Kenya solidarity calls to cancel Israel festival

As Kenyans and people who support the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and the end of apartheid, we are urging the Alliance Française to cancel the Israeli film festival and to find ways to raise awareness about the occupation in Palestine. It is ironic that the Israeli embassy wants to use this festival to ‘celebrate 50 years of its relations with Kenya’ and to ‘enhance Kenyan’s view of Israeli life and culture’ when Kenya has experienced its own history of colonization with its accompanying abuses, torture and repression.

A five-day Israel film festival was held at the Alliance Francaise, Nairobi, from 11 June. The Israeli embassy in Nairobi reports that “Ten award winning Israeli films depicting the different and fascinating facets of the vibrant Israeli society [were] screened throughout the week, two films per evening.” The Kenya Palestine Solidarity Committee sent the following letter to Alliance Francaise on 6 June, asking that the festival be cancelled in response to the Palestinian call for BDS.

It has come to our attention that the Alliance Française will be hosting the Israeli Film Festival from June 11th to June 15th, presented by the Embassy of Israel. As Kenyans and people concerned about social justice and human rights, we would like to express our views on the hosting of such an event.

To begin with, we want to draw attention to the numerous violations of human rights that Israel commits on a regular basis. Beginning with its establishment in 1948, Israel has sought to permanently remove en masse the indigenous Palestinian population of the country for the creation of a Jewish state. Since then, Israel has denied Palestinians their fundamental rights of freedom, equality, and self-determination through ethnic cleansing, colonization, racial discrimination, and military occupation. [1] Israel has also repeatedly and systematically violated international human rights and humanitarian law and defied UN resolutions.

To give just a few examples: since 2006 when Hamas won the elections in Gaza, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been crippled by economic sanctions imposed by Israel. In 2008 to 2009, over 22 days during the military operation Cast Lead, Israel killed an estimated 1387 Palestinians in Gaza, including families and children, and repeatedly exploded white phosphorus munitions over populated areas, as has been carefully documented by Human Rights Watch. In November 2012, Israel bombed Gaza again in the Operation Pillar of Defense. According to B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, 167 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military. Over half of them were civilians.

In the occupied West Bank, a territory manned by military checkpoints, Israel has continued to construct settlements on occupied land, despite the fact that these settlements are considered illegal under international law. These are only some of the abuses Israel carries out in occupied Palestine. We have not mentioned in detail the detention of political prisoners, displacement of Bedouin communities, daily harassment and humiliation of Palestinians at checkpoints, bulldozing of lands, uprooting of olive trees and so on.

It is not only Palestinians who have suffered from policies implemented by the Israeli government or have been killed by the Israeli military. In 2003, American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) bulldozer. In 2010, 9 Turkish activists aboard a humanitarian ship to Gaza, the Mavi Marmara, were killed in an Israeli operation. Just three days ago, Israel made a decision to deport 60 000 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan to an unidentified third country. Last year, dozens of African asylum seekers were injured in violent race riots in Tel Aviv. [2]

In an official report commissioned by the South African government in 2009, the Human Sciences Research Council confirmed that Israel, by its policies and practices, is guilty of the crime of apartheid. Numerous others, including South Africans who have a deep familiarity with racial oppression, for instance Nobel peace Laureate Desmond Tutu, have spoken of life in the shadow of Israeli repression as akin to or worse to that under apartheid in South Africa. [3]

People all over the world are condemning Israel’s policies toward Palestinians. Many have joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which calls for a boycott of Israel until Palestinian rights are recognized in full compliance with international law. Israel citizens as well greatly support the call for BDS campaigns.

It is important to make the point that Israeli cultural and academic institutions, as well as cultural products like films, directly contribute to maintaining, defending or whitewashing the oppression of Palestinians, as Israel deliberately tries to boost its image internationally through academic and cultural collaborations. As part of the boycott, academics, artists and consumers are campaigning against such collaboration and ‘rebranding’. [4]

Importantly, a number of artists, especially musicians, filmmakers, and writers have refused to perform in Israel or have cancelled scheduled performances following pressure from the BDS movement including Bono, Snoop Dogg, Jean Luc Godard, Elvis Costello, Gil Scott Heron, Carlos Santana, Devendra Banhart, Dustin Hoffman, Meg Ryan, Faithless, the Pixies, Cassandra Wilson, Cat Power and Zakir Hussain. British writer John Berger, Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, US poet Adrienne Rich, British film director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty are other prominent voices that have joined the call for BDS. [5]

As Kenyans and people who support the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and the end of apartheid, we are urging the Alliance Française to cancel the Israeli film festival and to find ways to raise awareness about the occupation in Palestine. It is ironic that the Israeli embassy wants to use this festival to ‘celebrate 50 years of its relations with Kenya’ and to ‘enhance Kenyan’s view of Israeli life and culture’ when Kenya has experienced its own history of colonization with its accompanying abuses, torture and repression. For us to celebrate our fifty years of independence and to acknowledge those who struggled and died for it, it is imperative that we take a stance against the colonization and oppression of others.

