The past year hasn’t been a great one for the art scene in Beirut. As of January, Lebanon was still reeling from the political assassinations and phantom bombings of 2005. Whatever momentum artists, curators and dealers built up over the next six months was trounced by the war with Israel that erupted in July. Numerous projects geared toward establishing a modern art museum or a contemporary art center in the Lebanese capital got shoved to the back burner, gallery exhibitions were cancelled and individual bodies of work had to be shelved by the artists who had been hoping to realize them. Read more about Down but not out: Artists refused to give up
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other relief agencies, several hundred Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes in Iraq are now stranded in no man’s land on the Syrian and Jordanian borders. Al-Hol and Al-Tanaf camps, located on Iraq’s border with Syria, consist of makeshift tents. The camps have become the home of 655 displaced Palestinian men, women and children who continue to languish there under extremely difficult conditions. Another camp, Al-Walid, was just established recently to house an additional 41 Palestinians, all of whom were forced to leave by militias loyal to the US-backed Iraqi government. Read more about Palestinians Stranded on Iraq Border
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid26 December 2006
On Saturday 23 December a picket was organized by activists in Toronto and Montreal to officially launch a boycott campaign against Chapters and Indigo Bookstores. The campaign demands an end to the financial support offered by the majority owners of Chapters and Indigo to Heseg - the Foundation for Lone Soldiers. This is a program of financial support for former ‘lone soldiers’ in the Israeli military. The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, came out to the downtown core of Toronto, and held a mass leafleting and information picket to launch this campaign. Read more about Canada: Action to Boycott Chapters and Indigo Bookstores
June 6, 2007 marks 40 years since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, May 15, 2008 marks 60 years of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe). The future of the Palestinian people is at a crossroads; 2007 - 2008 marks a historic opportunity for faith-based organizations, individuals, community groups, the solidarity movement, unions and political parties to pool resources and activities and campaign for a rights-based solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Critical is the focus on the enforcement of the rights of Palestinian refugees under international law. Read more about The 40/60 Campaign for Freedom and Return
Tadamon! Montreal has launched two Weblogs focused on Israeli violations of the U.N. ceasefire and incidents involving cluster bombs, as a contribution to the growing international challenge to Israeli’s ability to defy international law with impunity. In the media-induced amnesia that defines North American political culture, these virtual memories will help track important historical facts, even as political leaders manipulate the public’s weak grasp of history in pursuit of their political agendas. Read more about Weblogs on Current Effects of Israeli Military on Lebanon
MONTREAL: Several Montreal-based organizations are speaking out in defence of the popular protests which have overtaken Lebanon’s capital for more than a week. The groups are concerned with a prevailing bias in Canadian media coverage of the events in Lebanon. This bias misrepresents the purposes of the protests and the dynamics that underlie them. It also fuels a dangerous sectarianism that threatens Lebanon. Read more about Montreal Organizations Call for Fair Coverage of Mass Protests In Lebanon
In March 2006, the Israeli government initiated a policy of visa denial to individuals of Palestinian descent having foreign passports, many of whom Israel has arbitrarily denied residency rights to in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Many of these persons have lived in the OPT for years without succeeding to obtain residency rights even though they made Palestine their primary residence and place of employment/business, married local Palestinians, and had children who were born in Palestine. These people have managed to stay in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by means of tourist visas issued by the Israeli government. Read more about Protest Israel's visa denial policy
The Institut Veolia Environnement is founded and funded by Veolia, the company that is involved in the development of an illegal Israeli tramline in occupied East Jerusalem. A number of international experts that contribute to the institute have shown respect for international law and human rights in the past. It is likely that they are not aware of the Veolia’s role in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. This appeal is written to inform the international experts and to call on them to distance themselves from the illegal practice of Veolia and end their collaboration with the institute. Read more about International experts urged to withdraw from Veolia Institute
Howard Horowitz and Andrew Courtney1 December 2006
We your constituents respectfully and forcefully request that you cancel your upcoming meeting with Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s newly appointed Minister of Strategic Threats. Please cancel the meeting publicly as a matter of principle that is in the best interests and ideals of the United States of America. As a champion of democracy and human rights, you cannot possibly know about the policies and positions of Mr. Lieberman and his Yisroel Beitenu political party, and still be intending to meet with him. In a recent editorial about his appointment, Haaretz, Israel’s newspaper of record wrote, “…the choice of the most unrestrained and irresponsible man around for this job constitutes a strategic threat in its own right …” Read more about Call upon Hillary Clinton to cancel meeting with Lieberman
Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran the following op-ed by John Dugard, a South African former anti-apartheid leader. He is currently the Special Rapporteur on Palestine to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He not only compares Israeli policies to apartheid, but says that in many ways Israeli policies are worse than South African apartheid was. Please take a minute to write a letter to the editor thanking the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for running this honest piece. Read more about Write to thank Atlanta Journal Constitution for honest opinion piece
