"WE WILL PICKET THE PROMS" -PROTEST AGAINST THE ISRAELI PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Dear all,

Here is BRICUP's (British Committee for Universities in Palestine) latest press release, attached in Word format and

below as plain text.

Send your protest emails to Roger Wright c/o his assistant: 

yvette.pusey@bbc.co.uk <mailto:yvette.pusey@bbc.co.uk>

Hard copy letters to:

Roger Wright,

Controller BBC Radio 3

Director BBC Proms,

Broadcasting House,

Portland Place

London W1B 1DJ

 from:

Sue Blackwell

on behalf of BRICUP

*BRICUP*

*British Committee for Universities of Palestine*

*PRESS RELEASE 7th August 2011*

*for immediate release*

**

*"We will picket the Proms": BRICUP calls on 'music-lovers of conscience' to 

boycott the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

BRICUP, the organisation promoting academic and cultural boycott of Israel 

within the UK, today called on promenaders to shun the Israel Philharmonic 

Orchestra when it plays at the Royal Albert Hall on 1st September.

BRICUP was responding to the open letter sent to the Proms organisers on July 

18th by PACBI, its Palestinian counterpart.PACBI referred to "the IPO's 

complicity in whitewashing Israel's persistent violations of international law 

and human rights", mentioning specifically the IPO's services to the Israeli 

army dating back to the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba in 1948 and the 

occupations of 1967, and continuing up to the present day: "the IPO proudly 

announces its partnership with the army under a scheme whereby special concerts 

for Israeli soldiers are organized at their army outposts".On behalf of the 

leading Palestinian musical and cultural organisations, PACBI called on the BBC 

to withdraw its invitation to the IPO.

BRICUP wrote its own letter to Roger Wright, Director of the Proms, on 31st 

July, attaching a copy of PACBI's Open Letter for good measure. In it BRICUP's 

chair, Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, wrote: "By inviting the IPO, a pillar of 

the Israeli state system and of its cultural propaganda campaign, you provide 

the Israeli government, perpetrator of the Cast Lead invasion of Gaza and of so 

many other violations of international law and of human rights, with the support 

that they crave. Cancel the concert!"

This was Mr Wright's reply from the BBC:

Dear Dr Blackwell

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am sorry that you feel as you do about the invitation we have extended

this year to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. I can assure you that

the invitation to the orchestra is a purely musical one, giving the

audience the opportunity to hear this fine orchestra during this year's

Proms, not least during the 75th birthday year of Zubin Mehta. I

recognise your feelings on this issue, but at the same time I trust that

you will still be able to appreciate many of the BBC Proms, if not the

concert on September 1st.

Yours sincerely

Roger Wright

Controller, BBC Radio 3 and Director, BBC Proms

"This is no surprise to anyone who knows what the BBC is like regarding 

Palestine", said Dr. Sue Blackwell, one of 19 people who pursued an appeal to 

the BBC Trust concerning bias in the Panorama programme about the Israeli 

assault on the Mavi Marmara."The BBC would not even screen the Disasters 

Emergency Committee appeal for civilians in Gaza who had had their homes and 

schools bombed in Operation Cast Lead, and they recently bleeped the word 

'Palestine' out of a rap performance by Mic Righteous."

BRICUP's Chris Burns-Cox."They are mistaken if they think we will just go away.

We are now calling on all music-lovers of conscience to boycott this Prom, and

to call on the BBC to cancel it.We will be picketing and leafleting outside the

Royal Albert Hall on 1st September".

Prof. Rosenhead said: "For years now the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has 

been promoting 'Brand Israel', a deliberate PR campaign to divert people's gaze 

from what they are doing to Palestinians. The idea is to craft a new image by 

focusing on Israel's cultural and scientific achievements. This Prom concert by 

the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra is part of the Brand Israel campaign." 

*******************************************

1. Details of the Prom appear on the BBC website here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2011/september-01/73

2. The PACBI (Palestinian BDS campaign) call for academic and cultural 

boycott of Israel:

http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=869

3. PACBI's open letter: "Out of Tune with Human Rights"

BBC Proms: Cancel Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Invitation

http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1670

4. BRICUP's letter to Roger Wright is attached.

5. For further information contact:

Jonathan Rosenhead 07969 961775

(in the UK till Aug 17th)

Sue Blackwell 

sue.blackwell@gmail.com

0792 995 3893

(out of the country until 14th August so e-mail contact 

preferred)

*www.bricup.org.uk*

------------------------------------------------------------

ISRAEL PROPERTY EXHIBITION A DESERTED FLOP!

