The Gaza Electricity Distribution Company announced that, as the operation of the Gaza power plant was totally stopped on Tuesday, 14 February 2012, which has increased the electricity shortage in the Gaza Strip to 65% of the daily needs, it faces unprecedented serious challenges.  The Company further pointed out in its statement that it will facing severe technical complications in the distribution of electricity to consumers, stressing that electricity supplies to various areas will be limited to 6 hours followed by 12 hours of outages daily.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza declared it is in a state of crisis since the operation of Gaza power plant stopped, suffering from an acute shortage in fuel supplies needed for the operation of electricity generators at hospitals and health care facilities.  Mr. Bassam Barhoum, Director of the General Supplies Stores of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, stated that the long periods of outages are combined with an acute shortage of fuel at hospitals across the Gaza Strip. The fuel deficit has risen to 72% while there is an urgent need to operate the electricity generators at hospitals and health care facilities.  He added that the level of fuel consumption at all hospitals has been 815 liters per hour.

Mr. Ashraf al-Qidra, Spokesman of the Ministry of Health, emphasized that more than 80% of patients in the Gaza Strip are threatened by a deterioration of their health conditions due to the power outages and the decreasing strategic stock of fuel required for the operation of electricity generators at hospitals and health care facilities.  He further warned of a health disaster that may directly affect all patients in vital departments of hospitals whose treatment depend on the availability of electricity supplies, especially prematurely born infants in incubators, who are currently more than 100. Also at risk are more than 400 patients suffering from renal failure, including 15 children, who need dialyses twice or three times a week; and 66 patients who are currently placed in intensive care units.  Al-Qidra indicated that 39 operation rooms, in addition to emergency and reception departments, gynecology departments, laboratories, and radiology departments in all hospitals of the Gaza Strip will become completely paralyzed if the crisis does not come to an end.

On its part, the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) warned in a statement published on its website on Tuesday, 14 February 2011, of its inability to supply water to people in appropriate amounts if the crisis of outages continues to persist.  It pointed out that in spite of CMWU’s ongoing efforts to operate wells and pumping plants during periods of outages, they cannot solve the problem because it is impossible to establish consistency between schedules of water distribution and schedules of electricity distribution in various areas in the Gaza Strip due to the long periods of outages, which causes disruption in the regular program of supplying areas with water, and thus impacts all aspects of life of people in the Gaza Strip.

It is worth noting that the Palestinian Energy Authority in Gaza announced that the operation of the Gaza power plant was totally stopped on Tuesday morning, 14 February 2012, due to the lack of fuel. The Energy Authority alleged that the lack of fuel is due to the intentional measures taken to prevent the delivery of fuel to Gaza.  It should be noted that the operation of the Gaza power plant used to depend on industrial fuel imported from Israel.  Due to frequent closures of border crossing and denial of regular supply of fuel, in addition to the high fuel price, the Palestinian Energy Authority stopped importing industrial fuel from Israel in January 2011.  Instead, it decided to bring Egyptian fuel from Egypt through tunnels along the Palestinian – Egyptian border, as its technicians succeeded in adapting its use for the operation of the Gaza power plant.

In light of the above, PCHR:

1.   Warns of the serious consequences of the total shutdown of the Gaza power plant and the resulting impact on the access of 1.6 million Palestinians to vital services, including the supply of drinking water, and on the work in some vital sectors such as health, sanitation, and education;

2.   Stresses the responsibility and obligations of the State of Israel, as the Occupying Power of the Gaza Strip, according to international humanitarian law, regarding the wellbeing of the civilian population in the occupied territory, and accordingly, it is required to allow the passage of basic materials, included the fuel needed for the operation of Gaza power plant, and is prohibited from imposing restrictions on the entry of basic materials into the occupied territory and using such restrictions as a form of collective punishment against the civilian population;

3.   Calls upon all the concerned parties, including the two Palestinian governments in Gaza and Ramallah and the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company, to exert all possible and necessary efforts to provide fuel needed to re-operate the Gaza power plant, and to ensure the continued operation of the plant;

4.   Reiterates that it is necessary to immediately look for strategic solutions for ending the ongoing power crisis which has been affecting the Gaza Strip for approximately 6 years; and

5.   Stresses that Palestinian civilians must not bear the brunt of the failure of the parties responsible for this crisis. Thus, these parties must be committed to provide Palestinian civilians with power services under all circumstances.

