Charging Anti-Semitism To Silence Dissent

Charging Anti-Semitism To Silence Dissent

By Ida Audeh

07 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org

The charge of anti-Semitism is used by supporters of Israel to silence and discredit voices that conflict with Zionist orthodoxy. Two recent examples illustrate this point: The publication of Jimmy Carter's book Palestine Peace not Apartheid triggered a well-orchestrated campaign of vilification and character assassination of a former president whose "crime" was to characterize Israeli policies in the occupied territories as apartheid. (South African anti-apartheid activists say it is much worse.) The March 2006 publication of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's essay "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books was accompanied by the familiar charge of anti-Semitism directed at two university professors who simply analyzed the disproportionate power of the Israel lobby AIPAC in shaping US Middle East policy. To anyone who follows the US Middle East policy, their conclusions were not news, but the publication of their article unleashed a flood of abuse on two establishment academics.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE


Ida Audeh is a Palestinian-American who lives in Boulder, Colorado. Her interviews with Palestinians who have lost land and their livelihoods to Israel's wall have been published on the Electronic Intifada (www.electronicintifada.net), an alternative source of information about "the question of Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of Israel's 40-year occupation of Palestinian territories." She can be reached at idaaudeh@yahoo.com

Lakewood family builds bridges for peace

Lakewood family builds bridges for peace

The road to achieving Middle East peace is being paved - right here in Lakewood. Zenat Shariff Belkin and Mark Belkin and their two daughters, Nadia, 16, and Arriana, 14, have opened their hearts and home to two 16-year-old girls, Tamara, a Palestinian from Jerusalem, and Etti, an Israeli from Ber Sheva.

Tamara and Etti have traveled a long way from the Middle East toColorado to participate along with Nadia Belkin,a junior at Lakewood High School, in the 14 th Annual Building Bridges for Peace 2007, a flagship program of Seeking Common Ground (SCG), a Denver-based non-profit organization which is dedicated to empowering individuals with the skills "to change the world by creating peaceful communities through integration, socialization, communication and leadership development."

Over the past two weeks, the girls have worked diligently together in daily workshops from 8:30-4:30 for the first four days followed by an emotionally intensive week in Allen's Park. They were involved in many activities and projects in the course of the week. Many of the activities, such as "In Your Shoes," encouraged the girls to not only share their feelings, but to better understand the viewpoints of the "enemy" by communicating and connecting with each other. For example, they had to respond to the question, "How do you feel when"...with a variety of endings to the questions such as: "How do you feel when you are called a terrorist?" and "How do you feel when you have to get through a check point?" They learned the importance of listening to each other and finding common grounds and similarities that could help them relate to each other and understand each other. The themes of some other workshops included: Identity, Gender, The Wall, the Army, and September 11 th; all of the workshops helped the girls to express their emotions and inner-most feelings, sometimes causing them to be brutally honest. There were emotional outbursts, shouting, accusing and crying...but it was a starting point, and in order to live together peacefully, they learned that they must first and foremost, communicate.

From Allen's Park, the group returned to Denver for a celebration brunch and final farewell. It was a unique opportunity to witness the progress that had been achieved during the past week. Yara, a Palestinian girl living in Tira, near Tel Aviv, said, "you need to trust a person because he is a person, not a Jew." Lama, a Palestinian girl living in Jerusalem said, "The biggest problem is the lack of communication." Emilyn Inglis, a SCG song leader, said, "It is a time to glimpse into what the other is feeling and recognize our common humanity."