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011 AT 11:28PM

Posted on 5 July 2011 

Report by Isvestia

http://londonbds.org/2011/07/05/israel-property-exhibition-a-deserted-flop/

Sunday 26 June 2011

On one of the hottest days of the summer, human rights campaigners assembled outside the Israel Property & Investment Exhibition at the up-market Regents Park Marriott Hotel near Swiss Cottage in North West London.

Inside, Israeli property companies had hired space to entice the public to buy real estate. Outside, Palestinian rights campaigners, along with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), created a highly visual display with flags, placards, signs and banners which had a simple message: ‘Stop Stealing Palestinian Land.’

Campaigners spoke to and handed out a variety of literature to visitors, hotel guests and the general public informing them about Israeli Apartheid, illegal settlements and the theft of Palestinian land.

Within a short time, one thing became obvious: There were very few - if any -people interested in buying real estate in Israel!

Over the two hours leading up to the keynote address by the exhibition’s organisers, Palestinian rights campaigners counted and observed no more than a small handful of people going into the exhibition; and those that did could not but help notice the human rights campaigners outside the hotel.

An activist who gained admission to the property exhibition, spoke to exhibitors, as well as collected brochures and reported back that they were the only person present.

Orthodox economists are fond of saying you cannot buck the market; if that’s true, then the Israel Property Exhibition gives us an indication of what the market is thinking: People do not believe that buying property in Israel is a safe investment for the future

APJP | Post a Comment | Share Article

Dear all,

Here is BRICUP's (British Committee for Universities in Palestine) latest press release, attached in Word format and

below as plain text.

Send your protest emails to Roger Wright c/o his assistant: 

yvette.pusey@bbc.co.uk <mailto:yvette.pusey@bbc.co.uk>

Hard copy letters to:

Roger Wright,

Controller BBC Radio 3

Director BBC Proms,

Broadcasting House,

Portland Place

London W1B 1DJ

 from:

Sue Blackwell

on behalf of BRICUP

*BRICUP*

*British Committee for Universities of Palestine*

*PRESS RELEASE 7th August 2011*

*for immediate release*

**

*"We will picket the Proms": BRICUP calls on 'music-lovers of conscience' to 

boycott the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

BRICUP, the organisation promoting academic and cultural boycott of Israel 

within the UK, today called on promenaders to shun the Israel Philharmonic 

Orchestra when it plays at the Royal Albert Hall on 1st September.

BRICUP was responding to the open letter sent to the Proms organisers on July 

18th by PACBI, its Palestinian counterpart.PACBI referred to "the IPO's 

complicity in whitewashing Israel's persistent violations of international law 

and human rights", mentioning specifically the IPO's services to the Israeli 

army dating back to the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba in 1948 and the 

occupations of 1967, and continuing up to the present day: "the IPO proudly 

announces its partnership with the army under a scheme whereby special concerts 

for Israeli soldiers are organized at their army outposts".On behalf of the 

leading Palestinian musical and cultural organisations, PACBI called on the BBC 

to withdraw its invitation to the IPO.

BRICUP wrote its own letter to Roger Wright, Director of the Proms, on 31st 

July, attaching a copy of PACBI's Open Letter for good measure. In it BRICUP's 

chair, Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, wrote: "By inviting the IPO, a pillar of 

the Israeli state system and of its cultural propaganda campaign, you provide 

the Israeli government, perpetrator of the Cast Lead invasion of Gaza and of so 

many other violations of international law and of human rights, with the support 

that they crave. Cancel the concert!"

This was Mr Wright's reply from the BBC:

Dear Dr Blackwell

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am sorry that you feel as you do about the invitation we have extended

this year to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. I can assure you that

the invitation to the orchestra is a purely musical one, giving the

audience the opportunity to hear this fine orchestra during this year's

Proms, not least during the 75th birthday year of Zubin Mehta. I

recognise your feelings on this issue, but at the same time I trust that

you will still be able to appreciate many of the BBC Proms, if not the

concert on September 1st.

