BREAKING NEWS: Israel's Attack on Humanitarian Ship to Gaza

BREAKING NEWS: Israel's Attack on Humanitarian Ship to Gaza. Updated Report
by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, May 16, 2011
 

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie (officially known as FINCH) carrying a humanitarian cargo to Gaza was attacked by an Israeli naval patrol within the so-called Palestinian Security Zone on May 15, at 10.54pm EDT.

In the course of the last few hours, Global Research has communicated several times with the Rachel Corrie vessel en route to Gaza. What is provided below is a detailed update. An earlier article was posted at 12.30am EDT  

The vessel left the Greek Port of Piraeus, on Wednesday, May 11. The humanitarian initiative is sponsored by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF), chaired by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad.

Participating in this mission are anti-war activists and journalists, consisting of 7 Malaysians, 2 Irish, 2 Indians and 1 Canadian. The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) is a partner in this endeavor. Global Research`s Julie Lévesque is on board the Rachel Corrie:

The cargo ship The Spirit of Rachel Corrie (officially known as FINCH) is carrying 7.5 kilometers of UPVC (plastic) sewage pipes to help restore the devastated sewerage system in Gaza. The ship was named after the courageous American activist who was crushed and killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 while trying to prevent the demolition of another Palestinian home. She died at 23. ( Perdana's Second Press Release, Nakba and the Spirit of Rachel Corrie: Humanitarian Ship Attacked by Israel now within 1.5 nautical miles of Gazan Waters  Global Research, May 16, 2011)

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie entered Gazan waters without being detected.

The Israeli navy with its radar equipment and advanced communications technology was unaware of the Spirit of Rachel Corrie Mission.

They were unprepared.  They had received no prior information of the Rachel Corrie Mission, which had been planned for several months, scheduled to arrive off the coast of Gaza on the day of the "Nakba" commemoration. 

Ironically, Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency was unaware of this mission. The Israeli navy vessels acted in an improvised fashion, without prior knowledge or intelligence. There was no indication that they had received precise instructions from the Israeli government.

At the time of the attack, the passengers on board were under the impression that the ship was still in international waters, when in fact is was one mile inside the "Palestinian Security zone", namely in Gaza territorial waters, within a short distance of the Gaza coastline. This was an important accomplishment. 

Indicated below is the initial report sent to Global Research by text message:

At 10.54 pm Eastern Time (EDT), the Spirit of Rachel Corrie was intercepted by an Israeli ship and a Egyptian ship in international waters [correction: within Gaza Territorial waters]

10:54pm EDT, Gaza 5:54am: We have been intercepted by Israeli ship and Egyptian ship. We are disobeying the orders and sailing ahead to Gaza.

10:57pm EDT, Gaza 5:57am: One Israeli warship coming to us very fast! We are in international waters, therefore they have no right to attack us. We are still sailing ahead.

10:59pm EDT, Gaza 5:59am: They are opening fire across our ship! We are still sailing ahead.

11:09pm EDT, Gaza 6:09am: They are shooting all over the place. We can't continue ...

11:35pm EDT, Gaza 6:35am: They circled our ship twice and fired across our ship. Machine guns. No one was injured. One of the fishing nets caught the propeller, so we can't move now.

11:37pm EDT, Gaza 6:37am: The Israeli ship was coming from one end and the Egyptian ship was coming from another end. Firing. We are just stalled now. Everybody is okay. No one is injured.

Two Israeli naval vessels initially launched a "warning attack" on the Rachel Corrie, indicating that if the ship did not change course, they would shoot at the crew and the passengers. One of the passengers was almost killed as a result of the attacks. (See Bernama, May 16, 2011)

The following exchange took place between the Israeli navy and the ship as reported by the Free Malaysia Today journalist on board the Spirit of Rachel Corrie:

"Israeli army: This is a warning shot. Turn around.

Captain Jalil Mansor: We are unarmed civilians on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

Israeli army: This is a closed military zone. It’s a violation. Turn around.

Mansor: We will continue (the mission).

The Israelis then headed to the back of the aid vessel and released a second warning shot into the air.

Graham: This is a violation (of international law). We are on a peaceful mission and unarmed.

