Israel issues threats as lone flotilla ship set to land in Gaza within 24 hours
Palestine Information Center – 18/07/2011
Dignite – Al-Karama update:
“The boat should be off the Gaza coast on Tuesday afternoon,” spokesman Maxime Guimberteau told AFP by phone from Paris on Monday.
“It is travelling slowly, mainly to conserve fuel,” he said.
“The fact that the Dignite – Al Karama is at sea is a setback for the Israeli government which by force or by pressure is trying to perpetuate an illegal and criminal blockade and to silence civil society movements around the world,” a statement issued from the boat said. … Full article
100 hours in Israeli detention for trying to visit Bethlehem
By Laura Durkay | Mondoweiss | July 18, 2011
“What is your father’s name?”
“James.”
“What is his father’s name?”
“Andrew.”
“Where are you going?”
“Bethlehem.”
“Where are you staying there?”
“At the Lajee Center in Aida Refugee Camp.”
That is as far as my conversation at Israeli passport control goes. I am at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, one of dozens of activists who have flown in from across Europe and the US for the Welcome to Palestine mission, a week of cultural and solidarity activities organized by Palestinian civil resistance groups across the West Bank.
As part of our mission, our Palestinian hosts have asked us to honestly declare our goal of traveling to the West Bank to visit Palestinians. Israel controls all access points into the West Bank. While traveling to the Occupied Territories is not strictly illegal under Israeli law, internationals and Palestinians living abroad are commonly interrogated, searched, harassed, and often denied entry if they state their intention to visit or work with Palestinians.
The political policing at Israeli-controlled borders is just one facet of an elaborate system that keeps Palestinians in the Occupied Territories isolated and under siege. The Welcome to Palestine mission is intended to be a mass challenge to these policies, so of course the Israeli government is doing everything it can to stop it.
In the days before July 8, when hundreds of nonviolent activists were scheduled to arrive at Ben Gurion Airport, the Israeli government’s hysteria about the action reached a fever pitch. On July 5, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said of the activists: “These hooligans who try to break our laws will not be allowed into the country and will be returned immediately to their home countries”—conveniently ignoring the fact that none of the activities of the Welcome to Palestine campaign are illegal under Israeli law. In the days before our arrival, Israeli government officials issued numerous threats against us in the media and airport security was beefed up despite our clear statements that we were not planning to stage any demonstrations inside the airport and were committed to nonviolence in all our actions.
In a last-ditch effort to stop Welcome to Palestine activists from reaching Ben Gurion Airport, the Israeli government sent a blacklist to major European airlines containing 374 names of passengers to be barred from boarding their planes in Europe. Most airlines seemed to comply with this list, sending last-minute letters or phone calls to some activists telling them in advance that they would not be allowed to fly. Many more, including the majority of the French delegation, the largest component of the campaign, arrived at the airport and were simply refused permission to board their flights. If the siege of Gaza extends to the shores of Greece, it seems the blockade of the West Bank covers all of Europe.
In London the night before departing, our group of about 15 Brits, Irish and Americans discussed what we would do if we were kept off our flight out of Luton Airport. Those of us who had been speaking and writing openly about the Welcome to Palestine mission were quite sure we would be on the blacklist.
At the airport the next morning, one American is in fact kept off the plane by security at the very last minute. But as the plane takes off, I and the other participants realized that we have cleared the first hurdle and are on our way to Palestine.
From the moment we land at Ben Gurion Airport around 4pm on Friday, it’s clear the security presence is intense. Plainclothes security officers line the hallway leading from the gate to passport control, watching us as we disembark. Mick Napier of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, our delegation leader, gives us hushed updates about other groups that have been stopped in Europe or here at the airport. As we approach passport control, he turns back to us and said simply, “Now it’s our turn.” And it is.
At passport control, anyone who lists their destination as “Bethlehem,” “Palestine,” or “the West Bank” is quickly pulled aside, their passports disappearing into the hands of Israeli immigration officials. After most of my group has been waylaid by security, we are herded into a basement immigration holding area, where a number of French, Belgian and German activists are already being detained. There are about forty of us packed into the small waiting room. The immigration officials are not interrogating us. We think they are mostly just trying to figure out what to do with us.
We are held in the downstairs waiting area for about three hours. During this time I am taking non-stop press calls from Israeli and international media. I am shocked that the Israeli officials let me keep my phone (and even let me charge it) but determined to let as many people know what is happening as possible. I also contact the US consulate in Tel Aviv—not that I expect them to do anything to help us, but on principle I think they should know that Americans are being detained.
Around 7pm, a large number of plainclothes and uniformed immigration officers, police, and Border Patrol soldiers suddenly enter the room. I attempt to sneak a picture of the Border Patrol soldiers with my phone, only to have it roughly grabbed out of my hands by a burly immigration officer in a suit. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hang onto it indefinitely, but the loss of my only connection to the outside world still makes me nervous, especially since something is clearly about to go down. We notice several officers filming us, including one who climbs onto a desk to get a better angle.