Should you need further reasons to cancel the festival, we would like to call attention to some of the problematic themes in the films that will be screened. The films ‘Turn Left at the End of the World’ and ‘Campfire’ both include the depiction of settlements, which, as mentioned above, are illegal under international law. Neither film addresses this fact, but rather, detracts attention by addressing themes such as romantic love and cultural communities.

A film festival may appear to be an innocuous public event, but in fact it is not. To support cultural products from Israel while Palestinians continue to struggle for freedom from Israeli occupation is to make a political statement. We urge you, as people who believe in the rights of all people to live in dignity and freedom from oppression, to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and alongside the people globally who have committed to the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment campaign against Israel.

Sincerely,

Kenya Palestine Solidarity Committee

END NOTES

[1] Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign (online), “Apartheid, Colonization and Occupation,” http://www.bdsmovement.net/apartheid-colonisation-occupation

[2] The Guardian, (online), “African Asylum Seekers Injured in Tel Aviv Race Riots,” May 24, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/24/tel-aviv-protest-violence-immigration

[3] South African Artists Against Apartheid,http://www.southafricanartistsagainstapartheid.com/

[4] BDS Movement, (online), “BDS Intro,” http://www.bdsmovement.net/bdsintro

[5] BDS Movement (online), “BDS Victories,”http://www.bdsmovement.net/victories

(Source / 18.06.2013)

6 Palestinians killed in Syria refugee camp

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Six Palestinians were killed at dawn on Tuesday in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria after a bomb exploded near the local hospital, a statement issued by local group said.

The blast near the Palestine Hospital in the refugee camp killed Ahmad al-Hasan, Fahed Abbas, Yassin al-Khaja, Abdul Rahman Saleh, Ali Qassem and Khatoun Lafi Ahmad, the Association for the Sake of Palestinians in Syria said.

The statement said the Husseiniyeh and Khan Danon refugee camps were being “showered with missiles,” leaving residents without electricity, food and gas.

The group also said Syrian security forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad detained local Fatah leader Abu Nasser Qablawi in the Husseiniyeh camp for “helping the injured and taking them to nearby clinics,” the statement read.

One Palestinian is also missing from the Yarmouk refugee camp after not returning from work, the statement said, concerned he may possibly have been detained by Syrian forces.

‘Theaters of war’ 

The report follows a statement issues by UNRWA’s commissioner general said Sunday, describing the camps as “theaters of war.”

“Killings, kidnappings, poverty, destruction and fear have become part of daily life,” Filippo Grandi said Sunday during a meeting of stakeholders in Amman.

More than half of the 530,000 Palestinian refugees registered in Syria have been displaced and 15 percent have fled abroad, including 60,000 to neighboring Lebanon and over 7,000 to Jordan.

“Even Egypt now hosts many Palestine refugees from Syria, and some have reached Gaza,” Grandi said.

“The distress of Palestine refugees in Syria and displaced from Syria has given the lack of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process an added, and very stark dimension.

The loss of camps in Syria and the uncertainty that it has wrought, are suffered by all, just as the bombardments in Gaza.”

In March, the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria said that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing Syria conflict, with that number thought to have increased significantly since then.

(Source / 18.06.2013)

King says no confederation between Jordan and Palestine before establishment of a state

 

King Abdullah suggested that talk of a confederation is ‘premature and out of context’, as it would need the state to be established before it could even be discussed

King Abdullah of Jordan said on Sunday that there will be no confederation between his country and Palestine until and unless an independent Palestinian state is established. Such a move would, in any case, he added, be subject to the will of both peoples. The Jordanian monarch was speaking during the graduation ceremony of the 26th class of Mutah University’s Military Wing.

Stressing that his country has a moral responsibility to help the Syrian people, the King confirmed nevertheless that Jordan will take all possible and necessary measures if the crisis across the border threatens his country’s security.

