Belgian Academics & Artists For Palestine
 

 
 
Belgian Academics For Palestine (BA4P)
Front Page
Academia Analyses Calls & Reports Israel Scholasticide Publications Solidarity Calls
Academic Bulletin N° 19 (May 2023): click here! ── BACBI Culture Newsletter N° 75 (Spring 2022): click here!


NAKBA 75:

A small selection of recent comments and resources [more items]:

United Nations: « Special Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba »
(UN Web TV, May 25, 2023): click here!

Dotan Halevy & Maayan Hillel - The Social History Workshop: « Six Basic Facts About the Nakba Everyone Should Know »
(Haaretz, May 18, 2023): click here!

Leila Gilies: « I’m a Nakba survivor. In the ruins of my home, I write my hopes in stone »
(+972, May 16, 2023): click here!

Amandas Ong: « ‘My village’: Destroyed in the Nakba, rebuilt memory by memory »
(AlJazeera, May 15, 2023): click here!

Mohammed El-Kurd: « Reflections on the 75th Anniversary of a Nakba That Never Ended" »
(The Nation, May 15, 2023): click here!

Dina Matar: « The Nakba: 75 years after losing their home, the Palestinians are still experiencing the “catastrophe" »
(The Conversation, May 12, 2023): click here!

Ramzy Baroud: « Erasure vs. Sumud: How the Nakba Came to Define the Collective Palestinian Identity »
(The Palestine Chronicle, April 26, 2023): click here!

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Belgian Academics For Palestine
Solidarité avec la Palestine: Notre engagement
Nous, universitaires et autres intellectuels vivant en Belgique, sommes pleinement solidaires du peuple palestinien et de sa résistance courageuse contre les politiques colonialistes de dépossession, de remplacement et de destruction de la société, la culture et la nature de la Palestine par l’État d’Israël. La violence meurtrière quotidienne des soldats israéliens qui s'accroit de jour en jour contre une population civile, enfants compris, est un crime contre l'humanité insupportable. Avec l'arrivée au pouvoir de partis extrémistes, voire fascistes, en Israël, ces politiques dégénéreront davantage, si c’est encore possible.
Nous nous engageons à intervenir aupres des institutions académiques et culturelles et de faire pression sur les autorités belges et européennes pour qu'elles émettent des résolutions et prennent des sanctions à l’encontre de l'Etat d'Israël pour ses violations, depuis des décennies, des conventions internationales relatives aux droits de l'homme, et son refus de se conformer aux résolutions de l'ONU et aux arrêts de la Cour internationale de justice.
Il faut fustiger, ici, explicitement les scandaleuses stratégies israéliennes de " scholasticide ", telles que les démolitions d'écoles et le harcèlement des élèves et leurs enseignants, le vandalisme des archives et des bibliothèques des centres de recherche et d'étude, les intrusions dans les campus, ou l'enlèvement et l'emprisonnement de directeurs, de professeurs et d'étudiants. Enfin la "Procédure pour l'entrée et la résidence des étrangers en Judée et Samarie," imposée par l'armée d’occupation à partir d'octobre de l'année dernière, n’est pas la moindre à devoir être condamnée. Imposant une occupation académique sur les Palestiniens, elle restreint drastiquement l'entrée de professeurs, chercheurs et étudiants étrangers, isolant ainsi les universités palestiniennes de la recherche et la formation scientifiques internationales. Les développements futurs de la recherche et de l’enseignement sont délibérément compromis par ce régime d’apartheid ouvertement raciste et colonialiste, étouffant ainsi les opportunités des futures générations palestiniennes.
Solidariteit met Palestina: Ons Engagement
Wij, academici en andere intellectuelen die in België wonen, zijn ten volle solidair met het Palestijnse volk en zijn moedig verzet tegen Israëls kolonialistische politiek van verdrijving, vervanging en vernietiging van Palestina’ samenleving, cultuur en natuur. Het dagelijkse, zelfs toenemende, moorddadige geweld van Israëls soldateska tegen een weerloze burgerbevolking, met inbegrip van haar kinderen, vormt een barbaars regime van misdaden tegen de menselijkheid.
Wij verbinden ons ertoe te lobbyen bij academische en culturele instellingen en Belgische en Europese politieke gezagdragers en vertegenwoordigers ertoe aan te zetten resoluties en sancties uit te vaardigen tegen de staat Israël wegens decennialange schendingen van de internationale mensenrechtenverdragen en weigering om VN-resoluties en uitspraken van het Internationaal Gerechtshof na te leven.
Dient hier expliciet aan de kaak te worden gesteld: Israël's kwaadaardige politiek van "scholasticide", zoals: slopen van scholen en intimideren van leerlingen en leerkrachten, vandaliseren van kantoren en bibliotheken van onderzoeks- en studiecentra, binnendringen in campussen, en gevangenzetting van directeurs, professoren en studenten. 'Last but not least' werd in oktober vorig jaar door het bezettingsleger op de Westelijke Jordaanoever een uitgebreide (97p.) "Procedure voor binnenkomst en verblijf van buitenlanders in de regio Judea en Samaria" uitgevaardigd. Met het opleggen van een (ook) "academische bezetting" onderwerpt dit reglement toegang en verblijf van buitenlandse professoren, onderzoekers en studenten aan koloniale willekeur. De Palestijnse universiteiten en hun academici en studenten dreigen erdoor geïsoleerd te worden van de internationale wetenschappelijke ontwikkelingen en toepassingen. Met andere woorden, in Israëls door racisme en superioriteitswaan aangedreven vestigingskolonialisme wordt de beruchte "logic of elimination of the native" ook toegepast op het domein dat in beschaafde landen tot de academische vrijheid behoort. Toekomstige Palestijnse ontwikkelingen op het gebied van onderzoek en onderwijs worden moedwillig gedwarsboomd en de levensopportuniteiten die zij aan de toekomstige Palestijnse generaties zouden kunnen bieden, worden gesmoord.
Solidarity with Palestine: Our Engagement
We, academics and other intellectuals living in Belgium, stand in full solidarity with the Palestinian people and their courageous resistance against Israel's settler-colonialist policies of dispossession, replacement and destruction of Palestine's society, culture and nature. The daily murderous violence perpetrated by Israel's soldiers against a civilian population, children included, constitutes a barbaric regime of crimes against humanity.
We commit ourselves to lobbying academic and cultural institutions and inducing Belgian and European authorities and representatives to adopt resolutions and sanctions against the State of Israel for its decades-long violations of international human rights conventions and its refusal to comply with UN resolutions and rulings of the International Court of Justice.
Must be castigated, here, explicitly: Israel's nefarious policies of 'scholasticide', such as demolitions of schools and harrasment of pupils and teachers, vandalising archives and libraries of research and study centres, intrusion of campuses, abduction and imprisonment of scholars and students... Last but not least to be condemned, is the army's "Procedure for entry and residence of foreigners in the Judea and Samaria area," issued in October last year by Israel's ministry of Defense. With its imposition of what has been called an 'academic occupation,' this 'procedure' restricts the entry and stay of foreign professors, researchers and students in the West Bank. Palestine's universities and their academics and students, one understands, must be isolated from international scholarship and practices. In other words, in Israel's settler colonialist, racist-instituted apartheid regime the infamous 'logic of the elemination of the native' is being applied also to the domain that in civilised countries is governed by academic freedom. Future Palestinian developments in research and learning being compromised, that way, by the occupier, the life opportunities they would offer to Palestine's future generations, are being stifled.
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Front Page
« She's Leading a Revolution in Her Traditional Israeli Druze Community. And She's Not Alone »
Itay MASHIACH (Haaretz, May 19, 2023):
Samira Azzam defied tradition by starting a party that fielded the first-ever, all-woman slate of candidates for a local council in a Druze town. Her achievement, and that of other Druze and Arab local politicians, is the result of a grassroots movement. Continue...

