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Israeli Apartheid Week Gaining Ground (VIDEO)

March 4, 2010 By Sarah Leave a Comment

This week marks the Sixth Annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) which is taking place across the globe in over 40 cities. Since it was first launched in 2005, IAW has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. IAW 2010 takes place following a year of incredible successes for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement on the global level. Lectures, films, and actions will highlight some of theses successes along with the many injustices that continue to make BDS so crucial in the battle to end Israeli Apartheid.

Along with the growing support for IAW, there has also been a large, growing opposition from the “other side”. IAW is largely a campus-based event taking place on college and university campuses around the world. Last year saw the first real backlash in opposition from university officials who made numerous attempts to shut down the week-long events and to demonize the student organizers. This year the opposition movement has grown even further to include members of Parliament and even Toronto School’s Director of Education, who have come out and condemned even the use of the word “apartheid” claiming it incites hatred and anti-semitism.

I think when the opposition becomes so desperate as to you use the crux of anti-semitism to validate their arguments, this is when we know we are on the right side. Unfortunately, in today’s political climate, this term is being used to paint those of us who stand for equality and justice with a broad stroke of the brush. In my opinion, it’s this term (anti-semitism) that is hateful, not the term “apartheid”.

Let’s be clear about something: what is taking place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories today and for the past 60 years is indeed apartheid and anyone who denies this fact is completely delusional or ignorant of what this term really means. Even South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu used the term to describe Israel’s actions, as did Israel’s own Ehud Barak. So let’s take a look at the United Nations’ definition of the crime of apartheid (as stated in 1973, describing the apartheid regime in South Africa) and decide for ourselves whether or not this applies to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories:

“inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them”.

Sounds like Israel’s actions perfectly fit the bill of this definition…

Below is an episode from Al Jazeera’s hard-hitting program “Inside Story” which focuses specifically on Israeli Apartheid Week, the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) movement, and the implications they have for the racist apartheid regime of Israel.

[youtube 7Ac1SnQfOfw Al Jazeera’s Inside Story – Israeli Apartheid Week]

Our tax dollars hard at work: Attacking shepherds in the South Hebron Hills (VIDEO)

February 21, 2010 By Sarah Leave a Comment

Last month, the Israeli army attacked a Palestinian shepherd and his family in the Al-Tuwani village of South Hebron. IDF soldiers attacked Musab Musa Raba’i and his family as they were complying with the soldiers’ orders to move their flock off the their family-owned land.

Musab was later arrested, detained, and tortured for hours. His hands and feet were tied, he was beaten on his back and face, slammed into walls, spat on and cursed at; he wasn’t even allowed to pray while he was in custody. The entire time, Musab refused to answer any questions or speak to the soldiers in Hebrew, which infuriated them. Soldiers also threatened Musab, telling him that if he didn’t comply they would show up at his house in the coming days and beat and/or kill him and his brothers.

After four hours of this interrogation and torture, he was driven out to a location unknown to him, and thrown out of the jeep on the side of the road; hands and feet still bound, and still blindfolded.

No charges were ever filed against Musab. His only crime? Trying to feed his sheep!

Christian Peacemaker Teams, which does amazing work, was there during the incident and caught the whole thing on tape. Here is their video footage from that day:

[youtube -u6TF-Dzw8w IDF soldiers attack shepherds in Hebron]

TAKE ACTION:

(From US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation)

1) This attack on At-Tuwani appears to be part of a recent increase in repression of Palestinian grassroots nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation and apartheid. Click here to read more about some of the Palestinian grassroots leaders who have been targeted by this campaign. You can also click here to send an email to the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem demanding the release of Palestinians who are imprisoned for their dissent. You can edit the letter to include information about the attack on At-Tuwani and to ask Daniel Rubinstein, the U.S. Consul General in East Jerusalem, to demand that those involved in this crime be brought to justice. Click here to send an email.

2) U.S. tax dollars aid and abet the human rights abuses committed by the Israeli army, including this most recent attack on At-Tuwani. Organize to oppose U.S. military aid to Israel in your Congressional district by clicking here, and join us in Washington D.C. in March for a Grassroots Advocacy Training and Lobby Day.

3) Motorola produces communications and surveillance equipment for the Israeli military as well as for settlements like the ones that are encroaching on At-Tuwani’s land. Sign a boycott pledge, send an email to Moto’s management, and order a Motorola organizing kit.

