http://www.kairospalestine.ps/index.php/kairos-palestine-blog/192-dismantle-dividing-walls-the-struggle-for-justice-and-peace-in-palestine-continues

"More churches are called upon to join the prophetic and courageous action for peace by studying and responding to the Kairos Palestine call. Working for justice cannot but include informing about the truth of occupation, respecting and ensuring respect to international law, revisiting theologies that sanctioned occupation and oppression, support active nonviolence as the right of the oppressed and ‘come and see’ in search of the liberating truth."

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority works closely with the Israeli occupation.

Earlier this month, for instance, Israeli officials praised the PA for “cracking down” on opposition and resistance to Israel’s occupation in the West Bank.

The PA’s leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has previously called this so-called security coordination a “sacred” duty ...

Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/infographic-7-ways-palestinian-authority-helps-israeli-occupation

Omar Barghouti’s appearance at Columbia University on Tuesday night felt like a landmark in the Palestinian solidarity movement in the U.S. A large hall at the law school was crowded to overflowing and the mood was celebratory. Luminaries of the community were in attendance, among them Lila Abu-Lughod, Rula Jebreal, Rashid Khalidi, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Nadia Abu El-Haj, Dorothy Zellner, Lia Tarachansky. Barghouti’s speech was hugely optimistic. He said that the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement was racking up victories far faster than the organizers had imagined when they began nine years ago, faster than the South African movement had progressed. And the BDS movement has the “closet” support of the Netanyahu administration, which was doing its utmost to demonstrate the fallacy of a Jewish democracy.

The suspense of waiting for the Israel supporters to say something was a bit of a fizzle, not the big drama it used to be at such events. Law professor Katherine Franke had urged the crowd not to be civil in discussing one of the most challenging moral questions of our time, and at the end, a man at the back said he had a short question.

“Do you believe that the Jewish people have a right to self determination?” And if so, “Where should it be?” ...
- Read more: http://mondoweiss.net/2014/12/netanyahu-barghouti-celebratory

Dutch pension fund giant PGGM has withdrawn all its investments from Israel's five largest banks because of their complicity in West Bank settlements. The report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz was apparently confirmed by PGGM this morning.

The Israeli banks targeted are Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, the First International Bank of Israel and Israel Discount Bank.

Citing a source, Haaretz said that PGGM - which has reported assets of €131 billion - spent months informing the Israeli banks that their ties with both settlements and other companies also involved in settlements, was problematic from the point of view of international law. The Israeli paper pointed out that PGGM's "decision is liable to damage the banks' image, and could lead other business concerns in Europe to follow suit"...

- Read more here: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/blogs/politics/9115-dutch-pension-giant-boycotts-israeli-banks-g4s-faces-oecd-investigation

Gaza,(CPDS.ps) —The Centre for Political and Development Studies (''CPDS'') held Saturday , May 3^rd , 2014 a study-day entitled '' An overview over the Israel project's 2009 Global language Dictionary ,''  in which many prominent researchers and academics as well as representatives of Media institutions, national parties  and think tanks took part.

Being authorized by the Israeli theorist, Frank Luntz, "The Israel project's 2009 Global language Dictionary" is a book addressing influential media discourse, where it highlights a lot of aspects that mark influential political and media discourse. It is basically  directed to the Israeli senior officials as well as  spokespersons, aiming to serve Israeli narrative to be convincing, rational and accepted by all targeted audiences particularly, people of America and Europe .

Recognizing the seriousness of such 18-chapter dictionary as it includes many manipulation terms aiming to forge the facts and tamper the real narrative to serve Israeli agenda; Researchers stressed the need to formulate a unified media strategy to counter such false Israeli propaganda.

Dear all my friends,
It was my pleasure coming to Malaysia. Meeting you , all the members of Viva Palestina. I was excited to meet the people in Malaysia. Here is the first camera I get from you. I give it as gift from Viva Palestina, the Malaysian people to this Hamza Burnt. Hamza started to shoot the demonstrations in the village and other villages before, more than one year. He shoot still picture , but he was arrested, because he was taking pictures of the Israeli army using violence against Palestinians, he spent 9 month in jail, after 9 month he was released to his home in my village Bil'in. I meet him I told him don't give up, it important we continue our struggle and your part is to keep filming, so I promised him to give him video camera. So with your support Viva Palestine, we got the camera and I gave to him. We need your support Viva Palestina to continue our projects in the village and Palestine.