« The Absurdity and Tragedy of Israel's Bloody Gaza Campaign »
Odeh BISHARAT (Haaretz, May 15, 2023):
Once the Israel Defense Forces’ primary “target bank” ran out, it was junior-ranking Islamic Jihad members' turn to be hit. If things continue at this pace, in the coming rounds, neighbors of jihadis will be targets, too. After all, why'd they choose to live there? At the moment, thanks to the IDF, the saying “my home is my castle” has become “my home is my grave.” This can be attested to by 8-year-old Ali, 12-year-old Miar, 5-year-old Hajar, 10-year-old Lian and 5-year-old Tamim of blessed memory. Continue...

« Israeli Video Calls for Jewish Racial-Blood Purity, Expelling Palestinians “by Force” »
Richard SILVERSTEIN (Tikun Olam, May 10, 2023:
It espouses Judeo-Nazi ideology which could provoke acts of Palestinian armed resistance. ─ Israel’s Shin Bet largely focuses on what it calls “security threats” posed by Palestinians. But there is also a unit that investigates crimes and potential threats posed by Jewish terrorists. It’s not nearly as effective, largely from lack of will within the agency and Israeli society itself to police and punish Jewish terror. Continue...

« DEADLY PATTERN. » 20 Journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable.
A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (May 9, 2023, 32p.), May 9, 2023.
The report, “Deadly Pattern”, documents 20 examples of the IDF killing journalists since 2001. Eighteen were Palestinians, and Israel has never put a soldier on trial for killing a journalist. Continue...
« On anniversary of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death, new report details Israel’s history of killing reporters with impunity »
Michael ARRIA (Mondoweiss, May 9, 2023), click here!

« In Simultaneous Attacks and Flagrant Disregard for Civilians’ Lives, 13 Palestinians, including 4 Women and 4 Children, Killed in Israeli Airstrikes on 4 Residential Apartments Destroying Them Over Their Residents in Gaza Strip »
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, May 9, 2023:
Today at dawn, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have killed 13 Palestinians, including 4 women and 4 children; one was a 17-year-old girl, in addition to 3 commanders of the Palestinian armed groups with some of their family members. Moreover, 18 other Palestinians have been injured, including 4 women and 4 children, in a series of simultaneous airstrikes that targeted 4 residential apartments over their residents’ heads without a prior warning as part of extrajudicial execution crimes (assassinations) upon a decision from Israel’s top military, political and judicial echelons. Continue...

« "Gaza: House of Slaughter." Israeli air assault murdered 12 Gazans, including mothers and five children »
Richard SILVERSTEIN (Tikun Olam, May 4, 2023):
Gaza, last night, became a House of Slaughter. An Israeli targeted assassination destroyed a floor of an apartment building, killing three alleged Islamic Jihad commanders, their wives and children. 5 of the dead were children. 20 others were injured. As it has in the past, Israel knew there were civilians who would be killed, but wanted the militants so badly it was willing to massacre the innocent. Continue...

« Landmark 1,500th artist signs the “Irish Artists’ Pledge to Boycott Israel” »
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), May 4, 2023:
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is proud to announce that our ‘Irish Artists’ Pledge to Boycott Israel’ has just passed the 1,500 signatory mark, a hugely significant milestone in support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. After reaching 1,000 signatories in early 2021, more than 500 new cultural workers have added their names over the past two years alone. SEE THE FULL LIST AT: https://www.ipsc.ie/pledge. Continue...

« Foreign Affairs magazine lays down the facts about Israel apartheid and Jewish supremacy »
Nasim AHMED (Middle East Monitor, April 17, 2023):
The remarkable pace by which the term "apartheid" has moved from the margins of the Israeli-Palestinian debate to its centre was on powerful display this weekend. The prestigious American magazine, Foreign Affairs, widely considered one of most influential foreign policy magazines shaping Washington's thinking, added its weight behind the claim that Israel has imposed an apartheid regime that systematically discriminates against non-Jews. In an article titled "Israel's One-State Reality" authors Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch and Shibley Telhami, highlight the seismic shift that is underway in leading policy circles today. Continue...