 First published by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 15-02-2012.

IAW 2012 takes place following three years of incredible successes for the BDS movement on the global level. Lectures, films, and actions will highlight the many injustices that continue to make BDS so crucial in the struggle against apartheid and for justice, equality, and peace.

Below you will find a full listing of events taking place around Ireland during this year’s IAW – some organised by the IPSC, some organised by others. We hope you will be able to make it along to some of them.

Please note that due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to cancel the speaking tour by Iyad Burnat. In Dublin, we have organised a replacement event that we hope will be of interest to you.

Israeli Apartheid Week Events in Ireland:

Tuesday 21 Feb: CANCELLED [Limerick] Bil’in Organiser Iyad Burnat on non-violent resistance to Israeli Apartheid (IPSC)
Wednesday 22 Feb: CANCELLED: [Galway] Bil’in Organiser Iyad Burnat on non-violent resistance to Israeli Apartheid (IPSC / NUIG Pal Soc)
Thursday 23 Feb: CANCELLED [Dublin] Bil’in Organiser Iyad Burnat on non-violent resistance to Israeli Apartheid (IPSC)
Thursday 23 Feb: [Dublin] Film Premiere: Roadmap to Apartheid followed by Q&A on non-violent resistance with Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro (IPSC)
Friday 24 Feb: [Dublin] Lunchtime Demo: End EU Facilitation of Israeli Apartheid (IPSC)
Saturday 25 Feb: [National] BDS Day of Action in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and more TBC.

Endorsing organisations and groups for Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 include:

Afri – Action From Ireland
Boycott National Committee (Palestine)
Centre For Global Education
Derry Anti War Coalition
Derry Friends of Palestine
ICTU Trade Union Friends of Palestine
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Irish Anti War Movement
Irish Ship To Gaza Campaign
Free Gaza Movement Ireland
Galway Alliance Against War
Gaza TV News
Global Palestine Solidarity
Peace and Neutrality Alliance
Progressive Film Club
Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance
Shannonwatch
Trade Union TV
Tyrone to Gaza

Whatever it means to you personally, in Palestine, this Valentine’s Day will be just another day under Israel’s brutal Apartheid regime. This is a point well made by this very funny video produced by the people behind Love Under Apartheid.

Finally, we just had to share this wonderful video made by the good people at existenceisresistance.org. Very funny, and featuring a great ‘cast’ including Ali Abunimah, Max Blumenthal and Anna Baltzer. For a bit of background, see MondoWeiss, and if you like it why not check out shitliberalzionistssay.

Have a good St. Valentine’s Day friends!

This action took place on the 58th day of his hunger strike against his administrative detention (internment without trial) by, and physical abuse suffered at the hands of, the Israeli state. Khader was detained on 18th December 2012 and put in prison for four months (despite not being charged with anything). He immediately embarked upon a hunger strike in protest at the conditions and treatment faced by both himself and the over 4,440 other Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli prisons. Physicians for Human Rights – Israel were today allowed to examine Khader, and reported that he remains shackled to his bed, his condition, “already at a life-threatening stage, continues to deteriorate” and he is “experiencing extreme pain.” It is clear that without intervention to secure his release, he will die soon.

Also today it was announced that Khader, had the appeal against his Administrative Detention denied on the basis of secret evidence not available to his lawyers. His claims of physical abuse were dismissed out of hand. This is justice, Israeli Apartheid style.

Speaking at the vigil in Dublin today, IPSC Chairperson Martin O’Quigley, said that “of course, this case is not simply about Khader. What he is putting his life on the line for is the rights of all Palestinian political prisoners, who suffer brutal treatment under the Israeli prison regime. There are over 4,400 such prisoners, including more than 130 children, in Israeli jails. Human rights reports regularly cite cases of torture and other forms of maltreatment. According to the ADDAMEER prisoners’ rights group, some 40% of the adult male population in Palestine have been imprisoned at one time or another since 1967. This is the price Palestinians are forced to pay for demanding their human, national and democratic rights”.

