Montreal action to call on Leonard Cohen to cancel Tel Aviv concert.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2pm
corner of St. Laurent and Marie-Anne
métro St. Laurent, bus #55
Montreal, Quebec

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009 Toronto Declaration

Photo: Matthew Cassel. Palestinian flag in Gaza winter 2009.

As members of the Canadian and international film, culture and media arts communities, we are deeply disturbed by the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to host a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv. We protest that TIFF, whether intentionally or not, has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine.

In 2008, the Israeli government and Canadian partners Sidney Greenberg of Astral Media, David Asper of Canwest Global Communications and Joel Reitman of MIJO Corporation launched “Brand Israel,” a million dollar media and advertising campaign aimed at changing Canadian perceptions of Israel. Brand Israel would take the focus off Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its aggressive wars, and refocus it on achievements in medicine, science and culture.

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Globe and Mail, Naomi Klein, Tuesday, September 08, 2009.

Photo: Zoriah (c). Palestinian building in Gaza destroyed by Israeli bombs.

When I heard the Toronto International Film Festival was holding a celebratory “spotlight” on Tel Aviv I felt ashamed of my city. I thought immediately of Mona Al Shawa, a Palestinian women’s-rights activist I met on a recent trip to Gaza. “We had more hope during the attacks,” she told me, “at least then we believed things would change.”

Ms. Al Shawa explained that while Israeli bombs rained down last December and January, Gazans were glued to their TVs. What they saw, in addition to the carnage, was a world rising up in outrage: global protests, as many as a hundred thousand on the streets of London, a group of Jewish women in Toronto occupying the Israeli Consulate. “People called it war crimes,” Ms. Al Shawa recalled. “We felt we were not alone in the world.” If Gazans could just survive them, it seemed these horrors would be the catalyst for change.

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Harper’s Magazine, by Naomi Klein, September 2009.

Photo: Zoriah (c). Crack in wall in south Beirut, Lebanon.

When I arrived at the grand offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the Palais Wilson, looking out at a drizzly Lake Geneva, Navanethem Pillay was hunched over the shoulder of her deputy, Kyung-wha Kang, dictating a press release. “I am shocked and deeply disappointed,” I heard her say, pointing at the screen while Kang typed. It was 3:00 p.m., and Pillay was having a very bad day.

“Done,” she finally declared, plopping down at her conference table. The press release was a response to some disappointing news. The previous night, the United States, under the leadership of its first African-American president, had announced that it would boycott the United Nations Durban Review Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, citing its alleged anti-Israel bias. The conference was to start the following day, April 20, 2009, with Pillay presiding. Known by critics as “Durban II,” this was the only United Nations gathering specifically focused on pushing governments to combat racism inside their borders, a task that had become increasingly urgent as financial crises continued to stoke ethnic tensions around the world.

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Report International Solidarity Movement, 4 September 2009:

Photo: Israeli military undermining press freedom in Palestine.

Israeli forces shoot Israeli and Palestinian demonstrator with live ammunition in the West Bank village of Ni’lin.

Palestinian residents, alongside Israeli and international supporters, have been demonstrating today since 12:30pm.

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Report, August 2009 Defense for Children International.

Photo: Palestinian child in the Gaza Strip.

On 14 August 2009, Hamdi al-Ta’mari (UA 1/09) was issued with his fourth administrative detention order by the Israeli military commander in the West Bank. This latest order was issued for a duration of four months. The order was reviewed by an Israeli military court on 20 August 2009, which confirmed the order.

On the same day, Hamdi turned 17.

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Report 27 August – 2 September 2009: Palestinian Center for Human Rights

Photo: Palestinian fishing boat after being fired on by Israeli gunboats near Gaza.

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period, 27 August – 2 September 2009

During the reporting period, IOF killed two Palestinian civilians, including a child, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Two members of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) were also killed in the Gaza Strip, and Hamas accused IOF of killing them.

The body of a Palestinian, who had been missing since last week, was also found near the Egyptian border, south of Rafah. Additionally, 4 Palestinian civilians, including two medical personnel and a child, and a resistance activist were wounded by IOF.

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August 29th, 2009, Bil’in village report, view video

Photo: ActiveStills. Protesting night raids in Bil’in, Palestine.

Around 3:30 am, the Israeli occupation forces invaded Bil’in once again arresting 2 Palestinians.

Two houses were raided simultaneously by at least 40 soldiers. In the first house, Ashraf Mohammad Jamal Tofik Al-Khatib (age 29) was arrested. In the second house, they arrested Hamru Hisham Bornat (age 24).

The cameraman, Haitham Al-Khatib, who was filming in his own house, one victim being his brother, was repeatedly forcibly moved and hit, and threatened with arrest unless he stopped filming. They declared his house a “closed military zone” but did not produce any military order. 3 Jeeps and 2 Humvee jeeps were used for the operation.

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New York Times by Ethan Bronner, August 27, 2009.

Photo: ActiveStills. Palestinian youth demonstrate in Bil’in, Palestine.

BILIN, West Bank — Every Friday for the past four and a half years, several hundred demonstrators — Palestinian villagers, foreign volunteers and Israeli activists — have walked in unison to the Israeli barrier separating this tiny village from the burgeoning settlement of Modiin Illit, part of which is built on the village’s land. One hundred feet away, Israeli soldiers watch and wait.

The protesters chant and shout and, inevitably, a few throw stones. Then just as inevitably, the soldiers open fire with tear gas and water jets, lately including a putrid oil-based liquid that makes the entire area stink.

It is one of the longest-running and best organized protest operations in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it has turned this once anonymous farming village into a symbol of Palestinian civil disobedience, a model that many supporters of the Palestinian cause would like to see spread and prosper.

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Palestinian Center for Human Rights. August 20 – 26 2009.

Photo: Palestinian youth killed by Israeli military forces in Gaza Strip.

During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, and wounded 9 others in the Gaza Strip. Another Palestinian is also missing. In the West Bank, one Palestinian civilian was wounded.

On 24 August 2009, Israeli troops positioned to the northwest of Beit Lahia town in the northern Gaza Strip (along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel) fired at two Palestinian civilians, including a child, who got close to the border. The child was instantly killed by two bullets to the chest, and the other civilian was seriously wounded.

The two civilians were working in a farm in Beit Lahia town, approximately 350 meters away from the border fence. They attempted to get close to the border to find metal wires to sell them. They were unarmed.

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