While Americans seem oblivious to the plight of the Palestinian people, international peace activists are increasingly joining together to defy the intended plans of the right wing Israeli government to solidify its confiscation and annexation of the West Bank. The Wall (or security fence as it is called in Israel) continues on its path, while in the Jordan Valley, house demolitions, expulsions, and as recently reported, settlements, continue for the purpose of entrapping the Palestinian people in an enforced Bantustan. The international campaign to fight this injustice also continues. Here are some of the efforts observed recently.
Efforts from peace organizations such as Stop The Wall and the International Solidarity Movement keep urging people around the world to join in.
http://www.stopthewall.org/
Between November 9-16, the 4th National & International Week Against The Wall was declared, while earlier in Toronto, Canada, over 600 people attended a landmark conference, Boycotting Israeli: The Struggle Continues, held from 6-8 October in Toronto, Canada. The conference represented a watershed moment in the Palestinian solidarity movement, with leading activists from Palestine, South Africa, Canada and England addressing the way forward in the global campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions.
http://www.caiaweb.org/...
During the Week against the Wall, activities were intended to unite the world community with Palestinians in their struggle against the occupation and colonization of their lands. As a member of the Palestinian nonviolent resistance put it,
As the ghetto walls close around our people, the voice of the Palestinian and Arab resistance continues to echo within the Bantustans and beyond. Like every year since bulldozers started to level our land for the Wall’s path, the Week against the Wall will unite Palestinian communities struggling against the land grab and expulsion in mass protests.
Under the rubble of our homes, on the fields still bearing fruit behind the wall, within the besieged villages and the ailing city of Jerusalem, Palestinian existence has been transformed into an act of daily resistance. The Wall has become the cornerstone for the Zionist project to implement the "Convergence" and "Disengagement" plans to control all of Palestine. The Wall should have crowned 59 years of conquest of our land and expulsion of our people. Leaving us within four disparate Bantustans in the West Bank and Gaza dependent upon international aid, the Zionist regime set out to put its final borders, from the river to the sea. Refugees were to be cancelled from the agenda.
Local and global efforts were geared up to resist Israeli efforts to continue its violation of the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people.
Globally, mass demonstrations, weeks of action, boycott actions, conferences, community based events, film screenings, info stalls and direct action were planned. So far, movements and activists from the following countries endorsed the call to action and mobilized for the Week against the Wall:
Australia Austria Basque Country Brazil Canada Canary Islands Chile Denmark Egypt France Germany Iceland Italy Jordan Netherlands Norway Portugal Senegal Spain Sweden Switzerland UK Uruguay US. (Specific activities that took place in each country are no longer listed on the site.)
More recent December events on the boycott front revealed activities in various countries: http://www.stopthewall.org/
Agrexco UK Blockaded For Third Time
December 2nd, 2006
Early on Sunday, 26th of November 2006, Palestine solidarity activists blockaded the Israeli Company Carmel Agrexco’s UK headquarters. This was part of a protest against recurrent breaches of human rights and international law in Palestine.
Carmel is complicit in war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (ICC Act). They import fresh produce originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The purpose of the protest is to highlight Agrexco's illegal activity in court.
Norway's IT Workers Union Calls for Boycott
December 10th, 2006
The Norwegian Electrician and IT workers' union has adopted a resolution calling for a comprehensive boycott of Israel.
The resolution, which was passed on November 13th, calls for boycott and sanctions on Israel until the country complies with all UN resolutions relating Palestinian rights, and demands that the Norwegian government call off its economic embargo on the Palestinian government.
The union represents 37,000 energy, electrical engineering, telecommunications and IT workers.
94 authors, film-makers, musicians and performers call for a cultural boycott of Israel
December 16th, 2006
The Guardian has published yesterday an open letter signed by 94 authors, film-makers, musicians and performers from all over the world endorsing cultural boycott as their means to protest the Occupation.
John Berger, British novelist, painter, and art historian, started the initiative and his appeal has been take up by some of the most well known writers and artists around the globe. It is important that the call will become action and endorsements continue to strengthen the call.
Christmas against the Wall
December 16th, 2006
Each year before Christmas, believers and activists alike take the occasion to raise awareness about the occupation of Palestine, in particular its devastating effects on Bethlehem.
This year, the Sacred Heart Catholic church in St Ives, UK, has cancelled its famous Christmas "Live Crib" event. Instead of actors reenacting Christmas night, a life-size replica of the Wall has been constructed in front of the church bearing protest banners and photographs showing the reality of Israeli occupation. In recent years various churches have focused on the Israeli occupation; replica walls are included along with the cribs and at times replace them entirely. An effective tool for raising awareness and expressing visible support for the Palestinian struggle, it is time that the replicas spread throughout the churches until Bethlehem – and with it Palestine – is free.
South Africans Urge the Recall of the Ambassador From Tel Aviv and Sanctions Against Israel
December 20th, 2006
At a press conference held on the 18th of December in South Africa the Palestine Solidarity Committee, COSATU (the Congress of South African Trade Unions representing 1.2 million workers) and the South African Council of Churches called on the South African government to recall the ambassador to Israel and to implement sanctions against Israel.
Speakers at the conference included Willie Madisha (president of COSATU) Eddie Makue (general secretary of the South African Council of Churches), Ali Halimeh (Palestinian Ambassador to South Africa), Virginia Tilley (academic and author), Na’eem Jeenah (chair), Salim Vally (Palestine Solidarity Committee), and Patrick Craven (spokesperson for COSATU).
Pickets in Canada against Book Store Chain Support for the Occupation
December 25th, 2006
In Toronto and Montreal the Coalition, supported by Not in Our Name, has held information pickets on Saturday 23rd of December to launch a boycott of Indigo & Chapters bookstores (officially operating under the corporate name Indigo Books & Music Inc.) and its subsidiaries, SmithBooks, Coles, The Book Company, Indigospirit and Worlds Biggest Bookstore.
"The national boycott of Indigo/Chapters is being launched to protest majority shareholders Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz's support for the Israeli military," states Coalition Against Israel spokesperson Naomi Binderwall. Reisman is the Founder and CEO of Indigo Books and Music Inc., while Schwartz is the CEO of Onex Corp. Together they own or control over 68% of the shares in Indigo Books and Music Inc.
Schwartz and Reisman founded HESEG: Foundation for Lone Soldiers to provide financial support to individuals who have no family in Israel but decide to join the Israeli military.
Nonviolent resistance is dependent on publicity to achieve its goals. As more people learn the truth about Palestine, that knowledge will help to bring peace to Israel as well as to Palestine.
(Note: for sake of deflaming this diary, references to "Apartheid" were deleted.)
Crossposted at Eternal Hope.