“This is just one aspect of Israel’s Apartheid policies against the Palestinian people. As long as Israel is able to act with impunity due to the international community’s failure to take meaningful action, these injustices will continue unabated. The IPSC calls on the Irish government to intervene in this case and ensure that Khader Adnan’s sacrifice is not in vain. Khader, and all other Palestinian political prisoners, be they Administrative Detainees or those convicted in military courts which do not meet international legal standards, must be released. Israel must be forced to cease victimising those who stand against its Apartheid regime”, Mr. O’Quigley concluded.

Current statistics on Palestinian Political Prisoners (ADDAMEER, December 2011)

4,446	Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention, including:
307	administrative detainees, including 3 women and 18 PLC members
6	women
132	children, including 31 under the age of 16
23	members of the Palestinian Legislative Council
52	prisoners who have been imprisoned for more than 20 years
165	Palestinians from the 1948 Territories
445	prisoners from the Gaza Strip, including 2 detained under the Unlawful Combatants Law
153	prisoners from East Jerusalem
751	approximate number of Palestinians arrested by Israel during the fourth quarter of 2011 (1 October – 30 December 2011). This marks no significant  increase over the third quarter of 2011, and a 10 percent increaseover the same period in 2010.

 

*Detention statistics are based on reports from the Israeli Prison Service and Addameer’s monitoring. Detention statistics are current as of 31 December 2011, except for the number of women and PLC members, which are current as of 15 January 2012 and based on Addameer’s own documentation. Arrest statistics are based on figures from the Palestinian Monitoring Group and are current as of 31 December 2011.

Photo & Video Credit: Tommy Donnellan
Video Credit: Greg Manahan/iDirect Movies

Note: A similar action is taking place in Dublin this weekend on Saturday 11th February. See here for details.

Israel is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and exporters of cut & polished diamonds which generate more than US$ 1 billion (about UK£ 600 million) a year for the Apartheid State. Many jewellers falsely claim Israeli diamonds are “conflict-free” which is totally unjustified, given Israel’s blatant violation of international laws.

Campaigners successfully engaged with and distributed flyers to both shoppers and jewellers informing them why they should avoid purchasing diamonds that were processed in Israel.

Large, colourful banners reading “ISRAELI BLOOD DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER…ON YOUR CONSCIENCE” and “DON’T ENGAGE WITH ISRAELI BLOOD DIAMONDS” were also displayed that attracted attention from both pedestrians and motorists.

Sean Clinton, a leading campaigner against Israeli blood diamonds and one of the activists present said:

“While there is some public awareness about the trade in blood-tainted, rough diamonds from Zimbabwe, the media in general ignores the far larger trade in blood tainted diamonds from Israel.

According to evidence presented at the London session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine last year, the Israeli diamond industry generates about US$1 billion in funding for the Israeli military each year. So when someone buys a diamond from Israel they are helping to fund war crimes and other human rights violations in Palestine.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Urge people who are shopping for jewellery not to purchase a diamond that was processed in Israel. Diamonds that are cut and polished in Israel help fund war crimes, apartheid and oppression.
• Find out more in Sean’s Electronic Intifada article here.
• Visit the Boycott Israeli Blood Diamonds Facebook page.

Report and photos first published by London BDS (05/02/2012)

In the meantime, check out this video courtesy of the Never Before Campaign:

1. Leaked EU internal report: “Area C and Palestinian State building” (July 2011)

2. Leaked EU Heads of Mission report: “East Jerusalem” (December 2011)

3. UN OCHA factsheet: “Demolitions and Forced Displacement in the Occupied West Bank” (January 2012)

4. French Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee report: “Water: Evidence of a New Apartheid in the Middle East” (January 2012)

5. ADDAMEER report: “Quarterly Update on Palestinian Prisoners (15 October 2011 – 15 January 2012)” (Januray 2012)

6. Inter-Parliamentary Union report: “Parliamentarians under threat in many countries” (January 2012)

7. Corporate Watch publication: “Targeting Israeli Apartheid: A Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Handbook” (January 2012)

The WSF Free Palestine will be a global encounter of broad-based popular and civil society mobilizations from around the world. It aims to:

1. Show the strength of solidarity with the calls of the Palestinian people and the diversity of initiatives and actions aimed at promoting justice and peace in the region.