Yours sincerely

Roger Wright

Controller, BBC Radio 3 and Director, BBC Proms

"This is no surprise to anyone who knows what the BBC is like regarding 

Palestine", said Dr. Sue Blackwell, one of 19 people who pursued an appeal to 

the BBC Trust concerning bias in the Panorama programme about the Israeli 

assault on the Mavi Marmara."The BBC would not even screen the Disasters 

Emergency Committee appeal for civilians in Gaza who had had their homes and 

schools bombed in Operation Cast Lead, and they recently bleeped the word 

'Palestine' out of a rap performance by Mic Righteous."

BRICUP's Chris Burns-Cox."They are mistaken if they think we will just go away.

We are now calling on all music-lovers of conscience to boycott this Prom, and

to call on the BBC to cancel it.We will be picketing and leafleting outside the

Royal Albert Hall on 1st September".

Prof. Rosenhead said: "For years now the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has 

been promoting 'Brand Israel', a deliberate PR campaign to divert people's gaze 

from what they are doing to Palestinians. The idea is to craft a new image by 

focusing on Israel's cultural and scientific achievements. This Prom concert by 

the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra is part of the Brand Israel campaign." 

*******************************************

1. Details of the Prom appear on the BBC website here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2011/september-01/73

2. The PACBI (Palestinian BDS campaign) call for academic and cultural 

boycott of Israel:

http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=869

3. PACBI's open letter: "Out of Tune with Human Rights"

BBC Proms: Cancel Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Invitation

http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1670

4. BRICUP's letter to Roger Wright is attached.

5. For further information contact:

Jonathan Rosenhead 07969 961775

(in the UK till Aug 17th)

Sue Blackwell 

sue.blackwell@gmail.com

0792 995 3893

(out of the country until 14th August so e-mail contact 

preferred)

*www.bricup.org.uk*

------------------------------------------------------------

ISRAEL PROPERTY EXHIBITION A DESERTED FLOP!

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011 AT 11:28PM

Posted on 5 July 2011 

Report by Isvestia

http://londonbds.org/2011/07/05/israel-property-exhibition-a-deserted-flop/

Sunday 26 June 2011

On one of the hottest days of the summer, human rights campaigners assembled outside the Israel Property & Investment Exhibition at the up-market Regents Park Marriott Hotel near Swiss Cottage in North West London.

Inside, Israeli property companies had hired space to entice the public to buy real estate. Outside, Palestinian rights campaigners, along with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), created a highly visual display with flags, placards, signs and banners which had a simple message: ‘Stop Stealing Palestinian Land.’

Campaigners spoke to and handed out a variety of literature to visitors, hotel guests and the general public informing them about Israeli Apartheid, illegal settlements and the theft of Palestinian land.

Within a short time, one thing became obvious: There were very few - if any -people interested in buying real estate in Israel!

Over the two hours leading up to the keynote address by the exhibition’s organisers, Palestinian rights campaigners counted and observed no more than a small handful of people going into the exhibition; and those that did could not but help notice the human rights campaigners outside the hotel.

An activist who gained admission to the property exhibition, spoke to exhibitors, as well as collected brochures and reported back that they were the only person present.

Orthodox economists are fond of saying you cannot buck the market; if that’s true, then the Israel Property Exhibition gives us an indication of what the market is thinking: People do not believe that buying property in Israel is a safe investment for the future

Lia Tarachansky: ‘Fly-In’ activists on mass deportation from Israel

Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv: 'Fly-In' demonstration - 8 July 2011
http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2011-07-10/lia-tarachansky-fly-in-activists-on-mass-deportation-from-israel/

By Lia Tarachansky, The Real News Network  <http://www.therealnews.com/> – 10 July 2011
 
 
Watch the Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL-I7Nj2b9M&feature=player_embedded
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACTION ALERT UPDATE: let's keep the pressure on Washington!

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Action Alert Update July 3, 2011 - 6 pm NY time  Just got word from Athens: the 8 people who were fasting in front of the U.S. Embassy have been arrested. They are Ken Mayers, Carol Murry, Medea Benjamin, Paki Wieland, Ray McGovern, Brad Taylor, Kit Kitteridge and Kathy Kelly. We will not have any more news until the morning.
 In the meantime, let's keep the pressure on Washington. They need to pressure the Greek government to release our captain, our boat and now these 8 people as well! Let them sail to Gaza!!!

