British Jews call for boycotting Israel’s
independence celebrations
Wednesday April 30, 2008 23:41
author
by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies
A group of 100 famous academics, authors, actors and public figures of
the Jewish population in The United Kingdom signed a letter stating
that they will be boycotting the Israeli independence celebrations marking
the 60th anniversary, and stated that they “cannot celebrate the birth
of a state which was founded on terrorism”, The Guardian reported.
The signatories of the statement said that Israel forced 70.000
Palestinians into a “Death March” in 1948.
The letter states that Israel forced 70.000 Palestinians in 1948 out of
their home in Lydda (Lod) And Ramleh “in the heat of the summer
without food or water”, and added that hundreds of them died in what became
known Death March.
The Guardian said that among the signatories of the letter is Haim
Bresheeth, a professor at the University of East London. Prof. Bresheeth
was the organizer of the call for an academic boycott against Israel.
Also, attorney Daniel Machover, who filed a law suit against the
Israeli Major General Doron Almong, is among the signatories.
The writers of the letters stated in their document that they “cannot
celebrate the birthday of a state which was founded on terrorism,
massacres and the disposition of other people from their land”.
They added that they also cannot celebrate the birth of this state as
it is now engaging in ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in
Gaza and continued to deny the legitimate rights of the Palestinian
people.
They also said that they “will celebrate independence when Jews and
Arabs can live as equals in the Middle East”.
The letter also says that Israel displaced 750.000 Palestinians when it
was established in 1948 and totally wiped out 400 villages, and that
“the ethnic cleansing did not stop at that point, as thousands of
Palestinians were expelled from the Galilee in 1956, and many thousands were
displaced when Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in
1967”.
It added that all Palestinian refugees have a right to return to their
land or receive compensation in accordance to the United Nations
resolution number 194.
“Israel has never accepted the Right of Return”, the letter adds, “We
will not be celebrating”.
Prof. Bresheeth was interviewed by the Israeli Ynetnews and rejected
claims that the letter is anti-Semitic.
He said that none of the figures who signed the letter approve or
support terrorism or anti-Semitism, and that they do not approve harming
civilian on both sides.
Prof. Bresheeth also said that the signatories want to see Israel and
Palestine living side by side in peace without warplanes of Qassam
shells.
He also said that Hamas movement said it is interested in talks with
Israel as long it withdraws from the occupied territories, but Israel is
unwilling to hold any talks with the movement.
Furthermore, Prof. Bresheeth added that“Israel is inflicting terrorism
on the Palestinians since 40 years”."The real terror is the one Israel has inflicted on the PalestiniansThe letter says as
for 40 years now, the terrorism of a strong state against a relatively
weak organization. We are pushing the Palestinians into a corner where
they have no choice by the attacks. We must not do this, the fact that
the government of Israel cannot ensure the safety of its residents and
the safety of Sderot is solely its own fault.”
published by the Ynet.
Saed Bannoura
Saed Bannoura (b. 1973) is a Palestinian journalist working for the Bethlehem-based IMEMC (www.imemc.org). Saed currently lives in the United States. He is confined to a wheelchair since 1991 after being shot repeatedly by an Israeli death squad, who had infiltrated a demonstration in Bethlehem. In his own words:
When the man noticed that I had realized their true identify he pulled a small automatic gun from under his shirt, and I ran away knowing that even if I surrendered to him then, I would have been immediately assassinated, as had happened to so many Palestinian martyrs before me.
The man ran after me, along with the other undercover death squad members, until I came to an area were he was standing above me on a hill, just five meters away from me. When he shouted at me again, I began to turn, and I could see his eyes, or at least, what was visible of them from under his mask. It was at that moment that he started to shoot.
After five or six rounds penetrated my chest and back, I fell to the ground, motionless, soaked with my own blood. I could not feel anything, I could not see clearly, and I could not hear anything.
I fell down face first, injuring my face and breaking my teeth on the ground. Then the man approached me and kicked me in my chest, breaking four ribs, in order to flip me over onto my back.
The last thing I heard before I passed out was that man who shot me saying, "After all that, and you're still alive!?"
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| B'tselem map of the Separat 2005, co Most of Israel's barrier is being constructed of fortified fencing. Near populated areas, however, it typically becomes a 26- foot high concrete wall. So most Palestinians know the "fence" as The Wall. This monument to exclusion and intolerance has been give many names, including security fence, separation fence, security barrier, separation barrier, separation wall, apartheid wall, Sharon's Wall, and annexation wall. The World Court calls it a gross violation of international law and basic human rights. Yet Israel is continuing to build the wall in several regions of the West Bank. - VTJP, May 2005 |
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