PATTERNS OF OCCUPIED PALESTINE

Patterns of Occupied Palestine: Part 1 of Uncountable

Posted on June 20, 2019 by pritigulaticox
 

See also at PINK TANK


There is no one poster child who embodies the struggle of the Palestinian people living in the shadow of Israeli settlers and military occupation. Every Palestinian child, woman, and man will tell you intricate stories of what life and death is like under the perennial burden of occupation, and what that means for the land beneath their feet, their usurped rivers, their beloved farmers and the artisans, etc.


Aisha Lulu, Amal Mustafa al-Taramsi, Haitham Ismael Saada, Amin Mansour Abu Moammar, Ahmad Ghazal, Izzedin Bani Gharra, Malak Shaker Abu Shouqa, Qutayba Ziad Zahran, Naji Jamil Abu ‘Aasi, Iyad Ousamah Sha’th, Bushra al-Taweel and Yousef Abu Sbeikha al-Boheiri are just twelve of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have either been displaced, killed in cold blood by Israeli occupation forces, arrested, injured physically and psychologically, or have died indirectly by the regime’s sadistic design of collective punishment.

Each pattern of occupied Palestine tells its own story. As part of a lifelong project, I will be embroidering images of hundreds of Palestinians, deceased and living. Each of the embroidered portraits to come has a border inspired by Tatreez — a traditional Palestinian embroidery-style, and by the occupied territories’ natural, threatened landscape. Each bordered portrait is also a statement against the ugly and violent apartheid border wall.


Below are the first twelve portraits of occupation in this open-ended series:

Border pattern includes the hairy pink flax flower

“My heart broke every day my daughter was away… Why does Israel treat us like this? We are not affiliated to any political faction, we are just normal people,” says Muna, whose 5-year-old daughter Aisha Lulu of the Bureij Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip was one of the latest casualties of the Israeli occupation. Diagnosed with brain cancer in April, Aisha died on May 17 in a Gaza hospital. Prior to this, she spent a month alone in a hospital bed in Jerusalem, crying for her family, who were denied permits by the Israeli military to accompany her.

The first Palestinian to be killed by Israeli occupation forces this year was a 44-year-old resident of the Shaikh Radwan neighborhood of north Gaza City, Amal Al-Taramsi, who was shot in the head during protests in the occupied Gaza Strip on Friday, January 11, 2019.

Border pattern includes the endangered Palestinian mountain gazelle

“Haitham was not yet 15 when he died. His average grade in school this year was 87. In the memorial photos he wears a dark kaffiyeh on his head. He was the firstborn child and only son of his parents; there are three younger sisters.

His father, Ismail, 43, a construction worker in Kiryat Gat, looks as though he has not yet absorbed what happened. A crooked smile occasionally crosses his lips as he recounts the events of his Black Friday.” Ismail’s son, 14-year-old Haitham Saada was hit by two Israeli bullets on February 5, 2016. The IDF accused him of getting ready to throw a Molotov cocktail at the soldiers, and so they fired and killed him.

On March 30, 2018, during the Land Day protests along the Gaza-Israel boundary, more than 1,400 Palestinians were wounded by live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets, and 16 were killed by Israeli occupation forces. One of the dead was 22-year-old Amin Mansour Abu Moammar from Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip.

17-year-old Ahmad Ghazal from the Ras Al-’Ain neighborhood of northern occupied West Bank, was shot and killed after he stabbed and wounded two Israeli men in the Old City of Jerusalem on April 1, 2017. The Accountability Program Director for Defense for Children International – Palestine, Ayed Abu Eqtaish, said, “Israeli forces now appear to routinely resort to the use of intentional lethal force in situations not justified by International norms, which in some incidents amount to extrajudicial killings.”

21-year-old Izzeddin Bani Gharra was one of almost 200 Palestinians killed by occupation forces in the occupied territories in 2015. He was shot and killed during an Israeli arrest raid on June 10, 2015. “I lost everything after Izz was killed, it was a shock, my son Izz loves life and he loves Palestine. Israel killed him in cold blood,” Bani Gharra’s mother told Ma’an News Agency.

Border pattern includes the Palestinian sunbird

Between July 7 and August 26, 2014 the besieged Gaza strip was bombarded by Israeli explosives, killing more than 2,130 Palestinians. 18-month-old Malak Shaker Abu Shouqa lived in the Al Nuseirat refugee camp, which is home to more than 80,000 refugees, and is located in the middle of the Gaza strip. On July 31, she, along with 12 other Palestinians were killed when an Israeli F-16 warplane struck their homes. Two of the others killed were her relatives.

Border pattern includes olives

The Israeli border police continued to fire into 17-year-old Qutayba Ziad Zahran’s body after he fell on the ground at the Zaatara military checkpoint in northern occupied West Bank. The Israeli authorities alleged that the teenager attempted to carry out a knife attack on Israeli forces, but in fact a soldier was hurt in a friendly fire incident. Hundreds attended Zahran’s funeral procession on September 9, 2017, 20 days after the incident. Zahran’s father learned of his son’s death through local news and Facebook. According to Ma’an News Agency “Israel often delays the delivery of slain Palestinian bodies to their families in the occupied Palestinian territory, and imposes strict conditions on funerals, alleging that funerals of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces leads to ‘incitement.’”

Twenty of the twenty-three Palestinians killed in the month of September, 2018, were from Gaza, including 16-year-old Naji Jamil Abu ‘Aasi, who was killed on the 17th by an Israeli missile, along with his cousin, 19-year-old Ala Ziad Abu ‘Aasi (portrait follows in part 2 of this series.) Both were from the Bani Sohaila town in eastern Khan Younis.

Border pattern includes the Dead Sea which has been “shrinking rapidly due to Israel’s diversion of the head waters of the Jordan River.”