Abdullah II confirmed that Jordan is working regionally and internationally to find a solution to the crisis in Syria which would allow refugees to return to their homes. He called for a political solution which will preserve the integrity and unity of Syria.

With regards to the Palestinian issue, the king said that Jordan will continue to support the Palestinian people until they achieve their full rights and establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Talk of a confederation is, he suggested, “premature and out of context”, as it would need the state to be established before it could even be discussed.

Talk about the resettlement of Palestinians in Jordan is “unacceptable”, said King Abdullah. “I do not wish to speak about this subject again,” he insisted. “We in Jordan support the Palestinian right historically and will not change our position; we sponsor the Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem in full coordination with the Palestinian leadership; and we will continue to look after the holy sites in Jerusalem and support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.” He will not accept a solution to the Palestinian issue at the expense of Jordan.

The king then went on to mention the many challenges facing Jordan. “These challenges, that are imposed on us as a result of regional conditions and global crises, must be dealt with wisely and responsibly, and within the given data and the regional and international circumstances as well as our limited capabilities.”

He called for violence in Jordanian society to be addressed at the grassroots level, through the application of justice without fear or favour so that citizens have full confidence in state institutions. “The flexibility that some institutions have shown is not weakness,” said the king. “Jordan is strong and capable of protecting the properties of Jordanian citizens, and is able to enforce the rule of law; there is no one stronger than the state.”

The King closed with a message of pride and appreciation to the Jordanian tribes, armed forces and security services who have made sacrifices in maintaining the security and stability of Jordan.

(Source / 17.06.2013)

Minister: Sweden may cut Palestinian aid

President Mahmoud Abbas addresses a meeting in Ramallah.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Sweden is considering slashing its aid to the Palestinian Authority because of a lack of progress in achieving a two-state solution, International Development Cooperation Minister Gunilla Carlsson said Friday.

She told public broadcaster Swedish Radio that aid paid out to the Palestinians to build up their administration in Gaza and the West Bank had been aimed at strengthening the Palestinian side ahead of a two-state solution with Israel.

“Is it worth it for us to continue helping them create the conditions necessary for a two-state solution if Israel and the Palestinians themselves don’t want to sit down at the negotiating table?” she asked.

“I don’t want to haggle with Swedish development aid, but I can only take the position of the Swedish taxpayers,” she said.

“They want to see results. And if the prerequisites are not there to achieve results, then you have to accept the consequences,” she added.

According to Swedish Radio, Sweden’s annual aid to the Palestinians could be slashed by 200 million kronor ($31 million), out of a total of 700 million.

The left-wing opposition criticized the center-right government’s way of thinking.

“To opt out of Palestine the way this government is considering doing is the wrong way to prioritize,” the Social Democrats’ spokesman on development aid, Kenneth Forslund, told Swedish Radio.

‘Aid will still be there’

Days earlier in the West Bank, the minister told Palestinian media that Sweden and the European Union would continue to support projects in the occupied territories.

Carlsson said the “humiliation” of seeing European projects delayed or even destroyed by Israel’s military would not dissuade the EU from assisting vulnerable Palestinians.

“European aid will still be there. And from Sweden we are assessing our new long-term strategy,” Carlsson told Ma’an TV.

The minister said she hoped to persuade Israeli leaders in talks during her visit to “stop now the humiliation to me as a donor” when EU projects come under attack.

“I’m really curious now to talk with the Israelis to see what we can do together because European aid will still be there,” she said. “We need to have a good, enabling political environment to make it really worthwhile.”

She also said: “We are a longstanding partner with the Palestinians, with the PA. We are happy to work with them, to see that they have organized … what we can call a foundation of a well-functioning state.”

Carlsson arrived in the West Bank as a group of 80 international aid agencies urged the EU to support vulnerable Palestinian communities threatened with displacement by Israeli settlements.

The Association of International Development Agencies urged the EU to “effectively challenge Israeli government policies that are creating unbearable conditions” for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, under which Israel maintains full military and civil control under a 1995 agreement with the PLO.

“A year after all 27 EU countries committed to challenging settlement expansion, forced displacement, and demolition of Palestinian property … approvals for illegal settlements have increased and hundreds of Palestinian homes and structures have been bulldozed despite EU saying this must stop,” the report said.

Some 150,000 Palestinians live in Area C, which is also home to over 300,000 Israelis in settlements widely viewed as illegal under international law.

In May 2012, EU foreign ministers adopted recommendations for developing Area C and improving Israeli policies which it views as detrimental to Palestinian well-being.

