Part 6: Israeli-Palestinian conflict

[AndHarry]

Sorry, lost the end of the thread there!

Thread 5

Ok. They can campaign for an end to the expansion, including 'organic' expansion, of existing settlements.

It's also worth noting that, whatever the reasoning behind it, they did withdraw settlements from Gaza, so it's not wandering into the realms of fantasy to imagine that the same could happen in the West Bank.

but IIRC, the settlements removed from Gaza (amid bitter protests), in order to turn it into a concentration camp, were 2% of the then illegal settlements, and many, many more have been built since then, and are still being built today.

There are certainly more settlements in the West Bank than there ever were in Gaza but the principle of removing settlements has been established as something the Israeli government are prepared to do.

If we proceed on the assumption that the whole situation will never change, it probably never will. Netanyahu won't be in power forever.

There could be more police crackdowns on settlers harassing Palestinians in the West Bank. We could campaign for Israeli Arabs to have completely equal rights to their Jewish counterparts and an end to all the laws that discriminate against them. There could be much greater efforts to bring Israeli and Palestinian children together to get to know each other. There could be more Jewish-Arab bilingual schools. There could be more exploration of possible options for the future - two-state, one-state, etc - and more discussion of the practicalities.

Agreed halfdrunkcoffee. How does that translate into what we can do here?

That's where I struggle AndHarry. I am too old and too tied down now to go and live or volunteer there, so the options here seem to be donating money, writing to MPs and attending demos. I think awareness-raising and keeping up to date on the news is good, as is sharing information on initiatives to change things on the ground.

Has everyone been scared off by the mobile site? I'm braving it

A few jotted thoughts on positive actions that people can take here in the UK:

Easy:

• write to your MP
• share stories on social media
• donate to reputable charities providing relief work and promoting peace in the region
• read up on anti-Semitism and be aware of how to avoid using it even unintentionally in your arguments
• read into the history of the conflict and the various state and non-state actors, positions and challenges

Medium:

• attend peaceful demonstrations
• participate in well-informed boycotts
• attend your MP's surgery and community meetings to discuss their position on the conflict
• hold a fundraising event for a reputable charity doing relief work or actively promoting peace in the region
• join a think tank specializing in international affairs
• ask for or instigate equality training in your workplace

Intense:

• lobby local businesses to support a sensible boycott
• join an organization promoting awareness of the conflict, supporting relief work or promoting peace in the region
• if you are Jewish, Israeli or Palestinian get involved with UK-based charities specializing in promoting dialogue between these communities
• join a local political party and keep the conflict on the agenda
• work towards standing as a local councillor, MP, MSP, WR, MEP etc.
• switch jobs to work for an organization active in the region
• learn Arabic, Hebrew or both to enable you to access primary sources and/or pursue a career in that area
• travel to Israel and the Palestinian Territories on your own fact-finding mission

I'm sure we can all think of plenty more.

I think something that's been highlighted to me is how much work there is to be done here in terms of community cohesion and combatting extremism. There are plenty of community and national groups focussing on these areas and it's something I'm going to try harder to actively participate in.

There seems to be very little that we can do. But it's positive if at least we can educate ourselves and share views respectfully, perhaps negotiating a peace of our own. "Peace involves knowledge of the ‘other’ who is demonized". Quote from an interview with Naomi Wolf I saw today. (link here)

I x-posted - very good suggestions AndHarry

Thats a good compilation andharry. I tick the boxes for most easy and medium but none for the intense ones. Am still waiting for my boycott leaflets.

I feel really upset at the killing of a mother and her child by Israel. It is alleged that israel was targetting a hamas leader and got his wife and baby instead and this is what killed the ceasefire.

Is anyone signedup to avaaz... They have a petition going .. Targetting major companies investing in israeli military.. Barclays catrerpillar G4s etc...many of them have responded to the complaints and directly with avaaz.

secure.avaaz.org/en/israel_palestine_this_is_how_it_ends_loc/

Spread it as far and wide as you can please.