“Eyes In Gaza”: A presentation by Dr. Mads Gilbert in Toronto

January 20, 2010 By Sarah Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, SPHR-Ryerson hosted Dr. Mads Gilbert, MD, PhD for his presentation, “Eye in Gaza”. Dr. Mads Gilbert is an internationally-acclaimed doctor, professor, local politician, and Head of the Dept. of Emergency at the University of North Norway. During the 3-week brutal assault on Gaza last year, Dr. Mads Gilbert and his colleague Dr. Erik Fosse were the only two foreign doctors allowed into the region. They spent their entire time there embedded in the overcrowded and understaffed Al-Shifaa hospital. Dr. Mads Gilbert became the world’s window into the prison known as Gaza, providing regular updates on the atrocities taking place there. He has been seen on Al-Jazeera, BBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and more.

Dr. Mads Gilbert has described his time in the region as the most horrific and terrible thing he had ever witnessed. He co-authored the book “Eyes in Gaza” with his colleague, Dr. Erik Fosse, and embarked on a 16-campus North American tour in January and February of 2010. Here in Toronto, he spoke at Ryerson University to a packed room of eagerly attentive eyes and ears.

He began by introducing himself and giving us some background on his history, qualifications, and professional life. He’s a very interesting man; having spent over 30 years doing solidarity work with Palestinians, he has served as a doctor during numerous periods in Occupied Palestine and Lebanon. He is also quite a controversial figure in the medical profession due to his strong position on merging medical and political issues. On being a doctor as well as a politician, Gilbert has said the two roles are indistinguishable, and that “there is little in medicine that isn’t politics”.

Gilbert’s presentation was unlike any I’ve ever seen either on the Gaza assault in particular, or on Palestine in general. He warned us beforehand of the graphic images he would be displaying; but unlike other presentations where graphic images are used purely for shock value, Dr. Gilbert uses them to tell a story, making sure to provide us with background on the victims’ lives, “introducing” us to them, giving them a name and human value. This took away the shock value; all eyes were glued on the screen, no matter how horrific or appalling the scenes. These were people, young and old, with lives, families, futures, aspirations…All taken away in an instant, most times at the simple press of a button.

However, this presentation was not just another “horrible scenes of war” lecture. Gilbert’s political activism was clearly woven into his entire talk; never dismissing an opportunity to clarify his stance on the Palestine/Israel issue. At times, his words were shocking; not because of what he said, but because I’ve never heard a medical professional speak his mind so freely about anything political, let alone a topic as controversial (and for some, career-ending) as that of Palestine. It was quite refreshing to say the least.

He ended his presentation with a message to all of us to get involved with Palestine, and particularly to drive the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement to the forefront of the struggle for Palestinian liberation. This was exciting to hear because that is exactly the direction we are moving with regards to the newly-drafted Cairo Declaration which came out of our time in Cairo with the Gaza Freedom March. We will be contacting him with information on this, and asking for his endorsement in the near future.

Of course, no discussion on Palestine or Gaza is complete without some good old-fashioned debate (if you can call it that) in the audience. During the Q&A session, which was still surprisingly civil, an Israeli IDF medical professional who was deployed to the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead stood up and voiced his dissatisfaction and frustration with many of the statements Dr. Gilbert expressed during his lecture, especially in regards to Israeli doctors during the assault. Gilbert was shedding light on the discrimination that takes place in Israeli hospitals when doctors give preference to Israeli patients over Palestinians, but the IDF doctor took it personally and insisted that he always did his duty on the ground and treated all casualties as is morally required of any medical professional.

When someone brought up the fact that those “casualties” need not exist in the first place and raised the issue of the blatantly disproportionate figures, including civilian casualties, this IDF doctor’s response was that, “there’s always a large difference between Israeli and Palestinian deaths” during wars and the numbers are usually at least 100 to 1. I don’t need to tell you what happened after that, but let’s just say that after the talk was over, our little IDF friend was bombarded with questions, arguments, and debates for probably another 30-40 minutes. I didn’t stay and watch…

All in all, it was the best lecture/presentation I’ve seen in a very long time and I can’t stop telling people to go see it if he’s coming to a city near you. Most locations are across Canada, but Chicago, New York, and New Jersey are also hosting him in the coming weeks. For more information on dates and locations, visit: SPHR’s Event Page.