End Israeli Apartheid Week 2010

Students Allied for Freedom and Equality presents:
End Israeli Apartheid Week
A week of art, education, and resistance

February 22-25, 2010

Examining Israeli Apartheid through Art
with Toby Millman
Monday, February 22nd, 7-8:30pm
South Quad Ambatana Lounge
Toby will present her artwork, which highlights the struggles Palestinians endure under Israel's military occupation of the West Bank.  Her unique style provides a different perspective on the conflict that forces people to reevaluate their preconceived notions about Israel/Palestine.

Painting the Separation Wall
Tuesday, February 23rd, 5pm
Diag
Many Palestinians and human rights activists resist the West Bank separation wall that encloses them through art, painting murals and statements on the wall which often cuts them off from their land, their families, and their homes.  Join SAFE in painting our own mural to symbolize such segregation and resistance.

Film Screenings: Jenin, Jenin & Remnants of a War
in collaboration with Lebanese Students Association
Wednesday, February 24th, 8pm
Dana Building, Room 2024
During the Israeli army's Operation Defensive Wall operation in the city of Jenin in the West Bank in 2002, the city was sealed and the operation ended with Jenin flattened and scores of Palestinians dead.  For Jenin, Jenin, Mohamed Bakri interviews Jenin residents in the aftermath on what they experienced and witnessed during the operation, giving a revealing look into life under Occupation and how it affects the state of mind of the occupied.

Remnants of a War takes an intimate look into the lives of brave Muslims and Christians, Sunni and Shia, women and men of Southern Lebanon as they work to make their land safe again after the 2006 Israeli invasion. The film is a primer on the cluster munition problem, and a portrait of a people struggling to make a living and return the land to their fellow Lebanese.


Holding the State Accountable: Peoples' Struggles for Civil Rights
in collaboration with Black History Month 2010, MSA Peace & Justice Commission, University Housing, Office of Cultural Awareness and Diversity Education, South Quad MPA, Black Student Union, and Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs
Thursday, February 25th, 7pm
South Quad Ambatana Lounge
Israel's systematic colonization, intimidation, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is just another example of a highly militarized State denying people their right to freedom, self-determination, and civil rights. This panel explores the similarities and differences in the experiences African Americans, South Africans, Palestinians, and Native Americans face as they continue to struggle for the most basic human rights.

Israel: UN 'detached from reality' for adopting Goldstone report

Israel on Friday rejected a United Nations General Assembly resolution urging an investigation into a report saying war crimes were committed in Gaza, and condemned the world body vote as "completely detached from realities".

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said in response to Thursday's vote that Israel "maintains the right to self-defense", and would "continue to act to protect the lives of its citizens from the threat of international terrorism".

(read more)

Greenwald on Gideon Levy: Ongoing U.S. efforts to protect and coddle Israel

The latest Haaretz column by the outstanding and courageous Israeli columnist, Gideon Levy, is entitled "America, Stop Sucking Up to Israel," and it highlights one of the most bizarre political facts:  criticism of Israeli actions is far more tolerated and permitted in Israeli political discourse than it is in America's.  It's simply inconceivable that any establishment journalist or national politician would ever echo Levy's scathing indictments of Israel's conduct and his calls for the U.S. to apply serious pressure and even threats to coerce changes in Israeli behavior.

(read more)

Judge Goldstone's letter to the sponsors of the US Congressional resolution condemning his report --

published in Tikkun Magazine

The Honorable Howard Berman
Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs

The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ranking Member, House Committee on Foreign Affairs

October 29, 2009

Dear Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen,

It has come to my attention that a resolution has been introduced in the Unites States House of Representatives regarding the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which I led earlier this year.

I fully respect the right of the US Congress to examine and judge my mission and the resulting report, as well as to make its recommendations to the US Executive branch of government.  However, I have strong reservations about the text of the resolution in question – text that includes serious factual inaccuracies and instances where information and statements are taken grossly out of context.

(read more)

Six Questions for Desmond Travers on the Goldstone Report

by Ken Silverstein, published in Harper's Magazine


Desmond Travers was one of the four members of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which produced the controversial Goldstone Report. Travers is a retired Colonel of the Army of the Irish Defence Forces. His last appointment was as Commandant of its Military College. He also served in command of troops with various UN and EU peace support missions. I recently spoke to Travers by phone about the report. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

1. Were you surprised by the criticism of the report?

There was a lot of criticism even before the report came out, primarily against individuals, especially Justice Richard Goldstone. So we were not unduly surprised by the whinging when the report was released, except for the intensity and viciousness of the personal attacks. Justice Goldstone has publicly invited the critics, especially within the U.S. government, to come forward with substantive evidence of incorrect or inaccurate statements. But there has been no credible criticism of the report itself or of the information elucidated in it.

(read more)