Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem–As they do every Friday afternoon in occupied Jerusalem, the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement demonstrated July 8 against illegal Jewish-only settlements in Jerusalem that continue to displace Palestinians and diminish any remaining hope that a state of Palestine could have East Jerusalem as its capital.
What made this march slightly different, though, is that the hundreds of activists who marched in Jerusalem and chanted outside the homes of settlers who have evicted Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah were eagerly looking ahead to next Friday. On July 15, the solidarity movement is calling for a large, joint Jewish-Arab demonstration in support of a Palestinian state and the current effort for United Nations recognition of that state. Their call reads:
Today it is clear that genuine negotiation is not going to happen under the current government. Even if the Europeans and the Americans drag Bibi to another round of talks, there will be no outcome. For a long time now, negotiations have been nothing more than yet another means of perpetuating occupation. There is no choice for anyone advocating for an end Israeli control over the Palestinians other than supporting the only realistic way left to achieve this goal: recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
Applying to the United Nations for such recognition is not merely the Palestinian people’s right, it is the sole remaining constructive step for countering unending negotiation and the threat of increased violence. As Israelis who support the Palestinian struggle for independence, it is our duty to express our backing for the Palestinian initiative.
The leaders of the movement, in between Arabic chants of “From Sheikh Jarrah to Bil’in, free, free Palestine,” were busy inviting the demonstrators who showed up in the scorching heat to join them next Friday. Both the Israeli and Palestinian activists involved with the Sheikh Jarrah protests hope it marks a significant display of support for a free and independent Palestine. It’s part of many efforts across Palestine to prepare for September and what could happen next.
“We are looking towards September, and the possibility of a popular uprising around Palestine,” Daniel Argo, an Israeli leader in the movement, told me.
Similarly, Sara Benninga, a well-known Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity activist who spoke at this year’s J Street conference, said, “It’s an ongoing struggle. We have our high points, and next week is definitely going to be a high point–a big march of many Palestinians and Israelis together…It is the choice of the Palestinian nonviolent struggle to go down this road, and we in solidarity with them are supporting their decision.”
The July 8 demonstration also came on the same day that international solidarity activists attempted to fly to Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and declare their intention to visit the occupied West Bank. Israel deployed a beefed-up security presence, while civilian Israelis beat up and spit on the activists. The Israeli authorities also detained and deported many activists; some remain in Israeli prison currently.
“The fact that Israel is trying to deny access to peaceful activists coming to visit Palestine, to express solidarity, just shows how much Israel is threatened from the nonviolent, joint struggle. It gives us more power to continue because we know this is our right, and eventually, we’re going to win,” said Benninga.
Alex Kane, a freelance journalist currently based in Amman, Jordan, blogs on Israel/Palestine at alexbkane.wordpress.com, where this post originally appeared. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.
awesome
I would like to draw attention to this piece in Der Spiegal because, although the article is not anti-protesters, it touches an argument and an attitude that has a potentially negative impact on the movement; I have heard similar from Mark Regev and others. In its simplest form it goes: All this protest is just a bunch of ignorant activists seeking a day in the sun because Gaza is flourishing. Such claims have the subtle capability to divert debate from the issue of oppressive and illegal occupation towards bars, shopping malls and silver Audis and one needs to be prepared to swat them on sight.
Israel defenders on Twitter all dismiss Gaza flotilla & protests against the “occupation” as silly & point to a big luxurious Palestinian shopping mall, thus following a Glen Beck show from about 8 months ago.
Hold on Palestine…..the US waterloo, and therfore a lot of others, is coming..but the ME will still have it’s oil….then they will be the “deciders”.
Tim Rutten: The end or American optimism – Los Angeles Times
articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/06/…/la-oe-0706-rutten-20110706 – CachedJul 6, 2011 – It’s sometimes useful to see ourselves as others do, and
Maybe this will help China decide on how they want to vote on Palestine statehood….and how they want to recoup any loses in this suit from their debtor, the USDA…….LOL.
Looks like now that they have sued every entity in the Western world for 60 years they have decided to try China next. ..and of course they are using US courts to do it.
Non US citizens should not be allowed to use US courts.
