The United Church of Christ vote in favor of divestment and boycott has prompted an incredibly fair report from the NYT, saying the BDS movement is growing and is supported by a “growing number” of American Jews.
As the P5+1 push ahead to make a deal with the Iranian government over its…
On a visit to East Jerusalem, the rule of occupation and apartheid is concrete and tangible. Services are denied to Palestinians that Jewish settlers living among them get. When you build walls, you make a labyrinth of the world, a graffiti warns
Today, in a vote of 508 in favor and 124 against, the plenary of the 30th United Church of Christ General Synod passed a resolution calling for boycotts and divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. “As disciples of Jesus, we hear and seek to heed his call to be peacemakers, responding to violence with nonviolence and extending love to all,” said Rev. John Deckenback, Conference Minister of the Central Atlantic Conference of the UCC, which submitted the resolution to the synod. “It is in that spirit of love for both Israelis and Palestinians, and a desire to support Palestinians in their nonviolent struggle for freedom, that the United Church of Christ has passed this resolution.”
Early Monday three Israeli naval ships seized a vessel bound for Gaza carrying activists and humanitarian aid while still in international waters, said activists. The Freedom Flotilla III, headed by the Swedish ship the Marianne of Gothenburg, was attempting to break the eight-year siege on the Gaza Strip. The boat and its 18 passengers were being towed to Ashdod, where it was expected that the activists would be deported.
Frightened by the progress of the boycott movement, BDS, four hardline Israel supporters have called for changes in Israeli policy, freezing outlying settlement activity to improve Israel’s image. They are Yair Lapid, Ari Shavit, Abe Foxman, and Michael Oren
On Monday, Ramallah-based visual artist Khaled Jarrar painted a portion of Israel’s separation wall as a rainbow flag following the US Supreme Court decision in support of marriage equality. Jarrar said in a statement: “I went and painted the colors of the rainbow (on the wall) as these colors were circulated all over the world. These colors are ultimately an expression of freedom.”
Mondoweiss co-editor Adam Horowitz shares his personal story of becoming engaged in the Palestine solidarity movement as part of our “Be The Mondoweiss Megaphone” campaign. Please help us raise $50,000 to bring Mondoweiss to more thinking people, opinion leaders, policy-makers, and policy un-makers too!
The recently released United Nations report on the 2014 war in Gaza meticulously documents last summer’s horror. The reports of Israeli executions of Palestinians, Israel’s aerial assaults on Palestinians in their homes in Gaza and other aspects of the assault have attracted the most attention, but the UN report also highlights what it calls “widespread human rights violations” by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The document is a reminder that the uptick in tensions and violence last summer was not limited to Gaza. In fact, the human rights abuses the report looks at still occur near-daily in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Every Monday, Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp rummage through piles of secondhand Israeli junk in the cheapest market in the Gaza Strip. Dan Cohen finds several t-shirts that include military insignia for the army that slaughtered so many in Gaza.