Reading PSC Autumn Social!
August 25th, 2010 • Events, News • No comments
7.30pm Sunday 12th September 2010 @ Mangal Turkish Restaurant
Following the Reading Interfaith Friendship Walk we’ll be holding our second social event at Reading’s Turkish restaurant, Mangal.
PLEASE RSVP HERE…
The cost will be £15, which includes a choice of starter and main course. Halal and vegetarian options available. Drinks are not included, but can be paid for separately.
We look forward to seeing you there!
PSC Weekly Update – 27 August 2010
August 27th, 2010 • News • No comments
In this week’s update:
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Demonstrate outside AHAVA – Saturday 28 August 12 – 2pm, Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, London
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Help PSC send a vehicle to Gaza with the Viva Palestina convoy – breaking the siege by land and sea.
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Israel is an ‘occupation-addicted junkie’, Gideon Levy tells packed PSC meeting – See report and video
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PSC Briefing: What the ‘peace talks’ mean for the Palestinians
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Death on the Med – bloggers and columnists give their views
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News, events, analysis and more
Read the full update here…
Israeli Army Incursions in Wadi Fuqeen
August 20th, 2010 • Awareness, Film & Documentary, News • No comments
Incursions by the Israeli army into the village of Wadi Fuqeen are becoming more frequent.
In early August 2010 Israeli army jeeps drove through the village on the pretext of looking for Palestinian workers trying to get into Israel illegally.
A wedding was taking place at the time and the jeeps drove through a crowd consisting of the wedding party and guests. People were very worried by remained calm.
This is one of the latest examples of Israeli army harassment of the Palestinian residents of Wadi Fuqeen.
PSC Weekly Update – 19 August 2010
August 19th, 2010 • News • No comments
In this week’s update:
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‘DEATH ON THE MED’ The next steps – OFCOM and taking your complaint further with the BBC
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Sign the petition – Free Vanunu
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BDS: Edinburgh council to discuss Israel boycott of Veolia
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Students – Order your freshers pack and special book offer
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Israel keeps evidence of ethnic cleansing locked up
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Abuse pictures on facebook ‘reflect prejudice, racism and hatred of the Israeli army’
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News, events, analysis and more
Read the full update here…
PSC Weekly Update – 12 August 2010
August 12th, 2010 • News • No comments
In this week’s update:
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Gideon Levy in conversation with Jon Snow London 24 August
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BDS Victory: Ahava 4 acquitted – Join Protest on Saturday
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Trade Union News: International Transport Federation calls for Action on Illegal Israeli Settlements;
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UN panel examining Gaza flotilla attack shows lack of teeth
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Israel razes Negev village for the third time
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Besieging Israel’s siege – BDS has become truly global
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News, events, analysis and more
Read the full update here…
Making Gaza a ‘European ghetto’
August 6th, 2010 • News • No comments
Lamis Andoni opinion piece for AJE’s Focus
While most Israeli leaders are resistant to fully lifting the blockade of Gaza, Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing foreign minister, is advocating that Israel abandon the Strip to international monitoring and economic rehabilitation.
The proposal, recently leaked to the Israeli press, does not amount to freeing Gaza but rather to placing it under European sea and land inspections and a reconstruction plan.
If implemented, it will permanently sever the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, transforming the Strip into an internationally supervised ghetto – with the dual purpose of ensuring Israeli security and reigning in the Palestinian population.
The isolation of Gaza would further undermine the vision of a contiguous Palestinian state or any form of equitable coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. It would also divide those families with members in the West Bank, creating a permanent schism in Palestinian society and deepening the sense of fragmentation.
Hamas would effectively be ruling a development project with no meaningful ties to the rest of the Palestinian people.
Read the rest at more at AJE…
BDS: Criticisms of Israel not anti-Semitic
August 6th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News • 1 comment
Letters published in the Yorkshire Evening Post in response to the Leeds PSC picket at Johnny Rotten’s concert:
IN response to Kevin Hartley’s letter (below), Palestine solidarity supporters do not demonise Israel – there is much that Israelis should be duly proud of. This does not mean there are not criticisms of Israel and that these are anti-Semitic.
The criticisms are that Israel violates international law and human rights as recognised by the UN – by continued expansion of its settlements in the Palestinian West Bank (as commented on by Barak Obama re: East Jerusalem), the blockade on Gaza (which even David Cameron described as a prison) and the system of check points, lack of freedom of movement and the apartheid wall that makes Palestinians’ lives and livelihoods acutely difficult in the West Bank and in Israel.