Emad Burnat
Producer and co-director of 5 Broken Cameras
24 May 2013

17 April is the Palestinian Prisoners' Day and on this day, the book, The Prisoners' Diaries - Pelestinian voices from the Israeli Gulag is released.  This book was compiled and edited by VPM Treasurer, Norma Hashim and it is dedicated to Samer Issawi and all Palestinian Prisoners, past, present and future. 

The book is a compilation of 22 Palestinian prisoners' experience in Israeli jails.

To purchase the book or to read more, vist the blog: http://theprisonersdiaries.blogspot.com/ 

The town of Migdal HaEmek was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village of Al-Mujaydil (المْجيدل) which was depopulated of its Palestinian Arab residents by the invading Zionists in 1948. The village, which is located near Nazareth in the northern part of occupied Palestine, was rebuilt and renamed Migdal HaEmek and now has 24,000 Jewish settlers living in it. Prior to the ethnic cleansing and destruction of Al-Mujaydil, 18,165 out of 18,836 dounams of the land of al-Mujaydil were privately owned by Palestinian Arabs, and the remainder was largely public village lands. The villagers were expelled and have since been denied their right to return to their homes and lands. L'Oreal's plant is located on private illegally occupied land, and was erected without permission of its owners. Thus, the company is conducting business in violation of international law. It is trespassing on privately-owned property.

Jojn us to demand that L'Oreal shut down and dismantle its plants in Israel and stop profiting from its operations on land stolen from Palestinian refugees without permission of the owners. Join us in boycotting all of L'Oreal's products until the company does so. Please sign the petition and Help us by spreading this message.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Mideast conflict has done little to help Israel's image in the world, but the way local filmmakers deal critically with the Israel-Palestinian issue has won wide international praise — and, this year, recognition from the top of the movie industry.

Two Israeli-produced documentaries about the conflict have been shortlisted for possible nomination in this year's Academy Awards. Few Israeli films have contended in the Best Documentary category before. The shortlisted films represent rare recognition of foreign entrants in a category dominated by American productions.

“The temptation is to speak in muffled tones about an issue such as the right of the people of Palestine … yet we would be less than human if we did so.” 

- NELSON R. MANDELA

As Jews, with our own painful history of oppression, we are compelled to speak out against human rights violations being committed by the State of Israel – in our name – against the Palestinian people.

We note that the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) together with the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), recently met with the South African Presidency and other politicians. We also note, with great concern, the SAJBD and SAZF’s assertion that they represent and speak on behalf of all Jewish South Africans, particularly when it comes to Palestine-Israel. 

12 December 2012

A delegation of South African Christian Church leaders has just returned from a one-week solidarity visit to the holy cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem in Palestine-Israel. On their return, they released this joint statement [extracts]:

"Being South African, it felt like walking into another apartheid ambush. We witnessed violations of international law on so many levels – the multiple Israeli house demolitions, the discriminatory Israeli legal system, the daily intimidation of Palestinians by the Israeli Defence Forces, the Israeli Apartheid Wall and its associated regime of restrictions on movement and access for Palestinians, the imprisonment of a large percentage of Palestinians (including children), the ongoing confiscation of Palestinian water and land, the closure of previously bustling Palestinian streets and businesses, separate pavements for Israelis and Palestinians..."

Letter with 52 signatories including artists and activists also denounces US and EU 'complicity' through weapons sales.

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 November 2012 10.34 GMT

A group of Nobel peace prize-winners, prominent artists and activists have issued a call for an international military boycott of Israel following its assault on the Gaza Strip this month.

The letter also denounces the US, EU and several developing countries for what it describes as their "complicity" through weapons sales and other military support in the attack that killed 160 Palestinians, many of them civilians, including about 35 children.

The 52 signatories include the Nobel peace laureates Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; the film directors Mike Leigh and Ken Loach; the author Alice Walker; the US academic Noam Chomsky; Roger Waters of Pink Floyd; and Stéphane Hessel, a former French diplomat and Holocaust survivor who was co-author of the universal declaration of human rights.