Activism News

On Thursday, 16 January 2003, two imprisoned conscientious objectors to military service, Noam Bahat and Hillel Goral, went on hunger strike. Both are among the signatories of a letter signed last year by over 300 high school students, declaring their refusal to serve in the Israeli army. An alert from several Israeli activist groups outlines their opposition.

“Hi everybody. I’m writing this personal update from the local internet joint at the Peanut Plaza, just near my mom’s place in Toronto. I was deported back to Toronto from Israel, and arrived early this morning.” Jaggi Singh writes after his deportation.

Canadian activist Jaggi Singh traveled to Palestine on December 14th to write about the realities of the Israeli occupation and participate in the activities of the International Solidarity Movement. On his arrival he was banned by an Israeli court from entering the occupied territories, an edict he defied on the grounds that it “normalized Israel’s occupation” of these lands. On January 8th, while arriving for a pre-arranged meeting with a friend in West Jerusalem, Singh was bundled into a car by three Israelis in plain clothes. Nigel Parry reports.

Gretta Duisenberg, wife of the President of the European Central Bank, undertakes a week-long trip to the West Bank and Gaza Strip as chairwoman of “Stop the Occupation”. In May last year, the ECB chief’s wife excited controversy when she hung a Palestinian flag from the balcony of their Amsterdam home. Radio Netherlands reports.

“Make January 17th a day to express solidarity with the women of Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Colombia, and other war-torn areas of the world, and call for a shift of national priorities away from war and militarism and toward a national agenda that affirms life. ” A new initiative is announced by members of the International Solidarity Movement.

On 19 December 2002, Israeli activists held an event at Tzavta Hall in Tel Aviv to protest the indefinitely extended prison sentences currently being handed to the young men refusing conscription. The event was sponsored by conscientious objector organisations Yesh Gvul and Shministim, the latter a group of high school seniors who have declared their refusal to serve in the Israeli army. The following is the text of a speech made at this event by Anat Matar, a veteran anti-occupation activist and the mother of Haggai Matar, one of the men in prison for refusing to serve.

Unlike other ascribed and self-described “people of color” in the United States, Arabs are often hidden under the Caucasian label, if not forgotten altogether. But eleven months after September 11, 2001, the Arab-American is no longer invisible. Whether traveling, driving, working, walking through a neighborhood or sitting in their homes, Arabs in America — citizens and non-citizens — are now subject to special scrutiny in American society. The violence, discrimination, defamation and intolerance now faced by Arabs in American society has reached a level unparalleled in their over 100-year history in the US. For those engaged in activism within the United States, this article, by Louise Cainkar in the Fall 2002 edition of Middle East Report, provides essential context for their work. It is also an excellent resource for educators.

The national movement to pressure universities to pull their investments from Israel has been battered this year by critics who call it divisive and anti-Semitic. But it has shown remarkable staying power in large part because of an unusual group of supporters: Jewish professors. Hundreds of college professors nationwide have signed petitions calling for divestment from Israel, among them several dozen Jewish professors who call their signatures an act of political conscience. Patrick Healy reports for The Boston Globe

“Technically, I’ve disobeyed an Israeli high court ruling that allowed me to stay in Israel for seven days on the very specific condition that I not visit the Palestinian territories. To obey the ruling on not traveling to Palestine is to be complicit in the process of normalizing Israel’s occupation. It allows the occupying power to continue to dictate its rule over the occupied.” Jaggi Singh writes from Beit Sahour.

Earlier this year, 187 Israeli professors signed an “Urgent Warning” letter titled “The Israeli government may be contemplating crimes against humanity.” Today, 800 American professors have signed a similar document, warning of coming Israeli ethnic cleansing. EI’s Nigel Parry reports.