Israel-Palestine: This is how it ends

[Oscar]

Israel-Palestine: This is how it ends

[ https://secure.avaaz.org/en/israel_pale ... c/?tfzOaab ]

As a new round of violence kicks off in Israel-Palestine and more children are killed, it's not enough just to call for another ceasefire. It’s time to take definitive non-violent action to end this decades long nightmare.

Our governments have failed -- while they have talked peace and passed UN resolutions, they and our companies have continued to aid, trade and invest in the violence. The only way to stop this hellish cycle of Israel confiscating Palestinian lands, daily collective punishment of innocent Palestinian families, Hamas firing rockets, and Israel bombing Gaza is to make the economic cost of this conflict too high to bear.

We know it works -- when EU countries issued guidelines not to fund the illegal Israeli settlements it caused an earthquake in the cabinet, and when citizens successfully persuaded a Dutch pension fund, PGGM, to withdraw, it created a political storm.

This may not feel like a direct way to stop the current killing, but history tells us that raising the financial cost of oppression can pave a path to peace. Click to call on 6 key banks, pension funds and businesses to pull out -- If we all take smart action now and turn up the heat, they could withdraw, the Israeli economy will take a hit, and we can turn the calculation of the extremists politically profiting from this hell upside down:

[ https://secure.avaaz.org/en/israel_pale ... c/?tfzOaab ]

In the last five weeks three Israeli teenagers were murdered in the West Bank, a Palestinian boy was burnt alive, an American kid was brutally beaten up by Israeli police, and now over 40 Gazan kids have died in Israeli air strikes. This is not the “Middle East conflict”, it's becoming a war on children. And we are becoming numb to this global shame.

The media makes out like this is an intractable conflict between two equal warring parties, but it is not. Palestinian extremists' attacks on innocent civilians must be condemned and ended but the root of the conflict lies elsewhere -- in the dispossession of the Palestinian people. Israel currently occupies, colonises, bombs, raids, and controls the water, trade and the borders of a legally free nation that has been recognised by the United Nations. In Gaza, Israel has created the largest open-air prison in the world, and then blockaded it. Now as bombs fall, the families, literally have no way to get out.

These are war crimes and we wouldn't accept that anywhere else, why accept it in Palestine? Half a century ago Israel and its Arab neighbours went to war and Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Occupying territory after war happens all the time. But no military occupation should turn into a decades long tyranny which only fuels and benefits extremists who use terror to target the innocent. And who suffers? The majority of loving families on both sides that just want freedom and peace.

To many, particularly in Europe and North America, calling for companies to withdraw investments from financing or taking part in Israel's occupation of Palestine sounds completely biased. But it’s not -- this is the most potent non-violent strategy to end the ritual violence, ensure Israelis' security and achieve Palestinian freedom. Israel’s power and wealth dwarfs Palestine, and if it refuses to end its illegal occupation, the world must act to make the cost unbearable.

Dutch pension fund, ABP, invests in Israeli banks that help fund the colonisation of Palestine. Massive banks like Barclays invest in suppliers of Israeli arms and other occupation businesses. Computer giant Hewlett-Packard supplies sophisticated surveillance to control the movement of Palestinians. And Caterpillar provides bulldozers that are used to demolish Palestinian homes and farms. If we can create the biggest global call ever to get these companies to pull out, we will show clearly that the world will no longer be complicit in this bloodshed. The Palestinian people are calling on the world to support this path and progressive Israelis support it too.

Let’s join them:

[ https://secure.avaaz.org/en/israel_pale ... c/?tfzOaab ]

Our community has worked to bring peace, hope, and change to some of the world’s toughest conflicts, and often that means taking difficult positions to address the root cause. For years our community has looked for a political solution to this nightmare, but with this new round of horror unfolding in Gaza, the time has come to turn to sanctions and disinvestment to finally help end the horror for Israelis and Palestinians.

With hope and determination,

Alice, Fadi, Ben, Laila, Anna, Ricken, Jo, Nell, Mais and the entire Avaaz team

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MORE INFORMATION:

UN independent expert calls for boycott of businesses profiting from Israeli settlements (UN)
[ http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?N ... 7_ynqhMrRI ]

12 more EU countries warn against trade with Israeli settlements (Haaretz)
[ http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-d ... m-1.603030 ]

Israelis, Palestinians Pro Peace Process, but Not Hopeful (Gallup)
[ http://www.gallup.com/poll/161456/israe ... peful.aspx ]

Under pressure, a strong EU-Israel relationship faces uncertain future (Middle East Monitor)
[ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/artic ... ationshi... ]

Israel-Gaza conflict: 80 per cent of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes are civilians, UN report says (The Independent)
[ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 06397.html ]