2. Create effective actions to ensure Palestinian self-determination, the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the fulfillment of human rights and international law, by:

a)      Ending Israeli occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

b)     Ensuring the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and

c)      Implementing, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

3. Be a space for discussion, exchange of ideas, strategizing, and planning in order to improve the structure of solidarity.

Exactly sixty-five years after Brazil presided over the UN General Assembly session that agreed upon the partition of Palestine, Brazil will host a different type of global forum: an historic opportunity for people from all over the world to stand up where governments have failed. The world’s people will come together to discuss new visions and effective actions to contribute to justice and peace in the region.

We call on all organizations, movements, networks, and unions across the globe to join the WSF Free Palestine in November 2012 in Porto Alegre. We ask you to join the International Committee for the WSF Free Palestine, we will establish as soon as possible. Participation in this forum will structurally strengthen solidarity with Palestine, promote action to implement Palestinian’s legitimate rights, and hold Israel and its allies accountable to international law.

Together we can raise global solidarity with Palestine to a new level.

Palestinian Preparatory Committee for the WSF Free Palestine 2012

Secretariat members:

·         PNGO – Palestinian NGO Network

·         Stop the Wall – Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign,

·         OPGAI – Occupied Palestinian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative

·         Alternatives represented by:

Alternative Information Center,

Teacher Creativity Center

·         Ittijah

·         General Union of Palestinian women

Coordination office:

PNGO – Palestinian NGO Network

Tel: +970 2 2975320/1

Fax: +970 2 2950704

E mail: samahd@pngo.net

Originally published on the website of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC) on 19th January 2012.

This visit, the highest profile Israeli state visit in over 25 years, was part of an ongoing attempt to normalise the abnormal, i.e., the apartheid policies of the Israeli state directed against the Palestinian people. Such visits – including the official welcomes by both the Dail and Seanad, along with high profile political meetings – serve only to legitimise Israel’s apartheid regime and associated breaches of international law. They portray serious and grave breaches of international law not as clear-cut issues where there are perpetrators and victims, but as disputed issues that are open for “debate between democratic countries”.

The IPSC, taking its cue from Palestinian civil society organisations, trade unions and churches, advocates a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it ends it occupation of Palestinian lands and complies fully with its obligations under international law. It was for this reason the IPSC organised this demonstration outside the Oireachtas.

How, if instead of punishing Israel for its crimes, it is essentially rewarded, can anyone be expected believe that its illegal actions will ever cease? There is no reason to compel it to do so, and thus it carries on knowing that aside from the occasional rhetorical reprimand from the international community, it can act with impunity. This is a situation that is both unacceptable and untenable, and it is well past time that the Irish government took a serious stand, backed up with meaningful action, to aid the Palestinian people in their struggle for their human, national and democratic rights.

This article is an extract from the IPSC’s Kevin Squires’ personal take on the visit and surrounding issues over on Irish Left Review.

Photo credit: Fatin Al Tamimi. Video credit: Greg Manahan

The day started early with about 500 Palestinians from all corners of the West Bank, as well as 48 Palestinians representing a diverse sector of civil society including trade unions, student and women groups, academics, cultural workers and NGOs, all uniting under the banner of BDS.

There was also a visible international presence as well as that of Israeli partners who have responded to the 2005 BDS call.  Notable was the absence of representation from Gaza, under an Israeli imposed siege, and refugees outside historic Palestinian, although their contribution to the movement was acknowledged.

The conference was an opportunity to take stock of the movement’s achievements worldwide, and to develop strategies to face the challenges ahead. The BDS movement witnessed impressive growth in 2011. Achievements include the withdrawal of German company Deutsche Bahn from construction of the A1 train line connecting Jerusalem to Tel Aviv; the forced closure of settlement company Ahava’s London flagship store and the loss of a $10 bn contract by French company Alstom in Saudi Arabia as a result of its role in the construction of the illegal Jerusalem Light Rail in occupied Jerusalem. 2011 was also the year when Israel’s foremost agricultural export company and a major BDS target – Agrexco – went bankrupt thanks in part to a sustained Europe-wide campaign.

