Opinion Editorials, April 2010

The Upswing in Israeli Aggression

Things are really getting out of hand in the occupied territories and our reports may have to become more frequent to keep up with the rapidly evolving situation.  We must write to let you know what is going on and ask you to take urgent actions on all fronts (media, politicians, on the ground etc).  On the last day of the conference in Bil’in, the Israeli army was particularly violent against the demonstrators injuring Palestinians and Internationals.  The most critical injury was to Imad Rizka, a Palestinian from Jaffa inside the Green line  (see http://www.imemc.org/article/58514 including picture of Imad). 
 
Video just loaded that covers places I was at in the past couple of days including inspiring acts of popular resistance from Bilin to Beit Jala to Al-Walaja. In Al-Walaja, we took over the mountain and the Shabab blocked the new road that soldiesr had opened to get equipment that uproots the olive trees in the villager’s land. Watch here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNrplPXm9Qs  And here is the ISM story on what happened in Beit Jala http://palsolidarity.org/2010/04/12098
 
ACTION ITEM (before listing more videos and inspiring stories):

We have acts of popular resistance in Al-Walaja and Beit Jala planned this Sunday.  Email me if you want more details on times etc.
 
Bilin-inspired Gaza protests against the “buffer zone” that now eats 20% of Gaza and is a no-man’s land according to the Israeli occupation authorities.
http://gazadispatches.blogspot.com/2010/04/leader-of-gazas-new-wave-of-bilin.html
 
Video: Young Palestinian women do investigative journalism.  Here they accompany the body of Raed Abu Hamad who was murdered while in Israeli custody
http://www.youtube.com/sleeplessingaza#p/u/2/1r1o2B7ts5U
http://www.youtube.com/sleeplessingaza#p/u/0/o5AHZ_swQCQ
(while ther,e you can explore other documentaries done by these aspiring and great journalists)
 
Stand-up for human rights:

Protest AIPAC (Apartheid Israel Pirates Against Coexistence), everywhere.

as in Portland, Oregon this Sunday
http://www.auphr.org/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=36&extmode=view&extid=360
 
Hard talk: Zionists occupiers… Heed my call!! by Nahida
http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2010/04/hard-talk-zionists-occupiers-heed-my.html
 
Action: BNC calls on Trade Unions and others to urgently intervene with their governments to stop Israel from joining the OECD. On May 2010, OECD is going to decide the accession of Israel into the organization. 

For Israel, membership in the OECD would mean a victory of legitimacy, that the violations of international law are rewarded and all the member countries of OECD will be accomplices of the illegal Israeli occupation, since according to the European law, European countries are forbidden to recognize the Israeli occupation to the Palestinian territories. Yet by granting Israel membership in the OECD, they will be doing exactly that.  

Israel has refused to comply with the OECD demand to provide statistical data which applies only to the internationally-recognized parts of Israel , excluding the illegal settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

 OECD members will knowingly accept Israel to the organization based on deceptive statistics provided by the latter, statistics which conceal the occupation while simultaneously treating it as a permanent fact. It only takes one OECD country to oppose the integration of Israel into the organization in order to block the process.

Please, send a letter of protest to the delegation of OECD of your country, demanding to vote NO to Israel 's inclusion in economic organization. It only takes you a few minutes to act on this. In the link below you can find the list of OECD member-states and their email addresses (write to them):

 http://www.oecd.org/contactus/0,3364,en_33873108_33844430_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
more at http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/665
 
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org    

Popular Committee to Resist the Apartheid Wall and Settlements-Beit Sahour
Professor, Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities
Chairman of the Board, Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, http://www.pcr.ps