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Palestinian Filmmakers, Artists and Cultural Workers Call for a Cultural Boycott of Israel

4 August 2006


We, the undersigned Palestinian filmmakers and artists, appeal to all artists and filmmakers of good conscience around the world to cancel all exhibitions and other cultural events that are scheduled to occur in Israel, to mobilize immediately and not allow the continuation of the Israeli offensive to breed complacency. Like the boycott of South African art institutions during apartheid, cultural workers must speak out against the current Israeli war crimes and atrocities. We call upon you to make your voices heard in calling for an end to this bloodshed and an end to this oppression that has lasted too long. 

And it gets worse ...

Zena El-Khalil Beirut 4 August 2006


Last night … last night … I don’t even know where to begin … It seems the bombs are getting louder. Perhaps they are the new ones from the US expedited delivery. They hit everywhere last night. Beirut, Jounieh, roads leading to the north, bridges in the north; the only highway left, leading to the north, the last escape route to Syria, was hit. We are all trapped now. Waiting … waiting … The bombs started around 1 am in Dahiye. We had some friends over. Everyone was in a state of panic. We waited a bit and then everyone made a run for it, to go home. 

Bombs and tanks in the night

Jenny Digi Nablus 3 August 2006


It’s taken me a while to get used to being back in Nablus and my sleep on the first few nights was broken regularly by bangs, explosions and the 4 AM call to prayer. Lying in bed on the first night, I moved my mattress away from the window, feeling too exposed to the soldiers who have a large base at the top of the hill. In 2003 there was safety in my nationality to some degree - the Israeli soldiers were not so likely to randomly shoot internationals. Now, this feeling of protection doesn’t feel quite so strong in the light of what the Israeli military have been doing in Lebanon, indiscriminately killing anyone regardless of nationality, status (civilian or combatant) and age. 

Mental hospital nearly out of medicine

3 August 2006


A mental hospital in south Lebanon is just days away from running out of the medicine used to treat its 250 schizophrenic patients, its director said on Thursday. “We have very little Epanutin left,” said Adela Dajani Labban, director of the private Al Fanar Mental Hospital in Zefta, a village 60km south of Beirut. Epanutin is an anti-convulsion drug that can be used to treat schizophrenia. Staff nurse Hossam Mustafa said doctors had been reducing dosages to patients in an attempt to conserve supplies. “If we do not get more medicine soon we will be faced with a very difficult situation. The patients will become very aggressive.” 

Limited safe passage hampers aid agencies

3 August 2006


Despite being granted safe passage by Israel for some of their humanitarian convoys, relief agencies say limited security clearances, bombed access routes and intensified fighting between Hezbollah militants and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are hampering their aid efforts. The current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began on 12 July after Hezbollah captured two IDF soldiers. Israel says its aerial bombardment of parts of Lebanon is aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s “terror infrastructure”. Hezbollah has responded by firing thousands of rockets into northern Israel and has demanded the release of hundreds of Lebanese from Israeli jails and Israel’s withdrawal from all Lebanese territory. 

Young Jews stage "die-in" in Boston to protest Israeli war

Marjorie Dove 3 August 2006


A group of young American Jews staged a “Die In” on Tuesday August 1, 2006 in downtown Boston. “We want to break the false consensus of unequivocal support for Israel and make it known that many American Jews disagree with our government’s support of Israeli aggression. We also want to call attention to the human rights crisis occurring in Gaza and Lebanon,” commented group member Matt Soycher of Jamaica Plain. “As young American Jews, we are outraged and frightened. Recent rallies called by Jewish organizations in support of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza have not spoken for us. Now, we are speaking for ourselves.” 

UN Agencies: Deeply alarmed by continuing violence in Gaza

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Food Programme, World Health Organization, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) 3 August 2006


The United Nations humanitarian agencies working in the occupied Palestinian territory are deeply alarmed by the impact continuing violence is having on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, which has resulted in a sharp decline in the humanitarian situation facing 1.4 million people, more than half of them children. We are concerned that with international attention focusing on Lebanon, the tragedy in Gaza is being forgotten. We estimate that since 28 June, 175 Palestinians have been killed, including approximately 40 children and eight women, and over 620 injured in the Gaza Strip. 

Is Israel any safer now?

Am Johal 3 August 2006


In the narrative which has transpired following the escalation of events the past three weeks, Israel has continued to make the claim to its domestic audience that they would be safer as a result of the IDF military response. In a country which has mandatory military service, its citizens have largely supported the war effort. Except for a few demonstrations in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the broader public largely endorsed the actions of the Israeli government. Many in Israel were saying things like, “Hezbollah started this, now we will finish it. We have lived like this for too long.” 

Beauty and Destruction in Beirut

George Bisharat 3 August 2006


It had always taken my breath away, cresting the ridge from the Beka’a Valley, and descending toward the sea, when I caught the first glimpse of the city of Beirut, framed like a cluster of lustrous pearls against the stunning blue of the Mediterranean. I had traveled that route many times, while studying at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the early seventies, before the madness of the Lebanese civil war made travel there imprudent. Anything seemed possible in the Beirut of the seventies - one could meet people from all over the world, buy books in any language, swim in the sea in the morning, escape to the mountains and ski in the afternoon. 

Israel, not Hizbullah, is putting civilians in danger on both sides of the border

Jonathan Cook 3 August 2006


Here are some interesting points raised this week by a leading commentator and published in a respected daily newspaper: “The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert embeds his soldiers in Israeli communities, next to schools, beside hospitals, close to welfare centres, ensuring that any Israeli target is also a civilian target. This is the practice the UN’s Jan Egeland had in mind when he lambasted Israel’s ‘cowardly blending … among women and children’.” You probably did not read far before realising that I have switched “Israel” for “Hizbullah” and “Ehud Olmert” for “Hassan Nasrallah”.