Sunday 13 June 2010
Flotilla Support Demonstration - Ramallah
Our IFPB joined a demonstration in Ramallah, which involved 300 to 400 people marching from the city center to the Turkish embassy chanting “Where are the human rights?” and “Thank you Turkey” in Arabic. When we were heading on to our next meeting at the end of the protest, another delegate who speaks Hebrew and I noticed a Channel 2 news agent from the Israeli popular news station. We walked up to see what he was saying and we noticed that his camera man was struggling with the angle at which to shoot him so as not to get any Palestinian flags or remaining protest signs. The news reporter then taped a short statement of no more than 60 seconds in which he stated that life was going as normal in Ramallah and that we people were apathetically going about their daily routine, not caring about what had happened off the coast of Gaza. This was, of course, a blatant lie, but Israelis who consider Channel 2 a reliable news source will never know that.
BirZeit University - Ramallah
Opened as a girls school in 1924 (British Mandate era), BirZeit became a full university in 1976. There are currently 8 900 students of which 56% are female. The university has 11 institutes and 12 centers tat cater to the broader community.
About 60% of the population of the West Bank are under 24 and over 150 000 young people are currently enrolled in Palestinian universities.
At any given time an average of 10% of BirZeit students are imprisoned for such crimes as belonging to a student organization. It is also difficult for the university to retain international professors who are often unable to get work permits and can only come teach on tourist visas. The university cannot get legal work permits. In addition, between 1984 and 1992, military orders closed the university repeatedly once keeping its doors shut for over 3 years. Lectures took place anywhere from homes to community centers and underground educations cells of sorts were set up. As a result of this experience, the Right to Education campaign was started and is ongoing at Na-Najah, Hebron, Al-Quds, and BirZeit university now.
All Palestinian residents are trie
About 60% of the population of the West Bank are under 24 and over 150 000 young people are currently enrolled in Palestinian universities.
At any given time an average of 10% of BirZeit students are imprisoned for such crimes as belonging to a student organization. It is also difficult for the university to retain international professors who are often unable to get work permits and can only come teach on tourist visas. The university cannot get legal work permits. In addition, between 1984 and 1992, military orders closed the university repeatedly once keeping its doors shut for over 3 years. Lectures took place anywhere from homes to community centers and underground educations cells of sorts were set up. As a result of this experience, the Right to Education campaign was started and is ongoing at Na-Najah, Hebron, Al-Quds, and BirZeit university now.
All Palestinian residents are trie
Boycott from Within - Tel Aviv
For Israelis and those interested in how Israelis can support Palestinian rights:
www.boycottisrael.info
We met with Boycott from Within today in Tel Aviv. It is an Israeli group that supports the 2005 BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) unified call from Palestinians in a wide variety of positions. Considering that Israel itself uses a policy of boycott and collective punishment, this organization sees the BDS call as a necessary and appropriate response to the situation. The BDS mouvement has three demands:
1. Right of Return (for Palestinians, not to be confused with Law of Return for Jews to Israel)
2. Equal rights within the green line/1948/Israel Proper
3. End to the Occupation
It was really powerful to see that there is in fact a minority within Israel that is willing to support such direct action and that recognizes in full the demands of Palestinians. The BDS campaign is the clearest and most powerful answer to the "What do we do now?" question that has arisen in my time here.
www.boycottisrael.info
We met with Boycott from Within today in Tel Aviv. It is an Israeli group that supports the 2005 BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) unified call from Palestinians in a wide variety of positions. Considering that Israel itself uses a policy of boycott and collective punishment, this organization sees the BDS call as a necessary and appropriate response to the situation. The BDS mouvement has three demands:
1. Right of Return (for Palestinians, not to be confused with Law of Return for Jews to Israel)
2. Equal rights within the green line/1948/Israel Proper
3. End to the Occupation
It was really powerful to see that there is in fact a minority within Israel that is willing to support such direct action and that recognizes in full the demands of Palestinians. The BDS campaign is the clearest and most powerful answer to the "What do we do now?" question that has arisen in my time here.
Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights - Bethlehem
At the Badil center today in Bethlehem, we met with Mohammed who spoke to us about Palestinian Refugees. It was his belief that the problem is first and foremost of one human rights and not one of territory and that most Palestinians want a a secular democratic state. He said that though his was convinced that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians in the West Bank support one secular state and that maybe palestinians all over do too, but no data to prove that exists. The Badil center did a study in 2002 that debunked the popular position that there is no room in Israel for Palestinian refugees, which concluded that 84% of Israeli Jews like in merely 16% of Israel proper (within green lines). This does of course not account for the problem that Palestinian refugees would pose to the Jewish majority, but that is of course the center contradiction of the modern state of Israel - being both a Jewish state and a Democratic state is an impossibility due to both the difficulty of maintaining a Jewish majority democratically and the fact that if it is to be a state for Jewish people then it is not a state that offers equal democratic rights to all.
Mohammed was arrested at age 13 for setting up a Secondary school union. According the Israeli forces, being a founder of a students union was a "violation of public security." He has been arrested 16 times since. During his presentation he told us something that really struck a chord with me. He said:
"Palestine is the home of the three major religions so Judaism is part of my culture, too. I am not anti-Jewish. I am anti-Zionist."
Mohammed was arrested at age 13 for setting up a Secondary school union. According the Israeli forces, being a founder of a students union was a "violation of public security." He has been arrested 16 times since. During his presentation he told us something that really struck a chord with me. He said:
"Palestine is the home of the three major religions so Judaism is part of my culture, too. I am not anti-Jewish. I am anti-Zionist."
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