Israeli General Ariel Sharon’s September 28, 2000 walk through the Muslim holy site Haram Al-Sharif in occupied east Jerusalem, as he was accompanied by hundreds of Israeli police officers, triggered the second Palestinian Intifada. But the uprising had more to do with the failed peace process, continuing settlement expansion and the deteriorating lives of Palestinians living under occupation. According to Defense for Children International, more than 1,996 children have been killed since then, with 700 children killed between September 2000 and February 2005, including a 14-year-old resident of Khan Younis, Iyad Ousamah Sha’th, who was killed by live ammunition on October 24, 2000.

The 26-year-old journalist and photographer Bushra al-Taweel has been arrested three times in her young life by occupation forces, with the latest arrest happening on November 01, 2017. According to the Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association ADDAMEER, “Human Rights Defender Bushra al-Taweel has been subjected to continuing adversity imposed by the occupation forces. She was first arrested at 18 years old and was released from her second arrest in May 2015 after serving almost a year in detention. Now, Bushra is imprisoned under administrative detention. She will, hopefully, be released in July 2018 after spending 8 months without having any charges brought against her and without having the opportunity to stand trial.” Bushra remains a detainee at the Hasharon (Telmond) Prison in Israel.

Border pattern includes olive trees. “Since 1967 some 800,000 olive trees have been uprooted by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank alone.”

A 48-year-old farmer, Yousef Abu Sbeikha al-Boheiri from the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, died on December 27, 2015 from gunshot wounds he had sustained the previous Friday while working in his farmland.


Part 2 follows…


I would like to thank The Electronic Intifada, Defense for Children International, Addameer, Israel-Palestine Timeline and B’tselem for providing valuable material for this project.

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August 5, 2019

Patterns of Occupied Palestine: Part 2 of Uncountable:

by Priti Gulati Cox

What do Shahed Amer al-Bayoumi, Abdel-Raouf Salha, Arafat Jaradat, Ayoub Asaleya, Mohammed Suleiman, Sawsan Ali Dawud Mansour, Mohammad H., Isma’il Muslem Hamad Abu Bteihan, Ala Ziad Abu ‘Aasi, Fadi al-Darbi, Atef al-Maqousi, Jaber Ibrahim Abu Hweige,Fadiyah Jaber Abu Hweigeand MuhammadJaber Abu Hweigehave in common? They are Palestinians between the ages of 9 and 69 who have been severely injured, imprisoned, or killed by Israeli occupation forces since 1992.

The first segment of this series, Patterns of Occupied Palestine:Part 1 of Uncountable, included a portrait of 18-month-old Malak Shaker Abu Shouqa. She was one of 13 people who were killed on July 31, 2014 when an Israeli F-16 warplane struck their homes. Four of the people killed that day included members of the al-Bayoumi family.

 

 

This segment, Part 2, includes 9-year-old, Shahed Amer al-Bayoumi, who survived that attack but was badly injured. According to the multimedia web documentary Obliterated Families, “She now shivers all the time. She was in a coma for 38 days… initially she could not recognize her family. She cannot hold a pen to write, so sometimes her cousin sits with her at the school to help her write.” Shahed lost her cousin Hassan, and her three sisters Abeer, Aseel, and Hadil in the attack.

13-year-old Abdel-Raouf Salha,was the first Palestinian child to be killed by occupation forces this year. Abdel was injured while participating in the Great March of Return protests on January 11 in the northern Gaza Strip when he was struck in the head by an Israeli-fired tear gas canister causing severe brain injury. He died two days later in a hospital in Gaza City. 

According to Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the Accountability Program Director for Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), “Crowd control weapons such as tear gas canisters can become lethal weapons when fired at children, especially if the point of impact is on a child’s head or torso.” DCIP also said that “a high proportion of the Gaza Strip fatalities, 45, were killed by Israeli forces since the start of Great March of Return protests on March 30, 2018, often in the context of protests or related activities.”

Suspected of throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail at occupation forces, 33-year-old Arafat Jaradat from the occupied West Bank was arrested on February 18, 2013 and locked up in Israel’s Megiddo prison, where he died five days later after being interrogated by the security agency Shin Bet. On February 24, the Palestinians rights group Al-Haq tweeted saying that the “autopsy of #ArafatJaradat confirmed that he didn’t die of heart attack. Body displayed multiple signs of beating.” He was tortured. According to The Electronic Intifada (EI), “Israel has failed to launch a single criminal investigation for torture despite more than 1,000 complaints by victims since 2001.”

Arafat had two children, Yara and Mohammad. His wife Dalal was expecting their third child at the time of his death. According to the prisoner solidarity network Samidoun, she gave birth to a boy on June 30and named him Arafat, “after his martyred father.”

12-year-old Ayoub Asaleya was playing with his cousins when he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia refugee camp on March 11, 2012, as cross-border fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants raged on for a third day. Adel Essi,63, was killed by shrapnel from another missile as he was guarding an orchard. According to the New York Times, the attacks had begun “when Israeli air-to-ground missiles killed the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair al-Qissi, and his assistant in Gaza.” The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu boasted, saying, “My instructions are to strike at anyone planning to harm us… The combination of offensive capabilities, defensive capabilities and civilian resilience is a winning combination, and we have it.”

Mohammad Suleiman, was arrested on April 18, 2011. He is 34-years old and suffers from thalassemia and chronic anemia for which he requires daily medical care, including frequent blood transfusions. As a result of the transfusions his blood contains high levels of iron, causing a perpetual weakening of his heart muscle for which he has had to undergo a daily routine of intravenously injecting a medication called Desferal for 8 to 10 hours to cleanse his body of some of the excess iron. Since his arrest and subsequent medical neglect, his health has deteriorated rapidly; tests confirm that he has an enlarged heart and liver.