« ‘Muting My Pain’: Israel’s ‘Psychological Warfare’ against Palestinian Prisoners’ Families »
Mahmoud MUSHTAHA (The Palestine Chronicle, April 17, 2023):
For the past six years, 60-year-old Hasna Zourob has been fighting a battle on two fronts. One against cancer, and the other against the Israeli occupation that has deprived her of seeing her son. Hasna’s son, Assad Zourob, was only 21 years old when he was arrested by Israeli forces in 2002. He was sentenced to life imprisonment as a result of being accused of belonging to the Palestinian resistance. The detainee, who is now 42 years old, has spent half of his life behind bars and continues to be imprisoned today. The emotional toll on his mother is great. Due to the psychological hardship of being unable to see her son, her fragile health has been further weakened after she was diagnosed with cancer. Continue...

« In its quest for religious war, Israel is uniting Arabs and Muslims around Palestine »
Ramzy BAROUD, (Middle East Monitor, April 11, 2023):
How could Israel's most experienced political leader commit such an obvious strategic error? Aside from making the desperate decision to attack Al-Aqsa — likely under pressure from Ben-Gvir and the equally extreme far-right Bezalel Smotrich — Netanyahu is no different to other Israeli leaders in miscalculating the significance of the spiritual component of the Palestinian struggle, and how it ties to Arab and Muslim solidarity with Palestine. Continue...

« World’s Most Dangerous Flashpoint: Israeli Forces Repeatedly Invade Sacred al-Aqsa Mosque, Beat, Expel Worshipers,
on behalf of Jewish Extremists »

Juan COLE (Informed Comment, April 6, 2023):
The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that both on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, Israeli security forces invaded the al-Aqsa Mosque complex, the third holiest shrine in the Muslim world and expelled Palestinians who had been conducting an all-night retreat (i`tikaf) there for the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Video emerged from the Wednesday assault showing troops viciously assaulting worshipers. The BBC and other Western press actually called these barbaric beatings by armed occupation troops “clashes,” and said they were over a “disputed” religious site. But there is no dispute in international law about al-Aqsa Mosque. It is governed by an endowment deed that is overseen by the Jordanian government. No responsible person in a position of power disputes this. Continue...

« How this protest movement is bringing Netanyahu to his knees »
Haggai MATAR (+972, March 27, 2023):
A movement that started out against the government's judicial coup has morphed into a successful uprising. Yet questions still loom about what this moment portends for Israeli politics, and above all for Palestinians. Continue...

« Israeli forces shoot, kill 15-year-old Palestinian boy with expanding bullet in Jenin »
Defense for Children International-Palestine, March 10, 2023:
15-year-old Walid Saad Daoud Nassar died on March 9 from abdominal injuries sustained when an Israeli soldier shot him with an expanding bullet in Jenin two days earlier, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Continue...

« Israel's 'right to exist' challenged in expert testimonies »
Nasim Ahmed (Middle East Monitor, March 3, 2023):
"Israel's right to exist" has been challenged in expert testimonies by leading scholars Professor John Dugard and Professor Avi Shlaim. Dugard is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa. He has served intermittently as Judge of the International Court of Justice. His other high-profile appointment was at the United Nations where he served as Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from 2001 to 2008. Shlaim, who is an author of several books on Israel and Palestine, is an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College and an Emeritus Professor in International Relations at the University of Oxford. Continue...

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Academia:
« Horizon Europe: funding death, displacement and discrimination in Palestine »
Posted in Corporate accountability, EU Research Programs, Our Work ─ ECCP, 13 April 2023:
European Union research subsidies have been a crucial source of funding for Israeli academic institutions, businesses, and government agencies, including many military companies, that are deeply involved in human rights abuses and international law violations – including entities operating in, and profiting from, illegal Israeli settlements... Israel is not a member of the EU but, following the signing of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, since 1995 Israeli applicants have had the same access to the EU research grants as EU members.

« 'Israel practices apartheid,' say Israeli law professors »
(Middle East Monitor, March 30, 2023):
The 'Israeli Law Professors' Forum for Democracy' has found that changes introduced by the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "validate the claim that Israel practices apartheid." The group represents 120 of Israel's most prominent law professors. It reached the conclusion in a position paper titled "Implications of the Agreement Subordinating the Civil Administration to the Additional Minister in the Ministry of Defence." Published March 5, 2023 (pdf, 5p.), click here. The forum is an ad hoc and voluntary group of experts on Israeli law and specifically Israeli public law.

« AfP statement on recent protests in Israel »
Academia for Palestine (March 28, 2023):
As part of the widespread protests against the Israeli government’s plans to reform the judicial system and move Israel’s regime further towards a right-wing dictatorial system, and in specific response to the dismissal of the Minister for Defence by Prime Minister Netanyahu, the heads of Israel’s universities and research institutions decided to suspend classes indefinitely...
This response by Israel’s academic institutions joins mass protests by senior army officers, high tech industry workers, economists, academics, artists and many other middle class Israelis, and is likely to be followed by a general strike declared by the country’s largest trade union. However, the democracy these protesters are fighting for in impressive rallies throughout Israel, is in fact democracy for Jews only.

« Palestinians Urge Dan David Prize Recipients To Help Dismantle Israeli Apartheid by Rejecting Complicit Award »
PACBI (March 16, 2023):
Nine emerging scholars of history from around the world were announced Tuesday as winners of the prestigious Dan David Prize, with each awardee receiving $300,000 to advance their work. The Dan David Prize board said it is recognizing the historians for “changing our understanding of the past" by delving into under-researched topics.
Letter sent by PACBI to the awardees (excerpt):
"We understand that you have been awarded Israel’s Dan David Prize. We wanted to reach out to provide you with additional background information on the prize and its context, and to urge you to reconsider accepting it.
As we write, Israel’s most racist, fundamentalist government to date is escalating the violent oppression that has dominated our lives for decades. We are facing pogroms by violent settler militias, supported by the Israeli military and incited by government ministers, burning down Palestinian towns, killing sprees by Israeli soldiers taking our young and elderly alike, and expanding illegal Israeli settlements forcing us into shrinking bantustans in our homeland."

