Colonialism, White Liberalism, and Palestine: A Conversation in Gaza with Dr. Haidar Eid

Below are two short films based on conversations in Gaza in 2009 with professor Haidar Eid, a leader of the Palestinian movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions. The interview was filmed by documentarian Lily Keber, edited by Marin Sander Holzman, with narration by Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah, music by journalist/organizer/musician Stefan Christoff, graphics by Jacob Flom, and directed by Jordan Flaherty. They were released this week on The Laura Flanders Show in commemoration of the 67th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe, when an estimated 700,000 Palestinians were displaced and hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated or destroyed.

The Laura Flanders Show is available in the US on LinkTV and some community access TV stations and internationally on the TeleSUR News Network and the TeleSUR English Network.

Boycott Divestment & Sanctions: An Interview in Gaza with Haidar Eid - Part One


White Liberals and Colonialism: Interview with Haidar Eid - Part Two

Hundreds in New Orleans Protest Against Israeli War Crimes

At least 600 New Orleanians joined in a protest in support of justice for Palestine. The event, called #AStreetcarNamedGaza, began at the New Orleans streetcar stop at the Carrolton and Canal Street. As nearly five streetcars were filled with activists, organizers made connections between the civil rights history of New Orleans, which involved desegregating the streetcars, and the current fight for human rights in Palestine.

As protestors got off the streetcars at Canal Street and Decatur, they were joined by hundreds more protestors and marched through the French Quarter, ending at Frenchmen Street. The Palestinian community in New Orleans has a long history of standing up for justice.

A Street Car Named Gaza from Alaa Esmail on Vimeo.

Photo by Mohan Ambikaipaker. Video by Alaa Esmail.

14-Year-Old New Orleans Youth Held in Israeli Jail - Call for Action and Support

According to an article in today's Haaretz newspaper, a 14-year-old youth from New Orleans named Mohammed Khalek is currently being held by the Israeli military. The paper says the child was accused of "throwing rocks."

The case highlights Israel's system of military detention for Palestinian minors, which has been frequently criticized, most recently by the UN which said in March that an in-depth study showed it systematically and gravely violated their rights. The boy's father, Abdelwahab Khalek, said his 14-year-old son Mohammad was taken into custody early last Friday morning by eight assault-rifle wielding soldiers. They shackled and blindfolded his son as his five siblings watched, he said.

The boy's father, Abdelwahab Khalek, is a car dealer who splits his time between Palestine and New Orleans, according to the report.

"He appears okay, he's a strong kid," said his 46-year-old father. "But there is no law in the world that justifies the way (Israeli forces) acted."
American consular officials declined comment.
"Unfortunately this case is symptomatic of the Israeli military's abusive treatment of Palestinian children in detention," said Bill Van Esveld of the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch. Rights group Defense of Children International says there were 236 minors in Israel military detention in February, 39 of them between the ages of 12 to 15. The group said it receives its numbers from Israel's prison authority.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has also issued a call to action:

Human Rights Watch told the press that "there's no justification for shackling him for 12 hours and interrogating him while refusing to let him see his father or a lawyer." Defense of Children International and Addameer are asking the Israeli authorities to have a parent present at all times during interrogation, as well as grant Mohammaed access to a lawyer of their choice prior to interrogation, and preferably throughout the interrogation process. 

Despite outrage by human rights organizations, our government has not said a word. When asked to comment, the US consulate in Jerusalem declined. The US State Department, when asked, was not even aware of the case! Mohammad's father criticized the US government’s response to his son’s arrest in an interview with Reuters. “The U.S. government is obligated to do something for us, but it doesn’t even care." Let Mohammed know that we care! Contact the State Department and ask them to fullfil their obligations in protecting US Citizens. You can either call the State Department at 202-647-4000 or click on the link below to send them a message:

SEND A MESSAGE TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT 

When composing your message, be sure to use the email topic: U.S. Foreign Policy Middle East 

Suggested language to include in your message: 

I am writing you regarding the case of Mohammed Khalek. Mohammed is a 14-year-old US citizen from New Orleans who is currently under arrest in Israel. I demand that the State Department fulfill its constitutional and professional obligations and protect US citizens. We want the State Department to immediately contact Mohammed and his family to ensure his rights are being protected. In addition, we urge the State Department to open an investigation into allegations of abuse while detained. 

