Monthly Archives: March 2011

AHAVA IS ON THE RUN!

JCrap.com (the Jewish Chronicle) today posted the news on their website that the campaign against Ahava has scored a direct hit. The landlord, Shaftesbury PLC will not renew Ahava’s lease after over a year of regular fortnightly demonstrations and direct actions. The shop’s neighbours are also keen to see Ahava leave and most have voiced support for the BDS campaign against the company.

It’s interesting to note that this news broke a week after the trial of four activists who locked themselves to an oil drum full of concrete inside the shop on two separate occasions. A verdict concerning their fate has been postponed until next month.

As one activist said, “Ahava is on the run.” This is a victory for the BDS Movement and everyone who worked so hard on this campaign. The JCrap article exposes for all to see, the ulterior motives of this ‘little shop of horrors’ – much to no one’s surprise.

Odelia Haroush, the shop Manager and Director of Dead Sea Laboratories UK, should rest assured that no matter where Ahava might relocate, the campaign against injustice will continue.

Let’s savour this victory, but not rest on our laurels. Demonstrations in Monmouth Street should continue until we see an empty shop.

Venceremos!

FREE PALESTINE!

Here’s the article:

Protests drive Ahava out of Covent Garden

By Robyn Rosen

Created 31 Mar 2011 – 11:01am

The UK branch of Israeli cosmetics store, Ahava, is moving from its central London shop after years of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Protesters claim that the products sold in the store are manufactured in a factory in Israeli settlement, Mitzpe Shalom in the West Bank but are “misleadingly” labelled as produced in Israel.

The owner of the shop, currently in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, is looking for other sites after owners of neighbouring stores complained to the landlord
following protests.

Supporters claim it has been “chased out” of its location by regular “noisy and intimidating” demonstrations.

A spokeswoman for Shaftesbury PLC, which owns the property as well as several others in the Seven Dials area, said: “When Ahava’s lease expires in September, we will not offer them a new one.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters have been demonstrating fortnightly outside the shop, which opened in April 2007, for more than two years. A counter group of pro-Israeli supporters also demonstrate outside.

Police were drafted in to control the protests and set up a meeting last October
between the protesters and other shop managers.

Last week, four demonstrators stood trial for aggravated trespass after they chained themselves to a concrete block inside the store last year.

Colin George, manager of clothes shop The Loft, next door to Ahava, said: “I’m
pleased Ahava is leaving. It’s brought the street down. I’ve complained to the
landlords, as has everyone here. Everyone would like them to leave. I wish they
had left two years ago.

“Protesters are just going to follow them around, wherever they go. Maybe they should be an online business instead.”

Ahava UK’s accounts up until the end of 2009 show a total loss of more than £250,000, despite receiving more than £300,000 from its Israeli parent company, with no repayment plan.

Odelia Haroush, director of the UK branch of Ahava, Dead Sea Laboratories UK, said: “We are now in the process of looking for another location.”

She said that she was looking in several places, including sites in north-west
London.

“Shaftesbury PLC own most of Covent Garden and some of the other
properties in our street belong to them,” she said. “Other retailers
are very upset with what’s going on and Shaftesbury PLC doesn’t want to inflame
the situation.

“It’s very important to the Israeli company to have a presence in the UK. It’s not
just about making money. It has a big cosmetic market and we want to be a
player.”

RichardMillett, who attends the counter-demonstrations, said: “Maybe the
neighbours could have had a more positive role and spoken to the protesters,
rather than take it out on Ahava.

“It’s sad that this country will allow a lawfully trading shop to be chased out
because of the politics of people who disagree with Israel’s basic
existence.”

Source URL: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/47284/protests-drive-ahava-out-covent-garden

BDS Day of Action: TESCO

30 March BDS DAY OF ACTION a success as London activists target TESCO’s sale of Israeli and illegal settlement goods. 

A photo essay.

Thanks to Salim for the video.

Inside the Supermarket: Israeli and illegal settlement produce was identified, de-shelved and brought to the front of the supermarket while an activist educates people and flyers are distributed.