Israeli army: Turn around. We will fire again.

Graham: You are firing towards unarmed civilians.

Israeli army: We didn’t fire towards unarmed civilians.

Graham: Looks like firing towards us.

Israeli army: We didn’t fire towards you. That is only a warning shot.

Following that conversation, the Israeli army fired two more shots and threatened: “Next time, we will land on your ship.”

Then the Egyptian navy was heard telling the Israelis on the radio: “Stop firing. They are in Egyptian waters.”

Upon realising the presence of Egyptian naval forces, the Israelis departed." (Free Malaysia Today, http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/05/16/israel-fires-warning-shots-at-msian-ship/ May 16, 2011)

The Egyptian navy guard was initially unaware of what was occurring. The Israeli navy contacted the Egyptian navy and initially got no response.

Our earlier report (filed at 12.30am) following communication with the ship shortly after midnight (March 16) pointed to cooperation between the Israeli navy and their Egyptian counterparts. While there was cooperation, the Egyptians played a supportive role, which served to appease the Israeli attacks. They also ensured the escorting of the Spirit of Rachel Corrie into Egyptian territorial waters.  

The Israeli Navy had contacted the Spirit of Rachel Corrie. They were informed regarding the nature of the cargo and that the crew and passengers were unarmed civilians.

The warning attack was aggressive using automatic weapons. Two Israeli naval patrol boats armed with machine guns were deployed. The Israelis also opened fire on a Palestinian fishing boat which was within Gazan territorial waters.

Following the initial "warning attack" they ordered the Spirit of Rachel Corrie to turn back. "Turn around or we'll shoot". However, once the ship changed course as demanded by the Israeli commando, they continued firing on the ship:  "They started shooting to kill"

The Egyptian navy ship while communicating with the Israeli Navy was instrumental in escorting the ship to safe haven. The crew of the Egyptian ship was supportive in ensuring the safety of the crew and passengers of the humanitarian vessel. 

There was communication between the Israeli and Egyptian ships and the Israeli's "thanked" the Egyptian ship for having intervened.

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie, its crew and passengers are  now in Egyptian territorial water, anchored off the Egyptian port of Al Arish, within a short distance of  Gaza territorial waters.

It is essential at this stage to mobilize Worldwide in support for the Spirit of Rachel Corrie, break the blockade, open up Gazan territorial waters to aid and trade and also use this opportunity to open the land border between Egypt and Gaza.




The humanitarian convoy is of significance in the process of rehabilitation of Gaza's public health infrastructure including its sewage system which was partially destroyed by Israeli bombings under Operation Cast Lead:

On 27 December 2008, the Israeli military launched Operation Cast Lead, which not only killed some 1400 Palestinians, but also destroyed vital infrastructure leaving the Gazans with critical water and sewage problems. Repair of the infrastructure has proved impossible as Israel has prevented the entry of construction materials and fuel to resolve this dire situation.

According to a report from the Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH), "the release of 80 million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage into the environment and Mediterranean Sea each day is primarily a result of the Israeli imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip."

Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated areas, is currently dealing with serious health issues such as the blue baby syndrome, diarrhea and other waterborne diseases like typhoid and hepatitis A. The World Health Organization is warning of a possible cholera epidemic if nothing is done rapidly to resolve this sanitation crisis.

According to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel: "Between 90% and 95% of the aquifers in the Gaza Strip are not safe for drinking." The primary cause of the current problem originates from the destruction, during Operation Cast Lead, of "20 kilometers of water pipes, 7.5 kilometers of sewage pipes and 5,700 mobile water tanks".

While the Gazans are experiencing the dramatic environmental impacts of the sewage and water crisis, the effects have already reached the Israeli shores, and could spread further affecting neighbouring countries. This severe health and environmental issue needs to be dealt with urgently. The international community must demand that the illegal Israeli blockade be lifted.