Suddenly, a couple of the officers grab a French man who looks to be of Arab descent and try to pull him out of the room by himself. He protests that he wanted to stay with the group, and his comrades tried to nonviolently resist him being removed from the room. This is all the excuse the police and soldiers needed to move in and start punching, hitting and shoving anyone they can reach.
It’s clear the whole event is a deliberate provocation staged for the camera—perhaps to demonstrate what “hooligans” we are. At the same time, it’s hard to imagine us passively allowing someone to be removed from the group against their will—particularly someone of Arab origin who is quite right to believe they are more likely to be mistreated.
The upshot of the scuffle is that we are not removed from the room one by one, but in pairs or small groups. (We still have no idea where we are being relocated to and no one will tell us.) I pair up with a British woman named Fiona and we link arms so we can’t be separated. I am still trying to regain possession of my phone, which I can see the immigration officers playing with behind the desk. “I’ll turn it off, I’ll delete the pictures, I just want my phone back,” I tell one of the men in suits. No go. We are forcibly shoved out of the room, with one of the immigration officers pinching Fiona hard on the arm to make her comply. When Fiona says something along the lines of “That’s not necessary, we’re going,” the only response is “You fucking bitch.”
We are taken up to a women’s bathroom inside the airport where our bags and persons are searched. (Thankfully we are not strip-searched.) From there we’re taken outside to an isolated corner of the airport where what looked like a normal tour bus with dark windows awaits us. “Get in the limo, you’re going to the Hotel of Immigration,” one of the officers says sarcastically. We are pretty sure the Hotel of Immigration is prison.
Once we enter the bus we realized it has been converted to a paddy wagon on the inside, with metal grates on the windows and hard metal seats. Men and women are separated and put in different sections of the bus. While none of the women are handcuffed or shackled, several of the men were. It is night by this point but still quite hot, and the bus is stifling and crawling with roaches. We sit there for three hours, with no ventilation, no food or water, no toilet access and no information on what will happen next. We finally get a few bottles of water by banging on the metal walls to demand them. Everyone is nervous. If this is how we are being arrested, are there worse things to come?
Around 11pm we finally started driving. No one has told us where we are going, but those in the front of the bus are able to look out the tiny window and identify street signs for Ramla, a Palestinian town conquered in 1948 that is about 30km from Tel Aviv. I know there is an immigration detention center there, which is normally filled with migrant workers who have lost their visas and African refugees who have attempted to cross Israel’s border through the Sinai. Sure enough, Givon Detention Center, with its massive gate and barbed-wire-topped walls, is exactly where we end up.
We’re brought into a large open room to wait while we are processed for detention extremely slowly. Around 1am, after nine hours of detention, we’re finally given some food, which the guards film us eating so they can demonstrate how humanely they’re treating us. We’re allowed to keep our carry-on luggage with us, although our IDs, money, credit cards, and any media and electronics are confiscated. Those of us (like me) who had been stupid enough to check a bag have not been reunited with it, and therefore have no toiletries and no change of clothes. I’m finally processed and put in a cell with five other women around 2:30am—only to be woken up for a headcount at 6:30 the next morning.
It doesn’t matter how “humane” the conditions are—waking up in prison sucks. There’s a lot of anxiety on the first day, since no one knew how long we’ll be here and how the guards might treat us. At one point, a rumor goes around that they’re trying to photograph and fingerprint us all and we must all resist because we are not criminals. I imagine being in a room full of guards, alone, outnumbered, having to physically resist being fingerprinted, and get quite scared. That threat turns out not to materialize—either the rumor wasn’t accurate or they gave up that project after they realized we were all going to resist. But it’s a shaky first day or so.
My first cell contains one Austrian, one German-Palestinian woman whose father was from Gaza, and three Belgians. We’re all between 23 and 31, and four of us are Muslim. Needless to say, these ladies do not exactly fit the stereotype of the meek, submissive Muslim woman.
Some of the women in my cell had been part of a small group of mostly young Arabs who were separated from the large group at the airport and put in a smaller arrest van with a large number of soldiers and police, who filmed them and made sexually suggestive comments. One French Algerian woman was very roughly arrested, beaten, kicked, and put in handcuffs and leg irons before being thrown in the arrest van.
Someone has markers and we distract ourselves by graffiting all over the walls and lockers in our cell. When the guards finally open the doors and allowed us out into the closed-off hall of our cellblock a few hours later, we see that almost every cell had graffiti written on the walls and doors. Many cells have used soap or toothpaste to write “Free Palestine” on the inside of the doors. The prison toothpaste takes the paint off the doors, which is funny until you think about the fact you’ve been brushing your teeth with that.
Consular officials begin arriving that morning. The two people from the American consulate are friendly and do call our families, but they don’t seem to have much power or information about what will happen to us. They initially tell us we will be deported that night—it turns out they’re off by three days.