Some of the Israeli and settlement produce that was de-shelved.

As always, the action attracted a lot of attention from customers and staff.

Explaining our presence to the managers and security staff is also a key role.

Activists wore green T-shirts that read BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS and FREE PALESTINE.

The police turned up, but took no further action aside from asking us why we were here.

Continuing outside. The action was purposely planned to coincide with the busiest time of the day.

Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) had a presence along with their banner.

BDS Day of Action: Veolia HQ

Palestinian Rights Campaigners ‘Trash’ Veolia HQ

Report and photos by Salim, Bruce and Tapash.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011 – In an action organised by West London PSC this afternoon in commemoration of Land Day, 27 protesters visited Veolia’s head office on Pentonville Road, near London’s King Cross along with a letter demanding that Veolia cease providing services to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem.

The security operative at the reception desk angrily demanded that protesters cease taking photographs and leave the building. After explaining their presence, those present vowed to stay until the letter was accepted – despite threats to call the police if they did not leave. In fact, the police did arrive shortly afterward, but took no action aside from asking for more information about the campaign.

While waiting for a representative to come and accept the letter, protesters displayed photographs of Israeli atrocities, unfurled a banner, waved flags and sung chants such as “BIN, BIN, BIN Veolia!” and “FREE, FREE Palestine!” Flyers were also distributed to office workers entering and leaving explaining about Veolia’s complicity in Israeli violations of international law and war crimes. To further clarify Veolia’s business ethics, filled rubbish bags had BIN VEOLIA and RETURN TO SENDER labels attached to them were deposited in the reception area.

Protesters handed a letter to a Veolia spokesperson explaining and specifying why Veolia’s actions in aiding Israel’s occupation constitute grave breaches of humanitarian and international laws. At the same time a protester gave the spokesperson an oral summary of the contents of the letter. The Veolia
spokesperson then tried to claim that Veolia’s role in the Jerusalem Light Rail project as well as the Tovlan landfill was minimal, and that Veolia did not run
‘Israeli Settler only’ bus services. He became very hostile to having his comments recorded – he did not want to go on camera with his responses- and acted aggressively towards someone who was recordings his explanations.

Protestors cited facts rebutting each of the spokesperson’s comments to show that Veolia was only telling half-truths at best and untruths at worst. As an example of the spokesperson’s defence of Veolia, he claimed that Veolia had offered to charge Palestinians reduced rates for Veolia taking their waste at the Tovlan landfill. It was pointed out to him that the key issue was that Tovlan landfill was taking waste from illegal Israeli settlements and dumping this on Palestinian land; offering a reduced rate for some Palestinians did not absolve Veolia from this.

Protesters left the Veolia spokesperson with the message that the campaign to highlight its activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank would continue and that local councils across the UK are being lobbied to exclude Veolia from contracts because of those activities.

It is fair to say that the Veolia spokesperson did not look a happy as activists left the building at the end of the action without any police intervention.

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NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! Shimon Peres visits London

Thanks to Seymour for this video

Some of the protestors opposite Chatham House on 30 March. Photo: Hagit Klaiman

A war criminal, a most appropriate president for the criminal state of Israel was somehow allowed to attend a Zionist rebranding exercise at Chatham House in London today. Difficult to imagine how this person – who murdered scores of civilians under UN protection in Lebanon, who was instrumental in Israel’s acquisition by stealth of its amoury of WMDs and who in addition engineered together with Ben Gurion the initial ethnic cleansing of Palestine – difficult to imagine how he was able to freely visit the UK and speak at a prestigious conference venue without hinderance or intervention from the CID, MI5 and the special branch.

Obviously the answer lies in the everpresent insidious influence of the Zionist Lobby with its poisonous tentacles manipulating the Friends of Israel moles in both the government and in the opposition.

Wednesday, 30 March – Shimon Peres commenced his visit to London by delivering a speech at the Chatham House institute. Speaking in front of European and UK diplomats and officials, Peres criticised the foreign and British media for their biased coverage against Israel.