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie Mission stemmed from PGFP's participation in the Freedom Flotilla in 2010, in which 9 activists were killed by Israeli commandos. Following a fact finding mission conducted in Gaza in October 2010, PGPF decided to continue its efforts to assist Palestinians and shows this project as the most immediate of all priorities. See Perdana's Second Press Release, Nakba and the Spirit of Rachel Corrie: Humanitarian Ship Attacked by Israel now within 1.5 nautical miles of Gazan Waters0777 646 2379, Global Research, May 16, 2011)



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Stop the JNF Campaign: Media Release

 The Palestinian BDS National Committee

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Stop the JNF Campaign: Media Release  

National campaign launched against
Cameron’s racist charity

A national campaign is being launched today against the Jewish National Fund
(JNF), a UK registered charity whose patrons include high profile figures
such as Prime Minister David Cameron.   The JNF was created in 1901 by the
Fifth Zionist Congress in order to “build a country out of nothing”,
according to JNF literature.  However, Palestinian civil society
organisations say that from its establishment “the JNF has been a chief
partner in the Zionist colonial drive to dispossess indigenous Palestinians
of their land, culminating in the Nakba of 1948 when Zionist militias and
later Israel expelled a majority of the Palestinian population in order to
establish a state with a Jewish majority”.   Campaigners claim that the role
of the JNF remains unchanged until today and that the organisation, which
has para-statal status in Israel, should not benefit from charity status in
the UK.   Michael Kalmanovitz of the Stop the JNF Campaign says:

“the JNF controls land either directly or through the Israel Land Authority
on which it has majority seats.  That’s how it prevents Palestinians from
living or working on this Palestinian land.  According to the ideology of
the JNF and the state of Israel, as a Jewish person, Zionists have given me
more legal right to live on that land than the Palestinian people who were
born there, although I have never lived there.  For example, the Bedouin
village of al Araqib in the Negev has been demolished by the JNF twenty one
times since July 2010 in order to drive them out.”


“We refuse to stand by while the racist JNF is allowed to operate as a
legitimate organisation in this country receiving tax relief and other
associated benefits of being a charity.  Can we continue to allow racism to
be charitable in Britain?  Although Nick Clegg and Ed Milliband are not
patrons, unfortunately David Cameron has chosen to endorse the criminal
activities of the JNF.”

Samuel Hayek, chair of JNF UK, has said that “For over 100 years we have had
one mission: to settle and develop the Land of Israel.  Today, thanks to the
incredible support we receive and particularly our work in the Negev, JNF
continues to pioneer this historic Zionist dream in the 21st century.”   The
JNF is no stranger to protest.  Over the years the Charities Commission has
received complaints about the charitable status of the organisation.  In
December 2009 human rights protestors demonstrated outside the JNF ‘2020
Vision’ conference in Hendon.  Their guest speaker, Israeli Minister Tzipi
Livni, cancelled her appearance when Palestinian families affected by
Operation Cast Lead successfully applied for a warrant for her arrest.  
ENDS  

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Notes for editors:
 
1.  The Stop the JNF Campaign launch, Land Day, 30 March 2011:

History of the campaign
The first meeting to build the Stop the JNF campaign was held in Geneva in May 2009, during the World Conference Against Racism/Durban Review and the shadow Israel Review Conference.  Plans to build the campaign were started at this meeting with the Habitat International Coalition (HIC), the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC).
 
In May, 2010, these organizations co-sponsored an organizing meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, for activists and lawyers who were already building campaigns against the JNF in their regions. The goal of the meeting was the development and international coordination of campaigns against the Jewish National Fund (JNF). 
 
What is the campaign to stop the JNF?
Stop the JNF 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 (also known as Keren Kayemeth L'Yisrael or KKL) 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 and many also enjoy consultative status with the United Nations.
 
The Stop the JNF Campaign also launched internationally today, on 30 March, Land Day, which is a day of commemoration for six Palestinian citizens of Israel killed by security forces in 1976 for protesting Israeli government land expropriation and confiscation.
 