The movement has now visibly spread beyond its traditional base of Palestine solidarity groups. The call for a military embargo of Israel received an enthusiastic response in Brazil and South Korea while in Australia, a nationwide debate involving government politicians and national media outlets ensued following the adoption of the movement’s principles by Marrickville Council in Sydney. A number of well-known artists have cancelled their scheduled performances in Israeli venues following appeals from BDS activists. Over a hundred Swiss artists vowed to boycott performances in Israel. Similarly, over 200 Swedish academics pledged to implement an academic boycott of Israel. The campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel (ACBI) has undoubtedly been one of the most visible, and successful campaigns this past year.

Governments and corporations are yet to end complicity with Israel’s policies of occupation, colonization and apartheid, as is clear from Israel’s continued violations of international law. Nevertheless, the costs for Israel are now undeniable, as BDS is proving to be the most effective tool to challenge Israel’s impunity. Governments and corporations can now expect strong and principled opposition from a truly global movement. Israel and its supporters in turn have recognized BDS as a “strategic threat” that could become an “existential threat”, yet unable to mount effective opposition to the movement.

The opening session of the conference covered these exciting developments. Dr. Wael Abu Yousef, representing the Coalition of National and Islamic forces, said that despite internal political divisions between the political parties, BDS is an unshakable point of consensus among them. Omar Barghouti, a founding member of the BDS movement, emphasized that while the movement is inspired by  the South African anti-apartheid struggle and other struggles for national liberation around the world, it is foremost a Palestinian movement, rooted in decades of nonviolent popular resistance to Zionism.

Michael Deas, the BNC coordinator in Europe, and Adam Horowitz, co-editor of popular blog Mondoweiss, spoke in the first panel about developments of the campaign in Europe and the US. There was much interest in the numerous successes the BDS movement has achieved, in addition to an element of surprise about the movement’s wide reach and successes. Questions asked by the audience reflected these sentiments. There was consensus amongst participants that these victories should be widely publicized as to promote awareness amongst Palestinian civil society about the strength and victories of the BDS movement.

The second panel addressed the possibilities for implementing a boycott of Israel locally and in the Arab world. Rania Elias, member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), said Israeli and international actors have been major players promoting Palestinian normalization with Israel, which runs counter to Palestinian aspirations and universal opposition to normalization within Palestinian civil society. The audience voiced their opposition to normalization, and demanded that the Palestinian Authority takes a strong stance to end all forms of normalization, and to hold those involved accountable.

Palestinian economist Ibrahim Shikaki provided a detailed critique of the current state of the Palestinian economy, dangerously developing to become subjugated to Israel in the long-term. He warned against attempts to replace a national resistance discourse with that of economic development.

In his analysis of Israeli dominance of the Palestinian consumer market, Salah Haniyyeh of the Economic Monitor noted that the Palestinian Authority lacks procurement legislation within its own government institutions to favor Palestinian and Arab products over Israeli ones. He also lamented the perception of Israeli products as being superior to Palestinian ones, calling on organized efforts to promote local produce.  Hanniyeh considered shortsighted the idea that the economic boycott of Israel should be halted for the risk it could pose to livelihoods of some families and instead emphasized the need for proactive strategies to protect workers while forwarding the national cause. Omar Assaf, representative of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS), in turn condemned the existing Oslo framework as a major obstacle for social justice as it served to legitimize Israel’s security aspirations and economic dominance. The establishment in 2011 of PTUC-BDS represents a positive development in the consolidation of the workers’ efforts to isolate Israel, Assaf stated.

The hall awakened during the Q & A session with loud cheers in support of a number of enthusiastic interventions. There were suggestions for the development of a united front against normalization. Some expressed unhappiness about the role of foreign donors in turning Palestinians into consumers instead of promoting true economic independence. The loudest cheers however were reserved for the urgent need to bring the struggle back to the people, BDS being one such avenue, contrasting it to the role of the peace process in removing Palestinian popular agency.

Following lunch, participants split into groups for workshops on aspects of BDS relevant to the local context (students and youth, women’s organizations, civil society institutions, formal labor, and popular committees against the wall and settlements and international work). Each session agreed recommendations that were then presented to the conference at the end. Recommendations varied from strengthening the culture of boycott through awareness raising campaigns to developing mechanisms to actively oppose all levels of normalization.

It was evident throughout the day that there is huge enthusiasm and energy among all those attending to contribute more actively to the global BDS movement, and activate the boycott within their respective organizations and institutions.

Originally published on the Palestinian Boycott National Committee website, 9th January 2012