According to the prisoner support group Addameer, Mohammad is currently in administrative detention, “a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on secret evidence without charging them or allowing them to stand trial… The entire family, except for his 20-year-old sister, is currently forbidden from visiting Mohammed.” In early October of ’11 Mohammed’s wife gave birth to Suleiman, their first child.

In a new wave of unrest that broke out between Occupation forces and Palestinians in October 2015, 28 Israelis and more than 200 Palestinians were killed, including the latest victim, 19-year-old Sawsan Ali Dawud Mansour, who was gunned down near the Ras Biddu checkpoint north of Jerusalem on May 23, 2016. According to Ma’an News Agency (MNA), an Israeli spokesperson claimed that a “female terrorist” allegedly attempted to stab a soldier, when “another officer immediately fired gunshots at the Palestinian teen and ‘neutralized’ her.” No Israelis were reported injured in the incident.

“I used to play soccer and ride my bike but now my life has completely changed… My message to Israel is that I was participating in a peaceful march and they shot me in the leg and now I don’t have a leg.” Those are the words of 13-year-old Mohammad H., who was severely injured on June 29, 2018. According to DCIP, Israeli forces shot him “at around 6:30 p.m., near Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip… He marched toward the fence with a group of other protesters. Mohammad was unarmed and making a ‘victory’ sign with his fingers. Israeli forces fired multiple rounds at the group and one bullet struck Mohammad’s leg.” 

In 2018, DCIP “documented 18 cases of Palestinian children who suffered permanent disability as a result of injuries sustained in the context of Great March of Return protests.”

The patterns of Israeli atrocities and collective punishment carried out on the Palestinians, their families and neighbors, their homes and infrastructure can clearly be seen in the summer of 2014 and the 51-day onslaught of explosives that rained down on the Gaza Strip. The explosive force that killed more than 520 children, including Malak Abu Shouqa and Shahed al-Bayoumi’s three sisters and cousin and left her constantly shivering with fear was “roughly equivalent to that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb,” according to EI.

Just four days before the August 26 ceasefire agreement that ended the assault, Isma’il Muslem Hamad Abu Bteihan, a 69-year-old resident of a-Zawaydah, Deir al-Balah district was killed in a missile attack. According to B’Tselem, he was “killed while sitting under the shade of a tree opposite his home. Four hours later his home was bombarded and completely destroyed.”

In addition to Malak Shaker Abu Shouqa, Part 1 of Patterns of Occupied Palestine featured 16-year-old Naji Jamil Abu ‘Aasi, who was killed on the 17th of September, 2018 by an Israeli missile along with his cousin. According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, “At 12:50 am the next day… Palestinian Red Crescent Society medical teams found the bodies of two civilian-dressed persons. Both had shrapnel injuries on various parts of their bodies and one of them was torn to pieces. The two bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where they were identified as Naji Abu ‘Asi, 16, and Alaa’ Abu ‘Asi, 19 [featured here, in part 2]—both residents of Al-Zanna area in Bani Sohaila town in eastern Khan Younis.”

A 30-year-old Palestinian resident of Jenin named Fadi al-Darbidied on October 14, 2015 after suffering “medical negligence by the Israeli Prison Service.” Fadi had been detained by Israeli forces back in 2006 and sentenced to 16 years in jail. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement “that he suffered bleeding in his abdomen two years ago, but was left in solitary confinement, without medical treatment.”

 

 

37-year-old Atef al-Maqousi from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza died on November 8, 2107, after living in a quadriplegic state for 25 years. According to the media center IMEMC, he was shot in the spine by Israeli soldiers in 1992 and as a result suffered ongoing infections and other complications that  eventually lead to his death.

“At 11:27 am on 27 December 2008, Gaza was bombarded by Israeli warplanes. Instead of the anticipated school bell, the children heard the horrifying sound of bombs.” That’s when Operation Cast Lead began. According to the EI “Israel used its air force, navy, infantry and artillery against a population that already had a long experience of being under military occupation and, more recently, under siege.”

This following testimony is of Jaber Abu Abu Hweij, a resident of Gaza City:

“I lived with my parents and brothers and sisters in the Tufah neighborhood in Gaza City. Our house is between the police building and the al-Mahata mosque. On Saturday, 27.12. 08, while I was at work, one of my neighbors called me and told me to come home quickly.

I got home and was shocked by what I saw. The house had been hit by an explosion and was a pile of rubble. Where the house had been there was a big hole. There were dozens of people trying to get my family out of the ruins, but they only managed to get some of them out alive.

My father, Jaber Abu Hweij, 52, my sister, Fadia, 22, and my brother Muhammad, 18, were killed in the bombing. Many other family members were injured.

The neighbors told me the house had been hit three times, one right after the other. Some of my family was hurt in the first strike and while others tried to help them, the house was hit again and others were injured. It happened so quickly there was no time to flee.

I keep seeing my sister Fadia in my mind. She was the last one I saw that morning when I left for work. She is the one who woke me for morning prayers and to go to work. Her voice still echoes in my ears….

Our family has fallen apart. Some [have] been killed and others are hospitalized. We lost our home and all our possessions: all our mementos, our dreams, our stories, our furniture, everything is under the ruins. The important thing now is for me to take care of my family that is still alive. I am particularly taking care of my brother Ahmad, who is still in intensive care.”

Please go here to see Patterns of Occupied Palestine: Part 1 of Uncountable. Part 3 will follow next month . . .

I would like to thank Obliterated Families, DCIP, The EI, Samidoun, ADDAMEER, MNA, B’Tselem, Al Mezan, and IMEMC for providing valuable material for this project.

More articles by:Priti Gulati Cox

Priti Gulati Cox is an interdisciplinary artist, and a local coordinator for the peace and justice organization CODEPINK. She lives in Salina, Kansas, and can be reached at p.g@cox.net. Please click here to see more of her work.

