[Mayworks-org] A Great Success: Israeli Apartheid Week

Mon Mar 5 13:56:02 PST 2007

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 44... March 5, 2007

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**A Great Success: 

The Third Annual Israeli Apartheid Week**

**Zac Smith**

The week of February 12-17, 2007 saw various North American and
British campuses take part in the third annual Israeli Apartheid Week
(IAW). This year's week of events included a series of critical
lectures, film screenings, a host of cultural events, and in some
cities, demonstrations. A keynote speaker in several cities was Jamal
Zahalka (MK), a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset who spoke on
"Debunking the Myth of Israeli Democracy." Attracting not only large
crowds and significant media coverage, the content of the week and
its spread to an even wider network of campuses indicated a growing
understanding of Israel as an apartheid state.

Over the course of the last year and a half there has been a dramatic
rise in activism and analysis around boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS). Individuals and organizations have begun to take steps in
support of the declaration issued in July 2005 by Palestinian unions
and other grassroots organizations calling for an international BDS
movement until Israel meets its obligations under international law.
The declaration demanded: full equality for Arab citizens of Israel;
an end to the occupation and colonization of the West Bank and Gaza;
and the implementation of the right of return and compensation for
Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN resolution 194.
Significantly, a number of important strides were made in support of
these demands in 2006.

IAW initially grew out of the initiative of the Toronto based Arab
Students' Collective during the winter of 2005 as a response to these
events. Since then, in a period of just over three years,
participation in IAW has grown from that of an event of local
importance to one that has proven to be international in scope.
Underscoring this point was the fact that this years Israeli
Apartheid Week was held concurrently with universities in Toronto,
Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Oxford, Cambridge and London.

Toronto: Largest IAW Ever

This year, over 800 people attended Israeli apartheid week events in
Toronto, making it the largest and most successful event to date. A
central aim of this year's IAW 2007, as with ones previous, was its
introduction to students and a wider audience the analysis of Israel
as an apartheid state, similar to that of South Africa and other
settler-colonial states - Canada included. A series of lectures were
held on the first day of the week which highlighted the differences
and similarities between patterns of domination and displacement, and
emphasized the shared struggles of those engaged in resistance - be
they the experiences of apartheid South Africa, the still important
indigenous struggles for land claims and decolonization in Turtle
Island (North America), or occupied Palestine.

A major theme of the week was elaboration of the historical
processses that led to the current situation in Palestine. Lectures
and film screenings discussed topics ranging from the ethnic
cleansing of Palestine, where around 800,000 Palestinians were
expelled from their lands and denied their right of return; the
consolidation of apartheid, including land expropriation and early
legislation in Israel proper during the period of the military
government from 1948-1966; and of the condition and political
situation of Palestinian refugees in places such Lebanon, Syria,
Jordan, and Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Intimately related to this history has been the idelogical
pretentions of the Israeli state in general, which has attempted to
present itself as the "only democracy in the Middle East," despite
the ongoing colonization of Palestinian land. Powerful examinations
of the ideological underpinnings of the Zionist project were made by
Walter Lehn, who co-authored with Israeli academic Uri Davis The
Jewish National Fund; documenting the institution's role in the
ethnic cleansing and illegal acquistion of Palestinian land for
Jewish only settlement as well as a presentation by photojournalist
Jon Elmer, who recently returned from assignment in Gaza. Elmer
documented the effects of Israel's military campaigns "Operation
Summer Rains" and "Operation Autumn Clouds" of this summer and fall,
and of the devestating effect that the Western boycott of the
Palestinian Authority has had on a general population under siege,
something that has largely gone underreported by the mainstream
media.

Further examination of Zionist ideology was presented by Gabi
Piterberg, a leading scholar on the development of Zionism, and
U.S.-based activist and scholar, Joel Kovel, author of the recently
published Overcoming Zionism (Pluto 2007). Each tied Zionist thought
and practice to similar settler-colonial movements such as the
European colonization of North America.

The highlight of the week were lectures given by keynote speaker
Jamal Zahalka (MK), a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset with
the National Democratic Assembly. Zahalka noted that "Israel is
implementing apartheid policies in Palestine by building the
apartheid separation wall, bypass roads for Jews only in the West
Bank, restrictions on movement of Palestinians, hundreds of
checkpoints, in addition to the siege and daily violation of basic
human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza." His
participation and comments during the week led to calls from Israeli
Knesset members for his indictment for incitement, further
underscoring the limited scope of democratic freedoms for
Palestinians in Israel. Even former Liberal Party Canadian Justice
Minister Irwin Colter weighed in, with his usual one-sided defence of
Zionism, and said Zahalka had "gone too far in his actions against the
country he is supposed to represent."

Zahalk's talk centered around "Debunking the myth of Israeli
Democracy," in which he spoke of the contradictions of Israel's
version of democracy. In order for it to be "democratic" he noted, it
must in fact carry a Jewish majority if it is to retain its Jewish
character. In order for there to be a demographic majority, however,
Israel required population transer, or the ethnic cleansing of
Palestinians. This conscious policy of ethnic cleansing as a
prerequsite for democracy was the "original sin", according to
Zahalka, the foundation on which Israel's so-called democracy was
built upon. He also spoke of the second-class status of Palestinian
citizens of Israel, their physical seperation, their negelct at the
hands of the state, and of the "real Palestinian tragedy" of not only
Palestinians seperation from their lands and properties, but of
Palestinian seperated from Palestinian in the occupied territories.

