Today, the Israeli military attacked the annual Open Shuhada Street protest of around 1,000 people, organized by Youth Against Settlements. Hundreds of fully-armed army and border patrol troops opened fire as soon as eye contact was made with the protesters.
An American woman trying to pay respect to her grandmother at the Western Wall in Jerusalem is banned from the city for having pro-Palestinian literature. “Why do you want to free Gaza!” the officer screamed at her.
Ariel Gold and Isso Amro write, “As a Jewish American and a Palestinian human rights activist, we stand united in our opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of bankruptcy attorney David Friedman to be the next US Ambassador to Israel. Friedman, who has no diplomatic experience, is aligned not with American Jewish positions, but with Israel’s illegal settler movement. He is hostile to the two-state solution and refers to the West Bank as Judea and Sumeria, a biblical name used by settlers and Israel’s extreme right. Friedman’s reference to the West Bank by this name reflects his support for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which would force the Palestinian population either to leave or be contained in enclaves, not unlike South African apartheid era bantustans”
Ashton Kutcher and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky were just getting settled into their chairs on the stage of LA’s Orpheum theatre when Ariel Gold unfurled her Airbnb out of Settlements banner. “From Los Angeles to Palestine it is time for Airbnb to end their role in displacement,” she shouted. The common theme between Airbnb’s refusal to remove settlements listings and attempts to evade city regulations on short-term housing rentals is the company preferencing profits over people.
Human rights advocates were present both inside and outside of RE/MAX’s annual shareholder meeting in Denver, Colorado last Thursday. Driving into the entrance of the Marriott Tech Center Hotel, RE/MAX board members and shareholders were greeted by around 30 protesters from CODEPINK, Jewish Voice for Peace, Friends of Sabeel – North America, and Coloradans for Justice in Palestine. The group held signs, banners, and cardboard boxes painted like Israeli settlements to express their demand that RE/MAX immediately stop profiting from Israeli apartheid by selling, renting, and advertising homes in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
CODEPINK’s Ariel Gold explains why she engaged in civil disobedience while protesting at the AIPAC Policy Conference: “As the mother to two Jewish American teenagers, it is my responsibility to speak up and clarify that AIPAC and Netanyahu do not speak for me.”
Each year around 6,000 real estate brokers and agents from 62 countries around the world attend the RE/MAX annual convention in Las Vegas, so CODEPINK knew where to go challenge RE/MAX’s settlement profiteering. As CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans said, “People around the world are waking up to the immorality of settlement profiteering, and it is unclear why RE/MAX continues to risk its brand’s reputation through its involvement in illegal activities in the Occupied West Bank.”
After 22 years of increasing restrictions and subjugation in Hebron, one might expect that Palestinians would begin to see their resistance as futile and cede control of Hebron’s old city. However if this is indeed the Israeli strategy, the military and settlers failed to factor in Palestinian resilience and steadfastness. Despite continuing settlement expansion in the West Bank; despite continuous attempt by settlers to seize Palestinian homes in Hebron’s old city; and despite the ongoing and increasing repression Palestinians face, Palestinian commitment to nonviolent resistance remains strong. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in this year’s Open Shuhada Street campaign.