Evidently the reason non American Jewish Israelis use US courts when they could have filed this suit directly in China is that they know the US will be biased in their favor and carry more weight against China than little Israel would.
This country is so screwed.
From JP…
A judge in the Supreme Court of the State of New York ruled Friday that a lawsuit filed by a group of 84 Israeli terror victims against the Bank of China can proceed.
The plaintiffs, who include family members of victims of terrorist bombings and rocket attacks carried out by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in 2006 and 2007, are claiming that the Bank of China facilitated the attacks by providing wire transfer services to both terror groups.
The group lawsuit, known as the “Almaliakh action” after Emil Almaliakh, an Eilat resident killed in a suicide bombing in 2007, has been filed with the assistance of the Israel Law Center (Shurat HaDin) and New York attorney Robert Tolchin.
Attorney Nitsana Darshan- Leitner of the Israel Law Center told The Jerusalem Post that Friday’s ruling is a “huge precedent” for Israeli victims of terror.
“Usually, US citizens have the right to file lawsuits in the US courts against terror organizations and organizations that sponsor terror,” said Leitner.
“In this suit, we made use of old laws that allow non-US citizens to also sue [in the US courts] in the case of terrorism.”
The US has designated both Islamic Jihad and Hamas as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” since 1997 and as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” since 2001. As such, both groups are subject to strict economic sanctions intended to prevent them from conducting banking activities which help them finance their attacks.
Those named in the lawsuit claim that the Bank of China aided and abetted Hamas and Islamic Jihad since 2003 by providing wire transfer services to operatives of the two groups via a bank account in China.
They allege that Hamas operatives received money to the account from Hamas’s headquarters in Syria and then transferred it to Gaza.
Between that date and January 2007, the Bank of China carried out dozens of wire transfers for the two terror organizations, totaling several million dollars.
Most of the transfers, which were initiated by the two organizations’ leaderships including in Iran and Syria, were made to a single account in Guangzhou, China, belonging to Said al-Shurafa, whom the plaintiffs claim is a senior operative and agent of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
According to information provided by the plaintiffs, Shurafa then transferred the funds from his account to the Islamic Jihad and Hamas coffers in the West Bank and Gaza “for the purpose of planning, preparing for and executing terrorist attacks.” The plaintiffs additionally claim that when officials of the counterterrorism division of the Prime Minister’s Office warned the Bank of China in April 2005 that the funds were being used to finance terror attacks, and asked that they prevent further transfers, the Bank of China ignored the request.
“The Bank of China responded that Hamas is not considered a terrorist organization in China,” added Darshan-Leitner.
The plaintiffs also claim that the Bank of China should have known the funds were being used illegally even before the Israeli government warning, because the transfers were made in cash, mostly in the range of $100,000, and withdrawn immediately.
The plaintiffs are suing the Bank of China because they claim that the bank’s assistance with the wire transfers is the proximate cause of their injuries.
According to Darshan-Leitner, the Bank of China argued aggressively in court for the immediate dismissal of the lawsuit.
Among the bank’s claims for dismissal was that the case should be tried in China, not the US.
However, Friday’s ruling overturned an attempt by the Bank of China to dismiss the suit, paving the way for the case to proceed to the discovery and trial stage.
In her report, Judge Barbara R. Kapnick of the New York District Supreme Court wrote that to dismiss the action in favor of it being tried in a Chinese court would “only increase the hardship” of the plaintiffs.
The next step for the Israeli plaintiffs will be to demand detailed information from the Bank of China.
“The Bank of China will now have to provide us with details of all bank transactions, basically everything that went through the accounts,” noted Darshan-Leitner.
I thought Israel was supposed to be cozying up to China. Suing the BoC is really going to make friends and influence people in Beijing.
Meanwhile, back at the kosher ranch–
Knesset welcomes Glen Beck; Likud: “If we didn’t have Beck we’d have 2 invent him.” jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPo…
7 minutes ago
Glen Beck in Israel, tells knesset how to fight effectively against Americans who know their country has been stolen: israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx…
Beck and the Knesset: a match made in Zionist heaven. A rabble-rousing demagogic lunatic who sees conspiracy everywhere bends his knee to the masters of paranoid delusional aggression. Beck will wet himself. Should be hilarious.