« Israel's 'right to exist' challenged in expert testimonies »
Nasim Ahmed (Middle East Monitor, March 3, 2023):
"Israel's right to exist" has been challenged in expert testimonies by leading scholars Professor John Dugard and Professor Avi Shlaim. Dugard is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa. He has served intermittently as Judge of the International Court of Justice. His other high-profile appointment was at the United Nations where he served as Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from 2001 to 2008. Shlaim, who is an author of several books on Israel and Palestine, is an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College and an Emeritus Professor in International Relations at the University of Oxford. Continue...

« Supporting Professor Nathan Thrall’s Academic Freedom »
Academia for Equality (via AURDIP, March 15, 2023):
The Executive Board of Academia for Equality wrote to Leon Botstein President of Bard College to commend him for standing firm in support of Professor Nathan Thrall, who is teaching the course “Apartheid in Israel-Palestine” at his college. Professor Thrall has come under attack by the Ulster Jewish Federation and several right-wing media outlets, who advanced the outrageous claim that the very title and existence of the course is antisemitic.

« Mental health professionals must end business as usual following the Huwwara pogrom »
Palestine-Global Mental Health Network (Mondoweiss, March 10, 2023) :
The International Neuropsychoanalysis Association must call off its upcoming conference in Israel in light of human rights abuses and their impact on psychological well-being.

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Analyses, Essays, Papers, Webinars :
Kathryn SHIHADAH:
« Khader Adnan’s death & Israel’s decades of despotic military orders »

(If Americans Knew, May 8, 2023): click here!
The death of hunger striker Khader Adnan underscores Israel’s totalitarian laws regarding Palestinians, the massive overuse of administrative detention, the criminalization of peaceful resistance, and the cruelty of the prison system… Nearly 56 years ago Israel issued Military Order 101 – still in effect today – that forbids Palestinians from normal activities, like gathering in a group of more than ten people, if that gathering “could be construed as political,” or displaying a Palestinian flag, without a permit.
Yumna PATEL & Mariam BARGHOUTI:
« Khader Adnan’s death was ‘willful’ and deliberate »

(Mondoweiss, May 6, 2023): click here!
Rights groups, experts, and Khader Adnan's legal team say that Israel caused his death through deliberate medical negligence and cruel and inhumane treatment. In other words, Israel wanted him dead...
Amira HASS:
« Adnan’s Lone Strike Exposed the Difficulties of Collective Palestinian Struggle »

(Haaretz, May 4, 2023): click here!
Khader Adnan’s mission to expose the basic injustice in Israel’s military justice system and its casual denial of basic freedoms was logical, called for, and nothing short of courageous – but once again, he was forced to take the individual path, sending a message about the lack of a Palestinian collective struggle. (Archive)
Richard SILVERSTEIN:
« Palestinian Armed Resistance: Terror or Legitimate?
Israel and global media's troubling definition of Palestinian resistance as terrorism »

(Tikun Olam, May 2, 2023): click here!
Eitay Mack is one of Israel’s foremost human rights lawyers. He’s done extraordinary research into Israel’s government archives to document its long history of military aid and corrupt dealings with dictators around the world. I have immense respect for him and his legal work, research and the journalism which documents these terrible deeds. But I read with disappointment his latest op ed on international law regarding Israel & the Palestinians...
Euro-Med Monitor:
« Escalation of Israeli violations in Occupied Palestinian Territory »

Euro-Med Monitor, Webinar on April 29, 2023: click here!
Five experts were invited to speak at the webinar, which was part of the organisation’s undertaking to document the rights violations, exploitation, and escalation of violence perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians in the oPt. The webinar featured expert opinions on the psychological effects of the blockade on Gaza, Israel’s systematic use of violence, the legal questions surrounding Palestine’s ability to achieve justice, foreign policy, the two-state solution, and the power dynamics behind planned attacks. The discussion shed light on the severe lack of human rights accountability in the oPt, as well as on the scrupulous construction of an apartheid government in Israel...
Peter BEINART:
« Could Israel Carry Out Another Nakba? »
Expulsionist sentiment is common in Israeli society and politics. To ignore the warning signs is to abdicate responsibility.”

(Jewish Current, April 19, 2023): click here!
When officials in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government explain why they’re so eager to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court, they often cite the limitations it places on their ability to punish Palestinians. “If I want to demolish terrorists’ houses, who is in my way?” thundered Likud Knesset member Tali Gottlieb at a March 27th pro-government rally...
Alice SPERI:
« Labs Of Oppression »
As Israelis Protest Mounting Authoritarianism, Apartheid Regime Over Palestinians Goes Unchallenged”
(The Intercept, April 1, 2023): click here!
On very clear days, you can follow the rolling hills surrounding the Palestinian city of Yatta all the way to the Dead Sea on one side, the Negev desert on the other. The windswept landscape offers idyllic views, with clusters of olive trees alternating with narrow rows of cultivated land, patches of shrubs, and the occasional grazing sheep. This is also a unique observation point to watch the reality of Israeli apartheid take hold of the land...
Smadar BEN-NATAN:
« The One Carceral State: Mass Incarceration and Carceral Citizenship in Israel/Palestine »

