PACBI Occupied Ramallah, 13 January 2010

Photo: Israeli apartheid wall in occupied Palestine.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was deeply disturbed to learn that that you are scheduled to perform in Israel this coming summer. Two years ago, you were invited by Israeli President Shimon Peres to attend a conference in Israel marking Israel‘s contributions to medicine, science, and conservation; we urged you then, as a prominent activist on issues of global inequality and a campaigner for basic human rights, to say no to Israel, especially since the invitation coincided with celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state.[1] You did not go to Israel then; we call on you now not to grant legitimacy to a state that practices the most pernicious form of colonialism and apartheid.

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13 January 2010 Amnesty International

Photo: Israeli soldier attempts to cover camera in the West Bank

Amnesty International has welcomed the release of Palestinian human rights activist Jamal Juma’, who was detained by the Israeli military late last year.

Jamal Juma’ was arrested in December 2009, joining fellow activists Abdallah Abu Rahma and Mohammed Othman in detention, following a series of protests against the construction of the fence/wall in the West Bank.

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Tadamon! statement of solidarity with resistance against the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Photo: Mohawk flag over highway during Six Nations blockade in 2007.

From February 12-28, 2010 the Winter Olympic games will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia. As a grassroots social justice collective who engages in Middle-East solidarity from an anti-capitalist and anti-colonial perspective, Tadamon gives its solidarity and support to the many social justice and indigenous organizations who are calling out to disrupt and protest the Vancouver Winter Olympics. From Palestine to the Coast Salish Territory (“Vancouver”), there can never be justice on stolen land.

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rally and march in downtown Montreal

Saturday January 16th 13h
Corner Peel and Rene-Levesque
metro Peel or Bonaventure
Montreal, Quebec

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Photo: Zoriah (c). Hezbollah logo painted on bullet pocked wall in Beirut, Lebanon.

Responding to the discussion on political Islam begun in the previous issue of Red Pepper, Bilal El-Amine considers the experience of Hizbullah in Lebanon

It is no doubt commendable that Red Pepper has tried to tackle the thorny issue of political Islam and in particular the Iranian experience, a subject that is greatly misunderstood in the west, even in left circles. But unfortunately the discussion created more spark than substance. This can be attributed to both Alastair Crooke’s rather abstract philosophical approach that often clashes with the reality of events on the ground and Azar Majedi’s shrill response, which reduces the legacy of the Islamic revolution in Iran to ‘30 years of bloodshed, oppression, misogyny, gender apartheid, stoning and mutilation’. One wonders how it is that women in Iran make up 65 per cent of university students under such conditions.

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Inter Press Service by Ray Smith.

Photo: Raed El Rafei Bullet holes marking walls in Nahr el-Bared.

NAHR AL-BARED (North Lebanon) – The hip-hop beats ringing through the muddy, unlit streets of this burnt-out Palestinian refugee camp seem incongruous. But the rhymes are camp-grown – and courageous.

“I’m carrying worries / From inside a destroyed camp / I’m preparing an attack / Words that keep turning in my head / Nahr al-Bared is fenced-in with iron bars / In the newspapers they speak about suffering / Every word makes sense”.

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CKUT community radio special broadcast

Monday January 18th 15h00 – 17h00
live broadcast on CKUT radio, 90.3fm
tune-in globally via live stream at www.ckut.ca

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30 December 2009 B’Tselem report

Photo: ActiveStills Israeli check-point during Ramadan in Palestine.

On 29 December 2009, the High Court of Justice ordered, by majority opinion, cancellation of the ban on Palestinian movement along the section of Route 443 that lies beyond the Green Line. Justice Uzi Fogelman, who wrote the majority opinion, held that the military commander is not authorized to impose such a ban, and additionally, that it is not proportionate. The justices give the military commander five months to formulate an alternate solution that will provide security to Israelis using the road.

In the past, the relevant section of the road was a main traffic artery in the southern part of Ramallah District. Over the years, the route was widened and changed, and in the 1980s, Israel repaved it. The widening of the road was accomplished by expropriating public and private land of Palestinians from the adjacent villages. In its response to the petitions filed by the Palestinian landowners, the High Court held that these expropriations were legal inasmuch as the road was intended to also serve the Palestinian residents.

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Human Rights Watch – Mohammed Othman Held without Charge

Photo: Palestinian youth holding flag along Israeli apartheid wall.

(Jerusalem) – The Israeli military appeals court should end the administrative detention of Mohammed Othman, a West Bank rights activist, and order his release, Human Rights Watch said today.

Israeli authorities have detained Othman without charge for more than two months on what appear to be politically motivated grounds. On the basis of secret evidence that Othman and his lawyers were not allowed to see, a military court confirmed a military order that consigned Othman to three months administrative detention without charging him with any crime. Othman has no criminal record and, to the knowledge of Human Rights Watch, has never advocated or participated in violence. His detention period, which may be renewed, ends on December 22.

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Montreal album launch for Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah

Thursday March 18th 2010
20h00 $8 in advance | $10 at door
La Sala Rossa
4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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