On Saturday, when the consular officials are present, our cell doors are kept open most of the day. We’re still confined to a closed hallway, but at least we can move about and talk to each other. The next day, Sunday, we’re locked up 21 out of 24 hours. We demand phone calls, only to be told “later.” We start to joke that in Hebrew, later means never. When we point out that it says on the “prisoners’ rights” document on the wall that we are to be allowed phone calls within 24 hours, we are told: “You’re special—those rights don’t apply to you.”
On the second night, I switch to the cell across the way without asking permission. It turns out the guards aren’t keeping track of us that carefully and no one notices. I want to be with Donna, the other American, since there are only two of us.
One of the prisoners in my second cell is Pippa Bartolotti, the only Brit who made it through passport control, perhaps because she is very posh and does not look like a “typical activist,” whatever that is. She is a Brit with an Italian name because her grandfather was sent out of fascist Italy as a teenager—other family members did not survive. On Friday, she made it out of the airport only to get a frantic text from one of us while we were being attacked by security in the basement. Her no-nonsense approach to getting back into the airport was effective (you can, and really must, watch the video here) but did result in her getting thrown to the ground and roughly handcuffed with someone’s knee on her back. The marks from the handcuffs are still visible and the bruises are just beginning to appear.
There is also an older French woman in our cell who has diarrhea. Her requests to see a doctor are being ignored. We take care of her—thankfully Donna is a nurse—but it’s not until the day we’re released that she’s finally able to see a doctor to her satisfaction. It’s pure luck that she doesn’t become seriously ill.
A sort of primitive communism develops in which everyone instinctively shares food, clothing, toiletries, and the most precious resource, information. Enough people speak either French or English that those become the common languages. When French and Belgian activists come back from their consular visits reporting that our story is huge in the European media and there are protests in support of us in Paris and Brussels, it’s like a ray of light.
We find ways to entertain ourselves, sharing stories and singing songs. The light switches for our cells are outside in the hall, so once the doors are locked at 8pm, there is no way to turn the lights off. The girls across the hall from us work out an ingenious solution that involves a spoon attached to a mop head and some feeling around for the light switch with the guidance of your cellmates across the hall.
Some of us begin to be allowed to see lawyers, although who is permitted to go seems totally random. We have two wonderful Palestinian lawyers, Anan and Samer, from Addameer, a prisoners’ rights organization, who are representing us pro bono. They are allowed to see us between 2pm and 5pm—not nearly enough time to talk to the approximately 120 of us who are here. I am the last person of the day to see them on Sunday, and they spend half our meeting arguing with the guards, who are trying to kick them out before they can give us any information. The guards seem determined to humiliate them, but they somehow maintain their dignity. I guess they’ve had a lot of practice.
The main thing they are able to tell us is that we are in a sort of legal black hole. The Israeli government is arguing that we have not formally entered Israel and are still “in transit,” as we would be as if we were being detained at the airport. Our lawyers are countering that this is absurd since we have now spent several days in a prison 30km from the airport. They warn us in no uncertain terms not to sign anything the Israelis give us. They tell us that it can take up to four days to get a deportation hearing, at which point the judge can decide, arbitrarily, to hold us for another four days—meaning we could be here for up to a week. This seems to me to be a pale shadow of the system of administrative detention that Palestinians face—except what’s days for us can be months or years for them.
At 1pm on Monday—almost three full days into our detention—I am finally allowed to make my phone call. I go with Pippa, whose phone was confiscated and still has not been returned. While Pippa is arguing with the guards, demanding to use their phone (request denied), I’m able to send some surreptitious text messages. I call my parents and tell them to call an activist friend in New York. “Tell her to call the media, tell everyone what’s happening, do something to get us out,” I say. At that point I’m promptly told, “Your time is up now.”
On Monday afternoon some people start to be deported. We hear that two of the British men have left. We later learn that there were numerous empty seats on the flight they were on. I think it’s just pure disorganization that some of the women were not put on that flight.
On Tuesday afternoon, eight of our English-speaking crew are finally driven to the airport. We are taken to a completely empty security screening area, made to sit down and surrounded by about twenty immigration officers and police. Suddenly we are told: “You can go to Bethlehem now.” No one is sure exactly what is going on, but being surrounded and outnumbered two to one by threatening security officers makes it really hard to believe this is a sincere offer. We are at the airport—surely they have already secured seats for us on the EasyJet flight that’s about to depart. We notice they are filming us again. Maybe the point of this is to film us refusing their offer—which we do on principle since dozens of our comrades have already been deported—so they can say “Look, we offered them the chance to go to Bethlehem and they didn’t really want it, so that proves they were just here to make trouble.”
