How Israel became Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on Decolonization

By Adrien Welsh

What did Big Brother say in 1984? "War is peace", right? Well, today we can say "decolonization is colonization"...

It happened in secret, with little noise on June 18th. During the election of the six committees of the General Assembly of the United Nations, a wild political oxymoron emerged: Israel, an occupying power, was elected vice-chair of a committee for the rights of the Palestinian people and the occupied territories. The corresponding document, a statement to the UN, states that, "despite the strong opposition of the Group of Arab States, Mr. Mordechai Amohai, of Israel, was today elected Vice Chairman of the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly on Special Political and Decolonization”.

This move was tasteless joke in the face of the Israeli criminal operation "Protective Edge" which has left over 2,000 dead and over 10,000 wounded (08/19/14) and has brought Gaza farther towards its full destruction.

We must force Harper to reject war crimes in Gaza (Upcoming protests)

by Drew Garvie

July 11th Protest in Toronto

As Palestinian casualties approach 200 deaths from one week of the intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza, actions and protests across the globe are demanding an end to the Zionist murder of civilians.

The Young Communist League of Canada - Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada released a statement yesterday condemning condemning "Operation Protective Edge" and calling for a just peace in Palestine.

In the statement it points out that the Conservative government has fully endorsed the ongoing war crimes being committed in Gaza: "as an imperialist country, member of the criminal alliance of NATO and colonizer of Indigenous territories, Canada seized this occasion to reiterate its unconditional support of Israel - more and more vocal under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. Its diplomacy has been only focused on one side of this conflict, emphasizing the launching of rockets by Hamas, while supporting all the deaths and illegal operations by Israel’s occupation army".

Activist speaks out against SAIA ban at the University of Manitoba

Rebel Youth is reprinting the below letter from an activist and alumni of the University of Manitoba, against the latest attempt to muzzle speech exposing US-Israeli war crimes and atrocities in occupied Palestine on Canadian campuses. 

Zionists at the University of Manitoba in the university’s Student Union (UMSU) reciently passed a resolution {read the motion here} to ban the Student Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) and its activities from campus on April 11, in a 19-16 divided vote, against the legal advice of the student union’s lawyer.

As the website PalestinianConference.org reported, "the ill-worded resolution claims that most 'Jewish and Israeli members of the UMSU are Zionists which … are supporters of Zionism, international movement for the support of Israel.' It further claimed that “Zionists are a "group of persons" who have national characteristics, Israel being a nation-state.'"

This happened shortly after a student union elections campaign focused on silencing supporters of Palestine. Many Jews and Israelis – students at the University of Manitoba or otherwise – are not Zionist, and this statement attempts to conflate religious identity and national origin with a specific, and racist, political ideology.

As Amy Darwish, a U of M student of Jewish and Palestinian ancestry, wrote:

progressive Jewish students like me are part of Israeli Apartheid Week in many campuses. We believe Palestinians and Jews should have equal rights, and are not afraid to criticize Israel’s actions. 

This year, Israeli Apartheid Week was held in more than 100 cities, featuring workshops, film screenings, conferences and cultural events aiming to build momentum around the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign against Israeli racial discrimination which we call apartheid. During these events, IAW activists maintain firm anti-harassment policies, and opposition to all forms of discrimination, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Sign a letter to support U of M SAIA here: http://ijvcanada.org/stop-the-campus-censorship-palestine/

Statement from Paul Burrows:

I am an alumnus of the U of M, a former UMSU Council member, and former member of the GSA executive. All I can say is that the recent motion to ban a student group for its political perspective is unprecedented, appalling, and a clear violation of core elements of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Furthermore, to do so based on the "feelings" of Council members who clearly have their own, diametrically-opposed, viewpoint on the Israel-Palestine conflict (i.e., they are not exactly non-partisan voices, but in fact self-identified "Zionists"), suggests further that the motion's claims of "harassment" are disingenuous at best.

As someone who was also a member of the Manitoba Coalition Against Racism and Apartheid, as well as Students Against Apartheid [i.e., in South Africa] back in the 1980s, I can honestly say that this motion does a disservice to genuine anti-racist work. By falsely equating criticism of the State of Israel with criticism of Jews, and erasing a long and rich history of Jewish anti-Zionism (including the fact that many members of SAIA and similar groups across the continent are Jewish), this motion weakens, rather than strengthens, efforts to combat genuine anti-Semitism.