The Building Bridges for Peace program, established in 1994, has grown from 14 participants the first year to 62 present participants from the United States, Israel, and Palestine. At this year's 14th Annual Celebration Brunch, Erin Breeze, the Program Director of Building Bridges for Peace, said this was the first year that men were invited to participate in the program and 16 young men attended this year's program and worked alongside the female leaders in addressing and solving conflicts; it was also the first year that Native Americans were invited to attend in an effort to work on the dispute of the Badlands National Park on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Dr. Paige Baker, who grew up on the Fort Berthel Reservation in North Dakota is the new Superintendent of the Badlands National Park; he is building bridges by working together with respective representatives. This is also the first year that Dr. Ivan Vujacic, Ambassador of Serbia to the United States, joined in the celebration of these amazing young people. At the end of the brunch, the participants sang together on stage, Israelis, Palestinians, Israeli Palestinians, Americans and Native Americans. They were one voice and as Tamara emotionally expressed, "We are one family." There were hugs, embraces and tears as the girls said farewell. The promise of peace was evident in the bridges they had built together- as Nadia explained the inner meaning of the bridge she had created with her group -it wasn't perfect and there were many obstacles and even tragedies along the way, but this bridge held the hope of paving the path for peace .

News from Research Journalism Initiative - Palestine

Research Journalism Initiative
CLICK HERE FOR RJI HOMEPAGE
PO Box 24464, Denver, CO., 80224

RJI News, July 2007

---------------------------------------

Hello from Palestine,

Since the beginning of the year, we have been working to establish a direct link between American classrooms and the West Bank of Palestine. By producing documentary films and facilitating live video conferences between Palestinian and American students, we hope to shed light on the realities of life under Occupation.

----------------------------

Invasion in Nablus - Click Here for video

On June 28th, approximately 100 jeeps invaded the downtown and old city of Nablus as well as the nearby Balata Refugee Camp. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested at least 30, killed 1 and blocked the entrance to a hospital. Terrified residents were forced to remain in their homes during the day and a half operation. As the video shows, among the arrested were two medical relief volunteers, who provide medicine and food supplies during times of forced military closure. They were arrested in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention, which allows them access to do their work during such times. Click the [link] above to watch the video.

RJI: Invasion of Nablus Video - Click Here

RJI: Fire during an Incursion Video - Click Here
"The IOF invades Balata camp on almost a daily basis. Sometimes they arrest people or demolish houses and other times they simply taunt residents with loudspeakers or bulldozers, which are always accompanied by a handful of jeeps. They normally come in the early hours of the morning (midnight-3am), however on this particular night they came at 10 pm. The video shows, at best, the army's neglect and at worst, the army's desire to terrorize the camp's residents. The streets emptied when the army arrived and when a fire egnited from an overheated falafel stand, the army refused access to a firetruck until the fire went out. The army used a sound grenade before leaving the camp. Click on the picture to watch the video."

IMEMC: "Massive Israeli forces invade Nablus City, 30 kidnapped, 8 soldiers wounded" - Click Here for Article

IMEMC: "Palestinian killed in Balata refugee camp" - Click Here for Article

Ma'an: "Violent Israeli incursion into Nablus, 8 soldiers reportedly injured" - Click Here for Article

Ma'an: "Israeli forces kill Al-Aqsa member in ongoing Nablus incursion" - Click Here for Article

----------------------------
The Research Journalism Initiative is dedicated to changing the way students learn about socio-economic, religious and geopolitical conflict by providing students a direct link to regions of conflict abroad. RJI volunteers living in the West Bank produce video documentaries and facilitate live video conferences between Palestinians and high school students in the United States in order to encourage dialogue and present Palestinian points of view in American classrooms. RJI is a non-profit organization funded entirely by individual donations and our own savings; please consider supporting our work by making a contribution.

Thank you for your continued support,
RJI staff
----------------------------

Support Our Efforts

At this time, RJI is requesting donations to defer the costs of living, travel, internet access and production equipment. If you have the means, a contribution is a very direct way to affect change and work toward a better future here. All donations support our volunteers in the West Bank and enable us to continue producing quality, unique content about the realities of life under occupation. Any amount will make a real difference. Click [HERE] to make a donation.

Join Our Mailing List by Clicking Here!

----------------------------

Colorado Jews Speak Out Against 40 Years of Occupation

FORTY YEARS OF OCCUPATION

June, 2007 will mark forty years of occupation of Palestinian land by Israel. We, Colorado Jews, are asking our fellow Jews to consider compassionately, and in the spirit of traditional Jewish values, the implications of that occupation for Israel.

