On, Friday, June 26, the Bil’in village held press conference and a the usual weekly demonstration against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Palestinian residents, alongside international and Israeli activists gathered today in Bil’in to demonstrate against the theft of their land.

Among those who attended the demonstration was Naomi Klein, who is visiting Palestine on the occasion of the publication of her latest book, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” in Arabic and Hebrew. Klein is an advocate for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and spoke about her choice to respect the 2005 call for BDS from Palestinian civil society. She explained that the international community can actively support the Palestinian people in their non-violent resistance to the Occupation through BDS. Explaining her role as a writer, Klein said, “We believe that art and culture are political... Bil’in has integrated art and culture into their resistance. ” Read more

Bil'in Weekley Demonstration-June 26

On June 24th, nearly five months after opening an investigation of University of California sociology professor William I. Robinson for alleged faculty misconduct, university officials abruptly announced that they have dismissed all charges and terminated the case. Robinson has been targeted by the Anti-Defamation League for forwarding images that made a historical comparison to the state violence of the Israeli military actions in Gaza with that of German Nazi Wehrmacht in Warsaw.

In fact, an ad hoc committee set up by the Academic Senate to investigate the allegations had already reached the conclusion on May 15 that the charges against Robinson were without merit. The committee is “unanimous in finding that his sending the email is in accord with the principles of academic freedom, especially when teaching a class whose content is the sociology of globalization,” stated the report.

For his part, Robinson stated that he is awaiting “a public apology from the university as a first step in clearing my name after it has smeared my reputation and undermined my professional integrity.” He added, “as my supporters and I have documented from the start, university officials have acted deceitfully and shamelessly. It is now time for amends.” Read more

UCSB Professor Investigated for Antisemitism for Criticizing Israel | ADL Hate Laws Hate Freedom of Speech | Judge rules that judgment against ADL stands | The Anti Defamation League: Censoring the Internet on Behalf of Israel | UC Santa Barbara Students Confront ADL’s Genocide Denial | Abe Foxman's 'Anti-Semitic Pandemic' | Armenian Genocide Debate Exposes Rifts at ADL

Richard Silverstein writes, "YouTube may have banned Max Blumenthal’s Feel the Hate video, but I guess the hasbara (pro-Israel propaganda) crowd hasn’t yet gotten around to complaining about the multiple YouTube abuse videos documenting verbal and emotional abuse of innocent Palestinian civilians by thuggish Israeli Border Police."

Uri Blau reports this important new story for Haaretz, "For the 'hero' of the clip, an unidentified young Arab, they [the 43 second length of the video] were probably eternally long seconds and far from amusing. He was forced to slap himself and sing to the jubilant shouts of the photographer and his buddies – all of them members of Israel’s Border Police."

"Stories of murder, forced bestiality and more garden varieties of abuse are legion and have been documented here and at Lawrence of Cyberia and of course by human rights groups like B’Tselem. Let’s keep our eye on the prize here…when you refuse a settlement freeze as Bibi has done, when you maintain an Occupation for 42 years, this is what will happen. It must happen." Read more

Tikun Olam | Censored by the Huffington Post and Imprisoned By The Past: Why I Made 'Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem'

In the early hours of Monday, June 22, 2009, settlers from the Bat ‘Ain settlement set fire and cut down more than 125 grapevines and fruit trees belonging to Hamad Soleiby. Israeli soldiers said they saw a fire in the Palestinian agricultural fields some time during the night and went to put it out, though they did nothing to collect the evidence; kerosene canisters and matches were still there the next morning when activists from the Palestine Solidarity Project accompanied the farmer’s family to survey the damage.

One week before, Israeli solidarity activists caught on tape settlers from Bat ‘Ain saying the activists should “come back next week and see”, that they would set fire to the entire area. What was not burned was systematically cut with an electric saw. The 125 trees represented a huge proportion of Hamad’s income; in one night settlers nearly destroyed his and his family’s livelihood.