I can also say that if a similar motion had been raised in 1989 to ban the original Students Against Apartheid at U of M campus -- ostensibly because white people's "feelings" were being hurt, and they felt "discriminated" against by virtue of the simple fact that South Africa's white supremacist apartheid system was being criticized -- such a motion would have been laughed out of Council chambers, and seen for what it was: a pro-apartheid ruse.

This ban will not stand -- not just because we have a Charter in this country that magnanimously "grants" us things such as free expression, freedom of association, and so on. But more importantly, because most people today believe those rights to be innate and self-evident, regardless of what the "Law" is said to confer. I predict that this motion will, in fact, increase the membership of SAIA, provoke a lawsuit against UMSU, and ultimately blowback against the foolish architects of this obtuse, authoritarian gambit. In the future, I would suggest the self-described Zionists who drafted this motion stick to old-fashioned exercises, such as actually *debating* their adversaries. I realize that might require inconvenient things like: facts, arguments, logic, and even moral underpinnings. But these have never been the strong suit of those on the wrong side of social justice. No wonder, then, that they -- and their favoured State of Israel -- have typically resorted to more blunt instruments.

Exposing occupation

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events with the goal of educating people about the nature of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and also to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to end Israeli Apartheid and win a free Palestine.

Launched in Canada, IAW is now held in cities across the world. Israeli Apartheid week kick started in Guelph on Monday March 11 with a workshop titled Apartheid 101 by Greg Shupak, a sessional lecturer at Guelph. The discussion involved an overview of the conflict's history and its current dynamics as well as a look at how the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid applies to the situation.

After discussing the history of the conflict, Shupak provided participants with examples that shows Israel is committing apartheid. Shupak illustrated how the apartheid system affects Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel.

Apartheid is defined by the UN as  “…a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group … over another … and systematically oppressing them…”.

Two aspects of apartheid are the “denial of a member or members of a racial group or groups the right to life” and imposing upon an ethnic group living conditions calculated to bring destruction. Shupak cited Operation Cast Lead, Operation Pillar of Cloud, and the Siege of Gaza as examples of the denial of the right to life for Palestinians.

During Operation Cast Lead that occurred December 2008 to January 2009, 1,400 Palestinians were killed, many from direct attacks on civilian targets. Operation Pillar of Cloud was another of example of collective punishment on the people of Gaza that occurred recently from November 14 to 21 last year. The conflict was instigated by Israel when Ahmad Abu Daqqa was killed by Israeli soldiers when playing soccer. Hamas and Israel were able to negotiate a cease fire shortly after, but Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari who negotiated the ceasefire with Israel was assassinated by Israeli soldiers. Israel brought many deaths and injuries to Gazans during this conflict as well.

The siege of Gaza has been in place since 2006. The siege is regarded as illegal by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and OXFAM. Canada was the first to accept the blockade, that goes as far as blocking the import of construction goods making it impossible for Gaza to rebuild infrastructure after being attacked by Israel. 61 percent of Gazans are food insecure according to the World Food Program, and the Red Cross states the blockade is an example of “collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international law.”

Another characteristic of apartheid discussed by Shupak  is the restriction of the right to freedom of movement for an ethnic group or groups. The restriction of the freedom of movement is a humiliating process for Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians are subject to a checkpoint system, are made to have permits in order to be permitted to leave their own village, and there are settler only roads all over the West Bank.

Apartheid also occurs when land of a particular ethnic group or groups is expropriated. In the ongoing colonization there are over 300,000 Israeli settlers that live on land settlements in the West Bank that are illegal under international law.

Shupak cited other characteristics of apartheid that Israel perpetuates. These included the denial of the right of Palestinians to freedom of opinion and expression, the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Palestinians by Israeli security forces, systematic torture of Palestinians in Israeli jails, and denying Palestinians the right to education and the right to leave and return to their country.

In order to drive the message home that Israel is operating an apartheid system, Shupak cited famous people, and former Israeli officials, who describe apartheid in Israel and Palestine. Desmond Tutu, a former South African Archbishop, Nobel Peace Prize award winner, and advocate against South African Apartheid, has stated his opposition to Israeli Apartheid.

Former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter also states that Israel is committing acts of apartheid, as does Ami Ayalon, the former head of Shin Bet, the Israeli Domestic Security Agency. Shulamit Aloni, a former Israeli Education Minister and Michael Ben Yair, Israel’s former Attorney General, also both say that Israel and apartheid go hand in hand.