Throughout this country people have responded to our call to contact the U.S. State Department to demand that they take the steps necessary to ensure that the Greek authorities immediately release the captain and let our boat sail to Gaza. In fact, there has been such a strong response that we are hearing their voice mailboxes are full! That's great, but of course frustrating for those of you trying to make those calls.  Here are some other phone numbers and email addresses to try:

• State Department general number: 202-647-4000 - ask for the Overseas U.S. Citizen Services Duty Officer and you'll get a live State Dept. official who has to hear you out.
• The voicemail for Kim Richter - also at the State Dept. - says she's out of the office for several days, and that callers with urgent issues should contact a colleague at 202-647-4578.
• If you can place an international phone call, the number for the U.S. Embassy in Athens is 011-30-210-721-2951.
• You can email the U.S. Embassy in Athens at: athensamemb@state.gov or you can send an email to them at: athensamericancitizenservices@state.gov
  

Please also try to call, fax or email your members of Congress as well.  Help us keep the pressure up!!

GET ON BOARD THE U.S. TO GAZA CAMPAIGN

VISIT WWW.USTOGAZA.ORG <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=wumi8ydab&et=1106379474255&s=4549&e=00141TwwFgUxjxXLI6-g7Zuo2tNO8qkKmrmtmtzVjMsUuFpiycNOyuUQV0dL7q7ZXJ31AkxU-w86nYbtV2xBxvdKqE0ZFNel8eLKF3vcJvakKc=>

TO ENDORSE AND CONTRIBUTE

Thank you for your support
Please distribute widely
 <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=wumi8ydab&et=1106379474255&s=4549&e=00141TwwFgUxjxMuIgSk7Xchzriocb-pwbp6oy-5W8wFy4ocM0vtTZS6wENNUtjTxVG7YOiCuZLueFCy5gY2jQyjERmzP0Lh6sWffb-2ub5DfH1-a0vDCv28cedfHa4wXyC>    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=wumi8ydab&et=1106379474255&s=4549&e=00141TwwFgUxjz6_Pdx0PEOHfq-aMZm6s4oyBdiwBV9Wm7TfyXO38BaUJXY565ASvwyLSxKCThHAx-pix-_sx0DgIVhwiKY2I2jk7aVLPiSh2fvGwCO4Jrz5WBhZTfkbmRU>    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=wumi8ydab&et=1106379474255&s=4549&e=00141TwwFgUxjwZsmezhod4ucLTwvmVXQPQwnBkzzS6mq58lTQCN1QvPfnN-xDsJEkh1A6eyH6LuP0JNEG4NFIm2MdwvaJeDibPK6WMTP72OKDVPxtZ_C30SCjuw1t_dlKwMW3snNCaWY4=>  

Stop the JNF Campaign: Media Release

Friday May 27th 2011; NO EMBARGO
Stop the JNF Campaign: Media Release
 
Cameron drops Israel ‘racist’ charity
 
Prime Minister David Cameron has quietly terminated his status as an Honorary Patron of the controversial Jewish National Fund (JNF).  His office confirmed he had “stepped down”.  For many years leaders of all three main political parties became Honorary Patrons of the JNF by convention.  According to Dick Pitt, a spokesperson for the Stop the JNF Campaign, “since 2006 Cameron has been the only leader of the three major parties remaining as a JNF Patron.  This decline in political support for the JNF at the highest levels of the political tree may be a sign of the increasing awareness in official quarters that a robust defence of the activities of the JNF may not be sustainable.”  
 
The news of Cameron’s move has reached Palestinians in refugee camps, people whose land is under the control of the JNF.  Salah Ajarma in Bethlehem’s Aida Refugee Camp was “delighted to hear the news that the British Prime Minister has decided to withdraw his support for this sinister organisation involved in ethnic cleansing. My village, Ajjur, was taken by force from my family and given to the JNF who used money from JNF UK to plant the British Park on its ruins. For the Palestinians who were evicted from their villages and have been prevented from returning, Cameron's withdrawal is another victory on the road to achieving justice and freedom for the Palestinians".
 
The JNF chairman Samuel Hayek defends the work of the organisation saying, “for over 100 years we have had one mission: to settle and develop the Land of Israel” as pioneers of the “historic Zionist dream”.  The registered charity claims their work, especially in the Negev region of Israel, deals with “the rising demographic challenges faced by Israel”.  In recent months the JNF’s activities in the Negev have received extensive international media coverage, linking them to the demolition of Palestinian Bedouin villages and confiscation of the land of the village.  Campaigners report that “even Israeli courts have criticised the JNF as an organisation that discriminates against non-Jews and there is mounting evidence of the JNF’s involvement in Israel’s programme to change the ethnic composition of areas inside 1948 Israel as well as in Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories.  It is not acceptable that such an organisation is allowed to operate in the UK, much less to enjoy charity status”.    
 