Thank you for taking action!

Activists are also encouraging New Orleans residents to contact their representatives and ask them to tell the state department to get involved:

Honorable Cedric Richmond
Phone: (202) 225-6636
Phone: (504) 288-3777
LA02CDIMA@mail.house.gov

Web Form: https://richmond.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Honorable Mary Landrieu

Phone: 225-389-0395

(202) 224-5824
Senator@landrieu.senate.gov
Web Form: www.landrieu.senate.gov/?p=contact

Honorable David Vitter
(504) 589-2753

(202) 224-4623
Senator_Vitter@vitter.senate.gov

Web Form: http://www.vitter.senate.gov/contact/email-senator-vitter

You can also find this call to action on facebook: facebook.com/events/179667455520918.

More on the story - and the lack of support from the US government - can also be found at the Mondoweiss website.

New Orleans has a relatively large Palestinian community, and a robust history of actions in support of peace and justice in the region.

Israeli Propaganda Event at UNO Fails Miserably

On Thursday afternoon, an Israeli soldier headlines at an event at University of New Orleans, speaking in support of Israeli military occupation and apartheid. The event was part of a tour sponsored by Stand With Us, a notorious right-wing propaganda organization. The soldier was not just racist against Arabs and a former participant in the illegal armed occupation of Palestinian land - she had previously blogged that as a student she led a campaign to "shut down" the African Studies Department at the University of Arizona and take away the tenure of the head of the department.

According to reports from the event, the room was initially full. Many wore red shirts with names of children killed by IDF soldiers taped to the front. The soldier started telling a story about a "terrorist" she caught and said "I hope none of you are wearing his name." As the video below shows, as soon as the soldier started speaking the room almost completely emptied out.

Of those who stayed, most were protestors who challenged the pro-military propaganda with difficult questions. Two protestors also stood at the front of room holding up a recent photo from a funeral for Palestinian children killed by an Israeli missile strike on Gaza.

The action was the latest in a long history of Palestine activism in New Orleans.

Update: For a more thorough description of the event, see this link.

Hundreds in New Orleans Protest Israeli Killings in Gaza

In one of the larger protests New Orleans has seen in recent years, nearly two hundred demonstrators marched through New Orleans' French Quarter on Saturday, November 17, to protest the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. The next day, a mostly student crowd of about 40 held a candlelight vigil at Tulane University, in an action organized by a new campus group called Tulane Students for Justice in Palestine.

One week later, in the aftermath of the declared ceasefire, a smaller march once again traveled through the French Quarter, calling for an end to US financial and diplomatic support for Israeli Apartheid, and pointing out that, despite the ceasefire, Palestinians were still being killed by Israeli military forces.

New Orleans has a long history of Palestine activism. During the Israeli bombardment of Gaza that began in late 2008, more than one thousand New Orleanians marched through the French Quarter in one of the largest protests the city had seen in the past decade. Two years later, New Orleans made international headlines when local activists disrupted a talk featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israeli political and military leaders Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak. Despite the large local support and the range of organizations involved, the city's formerly-daily paper generally refuses to cover the protests - even when hundreds of demonstrators are right outside the newspaper's offices, as happened in 2009.

Protestors have pointed to links between the struggles of New Orleans and Palestine, both of which call for the Right of Return for their displaced residents, and both are facing mass home demolitions, mass jailings, and exploitative nonprofits, and both have inspired people from around the world through their creative resistance.

African Americans for Justice in the Middle East and North Africa Statement Regarding the Aggression Against Gaza

The initial signers of this petition include former People's Hurricane Relief Fund director Kali Akuno, and writer and scholar Robin D.G. Kelley. To see the original petition, click here.

African Americans for Justice in the Middle East and North Africa (AAJMENA) strongly condemns Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The arguments offered by the Israeli government for its attack on Gaza are nakedly cynical in both form and content. That a truce had been negotiated, with the assistance of the Egyptian government, between Israel and Hamas only to be broken by the Israeli assassination of Hamas military commander Ahmad Jabari clearly indicates that the Netanyahu government is not interested in peace. Israel is responsible for the escalating violence and for this epic breach of human rights.