After the event, participants were left with more resources to be able to tell the rest of the Guelph Community that Israel is committing violations against the human rights of Palestinians. Israeli Apartheid Week is hosting two more events this week. One event is titled “Israeli Activism against Occupation and Apartheid: Strategies for Solidarity” and will be led by Israeli anti-israeli-apartheid activist, Noa Shaindlinger. This event will provide ideas to activists in Guelph about where to go next when it comes to solidarity work with Palestinians. The final event is a film screening of “5 Broken Cameras” that was nominated for Best Documentary in the Oscars, Thursday at 7 pm in UC 442.

Solidarity with Israeli Apartheid Week, free Palestine!

Statement by the International Commission, YCL

The Canadian government's position on Israel has gone from shamefully silent to actively supportive of violence, occupation and apartheid in the few short years of the Harper Conservative Party regime. The latest of the Harper government’s attack on the Palestinian people is voting against the UN’s recognition of Palestine as a state. The Canadian government, along with just a handful of other countries, including the US and Israel, voted against making Palestine a non-member observer state.Canada’s Minister of foreign affairs, John Baird, stated that official recognition of Palestine “will undermine the objective of reaching a comprehensive, lasting and just settlement for both sides”.

Harper’s blind support of this violent and racist government is in fact accomplishing the opposite. By actively supporting the Israeli government, Harper is supporting the recent war ("Operation Pillar of Defense") that saw hundreds of Palestinian murdered, including children. Israeli "strategic" targets included soccer stadiums, media stations, and bureaucratic offices. The Canadian government's support continues the degradation and oppression of Palestine, perpetuating the cycle of poverty, violence and racism against the Palestinian people, which increases violence. The Conservatives support contributes to Israel’s continued actions that do nothing but further escalate the conflict in the region, creating further bloodshed that is crippling the Palestinian people.

The Harper government’s position on the Zionist Israeli war machine is in line with the US, the Christian far-right, and the world’s largest multi-national corporations. This position undermines Palestinians, the Middle East, and the Canadian people; only 19% of Canadians believe that Canada should even support the state of Israel. Canadians have strongly supported the Freedom Flotilla and now the Gaza Ark project. Moreover, the vast majority of the world supports Palestinian statehood.

The Harper government continues to embarrass the Canadian people and further isolate Canada from the rest of the world. Harper’s continued support of Israel is yet another example of Canada becoming a 'rogue state' in the international community, where the government's persistent deviance on climate change action towards a self-serving policy of stalling world-wide climate change negotiations, cutting off all diplomatic ties with Iran and the backing of repressive regimes in the Middle East, are only a few.

We continue to stand in full solidarity with the sovereign Palestinian people in their demand for full statehood immediately with East Jerusalem as the capital. Swift and just peace can not be brought about until there is immediate cessation and withdrawal of all settlements and dismantlement of the Israeli Apartheid Wall, release of all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees, guarantee of the right of return, and at a minimum respect of the 1967 Green Line boundaries.

We salute the thousands of Palestinian detainees who succeeded, by their hunger strike, in helping expose the occupation -- they had to hunger strike just to wing very basic humanitarian conditions inside the jails. We salute the Union of Palestinian Democratic Youth and their comrade Samer Issawi who is on hunger strike for 222 days, since he was re-arrested and held without a conviction (after being released in the 2011 Shalit’s Deal prisoner exchange after almost ten years in jail). We also express our solidarity with George Abdallah, a Lebanese left-wing militant in arbitrarily in jail in France for 29 years, since 1984, because of his opposition to the occupation. Abdallah has been denied parole requests since 1999 and, while granted release by French courts this decision has been twice over-ruled by the French foreign minister.

It’s important for the youth, student and other progressive forces in Canada to stay informed, engaged and pressure the Harper government on this issue. In this direction the YCL endorses with full support Israeli Aparthied Week being held on campuses across Canada and now around the world. The Young Communist League of Canada demands that the Harper Conservative government reverse its attack on the people of Palestine and their demand to become truly independent and sovereign, with full support both financially and diplomatically. Until this is won, the YCL will continue to mobilize in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement.

Official Trailer for Israeli Apartheid Week 2013

Featuring Rafeef Ziadah, Naomi Klein, Abir Kopty Salim Vally and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi
Visit: http://www.apartheidweek.org for the full international schedule.
The song is dark tunnels phil monsour.