Protestors voiced their fury in anger and outrage that the war criminal Peres was allowed to freely enter the UK.

Police who were present used highly questionable heavy-handed tactics citing a breach of the peace and contained protestors until Peres had left the institute for an unknown destination.

BDS WEEK OF ACTION for Palestine Land Day: Sunday 27 March to Saturday 2 April 2011

The BDS National Committee (BNC) is calling on you to unite in your different capacities and struggles to join the Global BDS Day of Action on Land Day, 30 March 2011, in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s right to self determination on their ancestral land.

Land Day commemorates the day in 1976 when Israeli military forces shot and killed six young Palestinian citizens of the Israeli state. These brave youth were among thousands protesting the Israeli government’s expropriation of Palestinian land to build new Jewish-only colonies and expand existing ones.

Today, Land Day symbolizes Palestinian resistance to Israel’s ongoing land expropriation, colonization, occupation and apartheid.

Inspired and buoyed by the popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and their unique manifestation of courage, dignity, civility and determination, we stand resolutely with worldwide struggles for self determination, freedom, democracy, social justice and equality, and we call for intensifying BDS actions globally as the main form of solidarity with Palestinian rights.

We salute and stand with the similarly popular and determined Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, confirming that struggles for freedom, justice and equal rights everywhere are one. To the people of Tunisia and Egypt we say: “Your struggle is ours, as ours is yours. Your freedom is ours, as ours is yours.”

At this time, we are also reminded of the 20th anniversary of the failed attempts that started in Madrid in 1991 to make peacewithout justice and human rights. The recently revealed “Palestine Papers” have confirmed beyond any doubt what has already been known to many: Israel refuses to comply with international law and rejects all forms of just peace, regardless of any steep concessions offered by unelected and unrepresentative Palestinian officials. As in the heroic struggle for freedom and against apartheid in South Africa, it is evident today that only sustained, effective and morally consistent international pressure — especially in the form of creative, context-sensitive BDS campaigns — can compel Israel to abide by its obligations under international law and respect Palestinian rights, foremost among which is our right to self determination and freedom.

Inspired by a century of Palestinian civil resistance, the South African anti-apartheid movement, and the intifada of the Egyptian and Tunisian peoples, the BNC calls on people of conscience all over the world to join the global BDS Day of Action through engaging in effective, creative and visible actions.

We specifically call on you to:

1. Launch and support divestment initiatives to encourage and pressure individuals, pension funds, institutions and corporations to shed their investments in Israel that feed and profit from Israel’s war, occupation and apartheid economy;

2.      Take initiatives to boycott products and services of Israeli and international corporations that sustain Israel’s apartheid, colonialism and occupation;

3.      Pursue legal action towards ending Israel’s impunity, including by investigating and prosecuting  in national courts and international tribunals Israeli war criminals and corporations that are complicit in Israeli violations of international law.

4.      Urge artists to join the spectacularly growing cultural boycott of Israel by refusing to provide a cultural fig leaf for Israeli apartheid. Artists and cultural figures in South Africa, Ireland, the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, India, Australia, the U.S., Brazil, Norway, Sweden, among others, have heeded the PACBI-led and internationally endorsed call for a cultural boycott, thus sending a clear message to Israel that its occupation and discrimination against Palestinians are unacceptable. Far from being “above politics,” many in the cultural world now recognize, Israeli cultural institutions play a key role in the “Brand Israel” campaign of the Israeli foreign ministry, aimed at diverting attention from and whitewashing Israel’s colonial policies and war crimes;

5.      Initiate and promote incremental academic boycott initiatives leading to termination of all institutional links with Israeli universities: including petitions, statements and awareness raising campaigns to highlight the role played by these academic institutions in planning, justifying and perpetuating the state’s colonial and apartheid policies.