When activists joined Hamad’s brother to document the destruction on Monday, Israeli soldiers and police soon turned out in force, bringing three jeeps and an armored personnel carrier full of soldiers. Hamad’s brother, Abu Jabber, approached the commander, pleading with him to come down and see for himself what the settlers had done. Instead, the soldiers informed the group that it was a closed military zone, and everyone except Abu Jabber and one Israeli activist had to leave. Abu Jabber and the Israeli activist, from the joint organization Ta’ayush, were escorted to the police station inside the settlement to make a formal complaint. However, considering the past two weeks when settlers were allowed into the area with impunity while Israeli and international solidarity activists were attacked and arrested, there is very little faith that the Israeli soldiers and police, based inside the settlement, can be relied on to protect the Palestinians’ rights and land. Read more

Palestinians and Solidarity Activists Attacked and Arrested in Safa, West Bank | Settlers Destroy 120 Trees in Saffa, Indymedia Israel | Saturday action in Saffa -June 13- video and report ‏ | Seven Arrested as Dozens Support Farmers Picking Grape Leaves in Saffa, report+video, June 20

On Saturday, June 20th, activists gathered at Trader Joe’s in Oakland and San Francisco to demand that the company stop carrying Israeli goods. Protesters removed Israeli products from the shelves in order to show customers which products they should not buy. They also met with the store managers and asked them to notify their headquarters that they no longer wanted to carry Israeli herbs, couscous and cheese. Similar actions were held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Seattle, Washington, Detroit and Sacramento, California. The activists were inspired by campaigns to deshelve Israeli products in Wales and France.

“Trader Joe’s is a company with an excellent reputation for bringing a diverse array of high-quality foods from around the world to U.S. consumers. As Trader Joe’s consumers we are part of a growing movement of people globally who are calling on businesses to be consistent in following ethical business practices,” said Yasmin Qureshi, an organizer of the Don’t Buy Into Apartheid national network.

The group chose June 20th for its kickoff action because it is World Refugee Day, a day recognized world wide to spotlight refugees displaced by war and persecution. Of the eleven million refugees in the world today, over seven million are Palestinian refugees displaced as a direct result of the founding of the state of Israel, many for over 60 years. It is for this reason that Don’t Buy Into Apartheid calls on to Trader Joes to discontinue the sales of Israeli Couscous, Dorot frozen herbs, as well as Pastures of Eden Feta cheese on June 20, 2009. Read more

Boycott Israeli Goods, Free Palestine! | Boycott Israeli goods-Free Palestine! 2nd report

On June 21st, the Israeli State Prosecutor ordered Israeli police to start an investigation of the Indymedia Israel collective and website. At the heart of the investigation is an article posted to the site with a picture of a soldier who, according to witnesses, murdered Bassam Abdallah Abu Rahma. The posting with the heading "murderer" asks for the name of that soldier so that he can face murder charges. Abu Rahma, a prominent organizer of the demonstrations against the apartheid wall in Bil'in, was shot and killed on April 17th during the weekly demonstration by a gas canister. He did not pose any threat to the soldiers, who were guarding a wall that was determined to be illegal by Israel's High Court two years ago.

Instead of investigating the murder of Abu Rahma, the Israeli prosecutor has determined (without a trial where witnesses can come and testify) that the soldier in the picture did not shot Abu Raham, and that the Indymedia Israel collective should be investigated for "insulting a public worker".

Read More | A Sniper in the Israeli Military kills Yousef Akil Srour, Naalin, West Bank | Weekly demonstration against the wall | As Tristan Anderson Fights for His Life, Protests in Ni'ilin Continue

On June 19th, Checkpoint 303 performed at the Pork Store in SF. With members from Palestine, Tunisia, and France, Checkpoint 303, is a non-profit activist sound art project launched in 2004 by SC (sound-catcher) Yosh from Palestine and SC (sound-cutter) MoCha from Tunisia. It creates experimental electronic music that aims at raising international awareness about the ongoing injustice and suffering of the civilian populations throughout the Middle East. Checkpoint 303 combines field recordings from Palestine with electronic beats, effects and subtle oriental tunes. Checkpoint 303's next two performances were in SF on Tuesday, June 23rd at the Balazo Gallery (2183 Mission St.), and on Wednesday, June 24th at Baobab Village (3372 19th St.).

Through its compositions, collected sounds, and noise, Checkpoint 303 spreads a message of peace and a call for the respect of human rights. Contrasting with the mainstream media's exclusive depiction of violence and suffering in the middle-east, CP-303's sound collages also report on the heroic hope in the region, as well as the seemingly banal but ever so meaningful little things that embody a daily search for normality in a state of emergency.

