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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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.

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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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Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada, 4 June 2010

Photo Palestinian youth launches stone towards Israeli occupation forces.

Israel’s bloody attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May killing at least nine and injuring dozens of activists carrying humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, has already intensified global actions for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it respects international law and human rights, including endorsement by major trade unions in several countries.

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was on an honorable, peaceful mission in solidarity with the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, challenging the Israeli-imposed blockade that has deprived them of basic necessities and the ability to travel outside their densely populated enclave for four years.

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Palestinian Trade Union Movement Calls on International Dockworkers Unions to Block Loading/Offloading Israeli Ships Until Israel Complies Fully with International Law and Ends its Illegal Siege of Gaza

Photo Israeli military forces raids the Gaza freedom flotilla.

June 7, 2010 – The Palestinian trade union movement, as a key constituent member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on dockworkers’ unions worldwide to block Israeli maritime trade in response to Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla, until Israel complies with international law and ends its illegal blockade of Gaza.

Drunk with power and impunity, Israel has ignored recent appeals by the UN Secretary General as well as a near consensus among world governments to end its siege, putting the onus on international civil society to shoulder the moral responsibility of holding Israel accountable to international law and ending its criminal impunity. Dockworkers around the world have historically contributed to the struggle against injustice, most notably against the apartheid regime in South Africa, when port workers unions refused to load/offload cargo on/from South African ships as a most effective way of protesting the apartheid regime.

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June 7 2010 Tadamon! letter to Fédération des Femmes du Québec (FFQ)

Photo: Alaa Badarneh Palestinian woman clashing with Israeli soldier in 2004 during a demonstration against the controversial security barrier near the West Bank village of Al-Zawiya, north west of Qalqilya city.

Dear Ms. Conradi, Montreal Middle East solidarity collective Tadamon would like to extend its warm congratulations to the members of the Fédération des Femmes du Québec (FFQ) (Québec Federation of Women). At its most recent convention on May 29 and 30, 2010 in Québec City, the Federation’s members voted unanimously in favour of a historic resolution in support of the global campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid.

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download document from Omar Barghouti May 31 2010

Photo Gaza sign in Bosnia day after the Israeli massacre of the freedom flotilla.

Only a few days since Israel’s illegal and fatal act of aggression against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla,, BDS-related reactions around the world were quick and qualitatively consequential.

Building on 5 years of international BDS activism since the Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS was launched on 9 July 2005, a year and a half since Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, when its base criminality and status was revealed to the world, and months after the watershed UN Goldstone report, international civil society’s tolerance of Israel’s impunity and war crimes has grown very thin.

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Georgia Straight by Yves Engler June 2010.

Photo Palestinians waited at a fence for food to be distributed near the rubble of their destroyed homes in eastern Jabaliya, in northern Gaza. The area was heavily damaged during the 22-day Israeli bombing during the winter in 2008/2009.

Early Monday (May 31) on the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, at least nine people were killed and dozens more wounded when Israeli soldiers raided a flotilla of ships carrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies and more than 600 activists to the Gaza Strip. The activists were trying to break Israel’s three-year blockade of Gaza, which has reduced food and medicine entering the tiny coastal territory to a fraction of what is needed.

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Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

Photo ActiveStills Palestinian boy holds flag above Israeli apartheid wall.

Ramallah, Occupied Palestine May 2010 — The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)expresses its profound appreciation for the courageous positions in support of Palestinian rightstaken by the membership of the University and College Union (UCU) at its Congress today inManchester. The UCU has again firmly and decisively established its unwavering commitment to the Palestinian civil society’s campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) againstIsrael until it complies with its obligations under international law and recognizes the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

Making history in the international trade union movement in the West, UCU’s Congress also voted with an overwhelming majority to “sever all relations with Histadrut, and to urge other trade unions and bodies to do likewise.” The UCU has today confirmed its established position that it is legitimate to denounce Israel’s oppressive policies and to hold the state and its complicit institutions accountable for human rights abuses, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

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3 June 2010 statement by church leaders in the Philippines on Gaza flotilla massacre.

Photo: Israeli commandos storm Mavi Marmara, the flagship of Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

“Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and
inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Deuteronomy 16:20, ESV

We church leaders in the Philippines express our great shock and indignation at the act of terrorism perpetrated by the apartheid state of Israel on hundreds of international peace activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a six-vessel fleet carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

We condemn the disproportionate use of lethal force by Israeli naval commandos that killed at least ten and injured dozens of civilians armed only with sticks and metal bars and a tenacious resolve to deliver relief supplies to the besieged people of Gaza.

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