Almost three thousand years ago, the two Jewish states of Israel and Judah flourished in an area which is approximately the site of Israel and the West bank today. In 722 B.C, Israel fell to the Assyrians, followed by the demise of Judah in 587 B.C., conquered by the Babylonians...

Today, after forty years of occupation, Israel appears determined to resurrect and recreate its glory days of three millennia ago. To what end? There is certainly no religious rationale. Israeli Jews are among the most secular people in the Middle East, along with the Palestinians. Modern day Israel has little to do with Judaism.

Judaism is not a matter of real estate.

This state of Israel represents a nationalism indistinguishable from two hundred other nationalisms on the planet---including Israel's abominable apartheid policies towards Palestinians on the West Bank.

Israel has illegally expropriated Palestinian land and aquifers, destroyed Palestinian homes and olive groves, and is in the process of destroying the Palestinian people and their culture. Israel's colonization of the West Bank has been called illegal by the World Court. It violates article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." It is in default on UN Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East" to be achieved by the application of the following: "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict [1967]..."

How is it possible that sixty-five years after Auschwitz, Jews are oppressing another people?

The occupation comes with a significant cost to Israel: A report by the Adva Centre in Tel Aviv says, "The second intifada has hurt Israel deeply, resulting in a cessation of economic growth, in a lowering of the standard of living, in the debilitating of its social services, in the dilution of its safety net, and an increase in the extent and depth of poverty... As unemployment has risen and poverty widened, many social benefits have been sharply reduced, including a cut of almost a third in income support for the poor and single mothers. The most tangible outcome has been the mushrooming of soup kitchens and of 'hand-out' societies, previously unknown in Israel except in the Orthodox Jewish communities." Israel spent billions building settlements, the report says. "This is money that was diverted from the internal social agenda," the author,
Shlomo Swirski, writes. By 2003, 20% of Israelis were living below the poverty line.

More important than the above, however, is the corrosive and corrupting effect on Israeli society and Jewish values by a brutal occupation.

We appeal to our fellow Jews to think long and hard about support for Israel's present policies towards Palestinians. Something more than a visceral, tribal response is necessary. This is a crie de coeur. We ask you to join us. Our position---a just and equitable peace with the Palestinians---is the single best step Israel can take for its own security and peace in accord with traditional Jewish values of social justice.

Mark Cohen, Barbara Cohen, Irving Greenbaum, Judy Goldstock, SK Levin, Dennie Linn,
Sheila Linn, Leslie Lomas, Rob Prince, Phil Shane, Evan Weissmann, [John Sigler]

On this day - April 27 - in Palestinian history

April 27, 1948: Zionist forces attacked the villages Yaffa, occupying Salameh, Yazur and others, expelling about 5,000 Palestinians as part of Al Nakba

April 27, 1948: Zionist forces invaded and captured the suburbs of Al Quds (Jerusalem) taking the quarters of Katamon, the German Colony, and the upper Bakaa; expelling about 30,000 Palestinians as part of Al Nakba

April 27, 1996: The Lebanese cease fire goes into effect.

April 27, 2000: At the PFLP Congress in Damascus, George Habash – the Christian Palestinian founder of the PFLP – announces his retirement from the organization. Abu Ali Mustafa is expected to replace him as leader of the Popular Front.

April 27, 2001: The IDF opens fire on Palestinians near the northern entrance of El Bira City after Friday Noon prayers, wounding dozens. Al Quds (Jerusalem) was closed by the military to prevent Palestinians from praying at Al Aqsa Mosque. In Gaza, near Rafah and also at El Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza, IDF bulldozers continued to the razing of Palestinian agricultural land in order to promote starvation. At Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, Ismail Abu Romia, 40, was shot six times by IDF forces based inside the Kosofim settlement and then abducted by them, taken to an unknown location. Settlers attack Palestinian property in Haris. A roadside bomb explodes near a settlement in gaza, injuring one IDF soldier and one settler.