At this point I feel they’re just screwing with us and get quite angry. I stand up and start questioning the head immigration officer, the thug who orchestrated the attack on us in the basement holding area on Friday night. “If you say you’re letting us in now, why didn’t you let us in four days ago?” He says something about there being dangerous people in our midst. “Who?” I demand. “You know.” “No, I don’t know. Tell me who.” I try to get him to say something about “terrorist” Arabs or Muslims among us, which I’m sure is what he means, but he, at least, is too smart for that.
Finally we are put on the plane, separated from all the other passengers. We get our passports back from a flight attendant. Most people’s are stamped ENTRY DENIED, but mine is stamped with nothing. It’s as if I never entered the country, even though I’ve been in prison for the past four days. It is 8pm on Tuesday when the plane finally takes off. We have been detained for 100 hours.
Throughout the whole process, we never saw a single piece of paper stating why we were being detained. If we have deportation orders, we did not see or sign them. We have no information about whether we are banned from re-entering Palestine, although I don’t think any of us expect a problem-free entry in the future.
We are well aware, as we fly off from a country we supposedly never entered, that things could have been much worse. We all know that the way we were treated is nothing—nothing—compared to what happens to Palestinians. As internationals, we have the luxury of only encountering the repressive system on its mildest setting. Our prison experience was full of barked orders, petty meanness, and lies upon lies upon lies, but we learned by the end that the guards were very much unwilling to use violence against us. Not because they were particularly nice, but because they knew the story would get out. As westerners our lives are still perceived as having some value. Less so for the poor migrants who filled the rest of the prison, and not at all for Palestinians.
Like the response to the Flotilla, like the violence against the Nakba and Naksa Day protests and the brutality that unarmed protesters in Palestine face every day, the Israeli government’s response to the Welcome to Palestine mission shows that they know only one way to react to nonviolent protest—with brute repression and total stupidity. If they had simply let us in, there would have been no story. Instead they created a multi-day media embarrassment for themselves and ensured that all of us came out of prison more determined to fight.
By detaining dozens of Europeans and Americans for simply declaring their intent to visit Palestinian cities, the Israeli government has only internationalized the struggle. We will return to our countries and build the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. We will continue to speak out against Israeli apartheid and for Palestinian human rights. And we will return to Palestine. We know we are always welcome.
Laura Durkay is a member of Siegebusters Working Group and the International Socialist Organization in New York City. You can follow her on Twitter at @lauradurkay.
Dignité-Al Karama sailing to Gaza
Aletho News – 18.07.11
The Dignité-Al Karama crew, which had told Greek authorities that their destination was the Egyptian port of Alexandria, have decided instead to sail towards Gaza after a long debate.
The French yacht has been the only one that succeeded in evading the Greek Authority’s decision to prevent the ships from leaving their shores. Out of the 300 activists and dozen ships that made up the Freedom Flotilla II only ten activists and one small ship is left.
The passengers see themselves as “representatives of the whole Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human”. Among them, are representatives of the Canadian, French, Greek and Swedish Boats to Gaza, and also renowned Israeli journalist Amira Hass, reporting for Haaretz.
They view their voyage as “a message to the Israeli government, to the international community and to the besieged people of Gaza: The Canadian Boat to Gaza & Freedom Flotilla II are not giving up, until the inhumane and illegitimate blockade of Gaza is lifted. Gaza, we are coming!”
Updates at: http://www.freegaza.org/
Undeterred, two Freedom Flotilla ships head to Egypt
By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC News | July 17, 2011
After weeks of threats by the Israeli and US governments, sabotage by unknown parties, and a public relations campaign by the Israeli government aimed at discrediting the Freedom Flotilla in the international media, the peace activists with the Freedom Flotilla to break the siege on the Gaza Strip say they remain steadfast in their aims, and one of the original ten ships on the flotilla is now on its way to Egypt, with a second prepared to depart shortly.
From Egypt, the crew and passengers of the ships will decide whether to continue to Gaza to break the Israeli siege which, despite Israeli claims to the contrary, remains in place and continues to cripple the Gazan economy.
Due to the extended delays, which included the detention of the crews and passengers of several of the ten flotilla ships, many participants in the Flotilla have had to return to their home countries, and the others have been blockaded in a Greek port by the Greek coast guard, at the behest of the Israeli government.
But one ship managed to escape the impound by Greek authorities, as it was not docked with the others at the time of the impound. That ship, the Dignite al Karama, set sail on Saturday evening toward Egypt. The ten people on board, mainly French activists, say they have to represent the entire flotilla with their one ship, since the others remain under Greek detention.
The ship, known as the ‘Dignite al Karama’, was commissioned by French activists, and includes in its passenger list Israeli-born peace activist Dror Feiler, who is the head of ‘European Jews for a Just Peace’, Greek sociologist Vangelis Pissias, and a number of other dignitaries.
A second Flotilla ship, the ‘Juliano’ (named after slain peace activist Juliano Mer-Khamis, who was apparently killed by a Palestinian gunman while working for peace in Jenin), plans to depart the port of Heraklion as soon as it is given permission to sail to Alexandria, Egypt and join the Dignite Al Karama.