This crisis underscores a stunning power imbalance. Nuclear-armed Israel, by far the most powerful military force in the Middle East (and among the mightiest in the world), has unleashed its immense war making capacity on Gaza’s captive population, mobilizing warships and tanks and launching more than 1,000 F-16 airstrikes since the attack began. The use of such weapons on civilians is a flagrant violation of the US Arms Export Control Act.

The aggression against Gaza must be understood as the latest act in the decades-long oppression of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli government. Blockaded Gaza has been plunged into misery by the Israeli-US effort to thwart the democratic will of the Palestinian people as demonstrated in their 2006 legislative elections. When a coup was attempted against Hamas—and failed—the Israelis sealed Gaza, spinning events to make it appear that those not interested in peace were the Palestinians. As a result, Gaza is the largest open-air prison in the world, with 1.5 million people locked into a roughly 140-square-mile strip of land. This latest humanitarian crisis has caused the disproportionate death and suffering of Palestinians, but casualties on both sides will be the consequence of Israeli aggression.

Rather than taking a stand against the Israeli’s onslaught and issuing an unambiguous demand for an end to the bloodshed, the Obama administration has condemned alleged Palestinian terrorism, repeating the dishonest line that this violent attack is merely in defense of Israel (a position reinforced by the one-sided coverage of the corporate news media). This represents a massive failure on the administration’s part. For all Obama’s denunciation of the Assad regime in Syria, it appears that his administration regards the outright slaughter of civilians in Palestine as acceptable. It is crucial that we recognize the extent of US complicity in the bloodshed; our tax dollars ($8.5 million a day) enable Israeli militarism at a time when those funds are desperately needed to fill gaps in services and infrastructure back home.

As African Americans and people of African descent in the US from academia, activism and various social movements, we cannot remain silent. We call upon all people of good will to:

1. Endorse this statement.

2. Communicate with the White House and the US Department of State to request that President Obama demand that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF cease the bombardment of Gaza and withdraw their armed forces immediately. Insist that the US condition aid to Israel on compliance with U.S. and international law.

3. Contact the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. and demand that Israel withdraw its forces and end the blockade.

4. Send your local media outlet a letter to the editor expressing outrage against the provocative and murderous acts of the Israeli government.

5. Join protests against Israeli aggression.

6. Support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and back the efforts of labor unions and student groups to compel their employers and administrators to divest from companies that do business in Israel.

Photo above by Abdul Aziz.

Appeal in Anti-Muslim Conviction Set for Tomorrow in New Orleans

We urge all supporters of justice to come tomorrow at 9:30am to the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to support the defendants in the "Holy Land Five" case.

Oral arguments for the defendants' appeal in the Holy Land Five case are tomorrow morning. The largest Muslim charitable organization in the US in 2001, the Holy Land Foundation became a poster child for the Bush administration's campaign against organizations that "aid and abet" entities on the US' list of terrorist organizations.

This case sent a chilling message to charitable givers, and particularly Muslim charitable givers, in the earliest days of the "war on terror" that continues to drastically affect organizing and fundraising work in Muslim, Arab, immigrant, and solidarity communities. If you can, please come out for tomorrow's arguments--show the Fifth Circuit that New Orleans supports a justice system that serves all of our people.

Oral Arguments in the Holy Land Foundation Appeal
Tomorrow, Thursday, 9:30am
Fifth District Court of Appeals
600 Camp St, New Orleans
(Must Bring Photo ID to be Admitted)

