In the high point of a week of planned non-violent direct actions against the occupation, residents of Nablus converged on Huwara checkpoint to protest the continuing closure of the region. Prisoners’ families, accompanied by more than thirty international activists, were flanked by Palestinian medics and ambulances as they approached the checkpoint. The two aims of the action were to raise the profile of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols and to protest the ongoing closure of the Nablus area. There are currently 8000 Palestinians, many of whom are women and children, illegitimately imprisoned by Israel. Currently 1400 of the prisoners are from Nablus. Read more about Nablus resists
The Church of England should follow the recommendation of the Anglican Consultative Council and vote to divest from companies supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine during its General Synod this weekend, campaigners will say at a fringe meeting at York University on Friday (8 July). The Church of England’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group has been examining whether the £2 million of shares currently held in Caterpillar are consistent with the Church’s ethical investment policy, which prohibits investment in arms companies or companies making ‘weapons platforms’ such as naval vessels or tanks. Read more about Church of England urged to follow ACC divestment recommendation on Caterpillar
In November 2003 Ahmed Abdel Majeed, a stateless Palestinian born and raised in Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, was deported from Canada. The distance between Montreal and Lebanon stretches thousands of kilometers over oceans and continents, but is only a short distance in Ahmed’s eyes and living memory of an existence shaped by the daily struggle of statelessness. Today Ahmed resides in Ein el-Hilweh, with an estimated 80 000 other stateless Palestinians in the country’s largest refugee camp located on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Saida. Read more about From Montreal to Ein el-Hilweh: Deportation, Destitution & Dignity
One year after the ICJ ruling on the Wall, Palestinian civil society calls upon international civil society organisations and individuals to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. Palestinian civil society organisations appeal to them to pressure their respective governments to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law. Read more about One year on: Palestinian civil society calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions
“You can’t just come storming in here,” barks Neta Golan to foreign activists who walk casually into her kitchen during their lunch break. “This is someone’s house you know - there’s a kitchen in the other apartment,” she tells them. “They don’t understand it’s rude to just barge into someone’s home here - they have a lot to learn,” says Golan about the internationals who have come to help support Palestinians in non-violent resistance. Just another day in cultural training for Golan and the ISM, during which the 34-year-old Israeli activist explains to foreign volunteers when they can snap pictures, how to behave in people’s homes and how to respect local Palestinians. Read more about Israeli activist bridges worlds
NYC activists on behalf of Palestinian rights brought their message to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel this morning, where an executive from Caterpillar was scheduled to appear on a panel social responsibility and sustainability. The spirited rally excited police attention but no arrests. Later, while the CAT exec’s talk was underway, an activist was arrested attempting to make a presentation to the same audience on CAT’s role in Israel’s ongoing campaign to destroy Palestinian homes, while another activist leafleted the conference attendees. Read more about NYC Activists Take Message Against Caterpillar to �Business and Sustainability� Conference
In recent weeks the Israeli government has announced plans to demolish 88 more Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem using Caterpillar bulldozers, as Israel continues to bulldoze Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Simultaneously, Caterpillar executives will lead a June 14 workshop on Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility at a conference for international business leaders at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Given CAT’s continued provision of equipment for Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes and property, CAT executives are the last people who should give advice to others on such issues. Read more about Activists to protest Caterpillar in NYC on June 14th
On 4th June, the day of the Ireland-Israel qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and Movement against Israeli Apartheid organized protests against the Israeli occupation, which began its 39th year this week. The demonstration started with speakers outside the Central Bank on Dame Street, including Caoimhe Butterly, an Irish human rights activist shot in the thigh by Israeli troops in Jenin on 22 November 2002, the same day as they killed UNRWA’s Jenin project manager, British citizen Iain Hook. Read more about Dublin protests mark Ireland-Israel World Cup qualifying match
Israelis driving along Highway 505 in the West Bank have been greeted with an unexpected sight. Signs that usually guide them to settlements instead on Saturday reminded them of the illegality of the construction on confiscated West Bank land. A sign pointing to Ariel, the largest settlement in the northern West Bank, built on land belonging to the Palestinian villagers of Salfit, now marks the way in Hebrew, Arabic and English to “stolen land”. Another sign that indicates the distance to Ariel from an Israeli checkpoint 12km away reminds drivers of the ongoing occupation and of the separation wall being built around Palestinian towns. Read more about Israeli road signs get activist makeover
Stefan Christoff will be the Electronic Intifada’s Special Correspondent in Lebanon throughout the summer of 2005. Between June & September 2005, Christoff, an independent journalist and community organizer in Montreal, will travel to Lebanon to produce written, audio, and visual reports on present-day struggles for social justice in Lebanon. Christoff will also be producing regular radio reports for Free Speech Radio News and recording material for a radio documentary series to be produced at CKUT Radio in Montreal and distributed to community radio stations throughout the world in the fall of 2005. Read more about LIVING WAR: Reporting on Struggles for Social Justice in Lebanon