The Dignite al Karama has been docked at the port of Kastellorizo, a remote Greek island that is sympathetic to the Flotilla’s cause. In World War II, fearing German attacks, some of the island’s inhabitants fled to the Gaza Strip, where they were given refuge. The mayor of the town of Kastellorizo welcomed the activists, and authorized them to leave Greek waters.
The other ships, docked in Athens, were blockaded and impounded by the Greek coast guard after requests by the Israeli Prime Minister to his Greek counterpart, leading the activists to say that “The Gaza blockade has been extended to Greece.” A group of Spanish activists remain on hunger strike after occupying their country’s embassy in Athens.
The Freedom Flotilla aims to bring humanitarian aid and support to the people of Gaza, and to expose the four-year old blockade on the Gaza Strip imposed by the state of Israel in order to, in the words of Israeli officials, “put the people of Gaza on a diet”. Since the blockade began, unemployment levels have reached highs of 80% and malnutrition rates among small children have been estimated at highs of 40%.
Gaza Rejects Greek Government Charity
The following letter was delivered to the Greek Government on July 12, 2011 making it clear that the people of Gaza seek freedom and respect for their human rights, including their right to lead a dignified life, not charity. Seemingly deaf to their call, yesterday a spokesman for the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Delavekouras, repeated the Greek Government’s “generous offer” to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza – instead of helping them gain the freedom that Israel continues to deny them.
12 July 2011
Dear Prime Minister Papendreou,
Dear Foreign Minister Lambrinidis
We, members of Palestinian civil society in Gaza, have been watching the actions your government has taken to block Freedom Flotilla 2 from setting sail towards the biggest open air prison – the Gaza Strip – to challenge Israel’s criminal blockade. Israel’s closure of Gaza has deprived us of things that most people take for granted, first and foremost, our freedom of movement. We are not allowed to pursue adequate health care or educational opportunities because we cannot travel freely. We are cut off from our families in other parts of the occupied territory and abroad; and we are not allowed to invite people to visit us in Gaza. Now, you have imported this restriction on the people whose main mission is to stand in solidarity with us.
The people of Gaza are not only in need of humanitarian aid because we are prevented from building our economy. We are not allowed to import raw materials or to export; our fishermen and farmers get shot at when attempting to fish or to harvest their crops. As a result of deliberate Israeli policy, 80% of our people have become food aid dependent, our infrastructure is in shambles, and our children cannot imagine a day when they will know freedom.
Your offer to deliver the cargo of the Freedom Flotilla entrenches the notion that humanitarian aid will solve our problems and is a weak attempt to disguise your complicity in Israel’s blockade.
We are so sorry not to accept your charity. The organizers and participants of the Freedom Flotilla recognize that our plight is not about humanitarian aid; it is about our human rights. They carry with them something more important than aid; they carry hope, love, solidarity and respect. Your offer to collude with our oppressors to deliver aid to us is totally REJECTED.
While it is clear that you have been under enormous political pressure to comply with the will of the Israeli regime, to collaborate with Israel in violating international law and legitimizing the siege, we refuse to accept your breadcrumbs. We crave freedom, dignity and the ability to make choices in our daily lives. We urge you to immediately reconsider and to let the Freedom Flotilla sail.
Finally we recognize the historical relations between our people and your country’s support for our legitimate rights. With this history in mind and your previous acknowledgment of the freedoms denied to us, we are calling on you to allow the freedom flotilla boats to leave for Gaza, thus challenging Israel’s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip and illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
Sincerely,
Palestinian Network of NGOs (PNGO)
Representing over 60 non-governmental organizations in Gaza
Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza
General Society for Rehabilitation
Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children
Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth
Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah
Rafah Olympia City Sisters
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Al Awda Hospital, Jabaliya Camp
Ajyal Association, Gaza
Al Karmel Centre, Nuseirat
Local Initiative, Beit Hanoun
Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Middle East Children’s Alliance – Gaza office
Alshomoa Club for Women
General Union for Public Services Workers
General Union for Health Services Workers
General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
General Union for Agricultural Workers
General Union of Palestinian Syndicates
General Union of Palestinian Women
Palestinian Congregation for Lawyers
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
Union of Health Work Committees
Union of Synergies—Women Unit
Union of Women’s Work Committees
Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime
Palestine Sailing Federation
Fishing and Marine Sports Association
Palestinian Women Committees
Progressive Students’ Union
Israeli propaganda festival finds few fans in Milan
Stephanie Westbrook | The Electronic Intifada | 14 July 2011
For ten days in June, Milan was the site of a promotional event aimed at presenting “the other side of Israel,” in the words of the Israeli Ambassador to Italy Gideon Meir. Known as “Unexpected Israel,” the event was sponsored by both the Italian and Israeli governments, along with local city and provincial authorities.
