Israel: An Apartheid Society?
The webinar address by the South African anti-apartheid activist, Brian Brown, has now been posted onto the kairosireland.org website. Brian is currently writing a book comparing ‘Apartheid South Africa: Apartheid Israel.’ Details will be shared when this is published.
Eleven days of Violence
There were 11 days of horrendous violence in May affecting Gaza and Israel, with the bombing of Gaza by the Israeli Army, rocket fire into Israel and inter-community violence in ‘mixed’ Jewish/Palestinian cities in Israel. The trigger for this was the application of discriminatory force by Israel against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem. Israel has a law that allows Jews who lost land and property in the turmoil of 1948, when Israel was founded, to reclaim that property. Palestinians do not have the same right to reclaim property that they lost in the same upheaval. Currently hundreds of Palestinians are facing the prospect of eviction from their homes in the Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. These homes are then handed over to fundamentalist Jewish Settlers, some of whom are recent immigrants from America. While this crisis was developing, the Israeli police fired bullets and threw blast grenades inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The primary cause of violence in the Holy Land is the ongoing illegal occupation, the theft of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel.
The Killing of a Dream
On the 17th May, during the explosion of violence, a 17yr old Palestinian boy was shot dead by an Israeli soldier. Obaida Akram Abdurahman Jawabra was taking part in a demonstration near the entrance to Al-Arroub refugee camp, Hebron. The soldier who shot him was about 70 metres away from Obaida when he fired on him with live rounds. Obaida had been detained twice as a younger teenager and this had led him to drop out of school. The East Jerusalem YMCA had been helping Obaida with training to fulfil his dream of becoming a chef. The YMCA director of rehabilitation says that when Obaida was shot a dream had been killed. This short video produced by Defence of Children International tells Obaida’s story of being a child detainee and it’s impact on the lives of young detainees.
Dáil motion on de facto annexation
On the 26th May an all-party motion was passed in the Dáil stating that the continuing occupation of the West Bank amounted to de facto annexation. Annexation is illegal under international law. Supporting the motion Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said, ‘We need to call it out for what it is. It is de facto annexation. This is not something that I or this House say lightly. We are the first EU member state to do so.’ He also stated: ‘We cannot return to a situation of business as usual. It is simply no longer an option. We cannot return to the flouting of international law with the relentless expansion of illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. We cannot return to forced evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank. We cannot return to demolition of Palestinian property, settler violence and intimidation. We must acknowledge that these actions, occurring at a rate unacknowledged by the international community for many years, are a source of legitimate grievance among the Palestinian people and undermine the prospects of peace and much-needed reconciliation.’
SADAKA (the Ireland Palestine Alliance) with the support of Christian Aid, Trocaire, ICTU and Senator Frances Black are to be congratulated for preparing the motion. Thanks are also due to John Brady TD who proposed the motion in the Dáil.
A church voice from America
Kairos Palestine shared the following video by the Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of America, Dr J. Herbert Nelson II, who speaks about the situation that he has seen on his visits to Palestine/Israel. It is a short but powerful statement by an American church official calling on the American government to stop its unconditional support for Israel.
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