April 27, 2002: The IDF opened artillery fire on the Christian Palestinian town of Bethlehem, attacking Dahaisha and Khadder as well as destroying stores and restaurants near the Church of the Nativity. At the same time, IDF forces attacked a number of peaceful Palestinian villages west of Occupied Al Khalil (Hebron). The IDF opened fire on a completely peaceful demonstration protesting the Israeli siege of President Arafat’s compound in Ramallah, wounding eight. Northwest of Ramallah, the IDF opened fire on the El Nabi Saleh primary school, terrifying the Palestinian children under fire. In Gaza, the IDF opened random fire on Palestinians in Rafah, wounding at least three. In the process of the random massacre of Palestinians in Rafah, Mohammed S. al-Debbis, 19, was murdered by IDF terrorists. In Jericho, Billal A Khadder, 27, was abducted by IDF terror forces and taken to an unknown location. Two Hamas gunmen, dressed in IDF uniforms, raid Adora settlement, killing five settlers and wounding another seven.

April 27, 2003: The IDF attacked the village of Kufur Ne’ma, west of Ramallah, abducting Fadi R. Za’roor, 17, and Mohammed Za’roor, 16. In Gaza, the IDF raided the al-Sattar al-Gharbi area, northwest of Khan Younis, abducting two brothers: Osama al-Jallad, 23, and Mohammad al-Jallad, 24. The martyr Khaled M. Jaro’, 23, already murdered by occupation forces was laid to rest at Rafah. A gang of 20 armed settlers, accompanied by the Tourism Minister, Benny Elon, attack two Palestinian homes in East Al Quds (Jerusalem), seriously injuring four Palestinians. The Israeli police intervene to stop the settler assault on the Palestinians but do not bother to arrest the attacking settlers because they are doing nothing more than participating in the Israeli national pastime – beating defenseless Palestinians.

April 27, 2004: The IDF murdered Islam Hashen Razaq Zahran, aged 13, of Deir abu-Mashal, near Ramallah. Youg Islam died of head wounds sustained April 18 from an IDF “rubber-coated” bullet while throwing stones at an observation tower section of the Apartheid Wall. This was part of Israel’s deliberate and systematic campaign to exterminate Palestinian children. Otherwise the IDF attacked the al-Sudanya area northwest of Gaza City as well as Al-Buraij refugee camp. In an attack on Tulkarem refugee camp (northern W. Bank), Israeli forces wounded 15, including one critically (Imad R. al-Dameeri, 17). The martyr Mossa I. al-Mqayad, 14, previously murdered by Israeli forces was laid to rest in Jabalya refugee camp. The IDF attacked Thabet Thabet Hospital, abducting Mohammed M. Mqaitash, 19. Unidentified Palestinians raid a Hamas hideout trying to steal explosives, resulting in a gunfight that leaves two attackers and one Hamas fighter dead in Gaza.In the Gush Katif settlement in gaza, some 70,000 illegal settlers and their allies demonstrate against Sharon’s “disengagement” scheme.

April 27, 2005: The IDF conducts abduction raids in Askar and Balata refugee camps and fires on residential areas near Rafah. Some 40,000 Israeli settlers and allies protest in Neve Dekalim settlement against the “disengagement” scheme. Palestinians fire 2 rockets and three mortars at the Neve Dekalim demonstration lightly injuring two IDF soldiers. Settlers from Karnei Shomron settlement uproot some 300 Palestinian olive trees near the settlement with full sanction of the Israeli government.

April 27, 2006: The IDF attempted an extrajudicial assassination of Palestinians allegedly connected to the “Islamic Jihad” organization killing Wa’el Ibrahim Mutair al-Qara’an, 27 and Ahmad Abu Nijim and wounding four others. The IDF also reinvades Nablus and Askar refugee camp and Jenin.

Emigration from Israel exceeds immigration, report

Emigration from Israel exceeds immigration, report
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), 04/20/2007


Tel Aviv (dpa) - In Israel, the number of emigrants exceeded the number of immigrants for the first time in 20 years, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported Friday. Many emigrants were recent arrivals who wanted to leave Israel again, the report said. In 2007, 14,400 immigrants are expected in Israel while 20,000 people are expected to leave the country, according to the report based on figures for the first months of 2007. The last time emigration exceeded immigration was in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and in 1983 and 1984 when inflation was high.