We also urge all partners and activists to focus on ensuring media coverage to reach a wider audience, by publishing BDS articles in your local and national press; briefing journalists on your BDS activities; staging media-focused public actions, such as direct action and high profile flash mobs; publicizing legal actions; exposing violators; promoting fair public debates; and using alternative media to mark and document your actions.

The 2005 Palestinian Civil Society call for BDS is now being answered by mainstream and influential actors worldwide. Superstars, award-winning authors, global financial institutions, major trade unions, faith groups, political parties, governments, and individuals of conscience of every kind are beginning to take action. Five years after the Palestinian Civil Society BDS call, we see signs that the unconditional support given to Israel over the decades by the international community to protect it from censure and accountability to international law is showing cracks. BDS shows the way for translating words into deeds and emotional support for justice into actions that can truly end injustice.

Intensify BDS!

Join the Global BDS Action Day on Land Day, 30 March 2011!

For information on how to join this global event and how to develop ongoing BDS action in your country, organization and network, please contact the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) at:  bdsdayofaction@bdsmovement.net.

Background:

The first Global BDS Day of Action was announced by Palestinian civil society with overwhelming support at the 2009 World Social Forum in Brazil. The day of action was held on March 30 to coincide with the Palestinian Land Day, a major symbol of Palestinian resistance and the struggle for land, freedom and rights.

The BDS Call asserts the primacy of the right to self-determination and addresses the fundamental rights of the three main components of the Palestinian people: to live free from Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; to end Israel’s system of institutionalized racial discrimination against its Palestinian citizens; and for the Palestinian refugees and internally displaced, who constitute the great majority of the Palestinian people, to exercise their UN-sanctioned right to return to their homes of origin and to receive reparations.

The announcement of the first Global BDS Day of Action came in the wake of Israel’s 23 day military offensive, “Operation Cast Lead,” during which it killed more than 1400 and injured over 5000 Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. Two years after, Israel continues its criminal and immoral siege of the Strip, in grave violation of international law. It continues its military occupation and its extensive colonization, aimed at the gradual ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinians in the Naqab (Negev), occupied Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, as well as in other parts of the occupied West Bank. It continues to construct its Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, and to arrest and repress Palestinian popular resistance activists struggling to implement the ICJ ruling to dismantle the Wall, in light of the utter failure of the “international community” to enforce that advisory opinion.

These grave violations of international law must be seen in the context of decades of Israeli impunity, afforded to it by Western governments and, lately, the United Nations. Since the Nakba, Israel’s establishment through the dispossession and ethnic cleansing of a majority of the indigenous Palestinian people, Israel has been allowed to deny over 6 million refugees their UN-sanctioned right to return to their homes of origin. In the same period, Israel managed to get away with its system of legalized and institutionalized racial discrimination that conforms to the definition of apartheid under the 1976 International Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.[i]

[i] http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/cspca/cspca.html

DON’T RUN WITH APARTHEID: A Letter from Silwan

We recently received this report from a London activist who was in Jerusalem on Friday, 25 March, the day of the Jerusalem Marathon:

Meanwhile in the real world while this event (the Jerusalem Marathon) was taking place, I was in Silwan, a neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem as tear gas rained down on the inhabitants. I watched a young mother and her four kids (all under six) trying to escape the fumes. Which, by the way, were still making my eyes water twelve hours later.

An Israeli activist was arrested while filming the Border Police throwing a canister into a home. He was pepper-sprayed first.

The Sheikh Jarrah demonstrators (half of whom were Israeli) marched to the Police Station in his support all carrying Palestinian flags.

Israeli human rights activists are usually dealt with in a harsh manner. The fate of the Israeli activist detained is currently unknown.

Photo Essay: Protesting settlements in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. From 972mag.com 1 September 2010

Further information about Silwan can be found here.

DON’T RUN WITH APARTHEID: No to Jerusalem 2012!

Thanks to Seymour for the video.

Thanks to Felix of youandifilms and Jim for the video.

“Adidas fall from grace, don’t sponsor a racist race!”