When details of the event were first announced in December 2010, it was projected to cost 2.5 million euros ($3.6 million US) and to include a 900-square-meter plexiglass pavilion featuring Israeli technological and cultural wonders in Piazza Duomo, Milan’s main square. In the end, Piazza Duomo hosted nothing more than a small multimedia installation: 15 amplified pedestals spouting classics of Israeli hasbara (propaganda) to the few visitors who dared enter the fenced-off, heavily guarded area.
A pedestal dedicated to agriculture boasted, “For thousands of years, this was an arid, barren land, mostly desert. In just sixty years, Israel transformed the desert into an agricultural miracle,” giving credence to the idea that no agriculture — and by implication, no people — existed in the land before the creation of the State of Israel.
The installation on water also talked of transforming “an arid land into a fertile paradise.” There was no mention that this transformation was made possible through water stolen from Palestinians or that Palestinian access to their own water supplies was severely restricted. In the water-rich West Bank region of the Jordan Valley, in what should be a “fertile paradise” for the Palestinians, the land is occupied by the Israeli military: 44 percent has been designated closed military zones and 50 percent has been appropriated by 37 illegal Israeli settlements and plantations, according to a report by the Ma’an Development Center (“Report: Eye on the Jordan Valley,” 2010 [PDF]).
The Ma’an Development Center released another report on the water crisis in the Jordan Valley. They state that since 1967, Israel has blocked Palestinian access to 162 water wells (“Report: Draining Away: The water and sanitation crisis in the Jordan Valley“ [PDF]).
This is happening while the approximately 9,000 settlers in the Jordan Valley consume one-quarter of the resources used annually by all 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, according to statistics from Human Rights Watch (“Separate and Unequal,” 19 December 2010).
The tourism and Holy Land pedestal installations quietly ventured beyond Israel’s boundaries to include Bethlehem, Jericho and Qumran, without ever mentioning that these sites are in the occupied West Bank.
Celebrities used to sell Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv was presented as a non-stop, fun-loving, multicultural city with a “vibrant and classy” gay scene, a city “that loves you just as you are.” Video clips of performances in Tel Aviv by international stars such as Madonna and Paul McCartney were used to present Israel as a normal western-style country, confirming that artists who choose to ignore the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel become its unofficial ambassadors.
Representatives of nearly fifty Israeli companies, along with 150 Italian entrepreneurs, attended the Italian-Israeli Business Forum held at the Milan Stock Exchange, together with the Israeli minister of industry, the Italian undersecretary for economic development and the presidents of the Lombardy region and Milan province. More than 400 bilateral business-to-business meetings were organized in the afternoon, divided into four sectors: water technologies, security, medical and new media.
A look at some of the Israeli companies participating reveals direct ties with the occupation and violations of international law.
Triple-T Ltd provides wastewater treatment services to Israeli settlements built illegally in the West Bank (see “the company’s website”) and ARI Flow is based in the occupied Golan Heights.
According to Who Profits? — a project of the Coalition of Women for Peace in Israel — Magar S3 provides security systems along 150 kilometers of Israel’s wall in the West Bank as well as eight Israeli settlements (“Magal security systems”).
J Gordon Consulting Engineers designed the security systems for Nafha prison, where 94 percent of the incarcerated are Palestinian political prisoners (see its website, “Main activities, by region: Israel”).
Athena GS3 was founded by Shabtai Shavit, a former head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and boasts a team of “security experts from the Israeli elite intervention units” such as commandos and Navy Seals. Naval commando units carried out the attacks on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May last year, killing nine activists, and have been trained to intercept the current second flotilla.
Netanyahu: Israel has no “better friend” than Berlusconi
As “Unexpected Israel” got underway in Milan, an Israeli-Italian intergovernmental summit was taking place in Rome. Prime Ministers Silvio Berlusconi and Benjamin Netanyahu, along with eight ministers from each country, signed nine bilateral agreements. In the joint statement, Berlusconi also reaffirmed “the Italian government’s firm opposition to any form of delegitimization or boycotts against Israel (“Vertice Intergovernativo Italo-Israeliano,” 13 June 2011).
Among the bilateral agreements, the ministries of foreign affairs from both countries undertook to evaluate exchange programs for young diplomats, public figures and journalists, as well as intensifying youth exchange programs “with the scope of creating friendships among the younger generations of both countries.”
The ministries of education agreed to create a teacher-training program in Holocaust education, with Italian high school teachers taking part in courses at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem.
On 13 June, during a joint press conference in Rome, Berlusconi affirmed: “We have always been and will always be on your side because Israel is the only true democracy in the entire region.” Netanyahu, stating that Israel has “no better friend,” also noted that the bilateral agreements were “not merely technical agreements, they are a bond, a growing bond in modern times, in the beginning of the 21st century between the people of Italy and the people of Israel” (“Press Conference with PM Netanyahu and Italian PM Berlusconi,” Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 June 2011).