Checkpoint 303 music can be downloaded for free from their website. Read more

DJ Revolutions: Spinning Beats for Freedom | Checkpoint 303 - Streets O Ramallah video by Leaphar

On June 11th in Tel Aviv, a group of queer Israeli activists (backed by Palestinian-Israeli LGBTQI co-operative preparation) protested the cynical use of gay rights by a conservative American group called StandWithUs (SWU). The activists disrupted an event called I-Pride, organized by SWU, exploiting queer issues to advance and support Israel’s existence as an apartheid state and its occupation over Palestinians. The queer activists have also pointed out SWU collaboration with homophobic organizations such as Christians United For Israel, and homophobic individuals such as Gary Bauer and John Hagee who has stated that Hurricane Katrina happened for the city’s “sinful homosexual rally.” SWU’s presentations of all Palestinians as killers, Islam as the enemy of the west, and SWU pressure to fire and censure academics who are critical of Israel, were also denounced by the activists in the event.

At the event panelists and speakers preferred to focus on liberal issues inside Israel and showed total disregard for human rights violations by Israel. They presented the gay Palestinian community as suffering mostly from the Palestinian society ( not from Israel’s brutal occupation) and as being in need of a western salvation embodied in Israel’s apartheid regime.

Haneen Maikey, an organizer for Al-Qaws ("Rainbow") - for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, has commented that “the patronizing and arrogant attitude towards the Palestinan LGBT community, the use of our struggle and speaking in our name are not new phonomena. What is worrying is the easiness in which a right wing and racist pro-Israeli agenda is presented as a celebration pride and rights which is designed to present Israel (in collaboration with local gay Israeli organizations) as an oasis of liberalism and tolerance. This is a cynical use of gay issues for political gain, as human rights violations that are committed by Israel hurts all Palestinians-regardless of gender and sexual preference.”

Inna Michaeli, a member of Coalition of Women for Peace, and a feminist lesbian activist stated “I’m not surprised that our struggle for gender and sexual freedom is used as a propaganda tool at the hands of radical right wing groups from America. What is left to ask is where is the shame of gay organizations in Israel who claim to speak in our name, and whether from a total silence on human rights violations, they are moving now to a complete co-operation with the American radical right.” Read more

Flyer - Queer activists confront StandWithUs I-Pride | iPride: Stand With Us’ Pro-Israel Gay Fraud | "Israel Truth Campaign" Commemorates Land Day with New Billboard | first independent palestinian lgbtq organization! | Rainbow over Palestine | ASWAT

Ten bus shelter billboards advertising the University of California’s “Study in Israel” campaign were remade into “Boycott Israel” ads and placed around Berkeley and San Francisco in May.

Under the headline, “Boycott Israel? We boycott Israel because…”, one of the modified posters depicts students saying, “I believe in speaking out against racism. Israel’s entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation against the Palestinian citizens of Israel is frighteningly similar to the former apartheid system in South Africa!” and “I believe that governments must be held accountable for their actions! Israel denies its responsibility for the waves of ethnic cleansing that have made millions of Palestinians into refugees.”

The original ad campaign was financed by the pro-Israel publicity agency BlueStar PR as part of an intensive campaign to promote study in Israel at California universities. The University of California recently reinstated its study abroad program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, after years of lobbying from pro-Israel students and professionals. The program was suspended seven years ago based on concerns that the area was too dangerous.

Read more | "Israel Truth Campaign" Commemorates Land Day with New Billboard

On June 5th, a sniper in the Israeli military killed 36 year old Yousef Akil Srour, shooting him in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition. Srour is the 5th Palestinian to be killed by the Israeli army in Ni’lin during a demonstration against the theft of his land for the construction of the Annexation Wall. During demonstrations against the confiscation of their land, Israeli occupation forces have murdered five Ni’lin residents and critically injured one international solidarity activist - Tristan Anderson.

On the same day, the occupation forces wounded another four protesters, one of them critically. Large parts of Naalin were bombed with gas, including medical personal who were prevented from reaching wounded.

Since May 2008, residents of Ni’lin have been organizing and participating in unarmed demonstrations against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Despite being deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, Israel continues to build the Wall, further annexing Palestinian land. Ni’lin will lose approximately 2,500 dunums of agricultural land when construction of the wall is completed. Ni’lin consisted of 57,000 dunums in 1948, was reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967, is currently 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after completion of the Wall.

Photos: 1 | 2 | Video | Israeli forces kill Palestinian demonstrator in Ni’lin Aqel Srur's funeral Na'alin 6-6-09 | Israeli soldier kill Aqel Srur, in a demonstration against the wall in Naalin | Israeli forces kill Palestinian demonstrator in Ni’lin, IMC Israel

On, Saturday, June 6, hundreds came to the Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, to protest 42 years of an ongoing occupation of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Gaza since the Six Days War in 1967. Organized by the Communist Party of Israel (Hadash), protesters held signs calling to end the clocked and bombardment of Gaza and for a just peace.