Stop the JNF Campaign
www.stopthejnf.org
gb@stopthejnf.org.uk
Tel 07931200361 or 07816251377
 
2.  Background Paper: The controversial land policies of the Jewish National Fund, by JNews: www.jnews.org.uk/commentary/background-paper-the-controversial-land-policies-of-the-jewish-national-fund
 
3.  Apartheid Israel: The Jewish National Fund, by Professor Uri Davis: www.uridavis.info/jewish_national_fund_apartheid_israel.htm
 
4.  A list of JNF patrons are available here: www.jnf.co.uk/about_executive.htm
 
5.  A statement by the Palestinian civil society organisations, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), 26 March 2011, Occupied Palestine: www.stopthejnf.org/supportingstatements_bnc26Mar2011.html
 
6.  JNF UK History: www.jnf.co.uk/about.html
 
7.  El Araqib Destroyed for 21st time, JNF Changing Facts on Ground: www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3384-el-araqib-destroyed-for-21st-time-jnf-changing-facts-on-ground
 
8.  For Samuel Hayek’s quote see JNF UK Accounts, 31 December 2009: www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ScannedAccounts/Ends10%5C0000225910_ac_20091231_e_c.pdf
 
9.  For a list of cases raised by the Charities Commission as a result of complaints see Appendix 5 in the JNF E-book Vol published in January 2010, ‘Introducing the Jewish National Fund’: http://www.stopthejnf.org/documents/JNFeBookVol1ed2x.pdf
 
10.  Israel confirms U.K. arrest warrant against Livni, published by Haaretz: www.haaretz.com/news/israel-confirms-u-k-arrest-warrant-against-livni-1.2133
 
11.  Jewish National Fund Conference resisted from inside and out, December 2009: www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/12/443416.html
 
12.  Protests at JNF events:

Goldie Hawn, 2009: www.haaretz.com/news/palestinians-protest-goldie-hawn-appearance-at-jnf-event-1.240993
Colin Powell, 2006: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4612560.stm
Ruby Wax, 2004, and campaigns to challenge the JNF: www.badil.org/en/component/k2/item/1408-napier-macleod-kershnar-jnfcampaigns
Bill Clinton, 2001: http://news.scotsman.com/news/Protest-over-Clinton-speech.2285143.jp & www.haaretz.com/news/anti-israel-protesters-jeer-clinton-in-glasgow-1.77005

13.  History of the Palestinians in Israel, Adalah (The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel): www.adalah.org/eng/backgroundhistory.php
 
14.  Palestinian call for a day of action, Land Day, 30 March 2011: http://bdsdayofaction.net/ 

Please support this important petition to save Lifta: URGENT!!!!!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lifta/

The Petition
 
Lifta, a most picturesque Palestinian village, lies on the slopes of West Jerusalem below the highway linking it to Tel-Aviv. It has been abandoned since the invading Hagana underground forces backed by the Stern Gang drove the last of its Palestinian inhabitants in 1948 during the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

It was the one single event which changed the nature of the place and the whole region. Although dozens of houses were destroyed, many of them still remain poised on the landscape.

Lifta is considered by many as a rare and fine example of Palestinian rural architecture with narrow streets aligned with the slopes of the mountains around it. Its cubist forms are a wonderful manifestation of the mastery of the Palestinian stone masons who were the indigenous owners and builders of these houses.

Today Lifta is more or less a ghost town suspended in space and remains deserted despite the fact that most of its original Palestinian inhabitants live in the surrounding communities. The Israeli authorities refuse to allow them to return.

Now the Jerusalem Municipality has produced plans to turn Lifta into a luxurious and exclusive Jewish development – reinventing its history in the process.

The Plan, numbered 6036, was designed by two architectural offices: G. Kartas – S. Grueg and S. Ahronson, as part of the “local space planning of Jerusalem”. The plan was submitted on June 28, 2004, and according to its title refers to “The Spring of National”. The plan, submitted to the Jerusalem Municipality Planning Committee in 2004, was approved by a regional committee.

In 2005, objections to the Plan were raised by several groups, including Bimkom (alternative center for Israeli planning) and the representatives of the regional committee of the organization and construction for the Al Quds-Jerusalem area.

In January 2011, the Israel Lands Authority published a tender for 212 luxury apartment villas and a hotel to be built in Lifta.  The published tender means gave contractors until March 6 to submit their bids for the project, which has already been approved by the Interior Ministry and the Jerusalem Municipality. The project was designed by the Ehud Tayar Engineering Firm.

In March 2011, a judge issued a restraining order so the plan to destroy Lifta is on hold for the meantime.  Now the struggle to prevent the destruction of the village moves to the public sphere.