Protests Disrupt New Orleans Conference Featuring Israeli War Leaders

In two days of demonstrations, a coalition of New Orleans activists and allies from across the US protested both inside and outside the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, which was meeting in New Orleans.
The assembly featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israeli political and military leaders Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak. The three leaders have come under criticism for a range of human rights abuses, from settlement expansion and policies that support ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to accusations of war crimes. Netanyahu has lately faced international criticism for his support of a proposed "Loyalty Oath," which would require Christian and Muslim citizens of the Israeli state to "swear loyalty" to the idea of second-class citizenship for non-Jewish citizens. During the assembly, the Prime Minister met with US Vice President Biden, who offered unwavering US support for the far-right policies of the Netanyahu government.
The conference meets in New Orleans from November 5-9, but the main events - and protests - were scheduled for yesterday and today.
On Sunday, more than fifty protesters marched down Canal Street to the Sheraton and Marriott hotels, which hosted the conference. Organized and endorsed by several local groups, the coalition was brought together by New Orleans Palestine Solidarity, and the University of New Orleans and Delgado chapters of the General Union of Palestinian Students. The protest carried the message that "War Criminals Are Not Welcome in New Orleans," and several speakers gave moving speeches, including one Palestinian student who spoke of harassment at Israeli military checkpoints that caused a ten minute trip to school to take several hours.

Today, one local activist joined with US and Israeli activists with the national organization Jewish Voice for Peace in disrupting Netanyahu's speech from inside the conference. Activists made it inside the hall to disrupt Netanyahu's speech at least five times, unfurling banners and speaking out before being carried away by security.

Protest photos by Abdul Aziz.

New Orleans Protest in Response to Killings of Human Rights Workers

Louisiana Justice Institute is among the sponsors of a mass march tomorrow demanding justice for the human rights volunteers killed by Israeli soldiers on the early hours of Memorial Day.

More than 600 international volunteers joined a Freedom Flotilla of ships that set sail from Cyprus to deliver 10,000 tons of aid to the besieged people of Gaza. They were attacked in international waters by Israeli warships and helicopters. At least 9 international human rights activists were killed and more than 30 have been injured by live Israeli munitions, as Israeli commandos dropped down onto the ships from helicopters and opened fire on the unarmed peace activists.

The mission was begun as a response to the Israeli military blockade of Gaza, which has left 1.5 million people - more than 50% of whom are children - with restrictions on basic food items, medicine. and almost all forms of building materials.

The march and rally begins on Saturday, June 5, at 2:00pm at the World Trade Center Building, Canal and Poydras, across from Harrah's Casino.

In addition to Louisiana Justice Institute, sponsors include New Orleans Palestine Solidarity, General Union of Palestine Students - UNO Chapter, Women's Health & Justice Initiative, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of New Orleans, Mayday New Orleans, Critical Resistance New Orleans, Pax Christi, and others.

Saturday is part of an international day of action in response to the siege and the Israeli military actions. Hundreds of thousands will be joining protests in cities across the US and around the world. Among the demands are: 1) An end to the Israeli Siege on Gaza, 2) An independent investigation of this act of Israeli piracy and killing, and 3) An end to Louisiana and US investment in Israeli Apartheid.

Photo: Jackson Square, January 2009. By Abdul Aziz.

Downtown Business Meeting Draws Protest

The Louisiana Department of Commerce and the New Orleans World Trade Center drew protests yesterday for hosting a seminar called "Doing Business in Israel and the Middle East" hosted by an Israeli consulting company called EDI. On a cold early morning (the seminar was held at 8:00am) about twenty protesters marched from the World Trade Center to the Westin Hotel in Canal Place, the site of the seminar.
With chants like "Just Like Jim Crow/Israeli Apartheid Has Got to Go" and "Don't Invest in Occupation/ Invest in Haiti Reparations" the protesters linked issues of international investment with global and local social justice causes. The demonstration included members of the local chapter of Pax-Christi and New Orleans Palestine Solidarity as well as representatives from the UNO chapter of Amnesty International and UNO and Delgado chapters of the General Union of Palestine Students. They were upset about Louisiana tax dollars being spent to encourage investment in Israeli occupation. The timing of the seminar brought further outrage, as it came on the same day of rising tension between the current Israeli government and the Obama administration, and on the seventh anniversary of the day that US human rights activist Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer while protesting illegal home demolitions carried out by Israeli forces.

At the same time that demonstrators gathered outside the Westin, one of the participants inside the seminar handed out information about the growing international divestment movement that seeks to apply international economic pressure for a peaceful solution to the conflict. The seminar reportedly brought out less than 10 businesses, at least some of which seemed receptive to the arguments against investment.

Top Photo by Adul Aziz.