Laila El-Haddad guardian.co.uk Thursday 16 September 2010

Photo A Palestinian boy flies his kite through the streets of Khan Younis in Gaza.

Ask any resident of Gaza what their thoughts are on the US-sponsored “direct talks” between Israel and Mahmoud Abbas’s Ramallah government, and you’re likely to hear one of three responses:

1) Surely, you jest;

2) Something’s rotten in Ramallah;

3) Negotiations?

There is very little patience in Gaza for this latest set of talks. They are not only being conducted without a national consensus by what is broadly considered an illegitimate government, but they also completely marginalise the Gaza Strip and overlook the blockade and asphyxiation it has suffered for more than four years.

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by Nima Shirazi September 2010.

Photo Kent Klich Northern Gaza Strip, Israeli air strike on Gaza home.

“Before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived…We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house.”

Moshe Dayan, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, speaking at the funeral of an Israeli farmer killed by a Palestinian in April 1956.

The public debate over the Israeli Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign was reignited recently with the news that the illegal West Bank colony of Ariel would soon be opening its newly-constructed, multi-million dollar cultural center and would host performances by several of Israel’s leading theater companies in its auditorium, built – tragically – by the very Palestinian construction workers that Israel has occupied and dispossessed. The announcement marked the first time these notable Israeli drama groups would be performing outside of the 1949 Armistice Line in Israeli-occupied Palestine.

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BDS conference Montreal 2010

Friday October 22nd 7pm
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
Salle Marie-Gérin-Lajoie
405 st Catherine east
pavillion Judith-Jasmin
(metro Berri-UQAM)

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | Hürriyet Daily News

Photo Israel’s apartheid wall winding through Palestinian territory.

Turkey will not send any delegation to a biannual tourism conference in Israel later this month, the country’s culture minister said Tuesday, marking the first boycott of Israel on a multilateral level since a deadly raid on a Turkish aid ship in May.

Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay told a group of reporters Tuesday that Turkey would not send any representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, conference on Oct. 20-22 in Jerusalem. “Regrettable statements have been made. We want tourism to take place, not politics,” he said.

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Palestine Popular Struggle Coordination Committee 11 Oct 2010

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

Bil’in protest organizer Abdallah Abu Rahmah was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment today, for his involvement in his village’s unarmed struggle against the wall.

Abdallah Abu Rahmah was sentenced today to 12 months in prison, plus 6 months suspended sentence for 3 years and a fine of 5,000 NIS. In the sentencing, the judge cited the non-implementation of an Israeli High Court ruling which declared the current route of the wall on Bil’in’s land illegal as a mitigating factor.

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open social to build support for global BDS conference in Montreal October 2010

Friday October 15th
5 à 7 @ Casa del Popolo
4873 St. Laurent
donations welcome!
(métro Laurier or bus #55)
Montreal, Quebec

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Mohammad Talaat, The Electronic Intifada 8 September 2010

Photo: Biddu, Palestine, 2004 – The shadow of a young man throwing stones at Israeli Occupation Forces with a home-made sling during a protest in the West Bank village of Biddu. The people of Biddu were protesting the construction of the Apartheid Wall on their lands, and the Israeli soldiers had occupied the village to ensure that work continued on the Wall uninterrupted.

Following a sharp increase in divestment efforts across North American college campuses last spring, this academic year promises an even greater number of initiatives. The success and near-success of efforts at several campuses last year, coupled with Israel’s attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla this summer, has inspired new efforts among peace and justice activists to target companies that profit from and abet Israel’s apartheid regime.

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Le Couac par Claire Hurtig & Freda Guttman.

Photo Drapeau palestinien lors d’une manifestation.

Boycott, Désinvestissement et Sanctions pour mettre fin à l’apartheid israélien

En juillet 2005, plus de 170 organismes de la société civile palestinienne, incluant des groupes de femmes, des syndicats, des groupes de réfugié(e)s et des groupes culturels, se sont assemblés pour faire un appel au Boycott, Désinvestissement et Sanctions (BDS) intégral contre l’apartheid israélien. Par cette demande, ces organismes veulent inciter la société civile internationale à boycotter les produits israéliens, désinvestir des compagnies israéliennes et encourager leurs gouvernements à imposer des sanctions sur l’État d’Israël, jusqu’à ce que celui-ci respecte le droit international et droits humains des Palestiniens.

Voilà pourquoi du 22 au 24 octobre prochain, des organisations solidaires avec la Palestine basées à Montréal animeront une conférence de 3 jours dont l’objectif est de faire avancer la campagne BDS contre l’apartheid israélien. Cette campagne est basée sur trois demandes concrètes :

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Mondoweiss by Lawrence Davidson.

Photo Palestinian woman flying flag at protest in West Bank.

On September 5, 2010 the Israel newspaper Haaretz published an article the headline of which read “Anti-Israel Economic Boycotts are Gaining Speed.” The subtitle went on to state that “the sums involved are not large, but their international significance is huge.” Actually, what seems to have triggered the piece was not international. Rather, it was the decision of a “few dozen theater people” to boycott “a new cultural center in Ariel,” an illegally settled town in the Occupied Territories. This action drew public support from 150 academics in Israel. The response from the Israeli right, which presently controls the government and much of Israel’s information environment, was loud and hateful.

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Haaretz by Irit Rosenblum. Oct. 2010

Photo Sky over occupied Jerusalem.

Britain and Spain will not send delegates to the OECD’s biannual tourism conference on October 20-22, because it will be held in Jerusalem, Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov (Yisrael Beiteinu ) said yesterday.

This is only the second time in its history that the conference, which this year will deal with sustainable tourism, is being held outside Paris.

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