(SSRN, 11p., 3 Jan 2023 ): Presentation/Abstract. Paper: click here!
Abstract: The discussion about the one state condition in Israel/Palestine can greatly benefit by looking at Israel’s carceral state. This paper shows that underneath the formal separation of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), lies one carceral state. Following the 1967 occupation, Israel initially designed the legal and carceral systems of the OPT as separate, in accordance with international law, and created a military prison system in the OPT. However, this situation has changed dramatically after the failure of the Oslo Accords and the second intifada in 2000. Through an analysis of legal and administrative documents and statistics of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), the military, the Knesset, and Supreme Court decisions, this paper traces how gradually more prisons and Palestinian prisoners have been transferred into the 1948 Israeli territory. Ultimately, by 2006, all prisons (but one) were physically transferred into Israel and the military prison system has been dissolved. The IPS was rebranded as the Israeli “National Prison Authority”, assuming responsibility to all Palestinian prisoners.
Ilan PAPPÉ:
« Using the Right Language: The ‘Incremental Genocide’ of the Palestinians Continues »

(The Palestine Chronicle, March 16, 2023): click here!
I am writing this op-ed on March 10, 2023. Seventy-five years ago, on this date, the military command of the Zionist leadership publicized Plan Dalet, or Plan D, which, among other guidelines, instructed the Zionist forces on their way to occupy hundreds of Palestinian villages and several towns and neighborhoods in historical Palestine, to carry out: ─ “Destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris), especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously...
Alain GRESH:
« Emmanuel Macron couvre les fascistes en Israël” »
(OrientXXI, 6 mars 2023): click here!
Que faut-il de plus ? En Israël s’est installée au pouvoir une coalition qui comporte des ministres que dans n’importe quel autre pays on qualifierait de fascistes. Certains d’entre eux ont été définis comme néonazis par Daniel Blatman, professeur à l’Institut des études juives contemporaines à l’Université hébraïque et spécialiste de la Shoah. Tous professent une idéologie suprémaciste juive, convaincus que les droits d’un Israélien juif autorisent à enterrer ceux des Palestiniens...
"‘Total Fascism’: Israeli Parliament Passes Death Penalty Bill Targeting Palestinians"
(The Palestine Chronicle, March 1, 2023): click here!
Israeli lawmakers have voted in favor of a bill that would impose the death penalty on so-called “terrorists” accused of killing Israelis. The bill was proposed by extreme far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Yousef MUNAYYER: "The settler-colonial origins of Israel’s constitutional crisis"
(+972, 24 February 2023): click here!
The government’s assault on the judiciary is driven by the same urge as the state’s founders: to protect their power to privilege Jews over Palestinians.
Amjad IRAQI:
"The myth of the ‘cycle of violence’"

(+972, January 31, 2023): click here!
Palestinians spotlight Israeli brutality to demand an end to their oppression; Israelis spotlight Palestinian violence to justify that oppression.
Ramzy BAROUD:
"It Has Always Been a 'Religious War': On Ben Gvir and the Adaptability of Zionism"

(The Palestine Chronicle, January 18, 2023): click here!
The Zionists, whether ‘political Zionists’ like Theodore Hertzl or ‘Spiritual Zionists’ like Ahad Ha’am’ - and now Netanyahu and Ben Gvir - have all used the Jewish religion to achieve the same end, colonizing all historic Palestine and ethnically cleansing its native population. Sadly, major part of this sinister mission has been achieved, though Palestinians continue to resist with the same ferocity of their ancestors.
Ilan PAPPÉ:
"Ilan Pappe on the Socio-Political Formations behind Israel’s Neo-Zionist Government”

(The Palestine Chronicle, January 6, 2023): click here!
Two months after the election of the new government of Israel, the blurred picture is becoming more transparent, and it seems one can offer some more informed insights about its composition, personalities, and possible future policies and reaction to them. It would not be an exaggeration to define Benjamin Netanyahu as the least extreme member of this government, which tells you about the personalities and policies of all the others.  There are three major groups in the government, and I am not referring here to various political parties, but rather to socio-political formations.
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Calls, Reports, Statements, Submissions,...:
« Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories: Automated Apartheid: How facial recognition fragments, segregates and controls Palestinians in the OPT »
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, May 2, 2023 :
In this report, Amnesty International explores how facial recognition technology is used extensively by the Israeli authorities to support their continued domination and oppression of Palestinians in the OPT. With a record of discriminatory and inhuman acts that maintain a system of apartheid, the Israeli authorities are able to use facial recognition software – in particular at checkpoints – to consolidate existing practices of discriminatory policing, segregation, and curbing freedom of movement, violating Palestinians’ basic rights.

« One Year Report on Demolitions and Seizures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Reporting Period: 1 January – 31 December 2022 . »

Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA), 28 March 2023 (pdf, 12p.):
Summary: In 2022, a total of 953 structures were demolished or seized throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem - the highest number recorded since 2016. Of structures demolished, more than 80% (781) were located in Area C. In total, 1,031 individuals have been displaced and 28,446 affected as a result of demolitions. All but 35 of the structures were targeted for lacking building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Area C and East Jerusalem Of the structures targeted in the twelve-month reporting period, 101 structures were funded by the EU or EU Member States (valued at EUR €337,019), representing the third highest financial injury since 2016....

« New government takes politicization of heritage sites to a new level »
Emek Shaveh's Newsletter March 2023:
This newsletter outlines the changes brought about by the new government in the area of heritage governance, and its implications for sites, particularly in the West Bank. Years of sacrificing professional standards and democratic norms in favor of policies shaped by political partisanship and nationalist agendas have given us a government which has abandoned even the pretense of maintaining professional standards or an inclusive approach to the country's multicultural heritage.

« Terrorizing Huwara: A Town Under Attack »
State of Palestine - Negotiations Affairs Department, Media Briefs, March 1, 2013:
The following brief outlines the series of terror attacks and violations that have occurred since the killing of two Israeli settlers on the main Huwara road on 26 February 2023, perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and settlers. These actions cannot be considered "retaliatory," as some may suggest. Rather, they are part of a systematic policy employed by the occupying Power and its settlers to instill fear and harm the Palestinian population, who have endured its colonial occupation for 56 years.