Report by London BDS

On the evening of Friday 25 March 2011, the day of the Jerusalem Marathon whose major sponsor is Adidas, BDS activists held their own race against Israeli Apartheid inside the Adidas flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.

One of the race numbers. Statistics: Middle East Monitor.

This is the first of many actions that will bring Adidas’s shameful sponsorship of a marathon that promotes a municipality that is actively involved in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, demolition of houses, as well as destruction of people and property, into the public spotlight.

The runners attracted attention from shop staff, customers and the general public and distributed flyers to customers both inside and outside on Oxford Street explaining that the Jerusalem Marathon is yet is another attempt by Israel to whitewash their atrocious human rights record and to urge Adidas not to sponsor the 2012 Jerusalem Marathon that will be held on 16 March 2012. The store was evacuated and was forced to close for a time. The action ended without any police intervention.

Afterwards, activists returned, spoke to and presented the manager with a document explaining the purpose of our action that we requested be forwarded to their head office.

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) stated in a 17 February 2011 press release:

The Jerusalem Municipality, a key node in the official Israeli structure of colonialism and apartheid, is a leading violator of Palestinian human rights. Since its inception, it has been a major instrument in the colonisation of Israeli-occupied Jerusalem. It is particularly notable for its role in promoting and deepening one of the starkest cases of urban apartheid in the world. The municipality continues to be actively involved in the illegal gradual ethnic cleansing of Palestinians out of Jerusalem, the demolition of Palestinian homes and destruction of property, and the sustained suppression of development in the Palestinian neighborhoods as a matter of policy.

The similarities between the situation of East Jerusalemites and black South Africans [under apartheid] are very great in respect of their residency rights. We had the old Group Areas Act in South Africa. East Jerusalem has territorial classification that has the same sort of consequences as race classification had in South Africa in respect of who you can marry, where you can live, where you can go to school or hospital.

It is thus not surprising that the Jerusalem marathon website refers to East Jerusalem as “mostly the home of former Jordanian citizens,” painting Palestinians as foreigners instead of the indigenous people of the land. This attitude is consistent with Israel’s ongoing erasure of Palestinian historical presence in the city, including the ongoing wave of demolitions of Palestinian homes in Silwan to turn the area into an “archeological park” and “tourism center” for extremist settlers at the expense of the local Palestinian population who live in fear of constant violent harassment . UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk said of the plan that “international law does not allow Israel to bulldoze Palestinian homes to make space for the mayor’s project to build a garden, or anything else,” adding that the plan “should be seen within the context of Israel’s persistent, systematic approach to driving Palestinians out of East Jerusalem.” This comes after decades of Israeli crimes including the erasure of over 500 Palestinian villages in 1948, the willful destruction of the Moroccan Quarter in the old city of Jerusalem in 1967, and the more recent desecration of the historic cemetery of Ma’man Allah (“Mamilla”) in West Jerusalem, for the purposes of building a so-called “Museum of Tolerance,” all sites marathon runners will pass through.

Other than conflicting with international law, the sponsorship of the marathon is in clear violation of Adidas’s own commitments to “rules that society expects of a responsible company” and “all applicable laws, directives and guidelines. ” The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on Adidas to immediately rescind its sponsorship agreement for the marathon with the Jerusalem Municipality. The BNC also calls on people of conscience around the world to urge Adidas to follow through with its stated commitments by canceling this unethical sponsorship.

Adidas’s refusal to distance itself from the event would put the company in violation of the most basic obligation not to be complicit in war crimes and grave human rights abuses, and would violate the 2005 Palestinian BDS Call, one of the most effective, popular, and non-violent forms of struggle against Israel until it abides by its obligations under international law.

This, as a result, would make the company a target of worldwide consumer boycott action. We also remind Adidas’s managers that under the principle of individual criminal responsibility, CEOs of companies can be held individually responsible for certain grave violations of international law, including war crimes. Complicity in covering up war crimes and normalizing them is a serious crime in its own right that Adidas should carefully consider.

