vjp-global

http://972mag.com/opposing-the-occupation-now-means-being-anti-israel-to-netanyahu/122776/ The Israeli right has worked very hard to erase any distinction between Israel and the occupation — between Ariel and Acre, Hebron and Haifa. Ironically, this is the same thing he accuses Palestinians of trying to do. … To decouple Israel from its occupation of Palestine would require the complete dismantling and overhaul of Israel's state institutions, culture, economy, and infrastructure. It would require a fundamental restructuring of Israeli society, transforming it from one that controls another population to one that strives to upholds equal rights for everyone living under its control. Such a process frightens many Jewish Israelis, including those in the so-called opposition, because it means losing certain privileges a Jewish state affords them. For that reason, the most basic, simple and understandable demand at the frontier of Israeli dissent today — ending t...

http://972mag.com/palestinian-culture-is-flourishing-thanks-to-miri-regev/122689/   Each attempt to silence Palestinian artists only makes our voices grow louder. It's time to admit that Miri Regev is the best thing to happen to Palestinian culture since Israel's founding. .. as a result of Regev's campaign of persecution, the Palestinian narrative finally has the upper hand. On the one hand, Arab artists whom have undergone a revolutionary process in order to get where they are, the ones who define themselves as proud Palestinians in an Israeli cultural scene full of unabashed hatred and racism. The pain felt over the years by talented actors such as Mohammad Bakri, Makram Khoury, Salim Dau, and Salwa Nakara gave birth to a generation of artists, including Hani Abu Sa'ad, Ibtisam Mara'ana, Salah Bakri, Amal Murkus, Tamer Nafar, and others. Miri Regev just happened to be the one to knock too loudly on the closet, leaving powerful Palestinian ...

http://972mag.com/clinton-speech-was-scrubbed-of-palestinian-rights-emails-show/122823/   Hacked emails show Hillary Clinton's campaign chair urging speechwriters to tone down language on Palestine, and reveal what language was removed from the candidate's speech to the Saban Forum last December… the new email released this week reveals that an extensive section on Palestinian rights was completely removed from an early draft of the speech…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/10/letter-black-america/   Dear African-American brothers and sisters, I am not black. But like you, I am not white. …When I see this outrage against BDS and Kaepernick, a question arises in my consciousness: If they do not want us to protest nonviolently, if they do not want our fight to be based on international law and basic human rights, then what do they want us to do? If they denounce violence, then condemn our nonviolent protest, how do they want us to resist? The only answer I could find is this: Our oppressors do not really condemn our methods of resistance, but our resistance as a whole. If they criticize nonviolent methods as well as violent ones, then what they deplore isn't the methods, but the message itself. They hate the fact that the oppressed are forming a collective consciousness, that we are organizing in opposition. Their anger means we are being effective. We must all keep agitating for our rights, knowing ...

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/10/barghouti-apartheid-mandela/   A few months ago former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy shocked Israel in an Al Jazeera interview , saying that the occupation generates Palestinian violence, and Benjamin Netanyahu was misusing the Holocaust to try to deny that reality; and now Haaretz had gotten Halevy  to extend his analysis in a stunning interview of 5000 words with Dalia Karpel.   The most important moment in the interview comes when Halevy likens imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti to Nelson Mandela as a former terrorist whom the country must negotiate with in order to make peace: i.e., the man Israel calls a terrorist really is the other side's freedom fighter, and– Israel is practicing apartheid. Barghouti, 57, was imprisoned in 2002 and charged with directing the Second Intifada… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-solidarity-campaigners-target-hp/18236 The boycott of US information technology giant Hewlett-Packard has recently gained renewed interest, becoming the " hot new " target for Palestine solidarity campaigners in several countries.   An international week of action targeting HP will take place from 25 November to 3 December, a culmination of recent efforts around the world. HP has long been criticized by the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign due to its role in Israeli violations of Palestinian rights. The company boasts of a " massive presence " in Israel, with more than 5,700 employees there, and is one of the Israeli military's main information technology suppliers…It is the technological underpinning of Israeli oppression that prompted an HP boycott campaign across all of historic Palestine… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://inthesetimes.com/article/19479/the-israeli-aid-package-10-more-years-of-the-special-relationship/   A U.S. $38 billion aid package to Israel continues a special relationship of war profiteering. The White House has described the recent $38 billion promised aid package to Israel, apportioned each year as $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing and $500 million in missile defense assistance over the course of 10 years, as an "unshakable commitment to Israel's security." A better description would have been the White House's unshakable commitment to Boeing and Lockheed Martin's quarterly earnings.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57f7e919e4b0d786aa52b0c3?timestamp=1475866185281   …Israelis sense that their American friends sit on the moral high ground, speak of the evils of the occupation and Jewish values, but are tone deaf to the economic difficulties facing them. ..A recent Pew survey shows this gap in hard numbers. While four-in-ten Israeli Jews cite economic issues (inequality, rising housing costs, etc.) as the single biggest long-term problem facing Israel (this number is higher among Arabs), when U.S. Jews were asked the same question, almost none (1%) mentioned economic problems, and two-thirds cited various security issues as the biggest long-term problem facing Israel…As long as the pro-peace community chooses a language of universal human rights, the Israeli media can continue portraying us in pro-Palestinian colors. Only developing an understanding to Israelis' daily lives will allow us to puncture their shield of suspicion and help steer ...

http://972mag.com/occupation-denial-is-pushing-me-out-of-my-jewish-community/122533/   ...I can no longer remain silent as many in the Jewish establishment continue to support the occupation, publicly reject the Movement for Black Lives, and remain silent on Trump...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773479   Israeli forces destroyed residences, agricultural structures, solar panels, and water pipe in the occupied West Bank district of Tubas, in the Jordan Valley, on Sunday morning. …Nearly all Palestinian applications for building permits in Area C -- the 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control -- are denied by the Israeli authorities, forcing communities to build illegally.   Demolitions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have seen an unprecedented surge in recent months, as Israeli authorities demolished 835 Palestinian structures so far this year, in a large increase from 531 in all of 2015, according to UN documentation.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://972mag.com/why-israels-arab-statesman-skipped-peres-funeral/122339/ By refusing to attend the funeral, leader of the Joint List Odeh was protesting the myth of Shimon Peres, who enjoyed the global brand of peacemaker after Oslo, but walked away when things didn't exactly work out.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member