This year's Israeli Apartheid Week proved to be the most successful
yet. It picked up on the national and international momentum that had
been gained during 2006, and spread to an increasing number of
campuses across Canada, Britain and the United States. It also again
proved to serve as an important outlet for the dissemination of
material and analysis of Israel as an apartheid state, increasingly
accepted internationally, and as a vehicle in the push for boycott,
divestment and sactions against the apartheid state of Israel. The
week garnered significant interest amongst the world's press and
public, as well as students, many of whom will no doubt contribute to
the week's futher growth and success in 2008.

For more information about IAW, please see: Students Against Israeli
Apartheid http://www.endisraeliapartheid.net

Zac Smith is active in the Palestine Solidarity Committee, York
University, and Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid.

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COALITION AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID HOLDS DAY OF ACTION AGAINST
INDIGO BOOKS AND MUSIC INC.

*The Boycott of Israeli Apartheid Continues*

Chanting "Fight the power, turn the page: Heather, Jerry, hear our
rage!", one hundred and fifty protesters marched from the Israeli
consulate to a nearby Indigo Books and Music store in Toronto on
Saturday afternoon February 17. 

They were protesting Indigo's majority shareholders' support for
Israeli Apartheid. The day of action was organized by the Coalition
Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) as the culmination of the third
annual Israeli Apartheid Week.

Israeli Apartheid Week was a series of lectures held on campuses in
Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa), the UK (Oxford, Cambridge), and
the U.S. (New York) to highlight Israel's apartheid policies. On
Friday in Toronto, the keynote address was given by Dr. Jamal
Zahalka, a member of the Israeli Knesset. Dr. Zahalka faces
investigation in Israel for incitement for his lecture, "Debunking
the Myth of Israeli Democracy". This infringement on the free speech
rights of an elected politician underscores the lack of democracy for
Palestinians living under Israeli Apartheid. A law that would revoke
the citizenship of those who express disloyalty to the idea of "a
Jewish and democratic state" has already passed its first reading in
the Knesset, Zahalka explained to the audience of 350 people who
gathered at a University of Toronto auditorium on Friday. The law
clearly targets the Palestinian minority inside Israel, who Zahalka
represents, for statelessness.

Israeli Apartheid Week and the Day of Action were held to highlight
Canadian support for Israeli Apartheid, and specifically the support
of the majority shareholders of Indigo Books and Music Inc., Heather
Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, who founded Heseg : Foundation for Lone
Soldiers. At its peak, the foundation will distribute up to $3M a
year to provide scholarships and other support to former 'Lone
Soldiers' in the Israeli military. 'Lone Soldiers' are individuals
who have no family in Israel but decide to join the Israeli military.
As Israeli soldiers, they participate in a military that enforces
apartheid by operating checkpoints restricting Palestinian freedom of
movement, enforces the occupation of Palestinian land, and has a
documented history of human rights violations.

"We're here to put pressure on the majority owners of Indigo Books
and Music Inc. to stop supporting the Israeli military through Heseg:
Founcation for Lone Soldiers," explained Andrew Hugill, a spokesperson
of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid.

Naomi Binder Wall of the Jewish Women's Committee to End the
Occupation, and a CAIA spokesperson, explained: "This store [Indigo
Books and Music] presents itself as a benign cultural institution.
But its majority shareholders have used the considerable wealth they
have derived from it to support the Israeli military, which has been
accused of war crimes in Lebanon and Palestine, and has broken
international laws regarding the treatment of prisoners." Binder Wall
continued, "As a Jew, I'm outraged that Reisman and Schwartz are
supporting the Israeli military through Heseg: Foundation for Lone
Soldiers."

"Israel is an apartheid state, founded on racism and discrimination,"
said Hugill. "This boycott is part of a worldwide campaign of boycott,
divestment and sanctions to isolate Israel until it ends the
occupation of all Arab lands, release all Palestinian and Arab
political prisoners, give the right of return to Palestinian refugees
according to UN resolution 194, and grant equal rights to Palestinian
citizens of Israel," said Hugill.

The call for boycott, divestment and sanctions came from 170
Palestinian organizations. Reena Katz of the Jewish Women's Committee
to End the Occupation explained the importance of this call for the
possibility of a solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict: "Our
understanding of restorative justice and true democracy comes from
the thousands of Palestinian led progressive, grassroots groups and
coalitions world wide."

MEDIA CONTACT: Naomi Binder Wall or Andrew Hugill - (647) 831-5516 or
media at caiaweb.org

The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) was formed in January
2006 as part of a growing, global movement against Israeli apartheid.
We believe Israel is an apartheid state that resembles South African
Apartheid. We are a network of concerned Palestinian, Jewish and
other individuals and organizations working to end this system. We
believe that justice will not be achieved without equal rights for
everyone in the region, regardless of religion, ethnicity or
nationality.

http://www.caiaweb.org

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