Michael Kalmanovitz, UK co-ordinator of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, said “Cameron’s patronage of the JNF lent parliamentary credibility to a criminal organisation backed by a highly-equipped occupying army and masquerading as a ‘humanitarian charity’.  Now parliamentarians who are ‘Friends of Israel’ must consider how much longer they can defend Israeli apartheid and worse.“
 
Pressure has been mounting on Cameron and the JNF.  An Early Day Motion in the Westminster Parliament highlighted the Prime Minister’s status as honorary patron and claimed that “there is just cause to consider revocation of the JNF's charitable status in the UK”.  UK and international JNF fund-raising events increasingly face protests due, campaigners argue, to “a shift in public opinion on Israel generally”.  In 2007, the American JNF application for consultative status on a key UN committee was rejected because delegates were unable to distinguish between the activities of the US Branch and those of the JNF in Israel whose activities the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concerns about.
 
The Stop the JNF Campaign has workshops planned in London on 4 June 2011 and protests against JNF fundraising activities will be organised throughout the coming year.
 
ENDS
 
 
Notes for editors:
 
1. The Stop the JNF Campaign is an international campaign aimed at ending the role of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet LeIsrael) (JNF-KKL) in:
-          the on-going displacement of indigenous Palestinians from their land

-          the theft of their property

-          the funding of historic and present day colonies, and

-          the destruction of the natural environment.

 
The JNF continues to serve as a global fundraiser for Israeli ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid. Despite its role in a State institution of Israel (the Israel Land Authority) and in institutionalized racism and apartheid, the JNF and its affiliate organizations enjoy charitable status in over 50 countries.
 
For further information, contact gb@stopthejnf.org <mailto:gb@stopthejnf.org> , 07931200361
Website: www.stopthejnf.org.uk <http://www.stopthejnf.org.uk>     
 
2. Email from Prime Minister’s Press Office, Thu, 26 May 2011
Following the formation of the Coalition Government last year, a review
was undertaken of all the organisations and charities the Prime Minister
was associated with. As a result of this review, the Prime Minister
stepped down from a number of charities - this included the JNF. A full
list of all the charities and organisations the Prime Minister and Mrs
Cameron are associated with is published on the Cabinet Office website.
 
Rachel Stanton
Prime Minister's Press Office
10 Downing Street
SW1A 2AA
020 7930 4433
 
3. ‘Cameron Becomes New JNF Patron’, TotallyJewish.com, 2nd February 2006
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/?content_id=2661
 
4. Extract from ‘The British Park’ by Uri Davis, JNF e-book volume 1, p21
“The JNF-UK, as in other countries in Europe and the Americas, is a registered charity. The planting of the British Park over the lands of destroyed Palestinian villages, including Ajjur and Zakariyya, can in no way be described as ‘charitable’.  Rather it ought to be classified as an act and as a policy of complicity with war crimes. The British Park and the recreational facility developed in the shade of its forest trees serve to veil from critical public view war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army in the course of, and in the wake of, the 1948 war. This policy of
complicity with war crimes has been maintained by subsequent Israeli Governments, underpinned by Acts of Parliament such as the Jewish National Fund Law of 1950 and the Covenant signed between the JNF and the state of Israel in 1961.”
http://www.stopthejnf.org/documents/JNFeBookVol1ed2x.pdf
 
5. Samuel Hayek in ‘Supporting Israel for Life’, JNF Charitable Trust, Annual Report & Accounts 2009
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends10%5C0000225910_AC_20091231_E_C.PDF

6. The JNF in the Negev (Naqab)
‘Shattering Israel's image of 'democracy'’, The Guardian, 3 December 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/03/israel-negev

 
‘Cameron-backed charity accused of discriminating against non-Jews’, 10 June 2010
http://www.jnews.org.uk/news/cameron-backed-charity-accused-of-discriminating-against-non-jews

‘The Israelis keep bulldozing their village, but still the Bedouin will not give up their land’, The Guardian, 1 March 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/01/israelis-demolish-bedouin-village