Activists previously contacted Adidas and all received the same reply:

Thank you for your recent letter regarding the Jerusalem Marathon.

Adidas is convinced by the unifying power sport offers. As a general rule we do not influence any political processes or event details.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for contacting the Adidas Group.

Yours sincerely

Lauren Cruse
Customer Care Manager
For and on behalf of Adidas (UK) Limited

We’re sure all the Palestinian sportsmen and women who had their pitches blown up or their visas refused will be pleased to learn of the “unifying power” of sport.

The Don’t Run With Apartheid campaign is urging human-rights activists throughout the world to take action to ensure that Adidas does not sponsor the 2012 Jerusalem Marathon.

Adidas has already hinted that they are wary of an international boycott and bad publicity. This is an opportunity for all people of conscience to get involved.

Through its sponsorship, Adidas undermines the Palestinian call for a cultural, as well as a sporting boycott of Israel.

ADD YOU VOICE TO THE GROWING NUMBERS AND MAKE A REAL IMPACT:

Here’s a sample letter:

I want to express my concern and disapproval at Adidas for sponsoring the forthcoming Jerusalem Marathon on the 25th March 2011.

It is important to note that your sponsorship of the Jerusalem marathon, whether in the current form or in a revised one, undermines the Palestinian call out for a cultural, sporting and economic boycott of Israel. In 2005, hundreds of Palestinian civil society, trade union and charitable organisations came together in unison to call for global non-violent citizen action through a Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign to pressure Israel into conforming with its human rights and international obligations.

Since 1967 Israel has moved over 260,000 Settlers into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, flouting international law and dozens of UN resolutions and forcing Palestinians of their land.

The marathon is organised by the same municipality that routinely organises house evictions and demolitions in East Jerusalem. Adidas’ sponsorship signals an international ‘business as usual’ message to apartheid and occupation, perpetuated by Israel, on behalf of Adidas.

I ask that Adidas does not sponsor the 2012  Jerusalem Marathon and stands up and join the many companies, athletes, singers, celebrities, politicians and citizens worldwide who have already done so, for human rights and for an end to the apartheid occupation.

In the event that Adidas chooses to sponsor this event, people throughout the world will ensure that every patron who walks through the doors of your shops, as well as Adidas stockists, will be informed as to exactly what they are supporting.

“Impossible is nothing,” Adidas’s main slogan proclaims. Ending the company’s complicity with Israel’s apartheid and war crimes should be quite possible then.

And on 8 April 2011, Rome took up the baton on the same day as the Tel Aviv Marathon…

The truth shall prevail…

Video courtesy of Seymour Alexander

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Gandhi

Report by London Palestine Activist

Saturday, 19 March 2011 – This weekend was the Celebrate Palestine cultural festival at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). However, even a Palestinian cultural event didn’t prevent a small group of Zionist cheerleaders, including supporters of StandWithUs currently touring the UK on a PR exercise from holding an unauthorised demonstration. They exposed Zionism’s true nature again on Sunday when they were involved in an incident that – not surprisingly – led to police intervention. Wherever there are Zionists, the police will sooner or later turn up – just like on Monmouth Street every fortnight and at every event and demonstration where Zionists are present.

The few Zionists who were outside the SOAS Palestine festival displayed placards of alleged suicide bombers in addition to photographs of the members of the Fogel family who were killed on 11 March in the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, near Nablus.  Shortly after the murders – which was also widely condemned by many Palestinians, including the PA, Israeli officials rounded up all the Thai workers in Itamar and arrested one whom they suspected of committing the crime.

Back in London, a female filmmaker who turned up along with her male colleague was interviewing people. Neither said much about themselves except that they were ‘independent’ filmmakers and were from New York and New Jersey, USA. Suspicions were confirmed when they were later identified by activists as one Ricki Rosen and her husband Izzy Lemberg who have lived in Jerusalem for over 20 years. Rosen’s work includes Lone Soldiers – Israel’s Defenders from Around the World and Transformations – From Ethiopia to Israel. Lemberg, we suspect, works for CNN.