« Israel’s Dismantling of Palestinian Civil Society and Systematic Persecution of the Palestinian People under
Arbitrary Counter-Terrorism Measures »

Submitted by: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, Defense for Children – Palestine (DCI-P), Palestinian Non Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), 28 February 2023, 8p.:
I. Introduction, 1. In response to a call for input issued by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, our organisations prepared the following submission for the benefit of her upcoming global study on the impact of counter-terrorism measures on civil society and civic space...

« Joint Urgent Appeal to the UN Special Procedures to Safeguard Palestinian Political Prisoners' Rights against Collective Punishment and Arbitrary Measures Implemented by the Israeli Prison Services at the behest of the Israeli Occupying Authorities »
AL-HAQ - Law in the Service of Man, February 23, 2023:
Submitted by: Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs ── Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, comprising of: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association - Al-Haq  - Al Mezan Center for Human Rights - Aldameer Association for Human Rights - Defense for Children International-Palestine - Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights  - Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center - Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (Observer Member) & The Independent Commission for Human Rights (Observer Member) ── Palestinian Prisoners' Society. Continue...

« The Impact of Israel’s New Ultranationalist Government on the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement »
ADDAMEER, January 31, 2023; for report (pdf, 5p.): click here!
By the end of 2022, the Israeli occupation forces arrested in total around 7,000 Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territories, with April 2022 recording the highest number of arrests reaching 1,228 cases, followed by May and October 2022, with 690 cases.

« Pulling The Trigger Is The First Resort. Palestinians killed by Israeli Army and Settlers in 2022 »
EURO-MED HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR, January 8, 2023 (pdf, 45p.):
Executive Summary. In 2022, the world saw a dramatic surge in killings of Palestinians, with fatalities in the West Bank climbing 82% from the previous year and nearly quintupling (491%) from 2020...

« On Flimsey Grounds: Israel's Pervasive Night Arrests of Children »
HAMOKED - Center for the Defense of Individuals, January 2023 (pdf, 11p.):
Each year, hundreds of Palestinian boys ages 13-17 are arrested from their homes in the middle of the night by the Israeli security forces. Such arrests begin when a large group of soldiers arrives at the home without warning. Sometimes they pound on the door to wake the family, but often, they burst in after blowing open the door.

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Israel Scholasticide
« Procedure for Entry and Residence of Foreigners in the Judea and Samaria Area »
Published by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT): Update January 30, 2023.

'For requests regarding the entry and exit of foreign visitors to the territories of Judea and Samaria only, as well as requests for the return of foreign guarantee funds, please use the following contact methods:... With 6 files to download.'
─ ─ ─

“Scholasticide” – the systematic destruction by Israeli forces of centres of education"
(RIGHT2EDUCATION, Birzeit University, January 10, 2009): click here.
A new word emerged from the carnage in Gaza this week: “scholasticide” – the systematic destruction by Israeli forces of centres of education dear to Palestinian society, as the ministry of education was bombed, the infrastructure of teaching destroyed, and schools across the Gaza strip targeted for attack by the air, sea and ground offensives. “Learn, baby, learn” was a slogan of the black rights movement in America’s ghettoes a generation ago, but it also epitomises the idea of education as the central pillar of Palestinian identity – a traditional premium on schooling steeled by occupation, and something the Israelis “cannot abide… and seek to destroy”, according to Dr Karma Nabulsi, who teaches politics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Nick Riemer: “Scholasticide: The Relentless Attack on Palestinian Universities"
(The Wire, January 1, 2019): click here.
Israel’s efforts to cripple higher education in occupied Palestine continued relentlessly in 2018, with Israeli universities acting as key tools of the occupation. The systematic punishment inflicted on Palestinian academics and students didn’t attract anything like the global attention of Gazans’ March of Return, but it deserves to be documented and organised against for what it is: a slow, sadistic crushing of learning, and a stifling of the life opportunities it provides. A selection of the manifestations of this “scholasticide,” all drawn from local reports, is catalogued in this article, along with some brief indications of Israeli universities’ collaboration in it. This suggests the full violence of Israel’s siege on higher education in Palestine – and the urgent necessity of an effective response on the part of people of good conscience around the world, including those who work in universities.