Main Issues:

• The original Palestinian inhabitants of Lifta, their memories of the village, their exile and longing to return to Lifta are not mentioned, or even considered by the Municipality Master Plan.

• Lifta captures the moment of destruction of Palestinian life in 1948. Its 3,000 original inhabitants fled – mostly to East Jerusalem and to the Ramallah area. However, unlike many of the 530 Palestinian villages and towns conquered and bulldozed during the war of 1947/48, a few of Lifta’s houses remain almost intact, yet deserted and declared ‘officially’ resettled.

• These set of circumstances have placed Lifta in a unique position: its original inhabitants are still around, living in the OPT and the Chicago area with a desire that the injustices done in 1948 be acknowledged and repaired.

• In Israel, renovation projects are frequently used to build a national narrative, ignoring the deep contradictions between planning and human rights that inevitably arise out of such initiatives.

• With Lifta, we have a place where a new national transformation results in the erasure of another’ people’s memory as evidenced in the new Masterplan.

• Lifta is a tangible embodiment of the larger context of events in the region during 1947/48. Lifta can be a vital place for contemplating and understanding the concept of historical continuity.

• Lifta’s heritage is a story of a multicultural society, embracing a strong sense of an ethnically and religiously diverse community of Muslims, Jews and Christians which encapsulated a healthy civil equality amongst its inhabitants and the neighbouring communities. If Lifta were to be rejuvenated with due care to preserving its memory, it could offer a unique opportunity for the start of a new dialogue towards a conciliatory outcome.

Petition’s Aim:

This petition aims to save Lifta through the World Monuments Fund , amongst others, and to draw attention to this site which has been threatened by neglect, vandalism and forced occupation by extremist settlers.


Jaffa - Demonstration against settlements and provocation by settlers

Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 11:43PM

Demonstration by Jaffa residents against the settlement practice and the provocation by the settlers in the city, will take place on:
Saturday, January the 29th, 2011 at 5 p.m.

 Over the last weeks a few provocative events took place in which hundreds of settlers were involved. The most serious event was a march during which some 300 settlers marched through the city, shouting racist curses against the city's Arab citizens and towards the end of the march the prayers in the Nouzha mosque on Jerusalem Boulevard and the mosque itself were attacked with stones as well as insulted by the marchers.
The settlement phenomenon is on the increase in Jaffa, with a "Torah seed" group of about 20 families living and working in the community, lead by Rabbi Alpert and a "hesder" Torah seminary, headed by rabbi Mali, both leaders of the religious nationalist settlement movement, which indicated the mixed cities including Jaffa as a goal for colonization as well as to expel its Arab population.
The racist strategy of the settlers adds to the process of Judaization taking place in the city over several tens of years, as a result of the policies of the state's institutions (the Israel Land Administration and the Ministry of Housing) and the Tel Aviv city municipality, by lawmaking and development, pushing out the Arab population from their homes and neighborhoods.
On January 17th 2011 a meeting concerning the settlement practices in Jaffa took place, attended by residents, activists and representatives of various movements and organizations active in the city. All participants agreed on the gravity of the phenomenon, which needs to be reacted upon, both immediately as well as on the long term. The first step agreed upon, is to organize a large demonstration march through the city's streets, to protest against the racism and the settlers’ practice, aiming for the expulsion of its Arab population.

The demonstration will take place on Saturday the 29th, 2011 at 5 p.m. and will depart from the "Shem HaGdolim" neighborhood (163 Kedem street) towards the Etrog Market plot on HaEtrog Street.

A part of this plot was sold by the Israel Land Administration to the settler "Be'emuna" company with the explicit intent of establishing a neighborhood for religious Jews only.
The coalition of Jaffa organizations tried to stop this sale and the project in court but the decision was made favouring "Be'emuna".

http://apjp.org/supreme-court-okays-jewish-onl/



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End JNF complicity in displacing Israel's Negev Bedouin!