Many of the most active Palestine campaigners in the UK are Jewish and we are clear that it is the Israeli State (and not Jews) that we are critical of.
This anti-apartheid boycott campaign is the peaceful one, in which we can all take part, to collectively pressurise Israel to stop the above violations and to start a peace process with Palestine.
Whilst John Lydon may or may not boycott Israel, many other artists have (Carlos Santana, Elvis Costello, Ian Banks etc).
For Mr Hartley’s information, I do campaign and support campaigns against injustice and poverty here and abroad and don’t just boycott Israeli goods. I also promote fairtrade and buy fairtrade products, including Zaytoun Palestinian olive oil. I believe we can use our consumer power by supporting and boycotting and hope others will consider doing the same.
– C MacDonald, Leeds (Published Date: 05 August 2010)
in response to:
Further to your report of July 22 regarding the Palestinian supporters’ campaign to boycott Israel and urge entertainers like rocker John Lydon not to perform, this is saddening.
Israel is not an “apartheid” state as was suggested; all of its citizens have equal rights under the law regardless of race or religion despite what these misguided campaigners say.
Israel’s situation is totally unique and her need for security is paramount.
The attempt by these campaigners to demonise Israel and portray it as malign is an obvious form of distasteful anti-semitism which we can do without.
I suggest these campaigners turn their attention and efforts to far more worthwhile causes, such as the real poverty and injustices that exist right here in the UK.
– Kevin Hartley, by email (Published Date: 28 July 2010)
PSC Weekly Update – 5 August 2010
August 6th, 2010 • News • No comments
In this week’s update:
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Send a message of support to MK Talab El-Sana, injured defending Palestinian village from demolition
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Breaking the siege – six things you can to get involved in the convoy to Gaza
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British Muslims urged to boycott Israeli dates during Ramadan
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Thank the Methodist church for BDS stance
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Mark Steel ‘No guns? They must be terrorists’
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Open letter to PM – End the ‘prison camp’ conditions of Gaza
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News, events, analysis and more
Read the full update here…
Israeli Settlers Step Up ‘Price-Tag’ Policy
August 6th, 2010 • News • No comments
Jonathan Cook for the UAE’s National:
A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies.
Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is one of the leading ideologues of the extreme wing of the religious settler movement. He is known to be a champion of the “price tag” policy of reprisal attacks on Palestinians, including punishing them for attempts by officials to enforce Israeli law against the settlements.
So far the policy has chiefly involved violent harassment of Palestinians, with settlers inflicting beatings, attacking homes, throwing stones, burning fields, killing livestock, and poisoning wells.
It is feared, however, that Shapira’s book The King’s Torah, published last year, is intended to offer ideological justifications for widening the scope of such attacks to include killing Palestinians, even children.
Read more at Anitwar.com…
AJE’s Inside Story had a discussion about the book last year:
… The book offers a theological backing to Jews killing those perceived to be violating Jewish commandments or threatening the Jewish nation.
Are such calls harmless or do they drive official policy and manipulate the masses?
And what about Palestinian extremist rhetoric, what harm does it cause?
We discuss religious extremism among the occupier and the occupied, and the damage done to peace prospects.
Inside Story discusses with guests Lamis Andoni, a Middle East analyst, Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann, from Rabbis for human rights, and Gerald Steinberg, a chair of political studies and director of the conflict resolution program at Bar Ilan University.
The cultural boycott and the outraged artist
August 6th, 2010 • Action, News • 1 comment
Our fellow BDS activist has a piece published on Mondoweiss:
The cultural boycott and the outraged artist
When you arrive in Israel as an internationally-renowned artist to give a concert or accept a cultural award, it is only natural that you not be spat at and knee-capped by Jews. I say this apropos of the odd comments made over the last couple of months by Margaret Atwood and Suzanne Vega regarding their crossing of the BDS picket line.
In Israel, it is no surprise that people will be polite to you: “Recently I was in Israel. The Israelis I met could not have been more welcoming” (Atwood). You might even meet with excellent Israeli human rights organizations: “I went to Israel, I played two concerts there. I also met with B’Tselem” (Vega). And the general public will discuss politics with you: “I’d been told ahead of time that Israelis would try to cover up the Shadow, but instead they talked about it non-stop” (Atwood). All that is encouraging – after all it is some ‘shadow’ to live under!
Read the rest at Mondoweiss.net…