  • « Diplomatic missions across Europe call on Israel to stop West Bank demolitions" » (Times of Israel, May 27, 2023): click here.
    Consortium led by EU office to West Bank and Gaza says Israel should ‘return or compensate’ about 10 countries for humanitarian items, after razing EU-funded school near Bethlehem. In a press statement Friday, the consulates general of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and the representative offices of Denmark, Finland, Germany and Ireland, as well as the EU office to the West Bank and Gaza, slammed Israel for the recent demolition earlier this month of an EU-funded school in the Palestinian village of Jubbet al-Dhib near Bethlehem, and the “threatened demolition of another 57 schools in the West Bank.”
  • Rafaël Rutten: « Isolation and Control. Israel’s denial of foreign nationals to the oPt », The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” (May 23, 2023): click here.<
    In December 2022, Israel implemented a series of new guidelines for foreigners applying for a visa for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The 62 page document titled ‘Procedure for Entry and Residence of Foreigners in the Judea and Samaria Area’, published by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), outlines extensive requirements for obtaining a long term visa for the oPt. These requirements severely limit the possibility for foreign nationals to visit, work or study in the oPt...
  • Human Rights Watch, « West Bank: New Entry Rules Further Isolate Palestinians » (HRW, January, 23, 2023): click here.
    Israel's Guidelines Impede Visiting, Studying, Working.
  • Yuval Abraham: « Palestinian school razed after campaign by gov’t-linked settler group » (+972, May 8, 2023): click here.
    The residents of Jib al-Dib lost their years-long fight to save their elementary school, leaving dozens of children without proper access to education.
  • Canaan Lidor: « Israel razes EU-funded Palestinian school near Bethlehem » (The Times of Israel, May 7, 2023): click here.
    Demolition, which follows a court ruling from March, prompts protests from the European Union and Palestinian Authority... The Palestinian Education Ministry called the demolition “a heinous crime,” adding: “These practices fall within the framework of the occupying regime’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinian educational sector, targeting students, teachers and educational institutions in complete disregard of international conventions and principles" (m.u.).
  • « Israeli Court Approves Palestinian School Demolition near Bethlehem » (The Palestine Chronicle, March 6, 2023): click here.
    An Israeli occupation court ruled on Monday in favor of the demolition of a school in the Jub Al-Dhib community, near Bethlehem, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. The coordinator of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Hassan Brijiyeh, said that the Central Israeli Court issued a ruling in favor of the demolition of the al-Tahadi 5 School in the southern occupied West Bank village, effectively accepting a petition submitted by the Regavim settler group to demolish the structure.
  • « Palestinian Students under Suspended Detention » (AURDIP, Feb 25, 2023): click here.
    The Israeli occupation authorities systematically and persistently target Palestinian university students for arbitrary arrest and detention. This practice, amounting to a form of collective punishment, violates Palestinian students’ rights both to education and to freedom of association, assembly, and expression, all protected under international legal standards. Each year, the Israeli occupation authorities viciously arrest and detain dozens of Palestinian students, often under the pretext of involvement with student groups deemed “illegal” under Israeli military orders. Though the Israeli occupation authorities target students and student groups across Palestine, students at Birzeit University have been subjected to the most consistent, systematic attacks, raids on campus, arbitrary detention orders, and torture and ill-treatment.
  • HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: « West Bank: New Entry Rules Further Isolate Palestinians. » Israel's Guidelines Impede Visiting, Studying, Working (HRW, January 23, 2023): click here.
    Israel's Guidelines Impede Visiting, Studying, Working. Jerusalem – New Israeli guidelines on access to the West Bank for foreigners threaten to further isolate Palestinians from loved ones and global civil society, Human Rights Watch said today.
    Israeli authorities have long made it difficult for foreigners to teach, study, volunteer, work, or live in the West Bank. The new guidelines codify and tighten longstanding restrictions, threatening to make it even harder for Palestinians in the West Bank, who already face severe Israeli-imposed movement restrictions, to be with family members who lack a West Bank ID and to engage with foreign students, academics, experts, and others. “By making it harder for people to spend time in the West Bank, Israel is taking yet another step toward turning the West Bank into another Gaza, where two million Palestinians have lived virtually sealed off from the outside world for over 15 years,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “This policy is designed to weaken the social, cultural, and intellectual ties that Palestinians have tried to maintain with the outside world.”
  • Shahd Safi: « In Gaza, Students’ Heavy Endeavors are Going in Vain » (The Palestine Chronicle, November 25, 2022): click here.
    From the 1948 Nakba, the Naksa of 1967 to now, many Palestinians have been forced to live as refugees, facing dire social and financial difficulties. Education is their only hope for survival. But so many families can’t afford the expenses associated with college and university.
  • Kadoorie University Denounces Israeli Occupation’s Violation Inside its Campus in Tulkarem (AURDIP, November 20, 2022): click here.
    The administration of Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie (PTUK) denounces and strongly condemns the Israeli Occupation forces’ desecrating actions, disrespecting its sanctity and forcing the university staff to open the main gates and the cameras control room to drag out certain records and photocopied clips.
  • Committee on Academic Freedom: « COGAT regulations’ impact on international scholar selection » (MESA, October 20, 2022): click here.
    Letter sent on 20 October 2022 to:  Israel PM Yair Lapid, Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Biton, Minister of Justice Gideon Sa'ar, Brigadier-General Ghasan Alyan, Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Chief Clerk Idit Malul, Supreme Court of the State of Israel.
  • Yumna Patel & Michael Arria: « Israeli restrictions on foreign travel into occupied West Bank take effect despite criticisms » (Mondoweiss, October 20, 2022): click here.
    A draconian set of Israeli restrictions on foreign travel into the occupied West Bank take effect today, despite months of condemnations by rights groups and legal efforts to stop them.
  • Awdah Hathaleen: "In Masafer Yatta, teachers like me can’t guarantee our students an education" (+972, November 15, 2022): click here.
    With schools facing demolition orders and soldiers detaining students and teachers for hours, obstacles to education are becoming insurmountable.

  • Continue (July 2022-2005): click here.