Desmond tutu writes open letter to the israeli public in the haaretz: sorry newbie here...not sure how to link.

www.haaretz.com/mobile/1.610687

Thanks AndHarry for the great post and for your patience with this thread!

i think another thing we can do is bring it home to people in ways that make the non-political or uninterested in history type people get involved - re: educate people on what international law is, what the definition of a civilian is, what the UN is meant to do, etc and how these laws and directives are supposed to protect us. if people can't/don't understand or care about the palestinian situation for it's own sake i still think they may relate to it through understanding the importance of international law and of not changing the definition of 'war' or 'civilians' to the extent that we are seeing happening this century.

not sure if that makes sense as a tad hungover this morning. i guess what i mean is that people need to understand the bigger picture too, and for those who don't/won't/can't relate to the palestinian situation they may at least relate to it in terms of that bigger picture and what happens if we sit back and accept the slaughtering of civilians in civilian areas and the targeting of schools and hospitals.

i'm grateful to people like chomsky etc who look at this bigger picture. it's too easy to get sucked into the this is about religion again, oh god another religious war or another madness in the middle east and turn away for many people when it isn't about religion and the key issue in a way (in terms of the wider picture, clearly the deaths and torment is the real key issue) is the redefinition of acceptable warfare the civilian.

for those just joining these threads or who missed this article when it was linked before here is a good explanation of what is going with regard to international law and human rights and the ways in which they are being corrupted.

I highly recommend Green Olive Tours if anyone is travelling to Israel or Palestine. They run a wide range of day and multi-day trips in Israel and the West Bank. They also have an interesting blog.

Forgive me for posting (again!) my own personal favourite explanatory video of Israel-Palestine 101 from Jewish Voice for Peace. I see it's on the front page of Haaretz today . See jewishvoiceforpeace.org/campaigns/israel-and-palestine-an-animated-introduction

www.btselem.org/

Another good source of information about the realities on the ground...israeli human rights org.

They are also seeking a fundraising coordinater if anyone is interested. They have a powerful video on thier donation page.. The donations are used to donate video cameras to palestinians to document thier daily struggles.. A valuable source of protection against israeli attacks and lies... Abit like an electronic resistance.

Another source of information:

The electronic intifada: firsthand videos blogs and articles on palestine.

electronicintifada.net/news

An academy award winning palestinian film /documentary: Five broken cameras
m.youtube.com/watch?v=3K-mGWy9iUg

Last but not least:

Regular Update on boycott Movement.. On the bds website...

www.bdsmovement.net/

Latest news:

NEWS
Israeli ship is blocked from unloading in Oakland for four straight days
Posted on August 19, 2014 by Charlotte Silver at Electronic Intifada

6
San Francisco Bay Area activists have not allowed a vessel from Israel’s largest shipping company to unload in the Oakland Port for four consecutive mornings.

On Tuesday, 19 August, at 6:45am, activists declared yet another victory against the Zim Line, which has beentrying to make its way into Oaklandsince Saturday, 16 August.

Lara Kiswani, the executive director of the local Arab Resource and Organizing Center, told The Electronic Intifada that they are now waiting to hear if the Zim Line will leave the Port of Oakland today with the cargo it brought. “If not,” Kiswani wrote in an email, “we will continue to mobilize until it does.”

Organizers had initially planned a one-day action for 16 August, delaying the weekly, Saturday-scheduled offloading of the Zim ship by just one full work day.Saturday’s success was seamless: the Zim Pireaus avoided the Oakland Port completely, preferring to remain at sea south of Oakland rather than meet the thousands of protesters who had descended onto the docks.

But, fueled off the initial triumph, activists returned to Berth 57 at the Oakland Port the next evening, on Sunday, 17 August.

At 5pm Sunday, activists released an urgent call for activists to convene at the port. Within thirty minutes of the call, hundreds of people returned to the docks. Workers with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) – Local 10 honored the picket line, and refused to unload the ship.