Targeting: Ronald Lauder (Chairman, Jewish National Fund), Stanley M. Chesley (President, Jewish National Fund), Russell Robinson (CEO, Jewish National Fund), see more...Ronald Lauder (Chairman, Jewish National Fund), Stanley M. Chesley (President, Jewish National Fund), Russell Robinson (CEO, Jewish National Fund), Menachem Leibovic (Deputy Chair, KKL-JNF), and Efi Stenzler (KKL-JNF World Chairman )

Started by: Jewish Alliance for Change

We, residents of the Negev, human rights activists, social organizations in Israel, Jewish and other allies in the United States and around the world, issue this call to the leadership of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in Israel and the U.S.: 

JNF must no longer serve as an accomplice to the discriminatory policy of the Government of Israel and the Israel Land Administration (ILA) designed to expel and dispossess the Negev Bedouin from their land. 

Join our urgent call to the leadership of JNF to:  

1.  Stop funding and participating in the forestation and development of any area that is the site of an existing or demolished Bedouin village.  Stop all development of lands for which Bedouin have made legal claims of ownership until their cases have been fully adjudicated in Israeli courts or a mutually agreeable just settlement is reached.

2.  Submit JNF’s development plans for the Negev to independent scrutiny by environmental, human rights and social justice organizations to work toward truly sustainable development of the Negev for ALL its inhabitants, Jews and Arabs alike.

3.  Fund projects for Israel’s Bedouin citizens and communities at levels that are proportional to the size of this population in the Negev—nearly 30%—recognizing the contribution of the Bedouin to the flourishing of the Negev. 

4.  Join with human rights organizations in Israel to allow the Bedouin to live on their traditional lands, as they have for many generations.   

Please use this link to add your name to the protest message which will be emailed right now to JNF’s top 3 leaders in the US:  Chairman Ronald Lauder, President Stanley M. Chesley and CEO Russell Robinson - and KKL-JNF's top 2 leaders in Israel:  KKL-JNF World Chairman Efi Stenzler and Deputy Chair Menachem Leibovic. 

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/equal_rights_sustainability_and_development_for_israels_negev_not_dispossession_of_the_bedouin

Background:  JNF is engaged in intensive forestation and development in the Negev designed to ensure a Jewish majority in the region.   To achieve this, it plants trees on large tracts of land containing Bedouin villages, many with ongoing legal claims of ownership, requiring massive dispossession of Arab Bedouin from their lands in order to open up space for the Jewish population. 

The destruction of the entire villages of Al-Arakib and Twail Abu Jarwal and the expulsion of hundreds of men, women and children to make way for JNF forests and Jewish-only settlements are but a few of many examples. 

JNF has filed with Israel’s Interior Ministry a publicly available plan for forestation which completely ignores the existence of “unrecognized” Bedouin villages in areas it intends to blanket with trees.  Detailed objections to the JNF plan have been submitted to Israel’s Ministry of Interior by Israeli human rights organizations. 

On Jan. 16 and 17, 2011,  the Israeli government sent bulldozers and Israeli riot police to demolish the Negev Bedouin village of Al-Arakib for the 9th time, shooting the residents with rubber bullets, beating them with batons, injuring 11 people, 5 of whom were hospitalized.  The police arrested 11 Israeli human rights activists who attempted to help the residents rebuild their village. 

Israel Lands Administration Development Director Shlomo Zeizer said "We are making an effort to find a FINAL SOLUTION to what's happening in Al-Arakib," and "We are preparing the ground for planting," clearly implicating the JNF, which has now built a new camp in Al-Arakib (under Israel Police protection) for its bulldozers to plant a forest there, prevent the return of the Bedouin forever and cover up all traces of Bedouin life in the demolished village.   These shocking statements were printed only in the Hebrew edition of YNET's 1/16/11 report, and omitted from the English edition. 

