Fred Moten | PACBI | 7 November 2009

Photo: Palestinian stands in Gaza Strip grave after Israeli military bombing.

1. The justification of the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions is quite simple and quite clear: the victims of a sovereign brutality instantiated in racial-military domination have come to an overwhelming consensus, in the very shadow of the state that has come to exemplify The State and its exception, that boycott is the most immediate form of international support they require. To be in solidarity with the Palestinian people is to enact and support the boycott. However, the significance of the boycott is a slightly more complicated matter. Arguments against the boycott that go beyond the rejection of whatever form either of criticism of Israel or Palestinian resistance or the sometimes open/sometimes veiled assertion of an assumed Israeli exception and exemption, focus on the negative impact the presumed isolation and withdrawal of support for Israeli dissidents will have, already a morally obtuse argument insofar as it shifts our primary political and ethical concerns away from the actual victims of racial-military domination.

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Haaretz 06/11/2009

Photo: City Hall at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.

Israel dismally fails the requirements of a tolerant pluralistic society, according to a new report from the U.S. State Department.

Despite boasting religious freedom and protection of all holy sites, Israel falls short in tolerance toward minorities, equal treatment of ethnic groups, openness toward various streams within society, and respect for holy and other sites.

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November 14, 2009 Faster Times Interview with Palestinian Author Ghada Karmi

Photo: Larry Towell Palestinian women in occupied Palestine.

Ghada Karmi is a Palestinian physician and author based in London. Since her autobiography In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story was first published in 2002 by Verso Books, it has been translated into forty languages. The late Edward Said described the memoir as “…the story of a fascinating woman…humanly rich and interesting.” On a speaking tour throughout the US to promote the newly-released second edition of In Search for Fatima, Mrs. Karmi visited Columbia University at the behest of an Arab cultural group, Turath. While there, she sat down with TFT associate editor Aseel Najib to discuss her wok.

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Hebrew University Student Union: Build Wall between the university and Issawiya

Photo: Masser Israeli apartheid wall in occupied Palestine.

According to the Jerusalem online newspaper Mynet, Hebrew University’s Student Union Chairperson, Ofer Raviv, recently recommended that a Separation Wall between the university’s Mount Scopus campus and the nearby Palestinian village of Issawiya be constructed.

Hebrew University officials suggested that such a wall could be financed by the parking meters located on Mount Scopus and the Jerusalem Municipality has agreed to examine this possibility. If implemented, this would be just one more action in Hebrew University’s long tradition of documented institutional participation in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, this time at the instigation of its official student body.

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Confederation Nationale du Travail joins BDS campaign – press release

Photo: ActiveStills Palestinian youth hurls stone during a protest against the wall.

November 2009 – Through the intermediary of its international Secretary, the National Work Confederation (Confederation Nationale du Travail or CNT), a French anti-capitalist internationalist union involved in social class struggles, has joined the campaign labeled “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the State of Israel”, an international campaign launched by more than 170 grass-root Palestinian organizations, including our partnering independent Palestinian independent unions.

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Le Courrier de Geneve Emmanuel Dror, 21 octobre 2009

Photo: Ronald de Hommel Israeli apartheid wall cutting through Palestine

Culture Chansons – Si le rap a repris le flambeau, la Palestine fut chantée par les grandes voix arabes, puis les Français Renaud ou Zebda. Tour d’horizon.

Alors que les hommes politiques sont empêtrés dans des stratégies cyniques ou dans une langue de bois perpétuelle, les chanteurs reflètent plus fidèlement le monde dans lequel ils vivent. Ils traduisent l’opinion de «la rue» mieux que ne le font les porte-parole officiels ou les médias traditionnels. Exemple avec l’histoire de la Palestine depuis quelques dizaines d’années…

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Popular Struggle Coordination Committee 19 November 2009

Photo: Valerian Mazataud Palestinian youth maintain popular resistance in Bil’in.

In an escalation of the recent arrest campaign conducted by the Israeli military in attempt to crush the popular struggle against the Wall in the village, an undercover army unit invaded Bil’in this morning and arrested a local youth, 19 year old Mohammad Yassin.

In the morning hours of Thursday, 19 November 2009, a civilian Isuzu pickup with undercover soldiers dressed as Palestinians, drove into the village of Bil’in, searching for residents suspected of organizing and participating in the village’s weekly demonstrations.

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Al Jazeera by Phoebe Greenwood in Hebron, the West Bank.

Photo: Israeli apartheid wall cutting through Palestinian lands in West Bank

A major new road joining Jerusalem to Israeli settlements in Hebron bisects land owned by the Jaber family.

They have farmed these fields for 300 years. They once owned 60 dunums (60,000 square metres) but now have four (4,000 square metres) – the rest has been confiscated by Israeli settlers. The Jabers fight to farm on the land they have left.

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Bianca Zammit Electronic Intifada 6 November 2009

Photo: Ronald de Hommel Israeli military wall in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

In order to find sustainable alternatives to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a new group calling itself the Justice Makers has been formed across the law departments in Palestinian universities. Two of the founders, Mohammed Eliwa and Yousef al-Nouri, are both fourth-year law students from al-Azhar University in Gaza. “The Justice Makers is about finding new ways within the international justice system to forward our case,” al-Nouri explained. “We have had enough of this conflict and we study law because it is the only way of regaining our rights,” stated Eliwa.

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photos by Elsa Marie Jabre and Anthony Côte

Photo: Elsa Marie Jabre. Seven Arrows performs at Artists Against Apartheid.

Montreal’s groundbreaking concert series Artists Against Apartheid continues to unite artists on stages across the city for major cultural events in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

At the eleventh Artists Against Apartheid hundreds gathered to listen to performances, including a trio featuring Sam Shalabi on oud, Omar Dewachi on oud and Pierre-Guy Blanchard on percussion to open the evening.

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