‘Stop creating forests that are destroying Bedouin lives’, Amnesty International, 11 April 2011
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/stop-destruction-bedouin-village-and-its-inhabitants%E2%80%99-livelihoods-5
 
7. The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
http://www.ijsn.net/home/ <http://www.ijsn.net/home/>
 
8. Early day motion 1677, JEWISH NATIONAL FUND, Session: 2010-11
“That this House welcomes the Stop the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Campaign launched on 30 March 2011 by the Palestinian Boycott National Committee, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others to inform the public about the JNF - Karen Kayemet L'Yisrael, its ongoing illegal expropriation of Palestinian land, concealing of destroyed Palestinian villages beneath parks and forests, and prevention of refugees from returning to their homes; notes that the JNF's constitution is explicitly discriminatory by stating that land and property will never be rented, leased or sold to non-Jews; further notes that the UN rejected the JNF USA's application for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council on the ground that it violates the principles of the UN Charter on Human Rights; regrets that the Prime Ministeris a JNF honorary patron; and believes that there is just cause to consider revocation of the JNF's charitable status in the UK.”
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-11/1677  
 
9. UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) rejects JNF (US) application for consultative status (2007)
- Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC/6267 NGO/618, http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/ecosoc6267.doc.html
- Badil resources centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights: http://www.badil.org/en/article74/item/429-the-jewish-national-fund-jnf <http://www.badil.org/en/article74/item/429-the-jewish-national-fund-jnf>
- CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION, Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (para19), http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/041AB84D2F05080C85257302004A9963

10. Challenge the JNF: Stop the JNF Campaign Workshops, London, 4 June 2011
http://www.stopthejnf.org/greatbritain_takeaction_workshop4june2011.html <http://www.stopthejnf.org/greatbritain_takeaction_workshop4june2011.html>  
 
11. End fund-raising in Scotland for ethnic cleansing in Palestine, 21 June 2011
http://www.stopthejnf.org/greatbritain_takeaction_protest21june2011.html <http://www.stopthejnf.org/greatbritain_takeaction_protest21june2011.html>
 
 

Israeli land agency bulldozes Bedouin village in Negev again and again

A family sit on what was their home, after they were forcibly evicted, al-'Araqib village, southern Israel, 27 July 2010

Stop creating forests that are destroying Bedouin lives
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/stop-destruction-bedouin-village-and-its-inhabitants%E2%80%99-livelihoods-5>

Amnesty International: How you can help

The Bedouin village of al-‘Araqib in the Negev desert in southern Israel has been demolished at least 20 times since July 2010. Each time the residents re-erect their makeshift shelters, the Israel Land Administration (ILA) arrives with bulldozers to flatten the village again.
This is being done to make way for a forest, while some 250 Bedouin men, women and children face permanent forced eviction from their homes and land to which they have a long-established claim. Now they cannot even access the land on which they used to live, grow their crops and keep their livestock, and their olive and fruit trees have been uprooted to enable the planting of a new forest which will not benefit them.
Al-‘Araqib is one of more than 40 “unrecognized villages” in Israel whose residents lack security of tenure and public services. Contrary to statements by the ILA, the residents of al-‘Araqib can document their claims to the land dating back to Ottoman times, but the Israeli government has consistently refused to recognize these claims.
The villagers have initiated legal proceedings seeking recognition of their traditional land claims. However, some of their court appeals are pending even as the Jewish National Fund (JNF) continues with forestation plans over the villagers’ lands.

The JNF – a semi-governmental organization which promotes Jewish settlement in Israel and has offices in several Western countries as well as Israel – has already landscaped the entire area of the village to prepare for forestation. Meanwhile, displaced local Bedouin families have been forced by Israeli riot police to live inside a cemetery located on the outskirts of the village.

TAKE ACTION
As a supporter of Amnesty International, we urge you to write to the Chairman of the JNF, Effie Stenzler, (click on link below) urging him to place a moratorium on all forestation operations in al-‘Araqib. The JNF says in its mission statement that it is “focused on building, developing and sustaining the land and its people.” Al-‘Araqib residents are Israeli citizens with a long-standing claim to the lands in question. The JNF must not take actions that could permanently violate their rights to housing, land and livelihood.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/stop-destruction-bedouin-village-and-its-inhabitants’-livelihoods-5