(Source / 17.06.2013)

Report: “Detainee Abu Hamdiyya Died Of Advanced Stage Of Carcinoma”

Sunday [June 16] Head of the Palestinian Forensics Center, Dr. Saber Al-‘Aloul, stated that the final findings of the forensic report regarding the cause of death of detainee Maisara Abu Hamdiyya, revealed that he suffered from a fourth stage Carcinoma. Abu Hamdiyya died more than 2 months ago.

Maisara Abu Hamdiyya

Abu Hamdiyya suffered a fourth stage Carcinoma center in his lung lymphatic, liver and spine, throat cancer extending to his vocal cords, and brain tumor, Al-‘Aloul said during a press conference at the Government Media Center in Ramallah.

Despite the seriousness of his condition, the Israeli Prison Administration did not grant Abu Hamdiyya the needed specialized and urgent medical treatment, until it was too late.

During a press conference in Ramallah, Al-’Aloul stated that Abu Hamdiyya did not receive any treatment, not even one chemotherapy session, an issue that led to spread of cancer to various vital organs.

He held Israeli directly responsible for the death of Abu Hamdiyya, and said that Israel deprives the Palestinian detainees from adequate medical treatment, and imprisons them under very harsh inhumane conditions.

During the press conference, Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated that Abu Hamdiyya is the latest victim of Israel’s ongoing violations against the detainees.

He said that 204 Palestinian detainees died in Israeli prisons and detention center since 1967, and that 52 of them died due to the lack, or absence, of medical attention.

Qaraqe’ added that the forensic experts who examined the body of Abu Hamdiyya demanded forming a joint local and international committee to visit the detainees in various Israeli prisons, and provide the sick with the needed medical attention.

Head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), Qaddoura Fares, stated that there is no doubt that Abu Hamdiyya died due to the lack of medical attention.

Fares called for translating the autopsy report of Abu Hamdiyya into different languages, and to submit it to various international organizations, including the United Nations.

He said that ailing detainees in Israeli prisons are facing gradually deteriorating medical conditions due to Israel’s illegal policies and practices.

Abu Hamdiyya’s sister stated that, in 2007, he suffered hemorrhaging blood from his stomach, and was moved to the Ramla Prison Clinic, but no tests or diagnostics were carried out.

He died on April 2 this year, at the Intensive Care Unit of the Soroka Medical Center in Be’er As-Sabe’ (Beersheba). He was only moved to the medical center after a sharp and very serious deterioration in his health condition.

(Source / 17.06.2013)

Hamas to Hezbollah: Keep your weapons aimed at Israel

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas on Monday called on Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria and to keep its weapons aimed at Israel.

The Lebanese Shiite movement’s involvement in the Syrian conflict has increased sectarian strife in the region, Hamas said in a statement calling for unity.

Hezbollah has dispatched its fighters to Syria to assist President Bashar Assad’s battle against mostly-Sunni rebel forces. Earlier this year, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Syria’s “friends,” including Iran, would not allow Assad’s regime to fall.

Hamas expressed sympathy for the suffering and bloodshed in Syria, and affirmed the Syrian people’s right to freedom.

“The Syrian people has the right to realize their rights and aspirations for freedom and dignity. This people has always been supportive to resistance and resistance fighters,” Hamas said.

The party urged Hezbollah to leave Syria and return to resisting Israel.

“The question of Palestine is the Arab and Muslim nations’ central cause. Resisting Israeli occupation is the main task and resistance must be on the right track and in the right direction regardless of the circumstances,” Hamas said.

On Friday Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ prime minister in Gaza, denied reports that militants from the Islamist group were engaged in training rebels fighting Assad.

“There is no truth to (claims) that Hamas fighters are in Syria, although we stand on the side of the Syrian people and condemn the brutal attacks they are exposed to,” Haniyeh said at a mosque in Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

In June, Arab media reported that Hamas was strengthening its ties to Hezbollah and Iran, both of whom support the Damascus regime, and that this was causing internal strains.

Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal lived in exile in Syria until shortly after the civil war began. When it did, Hamas refused to support Assad in his deadly crackdown, and Mashaal moved to Qatar in 2012.

“This movement is loyal only to God, to this (Palestinian) people and to this issue. It does not sell itself to its backers,” Haniyeh said, apparently in reference to aid it receives from Iran.

“There is no place for talk of the movement abandoning its resistance in Palestine (in favor of) fighting in Syria.”

(Source / 17.06.2013)

Hamdallah: Jerusalem a top priority for new PA cabinet

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Jerusalem and its holy sites are a top priority for the Palestinian Authority cabinet, newly appointed Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Sunday while visiting the city.

