Artists speak out on Israeli Apartheid: in their own words

Photo: Iraqi hip-hop artist Yassin Alsalman, Narcicyst.

Hundreds of Montreal artists have united in solidarity with Palestine, launching a public declaration this February signed by 500 artists from the city. Artists in Montreal from diverse disciplines, from dancers to poets, musicians to filmmakers, have issued the first major statement by artists in a major North American city backing the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign in opposition to policies of apartheid practiced by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.

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rabble.ca Stefan Christoff, April 2010

Photo: Matthew Cassel Due to the siege, routine injuries have been difficult to treat.

Thousands across Gaza live with severe injuries: youth war amputees, mothers severely burned by phosphorus bombs, countless Palestinians coping with physiological wounds, all injuries stemming from the disaster wrought on Gaza by the Israeli military assault in the winter of 2008/2009.

And war injuries remain a consistent reality in 2010.

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Haaretz by Amira Hass. 15/02/2010

Photo Palestinian child next to fruit stall in the streets of Jerusalem.

Something about 12-year-old Bassam caused two Israelis to smile. Two Palestinians noticed, but did not remember their smiles as being disparaging or arrogant. On the contrary. The Palestinians regarded the smiles as a rare moment in which two Israelis – and not just any Israelis, but military judges – realized how ridiculous the situation was.

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Neither Here nor There directed by Hicham Kayed 2006 Lebanon/Germany

Photo: Zoriah Palestinian refugee girl stands on the streets of Beach Camp in Gaza.

April 16 2010, 6pm
4755 Van Horne # 110
Metro Plamondon
Admission $5 – $20
documentaries in Arabic with English subtitles
films will be followed by a discussion

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Press release-Global Day of Action to boycott Israeli apartheid

Montrealers join Global Day of Action to Boycott Israeli Apartheid

Who: Members of Montreal Palestine solidarity groups and community organisations
What: Global Day of Action for the campaign to boycott Israeli apartheid
When: Tuesday, March 30, 4pm-6pm
Where: Phillips Square, across from The Bay, 585 Ste. Catherine St. West

MONTREAL, March 30 – As the world watches Israel ramp up its construction of illegal Jewish-only settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank with apparent impunity, Montrealers are taking to the streets as part of the Global BDS Day of Action against Israeli apartheid. The protest in Montreal takes place alongside similar actions in Egypt, England, France, Ireland, Japan, Scotland, the US and many other countries and is part of the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, or BDS, against Israeli apartheid.

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6th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week summary

On behalf of the organizing committee of Israeli Apartheid Week, we would like to thank everyone who attended or supported IAW 2010. This year’s week, the 6th annual edition, was a huge success!



Panelists and presenters at IAW touched on many important themes throughout the week, such as recent successes in the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, the myth of democracy for Palestinians living inside Israel, the situation in the Occupied Territories, queer support for Palestine, aboriginal support for the Palestinian struggle, and Canada’s links to Israeli aparthied. Attendees also learned about the apartheid nature of Israeli policies, and their similarities to South African apartheid, straight from activists who fought directly against South African apartheid.



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rabble.ca by Judy Rebick | March 2, 2010

Photo by Andrea Giudiceandrea. Bullet ridden wall in the Gaza Strip.

Before Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) even began members of the Ontario Legislature and the Canadian Parliament are falling all over each other to denounce it. I can’t remember another time when elected legislators formally denounced a student activity like this. Perhaps during the 1950’s when McCarthyism was rampant but that was before my time.

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Badil Resource Center 3 March 2010.

Photo: Palestinian waving flag at demonstration against occupation in West Bank.

The Israeli parliamentary Law Committee has recently approved a law proposal the (“Nakba bill”) that, if passed by the Knesset, would impose economic sanctions on the organizers of Nakba commemorations. Every year in May, Palestinians and supporters of their right of return commemorate the Nakba of 1948, which marks the single most traumatic and far-reaching event in the long and ongoing process of forced displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel. Nakba commemorations are important events in Israel, where some 335,000 Palestinians, citizens of Israel, continue to be denied their right to return to their homes, lands and communities, and are forced to live as internally displaced persons within their own country.

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March 2, 2010 Link newspaper Concordia University, by Aaron Lakoff

Photo Israeli military demolishes Palestinian Labbada house in Nablus, West Bank.

The sixth annual Israeli Apartheid Week is back again in Montreal, and will be featuring events on three campuses in the city from March 4 to 11.

Every year for the last six years, many cities (43 cities participated last year) around the world join together to coordinate this week, which focuses on the growing campaign of boycotts, divestments and sanctions against the state of Israel. And this year, like every year in the past, pro-Israel apologists respond with campaigns which range from outright offensive to bizarre and puzzling.

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Artists Against Israeli Apartheid: Montreal, February 25th 2010

photo: shinning sky over the Israeli apartheid wall in Palestine.

A call from Montreal artists to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid…

Today, a broad spectrum of Montreal artists are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and supporting the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. Last winter, the Israeli state launched a violent military assault on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, leaving over 1400 Palestinians dead, including over 300 children. Despite the official end of military operations, the blockade continues to this day, with devastating consequences for Gaza’s residents.

Over 60 years from the beginning of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from historic Palestine through Israel’s creation, Montreal artists are united in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

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