Rule 156. Definition of War Crimes (ICRC)
[ http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/d ... 44_rule156 ]

Palestinians: Most Gaza dead are children, women, elderly (Haaretz)
[ http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-d ... m-1.604443 ]

Caught on Tape: US Teen Allegedly Beaten by Israeli Police (ABC News)
[ http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/caught- ... y-24449873 ]

A policy of displacement (Visualizing Palestine)
[ http://visualizingpalestine.org/infogra ... splacement ]

Exposing the Israeli Occupation Industry
[ http://www.whoprofits.org/ ]

Additional sources for this campaign:
[ http://avaaz.org/en/israel_palestine_th ... s_a/?blast ]

[Oscar]

Palestinians tell Canada to back Geneva Conventions meeting on Israel

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/palesti ... -1.2879065 ]

Mike Blanchfield, Canadian Press | December 19, 2014 9:25 AM ET

OTTAWA — The top Palestinian diplomat in Canada says the Harper government should not have boycotted a United Nations conference this week that harshly criticized Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Said Hamad says Canada should have joined other countries at a conference in Geneva examining the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the rules of war and military occupation.

Some 126 countries of the 196 international parties to the convention adopted a resolution Wednesday saying Israel’s construction of settlements does not conform to its international legal obligations as an occupying power.

Along with Israel and the U.S., Canada boycotted the conference, another example of unwavering Conservative support of Israel — a position that has exposed deep differences with the majority of the United Nations.

“We had hoped Canada would participate in this conference, given its long-standing policy that ’Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The settlements also constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace,”’ Hamad said in a written statement.

MORE:

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/palesti ... -1.2879065 ]

[Oscar]

Election win for Netanyahu and one misstep closer to a Palestinian state

[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e23571762/ ]

PATRICK MARTIN The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Mar. 20 2015, 8:26 PM EDT Last updated Friday, Mar. 20 2015, 9:06 PM EDT

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QUOTE: "Even Canada may want to review its very pro-Israel policies. While Mr. Netanyahu’s clarification Thursday may satisfy the government, officials in Ottawa have made it clear that the two-state solution – the creation of an independent Palestinian state, alongside Israel – is long-standing Canadian policy."

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When Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted earlier this week saying there would be no Palestinian state on his watch, he may have thought he was consolidating right-wing support for his Likud party and keeping those irresponsible lefties in the Labour Party from coming to power.

The impact of his tactics, however, has been to trigger a potentially debilitating backlash from the U.S. administration and to jump-start a Palestinian campaign for international recognition. Rather than set back the cause of a Palestinian state, his measures have brought such a state closer.

“Netanyahu’s manoeuvre was probably the best possible thing to happen as far as the Palestinians are concerned,” said Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt and now a professor of Middle East studies at Princeton University. “Their diplomatic path is now clear.”

A leading Palestinian politician made the same point. “It’s wonderful for us,” said Jibril Rajoub, secretary general of the Fatah Central Committee, speaking to The Times of Israel.

“This will just prove to the international community that we have no one to speak to on the Israeli side.”

Not even Mr. Netanyahu’s clarification on Thursday, saying he still supports a two-state solution “if circumstances change,” could stanch the bleeding.

“The White House does not believe Netanyahu has reversed course at all,” said Mr. Kurtzer, who has advised U.S. President Barack Obama in the past. “He [Mr. Netanyahu] will have to do more, say more, take action to demonstrate his commitment to a two-state solution … if he’s going to undo the damage he’s done.”

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, in an e-mail: “Netanyahu was never a supporter of the two-state solution. His campaign in 1996 was based on destroying the Oslo Agreement. Now … he continues building settlements which makes the two-state solution impossible.”

If that is the international perception, the Palestinians have a tremendous opportunity to advance their cause.

“The Palestinian leadership is looking to move on two tracks,” said Canadian-born Diana Buttu, an Arab with Israeli citizenship living in Ramallah, who was an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – the “international recognition” track and the “punitive” track, meaning ways intended to pressure Israel to change policies.

There’s been a lot of talk about Palestinians taking Israel to the International Criminal Court – Palestinian membership in that body becomes formal on April 1 – but the process to prosecute someone there takes years. It also would cost the Palestinian Authority dearly.

Already the Israelis are refusing to transfer tax revenue to the PA – about $120-million (U.S.) a month – unless the PA withdraws its ICC complaint.

And the U.S. Congress recently enacted a provision that will cut off $400-million a year to the Palestinians if the PA takes its case to the next level.

There are quicker and less expensive ways for the Palestinians to go – to the UN Security Council, for one.

MORE:

[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e23571762/ ]