The first International Writers’ Festival is scheduled to take place 11-15 May 2008 in Jerusalem, just three days after Israel’s official celebrations of 60 years of independence. Substantially financed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, this festival must necessarily be seen in the context of the Israeli government’s wider public relations campaign to bring international artistic, cultural and political figures to brighten the state’s image on the international stage. Read more about Activists urge boycott of Jerusalem literature festival
In an open letter dated 9 April 2008 to Executive Director of UNICEF Ann Vennemen, the Palestinian Boycott Campaign’s National Committee finds unacceptable UNICEF’s response to a letter from human rights activists urging the UN agency to refrain from accepting any contributions from Israeli diamond tycoon and developer of Israeli settlements, Lev Leviev. Read more about UNICEF: Distance yourself from tainted money
Over 80 New Yorkers from diverse communities gathered last Saturday, 5 April in the Salam Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre, which occurred on 9 April 1948. Speakers discussed the need to redress the human rights violations that Israel committed in 1948 as a step towards a just future. Read more about New York commemorates Deir Yassin massacre
Recently the French engineering and consulting company Egis Rail joined European companies Veolia Transport and Alstom in their tramway project being built on Palestinian land in Jerusalem. Alstom won the construction bid in 2000 and two years later Veolia Transport obtained the operating rights. Adri Nieuwhof reports. Read more about Pressure mounts on companies involved with illegal tramway
You uttered one word [“Tibet”] in a concert in Shanghai that sent ripples across many disapproving seas. This time, say it louder, and support another just cause: that of the Palestinian people. Do not sing in Israel, so that your silence will prove to be more deafening. The concert you plan to give in July in Israel will coincide with the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of this state over the ruins of another country, Palestine. Read more about Bjork, cancel your Tel Aviv concert!
Forty New Yorkers commemorated the Palestinian national holiday Land Day today with the eighth protest at the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. The protest included songs, theater and testimonials from villages threatened by Leviev’s settlements. Land Day marks Palestinians’ ties to their land, in defiance of Israeli efforts to displace them. Read more about New Yorkers protest Leviev's Israeli settlements on Land Day
How can you celebrate? The establishment of the state of Israel 60 years ago was a settler- colonial project that systematically and violently uprooted more than 750,000 Palestinian Arabs from their lands and homes. Sixty years ago, Zionist militias and gangs ransacked Palestinian properties and destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages. How can people of conscience celebrate this catastrophe? Read more about Palestinian orgs: Israel's anniversary nothing to celebrate
For the past few years student and academic groups in North America and Europe have been openly campaigning for the boycott of Israeli academia. Some actions produced results (even if not long lasting) and some were unsuccessful. It is important for us working towards the defense of Palestinians’ human rights to learn from these experiences so we may meet our goals in the future. Laith Marouf comments for EI. Read more about Towards a viable academic boycott campaign
As 13 organizations working for human rights, social justice, and peace, we demand that The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan rescind its agreement to host the 18 March fundraiser for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The Israeli military has historically been a flagrant violator of human rights and international law as demonstrated by the recent attacks on Gaza that killed over 100 Palestinians, the 2006 attack on Lebanon, and the 60-year assault on and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Read more about Activists to Waldorf-Astoria: Cancel Friends of IDF fundraiser
“The establishment of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders is unfeasible. A Bantustan-based system does not guarantee a comprehensive peace. It never did in Apartheid South Africa. Ironically, therefore, what the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993 between Israel and the PLO, have led to is a situation that was not envisaged by its signatories, that is the impossibility of establishing a sovereign independent Palestinian state on 22 percent of historic Palestine.” Dr. Haider Eid speaks with Anna Weekes. Read more about Interview with single-state activist Dr. Haider Eid