'HUGE WIN FOR PALESTINIAN ACTIVISM': CANADIAN COURT RULES SETTLEMENT WINES CAN'T BE LABELLED "PRODUCT OF ISRAEL"

‘Huge win for Palestinian activism’: Canadian court rules settlement wines can’t be labeled “Product of Israel”

Yumna Patel on August 2, 2019 1 Comment

 

 

Psagot Winery, outside of Ramallah in the West Bank. (Photo: David Kattenburg)

 

    

A federal judge in Canada ruled earlier this week in favor of pro-Palestine activists that wines produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank should not be able to carry “Product of Israel” labels.

 

The landmark ruling in Kattenburg vs. Attorney General of Canada was decided by Justice Anne Mactavish, who said in her decision that labeling settlement wines, made in the occupied West Bank, as products of Israel was “false, misleading and deceptive.”

Dr. David Kattenburg, an educator, social justice advocate, and longtime pro-Palestine activist, said he was overjoyed when the judge ruled in his favor on Tuesday, July 29th.

“We hit it out of the park,” he told Mondoweiss, adding that while he had faith in the Canadian justice system, he was anticipating a loss. “I was incredibly happy when I read the judge’s decision.”

Judge Mactavish’s decision stated the following:

“While there is profound disagreement between those involved in this matter as to the legal status of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, I do not need to resolve that question in this case. Whatever the status of Israeli settlements in the West Bank may be, all of the parties and interveners agree that the settlements in issue in this case are not part of the State of Israel. Consequently, labelling the settlement wines as “Products of Israel” is both inaccurate and misleading, with the result that [the decision by the Complaints & Appeals Office (CAO) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)] affirming that settlement wines may be so labelled was unreasonable.”

She went on to affirm that “one peaceful way in which people can express their political views is through their purchasing decisions. To be able to express their views in this manner, however, consumers have to be provided with accurate information as to the source of the products in question.”

Mactavish concluded that due to their “misleading” nature, the labelling must be changed, a decision she left up to the CFIA.

“Canadian citizens, citizens in free societies have a right to truthful information upon which they can behave responsibly in democratic societies,” Kattenburg told Mondoweiss. “And the judge ruled that false labeling infringes on that right to exercise conscious consumer choices.”

“That’s why this decision is so amazing,” he said. “It reinforced the fact that Israel does not have the right to violate international law and conceal its violations to people who wish to hold them accountable.”

Years in the making

The judge’s decision on Tuesday was a long time coming for Kattenburg, who first filed a complaint back in 2017 to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), one of the world’s largest buyers and sellers of alcohol, when he noticed that the retailer was selling two brands of settlement wine labeled as products of Israel.

Label on a bottle of wine at the Psagot Winery, outside of Ramallah in the West Bank. (Photo: David Kattenburg)

“I thought, Israel is staking claims of sovereignty over stolen land on Canadian store shelves,” Kattenburg told Mondoweiss. “This is how I interpreted the ‘Product of Israel’ designation.”

But after getting no response from the LCBO, Kattenburg decided to file a complaint with the CFIA. After six months of deliberation, the CFIA announced its position that, yes, the wines were mislabelled.

The CFIA quickly reversed its decision, however, after immense pressure from Israeli government officials and pro-Israel organizations in Canada. Kattenburg called the quick reversal “obscene.”

So Kattenburg appealed the decision, only to be rejected. When he exhausted all other legal avenues, he filed his suit in federal court with the assistance of Attorney Dimitri Lascaris, who took the case pro bono.

When asked what motivated him to take the issue up to federal court, Kattenburg told Mondoweiss that he couldn’t ignore the fact that by allowing the LCBO to stock shelves with mislabeled settlement wine, “Canada, which declares settlements illegal, was essentially endorsing Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.”

“That was outrageous to me,” Kattenburg said. “These labels are not anodyne designations, like ‘product of France’ or ‘product of Chile’.”

“Labeling settlement wines as products of Israel is clearly a political statement, that ‘this land belongs to the Jews and is Israeli land.’”

Global impact

The judge’s decision is being celebrated by Kattenburg and other pro-Palestine activists as a huge win for global Palestinian advocacy.

“In effect, the federal court ruled that, without explicitly mentioning BDS, that boycotts are perfectly legitimate, and false misleading and deceptive labeling infringes on that right, which is amazing!” Kattenburg told Mondoweiss.

By saying that Canadians have the right to choose to purchase goods based on beliefs that are political and ethical in nature, the ruling “constitutes an endorsement of boycotts,” he said.

“This is huge for Palestinian activism in Canada, and around the world,” Kattenburg said, highlighting similar efforts being taken in the EU against the mislabeling of Israeli settlement wines.

“Some people think ‘oh it’s just wine labelling, what does it really matter? How is this going to  promote peace and justice in Palestine? But i think it’s a pivotal development. It drives a major wedge into Israel’s settlement enterprise.”

Kattenburg acknowledged that it will “take a whole lot more than judicial decisions like this to reverse Israel’s creeping annexation of the West Bank.”

“But pronouncements like this consolidate the view within the international legal community that settlements are flagrantly illegal and without effect.”

The fight continues

While Kattenburg is celebrating the court’s decision as a huge win, he knows the fight isn’t over yet.

The government has until September to file an appeal, and with federal elections coming up and continued pressure from the Israeli lobby, Kattenburg believes they are likely to appeal the judge’s decision.

NPR quoted Shimon Koffler Fogel, President and CEO of the Canadian-based Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, as saying the judge’s ruling featured “substantive errors.”

“Current labelling practices are fully consistent with the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement, as well as Canadian and international law. This is why we are urging the Government of Canada to appeal this misguided ruling,” NPR quoted Fogel as saying, adding that the CEO “plans to consult with legal experts and seek intervenor status should the case be appealed.”