No one would cross
Leading up to Saturday’s action, organizers had worked hard to gain the support of workers with the local ILWU, whose contracts are currently expired. While many ILWU members are eager to lend their support to Palestine —as they did before, in 2010— others were still concerned about missing a day of work in the absence of an internal contract agreement.

But Monday came, and the Zim Line sat at the Oakland Port: no one would cross the picket line, even though the numbers of demonstrators had thinned since the weekend — and as of Tuesday morning, the ship remained full of cargo. Because the union is out of contract, they are not obliged to defer to a port arbitrator to decide whether or not they must go to work as it is an internal decision.

On Monday, the ILWUissued a statementon their compliance with the picket line, maintaining that it was the “unsafe conditions” that led them to their decision:

The ILWU has taken no position on the issue associated with the demonstration, but in cases when unsafe circumstances arise at the point of entry, the union must protect the safety of its members in the workplace …

SSA [Stevedoring Services of America], after recognizing the safety situation associated with ingress to their gates, released all ILWU manpower at 7:30 p.m.

More actions to come
This is the first time that an Israeli ship has been obstructed from docking for more than one day due to protest.

Activists here are looking forward to the future. In September, an annual weapons convention held in Oakland, Urban Shield, will feature numerous Israeli companies, and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) is already mobilizing against it.

While the port shutdown was in response toIsrael’s current bombardment of Gazaand a direct appeal by Palestinian trade union groups, local organizations like AROC want the action to mark the first of many direct mobilizations against Israel’s decades-long control of Palestinians and US-supported colonization of their land.

The boycotts are working..:-)

Ireland’s biggest food retailer drops Israeli produce, as European boycotts surge

Major Israeli food exporters are facing an unprecedented wave of cancelations in orders from Europe as a result of Israel’smost recent massacreof Palestinians inGaza.

SuperValu, the biggest food distributor in Ireland, toldthe Irish medialast week that it has withdrawn Israeli products from its shops.

And Israeli media reports suggest that other major European retailers have taken similar decisions without announcing them publicly.

Israeli fruit and vegetable exporters have faced cancelations from Scandinavia, the UK, France, Belgium and Ireland.

Retailers have become fearful of the rapidly growing consumer boycott of Israeli goods,according to an 11 August articlein Hebrew business websiteThe Marker.

A spokesperson for EDOM, a major Israeli fruit grower and exporter that hasextensive operations in illegal Israeli settlementsin the occupied West Bank, toldThe Marker:

Importers from Europe are telling us that they can’t sell Israeli produce … One European buyer has told me that he had been blocked in several chains in Denmark and Sweden, and then in Belgium. Last weekend, he told me that mangoes which had been packaged in the Netherlands, as always, and shipped to Ireland, were returned, claiming that Israeli produce would not be accepted …

I’ve heard of major exporters from whom chains in southern France are no longer buying. There is no official boycott, but everyone is afraid of selling Israeli fruits. We can only hope that things do not get worse.

Among the other exporters interviewed for the article is an Israeli pomegranate grower who is quoted as saying that they had been forced to cancel their “entire work plan in the UK” because major retail chains were no longer interested in Israeli goods, and that similar messages had been received from importers in Belgium and Scandinavia.

Read whole article here: www.bdsmovement.net/2014/irelands-biggest-food-retailer-drops-israeli-produce-as-european-boycotts-surge-12471#sthash.ogjj9cJp.dpuf

ooh fundraising (bidwriting) support is kind of what i do these days but not getting enough hours in so far. will have a look at that.

"EDOM, a major Israeli fruit grower and exporter that has extensive operations in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank"

It is worth noting that the European free-trade agreement with Israel does not include produce from the Illegal Settlements in the Occupied Territories. There has been a certain amount of laxness in such produce being falsely labelled "produce of Israel"

ah damn - it is an interesting role that i could do BUT they want you based in Jerusalem and as i've said before the chances of me facing another 5hr interogation and bullying session at an israeli border are slim to nothing.

Oh honey badger...thats a shame. Did they detain you last time..?