De-Zionization: an interview
Jon the Antizionist Jew, of the Daily Kos fame, explains why more of us need to pay attention to Ilan Pappe. — Link
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Birthright-Israel Makes Noise
Translated by Rann
A young American woman will not participate in the Zionist Birthright-Israel
project, after she requested a tour of refugee camps and villages in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
project, after she requested a tour of refugee camps and villages in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
By Eli Bradnestein
June 4, 2006
As part of the Birthright-Israel program the state of Israel tries to implant some Zionism in young people from abroad and to bring them on a 10-day tour of Israel. Recently, the directors of the program decided to cancel the participation of one young American woman. The reason: she planned to hop over for a visit to the PA at the end of the trip.
The young woman, named Sierra, planned to go on a 6-day tour organized by a competing organization called ‘Birthright Unplugged’. “The purpose of the visit in Israel is to learn from both sides, the Israeli and the Palestinian about their situation,” said Sierra. “I wanted to travel to Israel to learn and to deapen my ties with Jewish culture and religion, and also to
learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not through some organization or the media.” Sierra added that she does not consider this to be a reason to cancel her arrival.
The tour of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) includes visits to villages and refugee camps and meetings with residents of the OPT and Israeli leftists. Birthright Unplugged usually recruits its participants from among those who come to Israel for free through Birthright-Israel. They charge around US$300 for the visit to the OPT.
“We started this program so that tour participants could meet Palestinians and learn from them first-hand about the situation in Israel and Palestine and so that they can use their knowledge to bring positive change to the world”, said Hannah Mermolstein, one of the founder of the organization, “in preventing Sierra from taking part in this educational experience, Birthright Israel only proves our necessity all the more strongly.”
A number of American Jews have already donated the cost of Sierra’s flight so that she can participate in the tour of the OPT.
The marketing director of Birthright-Israel, Gidi Mark said that “we supply an educational tour to young Jews that have never been to Israel before and want to familiarize them with Israel and the traditions of the Jewish people.”
Mark emphasized that “we will not take those who are merely looking for funding for a plane ticket to actually got to the OPT. There are enough who just want to come and get to know Israel.”
Reconstructing Internationalism with Labor For Palestine
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| A passbook in Palestine. (Markus Cuel) |
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| A passbook in South Africa. (UN Photo) |
Those who follow Palestinian activism, from the McCarthyist “Campus Watch,” to the intrepid Jews Against the Occupation, are aware that Labor For Palestine (LFP) has emerged over the past year as a new campaign in labor internationalism. Yet as LFP prepares for its first national conference in Chicago on July 23, 2005, few know how it began.
Israel speeds up land-grab process
Al Jazeera reports: Israel’s acting prime minister has ordered faster construction of the West Bank separation barrier after chairing his first government-level discussion of the project.
The decision, which followed hints by Ehud Olmert that he could set Israel’s borders unilaterally should he win general elections on 28 March and should peace talks remain stalled, drew censure from Palestinians who consider the barrier a land grab.
— The rest
Kids remain in soldiers’ crosshairs in Hebron
Kids have always had trouble getting to school in Hebron, whether it’s due to irratable settlers not liking having to share their own private “Greater Israel” or soldiers whose job it is to generally keep life unbearable for the occupied locals. The BBC has a powerful collection of photos about what kids and teachers face as they try to get to school.
Palestinian teachers have been holding classes in the road outside an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron in protest at intrusive searches of children going to school.
Here, a couple of soldiers attempt to call recess.
LINK: In pictures: Palestinian student protest
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”