Two protesters groups dominated the demonstrations, the communists leading the march and the Anarcho-Feminist. Chants and signs by the communists included calls for a two state solution and just peace, while the sign and chants by the anarchists defined the Israeli military as a terrorist organization and called for the abolition of all states.

The marchers belong to organizations and parties such as Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality), the Communist Party of Israel, Meretz , Gush Shalom, Yesh Gvul and Anarchists Against the Wall.

Head of Hadash, Member of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) Mohammed Barakeh, addressed the demonstration stating that "occupation norms were slowly penetrating Israeli society and threatening democracy with such occurrences as the Nakba laws, the discrimination against the Arab-Palestinians in Israel, the harming of freedom of speech and politics, and more".

Photos: 1 2 Videos: 1 |

On June 6th, the 42nd anniversary of Israel's seizure of Gaza, a protest was held at the UN Plaza (7th and Market) in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Organized by the ANSWER Coalition, organization and individuals came to show support and to demand to end the siege of Gaza.

The world looked on in horror this past winter as Israel mercilessly starved and bombed the people of Gaza, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians, at least a third of whom were children. The Arab world now refers to the dark days from the end of December to mid-January as “the Gaza massacre.” Although the mainstream media no longer focuses on Gaza, the suffering continues there nonetheless. Using the pretext of combating terrorism, Israel has refused to allow even one truckload of cement into Gaza. As a result, a city that was reduced to rubble still lies in rubble today. Even now, people are still living in tents and are scarcely able to secure the necessities of life.

Video | Photos | Announcements: 1 | 2

Anarchist Show of Support to End the Siege of Gaza (A) We Are With You!

On Saturday May 30th, members of Anarchists Against the Wall, international and Palestinian activists, came to Safa, West Bank, to help Palestinian farmers work their land. In recent years, farmers have been under a constant harassment by settlers who have been violently attacking them and destroying and stealing their crops.

Israeli settlers began gathering at the top of a hill on the edge of the illegal settlement and three Israeli military jeeps arrived shortly afterward. Soldiers then contented themselves standing around their jeeps, debating whether or not they had good enough aim to “shoot [the activists] between the eyes”

After working for a couple of hours, the Israeli military declared the area a "closed military zone" and gave the farmers and the activists ten minutes to leave the area. When the time ended the soldiers started attacking and arresting the activists, resulting in two arrests. A couple of hours latter, settlers attacked Palestinians and activists in the same area, under the watching eye of the Israeli military. Rather then arresting the settlers, Israeli soldiers arrested two Palestinians and three Israeli activists.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Palestine Solidarity Project: 2 Palestinians, 5 Israelis Arrested During Farmer Action in Saffa

On wednesday, May 27, members of "Achoti" (my sister), a feminist organization representing jews of color (Mizrahim-Jews who emigrated from Arab countries) and members of the Democratic Mizrahi Rainbow, came to the Jerusalem Theater to demonstrate a convention about culture in Israel. The activists held signs that looked like bank checks with names of cultural institutions and the amount of money given to each. One check (in the picture below), addressed to "Mizrahi culture" had no money on it and the wording "void" was added.

In Israel, 90% of the state budget is given to institutions who represent a european and ashkenazi (Jews who emigrated from western countries) culture. To justify this kind of elocution of resources, European culture is described as important and needed for people's education and well being, while Mizrahi and arab culture are describe as redundant and empty. In a leaflet given to those who have come to the convention, it was emphasized that israel is not located between the Alps and Bavaria in Europe, but in the Middle East. That most of the residents of Israel are not from a European background. Read more |

On Monday, May 11, Students for Justice in Palestine will screen the documentary Slingshot Hip Hop at UC Berkeley. The film braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.

Slingshot Hip Hop received many awards, among them being the official Selection at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. It features Hip Hop artists and groups such as DAM, PR, ABEER, Arapeyat, and Mahmoud Shalabi. The director and producer of the movie is Jackie Reem Salloum, a New York based artist and filmmaker. Drawing on her Palestinian and Syrian roots, her pop-infused work focuses on challenging the stereotypes of Arabs in the media. Read more

Evening With Slingshot Hip Hop l Palestinian Rap Group DAM Use Hip-Hop to Convey the Frustrations, Hopes of a Dispossessed People | Slingshot Hip Hop l Pebbles and Boulders