Hamdallah told Ma’an that the PA is going to implement a number of projects in Jerusalem to support Palestinians, without providing further details.

The newly-appointed prime minister visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital, and was accompanied by the governor of Jerusalem, Adnan al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, PA health minister Jawad Awwad and several other officials.

Hamdallah said the PA is trying to build support for Jerusalem in Arab and international conventions, and was briefed about Israeli violations around the Al-Aqsa compound.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.

Eight out of 10 Palestinians in East Jerusalem live below the poverty line, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said in May, calling it the “worst rate of all time.”

(Source / 16.06.2013)

Hamas mourns death of Haj Sakhel, demands retribution

 

NABLUS, (PIC)– The Hamas Movement mourned the death of Haj Saadi Al-Sakhel, who died yesterday in Juneid jail, and called for bringing the killers to justice. In a press release, Hamas said that what happened to Haj Sakhel was a crime and its perpetrators must be held legally accountable. It added that this crime reflected the size of violations which the Palestinian citizens are exposed to by the Palestinian authority security apparatuses in the West Bank. Hamas hailed Haj Saadi Al-Sakhel as a father of a Palestinian family known for its heroism and sacrifices and said his family has endured a lot of suffering at the hands of the Israeli occupation and the PA security apparatuses. Haj Sakhel died on Saturday afternoon in the PA intelligence headquarters in Nablus city a few hours after his arrest from his workplace along with his son. In the detention center, PA security officers reportedly attacked the elderly man which resulted in his death. (Source / 16.06.2013)

Palestine drops bid to register new UNESCO heritage site

A PLO official says leaders in Ramallah decided to drop plans to seek UNESCO heritage status for Battir.

BATTIR, West Bank (Ma’an) — Palestine is backing down from plans to ask UNESCO to place an ancient West Bank village on its World Heritage in Danger list, a year after the UN scientific and cultural agency voted to include Bethlehem’s Nativity Church.

Residents of Battir, southwest of Jerusalem, which is home to an ancient Roman irrigation network in continuous use for centuries, expected the Palestinian delegation to nominate the farming village for inclusion on UNESCO’s rosters during its annual convention, which opens Sunday in Cambodia.

Experts in Battir and Bethlehem who helped draft the application told Ma’an that the Palestinian delegation in Paris received a completed file in January. It should have submitted it by a February deadline but did not, the officials said. This is because in early 2013, Palestinian and Israeli officials worked out an informal agreement to freeze the nomination, a PLO official with knowledge of the decision said.

In return, the Israeli government indicated it would permit the UN agency to send an investigative team to Jerusalem, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations with Israel.

“All the paperwork was ready for the Battir application … It was stopped in exchange for the delegation to Jerusalem,” the official explained.

Israel ended up reneging on the deal weeks after the deadline to submit Battir had passed.

“What we did was bad. It was a really big mistake … They were never going to allow UN investigators into their ‘undivided, eternal capital,’” the official added, referring to Israel’s vision for Jerusalem. Israel occupied the city after a 1967 war and later annexed it in a move never recognized abroad.

Israeli officials say they were unaware of the change of plans and denied that delaying or canceling the vote at UNESCO was part of the deal to bring the delegation to Jerusalem.

“This comes as a surprise,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. “I really can’t think about why they would do that. They did seem very keen on pushing that forward.”

Palmor told Ma’an late Saturday that the informal deal to bring the UNESCO delegation to Jerusalem included shelving five pro-Palestinian resolutions at the UN, but not Battir’s UNESCO application. “As far as I know, the concrete measure was (only) to freeze a number of resolutions.”

Israel announced approval in April of a UNESCO monitoring visit to Jerusalem, the first since 2004. It followed demands from Jordan, which has historically administered Muslim and Christian holy sites in the city. In May, however, Israel said it was no longer cooperating because the Palestinians “politicized” the visit.

‘Missing a great chance’

The decision to put off the nomination angered Palestinian experts and local officials who had selected Battir based on imminent threats they said its cultural sites faced from Israel’s wall.

The Battir municipality is locked in a court battle with the Israeli army to re-route the barrier, and they hoped the global attention from a successful vote might even the playing field.

“Palestine is missing a great chance by not submitting the file,” according to Battir mayor Akram Bader. “We are in court against the wall.”

Bader said the Palestinian leadership neglected an opportunity to offer “protection against Israeli violations” as well as boost the economic, cultural and historical value of the village.