While Israel endeavored to salvage its image and bond with Italian private industry and public institutions, activists took to the streets in Milan to give visibility to what “Unexpected Israel” tried so desperately to conceal. As Piero Maestri of the campaign group No to the Israeli Occupation of Milan asked, “Would anyone have accepted an event called ‘Unexpected South Africa’ while [Nelson] Mandela was still in prison?”
On Friday, 11 June, just before the official events began, activists dressed in white marched to Piazza Duomo behind a banner that read “322 children killed: Unexpected Israel” and read aloud the names of each child killed in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008-09.
A daily presence was maintained at the entrance to the multimedia installation in Piazza Duomo, where an alternative version of “Unexpected Israel” postcards were distributed, including images of the Nakba (the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948), racist t-shirts worn by Israeli soldiers, the destruction in Gaza and graffiti in the West Bank city of Hebron that reads “Arabs to the gas chambers.” Posters for the protests showing the Duomo — Milan’s cathedral — behind Israel’s wall were found throughout the city’s center.
Ambassador Meir soon learned he could not walk the streets of Milan without being challenged. As he walked from Piazza Duomo, surrounded by Italian police officers, an activist managed to slowly work her way into the crowd and confront Meir with photos of demolished houses in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. Another unfurled a banner reading “Stop Agrexco: Boycott the Fruit of Israeli Apartheid” behind Meir as he spoke to the television cameras inside the multimedia installation.
Unexpected gift for Agrexco
On Friday, 17 June, an “unexpected gift” was delivered to the Italian headquarters of the Israeli produce exporter Agrexco in Milan. Activists from the Stop Agrexco campaign, which calls for a boycott of the company, delivered baskets of rotten fruit symbolizing Palestinian agricultural products rotting at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank (“VIDEO: BDS action against the Agrexco headquarters in Milan, Italy,” 25 June 2011).
On Saturday, 18 June, thousands filled the streets of Milan, arriving from Rome, Florence, Bologna and Turin, for a protest march followed by a concert by Gaza rappers DARG Team.
And as “Unexpected Israel” came to a close on 22 June, a replica of the Stefano Chiarini, the Italian boat that is taking part in the second Freedom Flotilla, arrived on the square. In the form of a child’s boat made of newspapers — fitting for the boat carrying the name of the late Italian journalist and Palestine solidarity activist — the three-meter replica “sailed” around the talking pedestals, the megaphone of the protesters drowning out the propaganda.
The ten-day event, while securing the support of Berlusconi’s government and those Italian firms willing to do business with an apartheid state, did little to win the hearts and minds of the people of Milan. Once again — in contrast to the cowardice of governments and institutions — it was a grassroots movement that mobilized to hold Israel accountable for its violations of human rights and international law.
Stephanie Westbrook is a US citizen who has been living in Rome, Italy since 1991. She is active in the peace and social justice movements in Italy. She can be reached at steph AT webfabbrica DOT com.
Irish delegation to visit Bahrain
Press TV – July 11, 2011
An Irish delegation plans to visit the Bahraini capital Manama to attempt to determine the fate of 47 doctors and nurses arrested during the anti-government protests in the Persian Gulf state.
The delegation, headed by Professor Damian McCormack, includes Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Marian Harkin, Fianna Fail Senator Averil Power, former foreign affairs minister David Andrews, and representatives from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO).
Bahrain has released 34 doctors and paramedics who were detained during the brutal crackdown on massive demonstrations in March but announced that they would soon be tried in special military courts. Many of the doctors have stated that they were coerced to sign confessions through torture while in police custody.
The delegation, which plans to leave for Manama on July 12, has requested to hold talks with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa through Bahrain’s embassy in London.
“It’s quite extraordinary for doctors to be arrested in any country. These doctors were arrested for doing their jobs,” the Herald quoted Senator Power as saying.
‘Please continue to be with us’ –a Palestinian’s letter to int’l supporters
By Hekmat Bessiso | Mondoweiss | July 11, 2011
A letter from a Palestinian woman to the supporters of Palestine.
I would like to talk to you as the voice of the thousands of Palestinians who appreciate what you are doing. You who have a great commitment to human rights and who actually act upon your beliefs, you risk your life to both witness and tell the truth of what you see. You are a group of people who understand what is happening in the holy land and have decided to dedicate your time, money and energy to the issue. You demonstrate that religion nor race is important when it comes to standing up for the rights of human beings. And every step you take justice and humanity wins.
I want you to trust that your actions are making a difference and changing the violence we see here in our land. Your solidarity is helping fuel our nonviolent fight. Palestinians face many kinds of violence and torture. However, being ignored is the worst punishment of all. Those who refuse to hear and see us are just as bad as those who occupy us. Those who stand in solidarity with us send a strong message of humanity and are helping us to overcome our suffering. In the middle of all this crisis, your help puts a smile on our face. From this smile you will always be welcome in our hearts even if you are unable to enter our land.