The Open Letter has been signed by a big tent of 36 ideologically diverse Israeli and American Jewish organizations – 28 NGOs, human rights organizations and social movements from the Negev and Israel and 8 American Jewish organizations: 

From Israel:  

■  Al-Arakib Village Committee ■  Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality ■ Rabbis for Human Rights, Israel ■ Shatil – Leading Social Change, An Initiative of the New Israel Fund  ■ The Regional Council of Unrecognized Bedouin Villages ■ Physicians for Human Rights – Israel ■ Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel ■ The Association for Support and Defense of Bedouin Rights in Israel ■ Hit’habrut-Tarabut – Arab-Jewish Movement for Social and Political Change ■  AJEEC – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development ■ The Local Committee – Alsira Village ■ Al-Arakib People’s Committee ■ Women’s Coalition for Peace ■  Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel  ■ Sikkuy – The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel  ■ Recognition Forum ■ Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights ■ Laqiya Womens’ Association ■  Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Campaign ■ Gush Shalom ■ The Israeli Committee against House Demolition ■ Social TV ■ Alternative Information Center ■ Fighters for Peace ■ Public Committee Against Torture in Israel ■ New Profile – Movement for the Civil-ization of Israeli Society ■ Yesh Gvul ■ Amnesty Israel  

From the US:  

■ Jewish Alliance for Change ■ Rabbis for Human Rights-North America ■ Meretz USA ■ Shalom Center ■ Jewish Voice for Peace  ■ The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring ■ Tikkun Community ■ Network of Spiritual Progressives

Please use this link to email your protest message right now to JNF’s top 3 leaders in the US and JNF-KKL's top 2 world leaders in Israel.

http://www.change.org/petition/view/equal_rights_sustainability_and_development_for_israels_negev_not_dispossession_of_the_bedouin

Petition Text

End JNF complicity in displacing Israel's Negev Bedouin!

Messrs. Lauder, Chesley and Robinson,

As residents of the Negev, human rights activists, social organizations in Israel, Jewish and other allies in the United States and around the world, we issue this call to you, the leadership of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

In 2005, JNF-USA, together with JNF-Israel, the Or Movement, Ayalim and the government of Israel, launched a program for developing the Negev, announcing that it will be placing the Negev at the center of its activities in Israel. JNF has since become the major contributor to various development projects in the region. The program set an ambitious demographic target: between the years 2005-2010 the Jewish population of the Negev was to be increased by 500,000. When this goal was not met, a more modest target was set: to increase the Jewish population of the Negev by 250,000 by 2013. But neither of the two targets were formulated in democratic consultation with the current residents of the Negev.

To implement its plan, JNF is using two complementary strategies:
-Bringing Jews to the Negev in order to achieve demographic superiority over the Arab population.
-Intensive forestation measures which require massive dispossession of Arab Bedouin from their lands, in order to “open up space” for the Jewish population.

The first strategy has yielded few results. By contrast, the forestation efforts of the JNF have been more successful. JNF is planting trees on thousands of acres of land – much of it not empty, but containing Bedouin villages, many with ongoing legal claims of Bedouin ownership.

Two of many examples illustrate the systematic pattern of JNF action:

First, the village of Twail Abu Jarwal, located in the heart of Givoth Goral (“Destiny Hills”), was destroyed some fifty times over the past four years to make room for a JNF forest already underway.

Second, the village of Al-Arakib, north of Beer Sheba, which recently made headlines, is situated in the heart of the “Ambassadors Forest,” an area in which the JNF conducted massive forestation until mid-May 2010. Since the end of July 2010, the village has been destroyed eight times – once during the month of the Ramadan fast.

In this case, too, JNF is cooperating with the government of Israel as it dispossesses the people of the Al-Touri tribe living there—the same Bedouin tribe originally expelled from the site during the 1950’s—by completely afforesting the area so that they can no longer return to their lands.

Following repeated home demolitions, hundreds of villagers, men, women and children, are currently living in makeshift open tents and huts, exposed to the extreme heat of the day, and the soon approaching winter.

JNF has completed all its work surrounding the village of Al-Arakib and is awaiting its final evacuation. At the same time, Awjan, an area of small hamlets and agricultural farms in the southern part of Givoth Goral, may be the next target for dispossession and expulsion.

JNF has filed a publicly available plan for forestation which completely ignores the existence of Awjan and other “unrecognized” Bedouin villages in the area to be blanketed with trees. Detailed objections to the JNF plan have been submitted to Israel’s Ministry of Interior by human rights organizations.

The JNF website showcases a number of projects for the Bedouin population, and invites people to make a contribution to them. But the facts suggest that these projects are far outweighed by JNF's attempts to whitewash its complicity in the dispossession, or to gain the confidence of the Bedouin community, the poorest and most neglected in Israel. Projects like Wadi Atir and Nahal Grar, or a few other small projects intended for the Bedouin population, are in no way proportional to the actual size of the Bedouin population of the Negev or to the huge sums and resources that the JNF is investing in the region.