Kattenburg says he hopes that if the case goes up to the federal court of appeals, that the court uphold Judge Mactavish’s ruling.

“Truthful settlement labeling constitutes more than just correct labeling,” he told Mondoweiss. “It it constitutes or embodies a statement that the West Bank is not in fact a part of Israel, that the settlements are illegal, and that economic aid and support for the settlement enterprise is illegal under international law, and citizens have the right to act on that information.”

Kattenburg told Mondoweiss that he, along with his lawyers, are gearing up for a battle in the appeals court, promising to fight until the end.

“But we need people’s support,” he said, urging supporters of his case and the Palestinian cause to donate to his GoFundMe campaign, called “Label the Occupation.” The money will be spent on legal costs, while any unused  funds will be donated to not-for-profit Palestinian solidarity organizations in Canada.

Yumna Patel

Yumna Patel is the Palestine correspondent for Mondoweiss. Follow her on Twitter at @yumna_patel
Other posts by Yumna Patel.

HarryLaw on August 2, 2019, 4:00 pm

Well done Dr. David Kattenburg, I too took a case to the Wirral Magistrates Court in 2015 concerning falsely labelled wine from the Golan Heights, unfortunately the District Judge Abelson was an Israeli firster and questioned my assertion that Katzrin was in Syria, I told him it was not me who asserted that fact but the UNSC Resolution, he made a political decision not to proceed with the case. Earlier the Trading Standards Agency had asked for advice from the Food Standards Agency who advised the TSA and myself…

“I understand the point you are making but as you can imagine the situation is primarily a highly sensitive political issue and will not be resolved by the Agency refusing to allow the of such wine.
I regret therefore that we will not be taking any further action in respect of your complaint unless we are instructed to do so by aither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or by DEFRA who are responsible for wine policy issues and represent the UK at the EU wine Management Committee”. Graham Finch Technical Inspector.

I took the case myself as a litigant in person as Section 6, Prosecution of Offenders Act allows me to, No help whatsoever from the Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, they wanted cash upfront. Here is a snapshot of my case……

The Indication of provenance detailed in Regulation EU 607/2009 Article 55 sets out the compulsory particulars required for third country wines [outside the European Community] and ‘Shall’ be indicated as follows:- For wines without protected designation of origin or geographical indication, one of the following:-

[1] “the words ‘wine of […..]’, ’produced in [….]’, or ‘product of [….]’, or expressed in equivalent terms, supplemented by the name of the member state or third country where the grapes are harvested and turned into wine in that territory.

As evidence I produced two bottles of wine with the offending labels. Both labels make at least two false representations:

1. ‘WINE OF ISRAEL’ and
2. PRODUCED AND BOTTLED BY GOLAN HEIGHTS WINERY 183 KATZRIN 12900 ISRAEL.

Despite the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, the sovereign territorial status of the Golan Heights is still regarded by the International community, including the UK government as Syrian territory, as set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 497, of December 1981, which declared :- “That the acquisition of territory by force was inadmissible and that Israel’s decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the Golan Heights is null and void and without legal effect”.

– “Sauvignon Blanc”’, indicates that the grapes were grown and harvested entirely in the Golan Heights. Under country of origin rules, originating products are determined, (in this case, grapes) by being wholly grown, harvested and turned into wine in that territory, therefore the wine is of Syrian origin.

The geographical territory, together with all the metrics by which country of origin is arrived at is the determinative factor, not the nationality of the exporter, if this was not the case the world trade system would collapse.

As an added factor, both labels when viewed as a whole show at least five other indicators which tend to confirm the false facts in 1 and 2 above as shown in Documents 5 and 6.

1. Golan Heights Winery with Galilee underneath, ‘Galilee’ is a region of Northern Israel.
2. The wine is Kosher for Passover; and is authenticated for the Jewish religious holiday of Passover by a Rabbi from the Northern Israeli City of Tiberias.
3. The web page http://www.golanwines.co.il indicates an Israeli country code [il]
4. Barcode first three digits 729 indicates Israeli origin, although not conclusive proof of origin.

Mannie De Saxe

Co-coordinator with Kendall Lovett of:

Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves

c/o PO Box 1675

Preston South

Vic 3072

22 July 2019

On 19 July 2019 we received the following information:

“Last week at short notice, WestConnex advised (Sydney City) Council (SCC) they were overriding our (SCC) permissions to force their way into the (Sydney) park to undertake investigation work for tunnelling associated with the project.

“This appears to mean large trucks and drilling rigs digging deep holes in the (Sydney) park, slated to commence this week. It’s outrageous that this project will impact even more on the inner city’s precious parklands. The City (SCC) will continue to fight to ensure Sydney Park is preserved, not trashed for the sake of a toll road.”

Sydney Park is home to Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves - SPAIDS, established between 1994 and 2012 to commemorate hundreds of people who died during the worst years of the AIDS crisis – 1985 to 1997 and for some years beyond. There have also been ashes scattered in the area of the SPAIDS Groves, turning the area into a cemetery and it is generally accepted internationally that cemeteries are grounds which are protected to remember people from all walks of life, and areas where people can still quietly and peacefully walk around or sit in quiet contemplation of those they loved or to whom they were close over time.

Details of Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves may be found at:

Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves

If the New South Wales Government permits this sacrilege then it will be necessary to raise an outcry internationally with the AIDS communities and those who have been involved with them over time in order to stop this disaster from occurring.

The San Francisco AIDS Memorial Garden in Golden Gate Park has been registered as a national AIDS Memorial and the outcry in the United States of America would reverberate internationally if any state or local government tried to tamper with it.