We now know that Rosen, identifying herself as an independent filmmaker from New York, also approached UK colleges and universities, trade unions, media outlets and solidarity organisations asking for information about activists in order to film them. Photographs of the pair are below and have since been widely circulated.

Ricki Rosen, 'independent' filmmaker (from Jerusalem).

Izzy Lemberg, another so-called 'independent' filmmaker (also from Jerusalem).

The Zionists who were at SOAS, followed by Rosen and Lemberg, eventually made their way to Monmouth Street, about a 15-minute walk away and proceeded to hang their hateful propaganda on the scaffolding directly opposite Ahava. As there are always more BDS campaigners than Zionists, it was very easy for activists to stand, or hold Palestinian flags in front of the placards. The StandWithUs Zionists antagonized many people, as witnessed by the shouting and raised voices that were continuously heard.

Fortunately, a campaigner alerted fellow BDS activists outside Ahava about these ‘independent’ filmmakers and as a result, few spoke to them, much to the anger of Lemberg who blamed one of the campaigners for the ‘wall’ of silence that surrounded the pair – much like the Israeli Apartheid wall that surrounds and isolates the West Bank and Gaza.

A pleasant and welcome surprise was meeting Zoe and Timmo, two amazing people from the Dorset Palestinian Israeli Peace Group, who heard about the Ahava fortnightly demo and travelled all the way from Dorset to be with us today.

John played a very appropriate tune on his saxophone, sung in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 and later made famous by Paul Robeson, a voice for the oppressed, who can be heard singing the song here. Images of Nazi Germany in the video are similar to what Palestinians are experiencing today under Israeli occupation. Here’s a link to a comparison of some very graphic images of Nazi Germany and Palestine and I’m certain that you’ll find the similarities striking.

As for Ahava, the usual: Hardly any customers. BDS campaigners continued to engage with many people who were supportive of the Palestinian struggle for independence and the few Zionists who turned up were mostly ignored by the general public, aside from those who disagreed with them.

One image of the day that remained in my mind is of a lone Zionist campaigner who stood outside the shoe shop next to Ahava shouting to no one in particular “we support this shop” as people continuously walked by, totally oblivious to what he was saying.

SUSPENDED: Jonathan Hoffman, Co Vice-Chair of the Zionist Federation.

Sadly, the activist who is our greatest asset, Jonathan Hoffman, the Co Vice-Chair of the Zionist Federation, didn’t turn up. Maybe he was embarrassed over his suspension from the Board of Deputies due to his inappropriate comments, as well as his widely publicised retreat over the threat of being sued over a petition he created calling for the resignation of UJIA chairman Mick Davis over his outspoken criticism of Israel. Here’s Hoffman’s spin.

Not a good week for the Hoff, but he shouldn’t worry, as we support the Save Jonathan Hoffman Campaign. It’s the least we can do for someone who has done so much, more than any other person, to discredit Zionism in the UK and Ireland. 

Priceless.

As Judge Bathurst-Norman would say, “that man deserves a medal.”

Always more BDS Campaigners (on left) than Zios, who had to make up for their lack of support with placards.

Belting it out on the sax. The song is almost over for Ahava.

Explaining the campaign to police. It may have taken over a year, but out of curiosity or instruction, the police are just now beginning to express an interest about why we are here.

The Zionists antagonizing passersby always get most of the police attention (and they're staging their counter-demonstration in front of a shoe shop as well).

A few of the BDS campaigners who turned up on Saturday.

Even many Zionists are ashamed of Israel's actions. Here's one showing his solidarity with Palestine.

A very angry Zionist who called me every name in the book after I bumped into the nasty propaganda that was attached to scaffolding with cello tape ('scotch tape' to our American readers) and accidentally knocked it to the pavement.

"You can't hang that there." Some Zios seem to think they're in Israel, or on an illegal settlement. This is London!

"The truth shall prevail"

Victory for LSE Palestine Society’s Eden Springs boycott campaign!