The Bedouin, the indigenous inhabitants of the Negev, comprising nearly 30% of the region’s population, are being forced to pay the price of JNF activities in the Negev. That the JNF does not itself engage in the government’s demolition and expulsion activity, or decide the legal status of villages, is no defense. The JNF must not serve as an accomplice to the discriminatory policy of the Government of Israel and the Israel Land Administration (ILA) – the dispossession of the Bedouin from their land.

We call on you, the JNF leadership, to:

1. Stop funding and participating in the forestation and development of any area that is the site of an existing or demolished Bedouin village. Stop all development of lands for which Bedouin have made legal claims of ownership until their cases have been fully adjudicated in Israeli courts or a mutually agreeable just settlement is reached.

2. Submit JNF’s development plans for the Negev to independent scrutiny by environmental, human rights and social justice organizations to work toward truly sustainable development of the Negev for ALL its inhabitants, Jews and Arabs alike.

3. Fund projects for Israel’s Bedouin citizens and communities at levels that are proportional to the size of this population in the Negev—nearly 30%—recognizing the contribution of the Bedouin to the flourishing of the Negev.

4. Join with human rights organizations in Israel to allow the Bedouin to live on their traditional lands, as they have for many generations.

Bedouin villages should be able to find their place in a Negev that also includes forests and tourist sites, within the framework of true environmental planning, involving the Bedouin in determining their own future.

By ensuring that all Israelis can feel confident that their basic rights and culture will be treated with respect by the society in which they live, the State of Israel can build a foundation for trust and partnership with its non-Jewish minorities.

The time has come to end JNF’s role as an accessory to acts of robbery and looting, green-washed by false notions of sustainability. True sustainability is not about one national or ethnic group living at the expense of another. It does not mean doing injustice to one for the benefit of another; nor does it involve the exploitation of the limited resources of indigenous peoples living in the State of Israel. Rather, sustainability is about sharing resources equitably; otherwise, it becomes a fig leaf for entrenching ethnic discrimination.

If you, the leaders of the JNF, fail to heed this call to take a moral stand, you will share responsibility for the betrayal of Israel’s commitment to the values of equality and justice enshrined in its Declaration of Independence, to which the state is obligated by the international conventions it has signed.

If you fail to chart a new course for JNF, you become party to the State of Israel in a war against its own citizens—the loyal Bedouin Arab population of the Negev—risking a conflagration that may not easily be extinguished.

We call on you, the leadership of the JNF, to end your complicity in the destruction of Bedouin villages in the Negev and in the dispossession of Israel’s Bedouin community.

Signed by 28 NGOs, human rights organizations and social movements from the Negev and Israel and by 8 American Jewish organizations.

From Israel:
■ Al-Arakib Village Committee ■ Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality ■ Rabbis for Human Rights, Israel ■ Shatil – Leading Social Change, An Initiative of the New Israel Fund ■ The Regional Council of Unrecognized Bedouin Villages ■ Physicians for Human Rights – Israel ■ Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel ■ The Association for Support and Defense of Bedouin Rights in Israel ■ Hit’habrut-Tarabut – Arab-Jewish Movement for Social and Political Change ■ AJEEC – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development ■ The Local Committee – Alsira Village ■ Al-Arakib People’s Committee ■ Women’s Coalition for Peace ■ Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel ■ Sikkuy – The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel ■ Recognition Forum ■ Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights ■ Laqiya Womens’ Association ■ Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Campaign ■ Gush Shalom ■ The Israeli Committee against House Demolition ■ Social TV ■ Alternative Information Center ■ Fighters for Peace ■ Public Committee Against Torture in Israel ■ New Profile – Movement for the Civil-ization of Israel Society ■ Yesh Gvul ■ Amnesty Israel

From the US:
■ Jewish Alliance for Change ■ Rabbis for Human Rights-North America ■ Meretz USA ■ Shalom Center ■ Jewish Voice for Peace ■ The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring ■ Tikkun Community ■ Network of Spiritual Progressives