Here is some information about this Memorial:

National AIDS Memorial Grove: National AIDS Memorial Grove

About the National AIDS Memorial

The mission of the National AIDS Memorial Grove is to provide, in perpetuity, a place of remembrance so that the lives of people who died from AIDS are not forgotten and the story is known by future generations.

The National AIDS Memorial Grove, located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, is a dedicated space in the national landscape where millions of Americans touched directly or indirectly by AIDS can gather to heal, hope, and remember. Its mission is to provide, in perpetuity, a place of remembrance so that the lives of people who died from AIDS are not forgotten and the story is known by future generations. For all the promising prospects on the horizon, AIDS continues to invade our lives, violate our past, and rob us of our comfortable assumptions about the future. The sacred ground of this 10-acre living memorial honors all who have confronted this tragic pandemic; those who have died, and those who have shared their struggle, kept the vigils, and supported each other during the final hours.

Conception

The idea for the National AIDS Memorial was first conceived in 1988 by a small group of San Francisco residents representing a community devastated by the AIDS epidemic, but with no positive way to express their collective grief. They envisioned a serene place where people would come alone or in groups to hold memorial services, to remember among the rhododendrons and redwoods. It was to be a place dedicated to all lives touched by AIDS. As news of the AIDS Memorial Grove initiative grew, so did support and interest. The group selected as the site for the Grove the de Laveaga Dell, near the park’s tennis courts, in world-renowned Golden Gate Park. Due to park budget cuts and lack of funding, the Dell had fallen into a state of disrepair. It was overgrown and unusable by the public. A team of prominent architects, landscape architects, and designers volunteered countless hours to create a landscape plan that would be fitting as a timeless living memorial. Site renovation began in September 1991, and is still in progress. The Grove is an award-winning example of civic beautification, combining both public and private sectors in urban-park restoration and promoting AIDS awareness. In 1999, it was bestowed the Rudy Bruner Silver Medal Award for excellence in the urban environment. The Grove’s board of directors obtained a 99-year renewable lease with the City of San Francisco to create and maintain the Grove. Public officials praise the project as the perfect example of a public-private partnership, a model project for like-minded groups throughout the world.

National Status

In October 1996, through the passage of legislation spearheaded by Representative Nancy Pelosi and signed by President Bill Clinton, the ‘AIDS Memorial Grove Act of 1996’ designated the Grove as this nation’s AIDS Memorial. This official designation as the National AIDS Memorial Grove, a status comparable to that of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, proclaims to the world that there is a dedicated space in the national public landscape where anyone who has been touched by AIDS can grieve openly without being stigmatized, can find comfort among others whose lives have been affected by AIDS, and can experience the feelings of renewal and hope inherent in nature. As the AIDS pandemic continues to invade humanity in unprecedented numbers, the establishment of the Grove as the national gathering place for healing, hope and remembrance also serves as an important marker in the history of this dreadful disease.

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When the co-coordinators of SPAIDS tried to obtain heritage status for the AIDS Groves it was rejected by the Heritage Council. The fact is that the Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves in Sydney Park is the biggest AIDS Memorial in Australia and should be treated as such by governments in this country.

The equivalent to its desecration would be as if the Field of Mars, Rookwood, Waverley, Macquarie Park, Woronora Memorial Park, Gore Hill and Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park cemeteries, to mention a few, were to have heavy machinery allowed to ride over graves and gravestone areas, and have tunnels dug beneath them without consideration of the history of Australian citizens, as has been done to the original inhabitants of the country without any care and consideration of that portion of the population who inhabited this country for centuries before it was invaded by people from other countries.

National Tree Day is an annual event occurring during the last weekend of July, and if WestConnex continues to be allowed to ride roughshod over the government of New South Wales, there is no knowing where the trees of Australia will be buried.

So much of Sydney has already been demolished and destroyed, and we are about to have one of the few remaining lungs for Sydneysiders to go and breathe some unadulterated air removed from us.

From Al Jazeera, 7 JULY 2019

Nelson Mandela's grandson slams 'Israeli apartheid'

Zwelivelile Mandela says Israeli apartheid is the worst form of apartheid ever witnessed.

by Gavin O'Toole

3 hours ago

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Mandela sketched out a damning picture of the discrimination experienced by the Palestinian people [File: Leon Neal/Getty Images]

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London, United Kingdom - The grandson of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela has delivered a damning condemnation of "Israeli apartheid", in a high-profile expression of solidarity between South Africans and Palestinians.

Zwelivelile Mandela, an MP of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), made the comments on Saturday at the Palestine Expo, an annual event in London aimed at showcasing Palestinian history, heritage and culture. Last year, it attracted 15,000 visitors.

Addressing a large audience, Mandela said that the Nation-State Law passed in 2018 declaring Israel to be the historical homeland of the Jewish people "confirmed what we have always known to be the true character and reality of Israel: Israel is an apartheid state".

He also outlined what had constituted apartheid for black South Africans - from the creation of bantustan reservations to land expropriation and the daily assault on dignity.

"All these characteristics were present in apartheid Israel since its inception but have now been codified and given a constitutional status and expression by the Nation-State Law.

"Apartheid Israel perpetuates statutory discrimination through the very definition by the law as a Jewish state; by doing so it renders non-Jews as second-class citizens, alternately as foreigners in the land of their birth."

Anti-Semitism allegations

Also speaking at the event was Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who criticised efforts by the United States to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through investment.

He told the London audience that not only could the deal not be taken seriously, but if it were pursued it would put an end to "all Palestinian rights and aspirations", and added that, as a result, a global intervention was now required to put pressure on Israel.

"We need the world because Israel will not change by itself - as long as Israel and Israelis are not punished and don't pay for the occupation, for the crimes, don't expect any change. It will not come from within Israel."

Levy was also scathing about how Western politicians and media have succumbed to a "very efficient" campaign by Israel to label any criticism of the country's activities as anti-Semitic.

