pm and continue until 5pm
Parc Jeanne-Mance
Parc & Mont-Royal, bus #80, 129, 97, 11
Look for our tent and Palestinian flags!

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Thursday, 24 June 2010 Palestinian Center for Human Rights

Photo Israeli occupation soldiers arrest Palestinian youth.

Israel has subjected the Gaza Strip to an illegal closure policy since 1991. This policy’s current, most extreme form has been applied continuously for over three years following the Hamas takeover in June 2007. This closure constitutes a form of collective punishment and has completely cut off Gaza from the outside world.

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Rela Mazali, Israeli activist, Huffington Post June 2010.

Photo ActiveStills Olive trees in Palestine covered in tear gas.

What to do when the country I live in totally loses its compass? Totally loses its shame? What to do when the regime that collects my taxes uses them to deploy its high-tech military, armed to the teeth, against activists sailing to oppose a criminal siege? When this country’s politicians authorize soldiers to shoot-to-kill into a deck-bound crowd? And then tell me they are protecting me? What to do when the governments of the world are too deeply implicated to hold this regime, this country accountable?

(…اكثر)