Your solidarity reminds the world that we are all one human family and that we Palestinians are still part of it. Please do not give up. Even if your boats do not make it to the shores of Gaza or if your planes refuse to fly, the unseen effects are still huge.
I want to say thank you for all that your work involves. Thank you for booking your tickets, taking time off from work, leaving your loved ones, and for all of the other small things, I am truly grateful.
Please continue to be with us, hand in hand, in our non-violent struggle. We need to reach the end of the path of occupation and your presence on this journey is crucial, we cannot make it alone.
I hope one day to share a coffee with you in my home or in yours, for when this day comes we will have reached our freedom.
Hekmat Bessiso is a Gazan living in Ramallah
One dead as strike halts commerce in Dominican Republic
Dominican Today | July 11, 2011
SANTO DOMINGO. – The barrio organization FALPO on Monday rebuked the Sunday night killing of Julian Felix Plasencia in the central city of Bonao, allegedly by a National Police patrol, prior to the start of the 24 hour strike that began 6 a.m. Monday, as commerce halts to a standstill.
Falpo national coordinator Milcíades Geraldo said he was told that Felix, 52, was killed late last night in the Bonao barrio Prosperidad, when a police patrol violently entered the area firing their weapons.
He said Felix’s death has infuriated Bonao’s residents and created extreme tension in the entire municipality, for which Falpo will intensify the protests to demand justice. “As we had warned the government line is to stoke anarchy and plant violence amid the national strike to traumatize the people, trying to stop this spiraling nationwide fight that we’ll continue.”
“Falpo rebukes the murder of Julian Felix Plasencia and will also demands to investigate the crime and that the members of the patrol are taken to justice,” Geraldo said.
He called on the Government and the ruling PLD party to control its followers and put a stop to the repression in Bonao, and warned that the town will fight them firmly in the streets, by expanding the protests for a dignified life, with justice and fairness.
Israel to Expel 124 Pro-Palestinian Activists
Al-Manar – July 10, 2011
The Zionist entity is to expel 124 mostly European activists who had managed to arrive on flights to the country as part of a pro-Palestinian protest, an official said on Saturday.
“Access to Israeli territory was blocked to 124 pro-Palestinian militants coming from Europe, who are now being held in Israel jails,” said Sabine Hadad, spokeswoman for the immigration service.
They will be expelled “as soon as there are places on appropriate flights,” she said, adding that because Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, “there are not a lot of flights and this could take a bit of time.”
She said most of the activists were French, with the others being American, Belgian, Bulgarian, Dutch and Spanish.
While awaiting expulsion, they are being held at two jails — one near Tel Aviv and the other in the Negev desert.
The activists were participating in the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign, which some have called the “flytilla,” in which up to 800 activists were to fly in on a peaceful mission to visit Palestinian families.
Zionist authorities said they largely managed to pre-empt the campaign by foreign activists demonstrating for the right of access to the occupied West Bank.
Officials said that by notifying foreign airlines of ticket-holders who would not be admitted to the occupied territories, they had prevented hundreds from boarding at their ports of departure.
The “flytilla” took place as a flotilla of ships was being prevented by Greece from sailing to the Gaza Strip in a bid to break the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.
Palestinians Call for Arms Embargo on Israel
Al-Manar – July 8, 2011
A coalition of Palestinian political parties, trade unions and non-government organizations (NGOs) backed by Nobel Prize laureates from abroad, called on Friday for an arms embargo against Zionist entity.
“A comprehensive military embargo on Israel is long overdue,” said a statement from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee.
“It would form a crucial step towards ending Israel’s unlawful and criminal use of force against the Palestinian people and other peoples and states in the region and would constitute an effective, non-violent measure to pressure Israel to comply with its obligations under international law,” it said.
The appeal was timed to mark the anniversary of a July 9, 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice that the Zionist West Bank wall barrier is illegal.
The statement said the embargo call was supported by Nobel Prize winners Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Perez Esquivel and by Canadian writer and social activist Naomi Klein.
“I endorse this call for an arms embargo because we desire peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis through non-violent ways,” it quoted Tutu as saying.
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From the Archives
Politicians lie
By Mazin Qumsiyeh | Popular Resistance | August 18, 2013
There is no way to say this truth nicely: Politicians lie. That includes Japanese, American, Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian politicians! Is there something more common sense than that? Yet, so many citizens around the world believe their own politicians or wistfully acknowledge lies but think it is part of the job needed to run things. They believe even when politicians contradict themselves blatantly. This phenomenon is rather remarkable. It is a dissonance and disconnect from reality that many seem oblivious to. It is very dangerous because it can lead to accepting rationales for going to war. These can be deadly wars that lead to millions of lives lost as happened in what was called World War 1 and WW2. Even when incredible and declassified evidence abound, politicians continue to lie and old mythologies refuse to die. Here are just a few of the countless lies told to us over the past few decades… continue
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