"Here we face now a new stage in which criticising Israel becomes not only impossible but almost criminal. I have never seen such a phenomenon in which struggling for justice becomes criminalised - this is unheard of.

"The formula is very formalised and very efficient, and we shouldn't let it be so efficient: you dare to criticise the occupation? You dare to criticise Israel? You dare to have some sympathy with the Palestinians, the victims? You dare to speak about justice? You know what you are: you are an anti-Semite. This paralyses everybody."

OPINION

Why aren't Europeans calling Israel an apartheid state?

by John Dugard

 

Ilan Pappe, a professor at the University of Exeter and director of the European Centre for Palestinian Studies, also blasted the mainstream media's coverage of Israeli activities and how these have been concealed behind the "fabrication of institutional anti-Semitism".

Pappe said it was important to acknowledge the historical context in which the treatment of Palestinians in areas such as Gaza had taken place.

"Unfortunately, the world doesn't know what goes on in Gaza. In this country, the mainstream media, whether it is Sky News or the BBC, or the main newspapers, don't mention the Gaza Strip.

"They mention every word that they think attests to institutional anti-Semitism in the Labour Party but they would not mention what happened yesterday when 49 young Palestinians were shot by Israeli snipers. Neither did they mention the 52 who were shot last week."

Home demolitions

Human rights activist Issa Amro, who is based in Hebron - which is at the sharp end of Israeli settler appropriation of Palestinian land - told attendees that the city had become the "micro-centre of apartheid, discrimination and segregation".

Amro described his activism trying to resist the growing scale at which Palestinian homes were being demolished by the Israeli authorities in order for settlers to take their land and resources.

READ MORE

Israel opens 'apartheid road' in occupied West Bank

He said demolitions had increased significantly since Donald Trump became the US president in early 2017, and current Israeli policy was to now even require some Palestinians to demolish their own homes.

"Don't be afraid of 'anti-Semitism' because the message of this conference should be that criticising Israeli human rights violations is not anti-Semitism," he said.

Daphna Baram, director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions UK, outlined the scale of demolitions, pointing out that 201 Palestinian structures were demolished in June alone - bringing those destroyed since 1967 to 49,336.

"This is the daily grind of the occupation that is turning the life of the Palestinians impossible," she said. "This is not by accident, this is making the lives of the Palestinians impossible by design.

"This has been the design of the Israeli government for generations to get rid of the Palestinians and make them go away in various ways, shapes and forms, and one of the main ways to do this is by house demolitions."

Global south 'neglect'

OPINION

Love in times of Israeli apartheid

by Yara Hawari 

 

Palestinian journalist and author Ramzy Baroud - who had just returned from a 10-day solidarity tour to Kenya - told the event in the UK capital that a new front in Palestinian activity should be aimed at the developing world.

Palestinian activism had neglected the "global south" because of the Oslo peace process and a changing discourse that had convinced people that their fate lay in the capitals of the developed world.

"But Israel has rediscovered the global south and they have penetrated Africa and South America and other places," Baroud said. "We need to go back there and we need to resurrect their solidarity.

"One thing about Africa that I noticed is that we don't have to contend with the tiny little bits of the discourse - nobody accuses you of anti-Semitism, it is not even on the agenda of African audiences: what they talk about there is national liberation."

SOURCE: Al Jazeera News

WHAT IF ISRAEL ANNEXES THE WEST BANK?

June 27, 2019 from CounterPunch:

The Day After: What if Israel Annexes the West Bank?

by Ramzy Baroud

Photograph Source: Mr. Kate – CC BY-SA 3.0

Calls for the annexation of the Occupied West Bank are gaining momentum in both Tel Aviv and Washington. But Israel and its American allies should be careful what they wish for. Annexing the Occupied Palestinian Territories will only reinforce the current rethink of the Palestinian strategy, as opposed to solving Israel’s self-induced problems.

Encouraged by the Donald Trump administration’s decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israeli government officials feel that the time for annexing the entirety of the West Bank is now.

In fact, “there is no better time than now” was the exact phrase used by former Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, as she promoted annexation at a recent New York conference.

Certainly, it is election season in Israel again, as Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, failed to form a government following the last elections in April. So much saber-rattling happens during such political campaigns, as candidates talk tough in the name of ‘security’, fighting terrorism, and so on.

But Shaked’s comments cannot be dismissed as fleeting election kerfuffle. They represent so much more, if understood within the larger political context.

Indeed, since Trump’s advent to the White House, Israel has never – and I mean, never – had it so easy. It is as if the rightwing government’s most radical agenda became a wish list for Israel’s allies in Washington. This list includes the US recognition of Israel’s illegal annexation of Occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem, of the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights, and the dismissal of the Palestinian refugees’ right of return altogether.

But that is not all. Statements made by influential US officials indicate initial interest in the outright annexation of the Occupied West Bank or, at least, large parts of it. The latest of such calls was made by US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.

“Israel has the right to retain some … of the West Bank,” Friedman said in an interview, cited in the New York Times on June 8.

Friedman is deeply involved in the so-called ‘Deal of the Century’, a political gambit championed mostly by Trump’s top advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The apparent idea behind this ‘deal’ is to dismiss the core demands of the Palestinians, while reassuring Israel regarding its quest for demographic majority and ‘security’ concerns.

Other US officials behind Washington’s efforts on behalf of Israel include US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, and former US Ambassador to the UN, Nicki Haley. In a recent interview with the Israeli rightwing newspaper, Israel Hayom, Haley said that the Israeli government “should not be worried” regarding the yet-to-be fully revealed details of the ‘Deal of the Century.’

Knowing Haley’s love-affair with – and brazen defense of – Israel at the United Nations, it should not be too difficult to fathom the subtle and obvious meaning of her words.