Meanwhile the Maariv newspaper reported that approximately a quarter of the Israeli population was considering emigration. Almost half of the country's young people were thinking of leaving the country, the report said. Their reasons included dissatisfaction with the government, the education system, a lack of confidence in the political ruling class and concern over the security situation.

40 Years of Occupation: A Global Action Call

June 2007 marks the 40-year anniversary of Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights.

The ICNP (International Coordination Network on Palestine) has launched during last year's annual UN civil society conference on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people a global Call for Action Days on June 9-10, 2007, under the banner, "The World Says No to Israeli Occupation." The call demands an end to occupation and the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, the right to return and the right to establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem.

Please, join the hundreds organizations, networks and groups worldwide that are mobilizing for June 9/10 and let us know about your actions. (See below.)

"We are building nonviolent global campaigns of Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions, and we will work on a wide range of educational and cultural campaigns, all culminating in the Global Days of Action. We will insist that governments all over the globe stop providing military, economic, diplomatic and corporate support for Israel's illegal occupation, and instead create new foreign policies that will support an end to occupation, equal rights for all, and a comprehensive, just and lasting peace."

If you have prepared any activist and info material (posters, stickers, leaflets etc.) that want to share with others so that they can adjust them to their local circumstances, please send them to ICNPcall@gmail.com. We will prepare a selection of material that we will publish and disseminate.

Please circulate this mail as widely as possible.
Thank you for your support to Justice in Palestine!

Maren Karlitzky
(Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign - outreach)
http://www.stopthewall.org/

____________________________________________
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott (PACBI)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 22, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PACBI Press Release
Statement on Visits of International Delegations and Individuals to the OPT and Israel
PACBI | April 15, 2007

At a time when the international movement to isolate Israel is gaining ground in response to the escalation of Israel's colonial and racist policies, we respectfully urge conscientious academics, artists and intellectuals from around the world, including those who visit the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), to refrain from visiting Israel to participate in any event or encounter that is not explicitly dedicated to ending Israel's illegal occupation and other forms of oppression. Regardless of intentions, such visits only contribute to the prolongation of injustice by normalizing and thereby legitimizing it, and inadvertently support Israel's efforts to appear as a "normal" participant in the "civilized" world of science, scholarship and art while at the same time practicing a pernicious form of apartheid against Palestinians.

Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
130 UK Physicians Call for a Boycott of the Israeli Medical Association and its expulsion from the World Medical Association | Guardian | April 21, 2007

In a letter appearing in the Guardian on April 21, 2007, prominent UK physicians have called for a boycott of the IMA and its expulsion from the WMA. The letter follows:

Norwegian Socialist Left Party renews support for BDS
| Socialist Left Party | The Socialist Left Party (SV), one of three parties in the Norwegian Government, has renewed its support for sanctions against Israel. The Party's Congress adopted 25th of March unanimously a resolution named "Sanctions against the Occupier - not the occupied."

NUJ votes to boycott Israeli goods
Stephen Brook | The Guardian | April 13, 2007
The National Union of Journalists has voted at its annual meeting for a boycott of Israeli goods as part of a protest against last year's war in Lebanon.

Jews for Boycotting Israel: A New Initiative
Ruth Tenne | The Palestine Chronicle | April 2, 2007
The latest report of the International Development Select Committee regarding the Occupied Palestinian Territories (31 January 2007) makes for very distressing reading. In its section on trade, it refers to the ongoing restrictions in movements and access faced by the OPT, citing an OXFAM report which points out "that transaction costs for Palestinians wishing to export products are up to 70% higher than for Israelis exporting the same product. This market benefit is also true of products produced by Israeli settlers in the West Bank who can get direct access to markets in or through Israel without the disruptive road blocks and back-to-back transfers faced by the Palestinians.

Cultural Boycott
Letter from PACBI to the Irish Academy of Artists (Aosdana)
PACBI | April 22, 2007
To the Members of Aosdána,
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott (PACBI) would like to thank Aosdána and its members for their adoption of a recent motion ...