From the Beaver, newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union. 22 March 2011

By Oliver Wiseman

After a term-long campaign by the LSE Students’ Union Palestine Society, water coolers provided by Eden Springs UK will be a rarer sight on campus next term.

Speaking to the Beaver, Palestine Society president Zac Sammour said he was

“delighted with the pace and success of the campaign. I believe the success of this campaign demonstrates the deep commitment of LSE staff and students to ethical investment and global justice.”

Over the course of the Lent Term all but one of the academic departments believed to be using Eden Water responded to the Palestine Society’s demands and committed in writing to no longer use water supplied by the company.

Eden Springs is part of Mey Eden, an Israeli company that operates sources and plants in the Golan Heights, Syrian land occupied by Israel since 1967. The extension of Israeli law and administration throughout the territory has been condemned by the United Nations Security Council and widely denounced in the International Community.

Though the LSE has no central contract with Eden Springs, the company appears on a list of suppliers the London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC) offers to individual departments at the School. The Palestine Society’s campaign began in January when members of the society learnt that a number of departments at the School used water supplied by Eden Springs.

A spokesperson for the School told the Beaver in January that the LUPC list offers a choice between six suppliers. The spokesperson also noted that, while Eden Springs does operate in the Golan Heights, the water supplied to departments at the LSE originate from West Hyde, Herefordshire.

Sammour said though he was “pleased” about the prospect of no Eden Springs water on campus, the Palestine Society would also lobby the School to remove the company from the list of suppliers on offer to departments.

The campaign consisted in a number of events including the unfurling of a banner on the steps of St Clement’s Building by campaigners dressed as Israeli soldiers with over-sized guns and bottles filled with fake blood and labelled “Eden Water”. Members of the Palestine Society also garnered signatures for a petition on Houghton Street and contacted the heads of the departments they believed to be using the services of Eden Springs.

LSE Students’ Union Education Officer, Ashok Kumar said,

“This is a monumental victory for human rights because it understands, as with South Africa, the direct linkages between profiteering companies and a State that violates international law. Indeed, this is the first step in a long journey for the LSE.”

Kumar noted this was his personal opinion.

Aimee Riese, an LSE Students’ Union Israel Society committee member, criticised the campaign in a statement sent to the Beaver that described some campaigning tactics as “inappropriate”.

A statement released by the Palestine Society said,

“The development is being hailed as a landmark victory for the wider Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) against Israeli companies, a campaign aimed at undermining the structural mechanisms that make the illegal Israeli Occupation possible.”

“The Israel Society believes in building bridges not boycotts”, said the Israel Society’s statement, “We are against the BDS campaign which opposes the internationally accepted consensus to a two-state solution for peace in the region.

“BDS is an ineffective and misdirected campaign which shows limited understanding of the real issues in the region and does not work towards promoting peace,” said Riese, “ LSE students, when asked to vote on a BDS-advocated academic boycott of Israel at a recent debate, rejected it.”

The Israel Society’s statement also criticised Kumar’s support for the campaign, claiming he had no mandate to do so.

“The prioritisation of this campaign by our Education Officer is strange”, said the statement, “Given that the Sabbatical Officers wade into complex international issues without a mandate from students, we invite them to publicly endorse the Israel Society’s campaign for a ‘Two State Solution’ that provides a lasting and secure peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.”

http://thebeaveronline.co.uk/2011/03/22/victory-for-palestine-society%E2%80%99s-eden-springs-boycott-campaign/

Further information from the Palestinian Embassy in the UK

Omar Barghouti – ‘BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions’. Video of London book launch, 7 March 2011.

On 7th March 2011 the London Review Bookshop hosted the launch of Omar Barghouti’s book “BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights” which was chaired by Victoria Brittain. Omar spoke about his work and then went on to answer the many questions that people who attended, wanted to ask. 

It was a insightful, wonderful and enlightening launch for a book that has received many outstanding reviews.

Highly-recommended.

For a full report, please visit Innovative Minds