This is why Shaked’s call for the annexation of the West Bank cannot be dismissed as typical election season talk.

But can Israel annex the West Bank?

Practically speaking, yes, it can. True, it would be a flagrant violation of international law, but such a notion has never irked Israel, nor stopped it from annexing Palestinian or Arab territories. For example, it occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in 1980 and 1981 respectively.

Moreover, the political mood in Israel is increasingly receptive to such a step. A poll conducted by the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, last March revealed that 42% of Israelis back West Bank annexation.
This number is expected to rise in the following months as Israel continues to move to the right.

It is also important to note that several steps have already been taken in that direction, including the Israeli Knesset’s (parliament) decision to apply the same civil laws to illegal Jewish settlers in the West Bank as to those living in Israel.

But that is where Israel faces its greatest dilemma.

According to a joint poll conducted by Tel Aviv University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in August 2018, over 50% of Palestinians realize that a so-called two-state solution is no longer tenable. Moreover, a growing number of Palestinians also believe that co-existence in a single state, where Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs (Muslims and Christians, alike) live side by side, is the only possible formula for a better future.

The dichotomy for Israeli officials, who are keen on maintaining Jewish demographic majority and the marginalization of Palestinian rights, is that they no longer have good options.

First, they understand that the indefinite occupation of Palestinian territories cannot be sustained. Ongoing Palestinian resistance at home, and the rise of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement abroad is challenging Israel’s very political legitimacy across the world.

Second, they must also be aware of the fact that, from an Israeli Jewish leaders’ point of view, annexing the West Bank, along with millions of Palestinians, will multiply the very ‘demographic threat’ that they have been dreading for many years.

Third, the ethnic cleansing of whole Palestinian communities – the so-called ‘transfer’ option – as Israel has done upon its founding in 1948, and again, in 1967, is no longer possible. Neither will Arab countries open their borders for Israel’s convenient genocides, nor will Palestinians leave, however high the price. The fact that Gazans remained put, despite years of siege and brutal wars, is a case in point.

Political grandstanding aside, Israeli leaders understand that they are no longer in the driver’s seat and, despite their military and political advantage over Palestinians, it is becoming clear that firepower and Washington’s blind support are no longer enough to determine the future of the Palestinian people.

It is also clear that the Palestinian people are not, and never were, passive actors in their own fate. If Israel maintains its 52-year old Occupation, Palestinians will continue to resist. That resistance will not be weakened, or quelled, by any decision to annex the West Bank, in part or in full, the same way that Palestinian resistance in Jerusalem did not cease since its illegal annexation by Tel Aviv four decades ago.

Finally, the illegal annexation of the West Bank can only contribute to the irreversible awareness among Palestinians that their fight for freedom, human rights, justice and equality can be better served through a civil rights struggle within the borders of one single democratic state.

In her blind arrogance, Shaked and her rightwing ilk are only accelerating the demise of Israel as an ethnic, racist state, while opening up the stage for better possibilities than perpetual violence and apartheid.

More articles by:Ramzy Baroud

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, London, 2018). He earned a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, UCSB.

JULIAN ASSANGE AND PETER GRESTE

Because I do not agree with people over political differences does not mean that I should ignore the fact that as Australian citizens they should all be entitled to equal treatment.

Peter Greste, as a journalist, was treated criminally in Egypt, and the Australian government, albeit very  reluctantly, eventually went into some sort of action to get him released, not forgetting that one of his Al Jazeera colleagues was still held criminally by the Egyptian government.

Julian Assange is an Australian citizen and the Australian government has shown it is completely indifferent to doing anything to help him over the years when he has been illegally held in the Ecuadorian embassy and they have now kicked him out and handed him over to the UK government.

Now the USA has applied for him to be extradited to the USA to face several charges with Chelsea Manning over the saga of the Wikileaks published documents which exposed the USA's lies over the Iraq war and many other devious plots for which the US government needs to be charged - in the International criminal court in The Hague, together with its middle east ally, Israel.

All of this involves exposures, whistleblowers, journalists exposing the lies and cover-ups and somehow alerting people around the globe to what our governments are telling us - and not telling us and the cover-ups which fool most of the people most of the time.

Now we come to Peter Greste who worked for an organisation which was involved with exposing information which Israel and the United States do not want the middle east and others to know about.

Peter Greste says that Julian Assange is not a journalist and does not deserve to have the protection which government are supposed to give to journalists.

Governments are not only not supporting journalists, but are murdering them and/or exposing them to situations where they are not protected, are imprisoned and tortured and often murdered. Think of Khashoggi and the Saudi embassy in Turkey and another foul murder.

Greste was imprisoned in Egypt while doing his job. After a great battle he was released and managed to come home to Australia. Why doesn't Greste do something?

Why should Assange as an Australian citizen not be extended the same privileges and support and why don't more journalists in Australia speak out and complain? They forget how easily they could be next on the list, and their union as also not doing an awful lot to show support either.

The MEAA should hang its head in shame, and I as a retired unionist have watched most unions in Australia behave in the same disgusting way towards their trusting members.

ADAM GOODES, THE AFL, RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA - AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN

How much longer are those who run the AFL going to get away with the unpleasant circumstances surrounding the Adam Goodes affair which ruined his playing career and set a precedent for other players of colour to feel that they are not welcome in the AFL?

How many gay players have been prevented from being themselves because of the ever present homophobia in AFL administration?

If it hadn't been for the release of the film about the Adam Goodes story, nothing would ever have been done to address the issue of racism in the organisation.

The period we are living in is the 21st century, yet in some ways we are no better off than we were in the last century and the preceding ones.

I am not a sport lover, but I am very much against racism, homophobia and extreme hate in all its many forms.

Of course we know that the government aids and abets all of these issues because our governments still operate on the divide and rule principle.

It has got to stop and it has got to be stopped.