UNESCO’s 21-member World Heritage committee meets once a year to discuss the management of existing heritage sites and to consider nominations for new ones. It was at this conference in June 2012 that the agency narrowly voted to accept Palestine’s first submission, the Nativity Church, over the objections of Israel and the United States. Palestinian officials said they would submit Battir in 2013.

The village sits upon the slopes of two rocky, green hills where its farmers still use a 2,000-year-old Roman irrigation system that runs down the sides of both hills.

Battir’s lands are uniquely within all three designations of a 1995 agreement with Israel, divided into areas “A,” “B,” and “C,”. If Israel’s plans go forward, the wall will section off some 30 percent of areas “B” and “C,” lands which contain most of the village’s vital farmlands, officials say.

Giovanni Fontana Antonelli, a cultural programs specialist for UNESCO, called the Palestinian Authority’s decision “very inexplicable” and charged that it could “jeopardize the site forever.”

Antonelli, who helped prepare the application in December and January, said that UNESCO’s recognition would have made it “more difficult for Israel to grab that land.”

He also said it would have become a natural tourism destination. “People in Battir (could) start to have small businesses there instead of migrating,” he said.

Nada Atrash, head of research and development at the Cultural Heritage Preservation Center in Bethlehem, agreed that the nomination “would help Palestine but at the same time add to its responsibilities.”

Atrash, who was also involved in preparing the application, says the nomination “will not stop vandalism” because UNESCO can only issue statements and condemnations.

She said it was up to the Palestinian people to protect their land, but she hoped the Palestinian leadership would reconsider the application.

Calls to Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, were not immediately returned. Nor did Riyad al-Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, respond to inquiries Saturday.

Palestine’s delegation to UNESCO did not respond to repeated requests for comment by phone and email. Aides to ambassador Elias Sambar refused to make him available for interview.

(Source / 16.06.2013)

Doc Jazz in the Netherlands: Performance and Interviews – video and written

Doc Jazz

As was announced earlier on this website, Doc Jazz recently concluded a trip to the Netherlands, where he gave a lecture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam about emigration (May 27), performed at the manifestation ‘NAKBA 65′ in Rotterdam (June 1), and was featured as the main guest in the NTR program OBA Live on June 4.

In this same period, he also gave an interview toAl Arte Magazine, which appeared both in Dutchand in English.

His performance at NAKBA 65 featured a variety of songs in Arabic, English and even one in Dutch. In his show, Doc Jazz played on guitar, piano, shibbabeh (Palestinian flute) and oud (Arabic lute). He also sang a few of his popular songs accompanied by his own backing tracks. At the beginning of the event, a pre-recorded clip by Doc Jazz featured him voice-acting a self-written monologue impersonating legendary hunger striker Samer Issawi. This audio-clip can be downloaded here, and is in the Dutch language.

Doc Jazz

For visitors in the Netherlands, this was the last chance to see Doc Jazz performing live, since NAKBA 65 was the last in a series of three yearly Palestine-events in the Netherlands initiated by the Musical Intifada. For more details on NAKBA 65, please check out the poster for the eventwhich can be found in this article. All in all, it was quite a successful event.

The OBA Live interview was meant to be an up-close personal encounter with Doc Jazz focusing on his emigration from the Netherlands to the United Arab Emirates, but turned out as an in-depth interview about the Nakba, the Right of Return and other issues connected to the Palestinian cause.

Those who understand Dutch can see the entire interview here, but for English speakers the interview has been limited to the conversation about the Palestinian cause, and provided with subtitles. Watch the embedded video here below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=128gaIMcW8s

The interview with Al Arte Magazine (al.arte.magazine), conducted by Aya Johanna Danielle Durst Britt, was titled: ‘From front door key to a free Palestine: the musical intifada of Doc Jazz’ and touched upon his self-taught musicianship, his motives behind mobilizing his music for the Palestinian cause, the symbolism in his work and his political positioning in the struggle.

An excerpt:

“I oppose the Zionist invasion of Palestine and the related dispossession of land and property, ethnic cleansing and racial segregation. Not surprisingly, I am strongly against normalization as well, since showing sympathy for the Palestinian cause while acknowledging the state of Israel simply cannot be. This militant and racist state is far from ‘normal’ and should not be treated as such. If it is treated that way, any sign of solidarity with Palestinians becomes implausible and meaningless.”

Read the entire interview here, and it also contains a link at the top for the Dutch version of it, which shows some minor differences with the English version.

(Source / 16.06.2013)