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Open Letter to UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on Our Report on Apartheid in Israel

Details: Written by Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley; Published: 26 April 2017 26 April 2017

Instead of responding to it with constructive criticism, you launched defamatory attacks on all involved.

Dear Madam Ambassador:

We were deeply disappointed by your response to our report, Israeli Practices Toward the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid, and particularly your dismissal of it as “anti-Israeli propaganda” within hours of its release. The UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) invited us to undertake a fully researched scholarly study. Its principal purpose was to ascertain whether Israeli policies and practices imposed on the Palestinian people fall within the scope of the international-law definition of apartheid. We did our best to conduct the study with the care and rigor that is morally incumbent in such an important undertaking, and of course we welcome constructive criticism of the report’s method or analysis (which we also sought from several eminent scholars before its release). So far we have not received any information identifying the flaws you have found in the report or how it may have failed to comply with scholarly standards of rigor.

Instead, you have felt free to castigate the UN for commissioning the report and us for authoring it. You have launched defamatory attacks on all involved, designed to discredit and malign the messengers rather than clarify your criticisms of the message. Ad hominem attacks are usually the tactics of those so seized with political fervor as to abhor rational discussion. We suppose that you would not normally wish to give this impression of yourself and your staff, or to represent US diplomacy in such a light to the world. Yet your statements about our study, as reported in the media, certainly give this impression.

Turmus Aya's Palestinians threatened by settlement plan

Details: Written by Lizzie Porter Lizzie Porter; Published: 16 April 2017 16 April 2017

Around 4000 Palestinians live in fear over recent encroachment from Israeli settlements.

Turmus Aya, Occupied West Bank - At the entrance of the Palestinian village Turmus Aya, a large sign written in Hebrew, Arabic and English warns visitors that "this road leads to Palestinian areas [sic]. It is dangerous for Israeli citizens to enter".

Contrary to the sign's warning, it is the Palestinian residents of this seemingly tranquil area who are more nervous, specifically about the recent encroachment from the Israeli settlements that surround their village.

Turmus Aya, home to around 4,000 people, lies in the shadow of a string of such settlers' communities, which are illegal under international law. On a bump in the land directly to the north sits Shilo, a well-developed example, built in 1979 and home to around 3,000 illegal settlers.

Last week, tensions rose in the area, after the Israeli government confirmed that Shilo and other nearby Israeli communities would be joined by the construction of the first official settlement in the occupied West Bank in nearly 20 years. Geulat Zion will be built on a hilltop east of Shilo, to house around 50 settler families removed from Amona, an unauthorised settlement dismantled after Israel's Supreme Court ruled it had been built on private Palestinian land.

ACTION: combat anti-BDS and pro-Settlement legislation in Oregon!

Details: Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller; Published: 11 April 2017 11 April 2017

Dear Supporter of Human Rights and Free Speech:

We need your help to stop several bills going through the Oregon Legislature. They need to be condemned and defeated. They are bills: SCR25, SM1, SJM9. This legislation attacks UN efforts to oppose illegal settlements on Palestinian land, and attempts to put an end to an increasingly effective campaign in support of human rights and international law in Palestine-Israel. These misguided and misleading bills must be defeated.

Bill SCR25 - condemns the non-violent movement of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). BDS is a movement answering the call of Palestinian civil society against Israel's ongoing violations of human rights. The movement works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law. If passed, this bill will have a chilling effect on criticism of Israel's human rights abuses, and could serve as a basis for other, more extreme bills such as have been introduced in a number of other states. For details about SCR25 see:

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/SCR25

For more information about anti-BDS legislation across the country and fact sheets see:

http://palestinelegal.org/resources/

Bills SM1 and SJM9 oppose UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which passed unanimously in the Security Council with only one abstention from the Obama administration. The UN resolution properly condemned Israel's ongoing and rapidly expanding settlement activity on Palestinian lands in support of international law and in support of longstanding U.S. policy that is opposed to Israeli settlements. You can read more at:

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/SM0001

and

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/SJM9

The above bills are in the Senate Committee On Rules. We need to call and write the Senators of the Rules Committee and our own Senators to make sure they know that opposition to these bills is widespread and growing. See the contact information below or use the link above.

Israeli Ministry Trying to Compile Database of Citizens Who Support BDS

Details: Written by Barak Ravid Barak Ravid; Published: 23 March 2017 23 March 2017

[So much for acting like a Democracy]

Senior officials say attorney general vehemently opposes Minister Gilad Erdan's bid, arguing his ministry has no legal authority to collect information on Israelis.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan wants to set up a database of Israeli citizens who are involved in promoting and supporting boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel or the settlements.

Senior Israeli officials noted that Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit is vehemently opposed to Erdan’s proposal, arguing that the Strategic Affairs Ministry has no legal authority to collect information on Israeli citizens.

Anti-Boycott Bills Are Part of Wider Crackdown on Protest

Details: Written by Chip Gibbons, Policy and Legislative Counsel at Bill of Rights Defense Committee/Defending Dissent Foundation Chip Gibbons, Policy and Legislative Counsel at Bill of Rights Defense Committee/Defending Dissent Foundation; Published: 19 March 2017 19 March 2017

A number of commentators have noted two different trends. First, across the nation Republican lawmakers are pushing for bills criminalizing protests. Second, a number of state legislatures have passed or considered, often at the impetus of Democratic lawmakers, bills aimed at silencing the movement for Palestinian human rights by targeting boycotts of Israel.

These trends should not be viewed separately from one another. It is important to understand that the more general anti-protest bills and those aimed specifically at the Palestinian human rights movement are motivated by the same factors. The bills aimed at silencing supporters for Palestinian human rights are anti-protest bills. All of these anti-protest bills are not arising exclusively out of a general disdain for public participation, but out of a disdain for the public participation of particular social movements that the bills’ sponsors fear will be successful. Together, the two trends amount to a bi-partisan attack on the First Amendment.

Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights

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