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Publications:
  • Hil AKED: « Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity » . Verso, April 2023, 304 p., pb ISBN 9781786637659, £13.29; eBook ISBN: 9781786637673, £2.00.
    "Friends of Israel" provides a forensically researched account of the activities of Israel's advocates in Britain, showing how they contribute to maintaining Israeli apartheid. The book traces the history and changing fortunes of key actors within the British Zionist movement in the context of the Israeli government's contemporary efforts to repress a rising tide of solidarity with Palestinians expressed through the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. click here! Edited excerpt: click here!
  • Ghada KARMI: « One State. The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel » . Pluto Press, April 2023, pb ISBN: 9780745348315; eBook ISBN: 9780745348339, 208p., £14.99.
    Ch. 1, "The Problem of Zionism", (p. 8): "It is important to frame the situation in Israel/Palestine within its proper context. Israel is not a natural phenomenon in the Middle East, did not arise as a normal result of circumstance, and had no historical antecedents in the region, despite the biblical mythology employed to suggest the contrary. It is a settler colonial state, set up denovo, aiming to provide a home for the Jews of the world, or as many of them as would come, with the aim of maintaining a permanent Jewish majority presence in that state..." click here!
  • Oren KESSLER: « Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict » . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2023, ISBN 978-1-5381-4880-8 • Hardback • February 2023 • $26.95 • (£20.99). click here!  
    In spring 1936, the Holy Land erupted in a rebellion that targeted both the local Jewish community and the British Mandate authorities that for two decades had midwifed the Zionist project. The Great Arab Revolt would last three years, cost thousands of lives—Jewish, British, and Arab—and cast the trajectory for the Middle East conflict ever since. Yet incredibly, no history of this seminal, formative first “Intifada” has ever been published for a general audience…
    Zack Rothbart, "A Journey to the Roots of Today’s Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" (Haaretz, April 5, 2023), click here!  ‘Palestine 1936,’ a new history of the Great Revolt in the British Mandate of Palestine, argues that the seeds for the Mideast conflict were cultivated, if not sown, nearly a century ago.
  • Thomas SUÀREZ: « PALESTINE HIJACKED. How Zionism Forged an Apartheid State from River to Sea » . Olive Branch Press, 2023, ISBN 978-1-62371-819-0, 470p., $ 25.00. click here!   For a 'Selection of Source Documents cited in this book, 'Palestine Hijacked,' and in other writings' of the author: click on paldocs.net. Presentation the back cover: click here!
    The Israel-Palestine so-called “conflict” is typically understood to be a clash between two ethnic groups—Arabs and Jews—inhabiting the same land. Thomas Suárez digs deep below these preconceptions and their supporting “narratives” to expose something starkly different: The violent take-over of Palestine by a European racial-nationalist settler movement, Zionism, using terror to assert by force a claim to the land that has no legal or moral basis.
    About this book: How terror was used by Zionist militias to transform Palestine into an apartheid settler state. The Israel-Palestine “conflict” is typically understood to be a clash between two ethnic groups—Arabs and Jews—inhabiting the same land. Thomas Suárez digs deep below these preconceptions and their supporting “narratives” to expose something starkly different: The violent take-over of Palestine by a European racial-nationalist settler movement, Zionism, using terror to assert by force a claim to the land that has no legal or moral basis...
  • Nada KISWANSON & Susan POWER (edd.): « Prolonged Occupation and International Law. Israel and Palestine . » Series: International Humanitarian Law Series, Volume: 66 (Brill, 2023, 408pp.) Info: click here.
    This volume arose from a desire to advance academic discourse and reflection on the broader subject of prolonged occupation. Presentation: by Al-Haq, 30 March 2023, click here.
    "This collection is the best and most comprehensive scholarly work to date on International Law and the longest illegal occupation in modern world; a monumental achievement and a must read for anyone interested in human rights and ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of International Law in Occupied Palestine." Nur Masalha, Historian and Professor, SOAS University of London.
  • Francesca P ALBANESE & Lex TAKKENBERG: « UNRWA and the Palestinian refugees: Protecting refugee rights while structurally addressing the agency’s financially unsustainable modus operandi. » Refugees Study Centre, Working Paper, Series 138, 27/02/2023, 18p. download here.
    The 73-year-long failure to resolve the Palestinian refugee question, and the discourse around it, especially since Madrid and Oslo, combined with the unsustainability of UNRWA’s current modus operandi – essentially a means to manage the humanitarian dimension of the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict – prompt a critical re-examination of the way the Palestinian refugee question has been approached and how UNRWA has interpreted and implemented its mandate over the past decades. This paper calls for a fundamental paradigm shift in the approach to protection of and solutions for the Palestinian refugees...
  • John DUGARD, Michael LYNK & Richard FALK: « OCCUPIED PALESTINE: Working Through the United Nations. » Foreword by Francesca Albanese. Clarity Press, 2023, ISBN 978-1-949762-54-9; eBook ISBN 978-1-949762-55-6, 398p., 2023; $32.95 - $22.00. click here!
    This book is the first comprehensive examination of UN efforts to protect Palestinian human rights in the territories occupied by Israel more than 50 years ago in the 1967 War. Working through the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, three top international legal experts – Richard Falk, John Dugard and Michael Lynk – served for six consecutive years as unpaid Special Rapporteurs with a UN mandate to report on Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and human rights standards. Being outside the discipline that controls UN bureaucrats, they enjoyed a high measure of political independence in carrying out their factfinding and reporting missions. Strikingly, despite their differences in background and political outlook, they came to a unanimous consensus confirming the routine and various Israeli violations of Palestinian basic rights.
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Solidarity Calls:
« These Israeli youth are burning their draft orders — and no longer feeling alone »
Oren Ziv (+972, May May 24, 2023):
Left-wing high schoolers describe how the anti-government protests have provided a window for the mainstreaming of views long deemed illegitimate, click here!
« Refuser Solidarity Network provides an international base of support for those who refuse to serve the Israeli occupation »
Refuser Solidarity Network ─ Mesarvot*:
Since 2004, Refuser Solidarity Network provides crucial support to Israel's military refusers in the toughest of political circumstances. We provide funds for for demonstrations outside prison, for legal fees, for media campaigns that tell conscientious objector’s stories to the general public, for education programs for Israeli and American audiences about their important resistance to the occupation. Refusers work to end the Israeli occupation and create a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis, and Refuser Solidarity Network is here for them.
« ‘Refusing is the minimum’: Why these Israeli teens are objecting to army service. » Ahead of imprisonment, four conscientious objectors share their reasons for refusing conscription and their hopes of inspiring opposition to apartheid," by Oren Ziv (+972, September 2, 2022), click here!
Today, amidst a wave of refusal, during which thousands of Israeli soldiers issue statements of public refusal in protest of the Israeli government’s race to promote a cluster of anti-democratic laws, we are at a critical point for the refuser movement. Please make sure to share this link with everyone you know and to sign up for our updates so you can all become a part of our community.
* Mesarvot is an Israeli network supporting those who refuse to be soldiers of the Israeli Occupation. Refuser Solidarity Network is an international network supporting the refusers.

Get Involved! Contribute to the RSN today to help us bring the story of Israel refusers to Jewish communities and other crucial constituencies around the world: donate now!

 
Contact: click here!

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