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Israel must be held accountable for its collective punishment of Palestinians

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Written by BDS National Committee BDS National Committee
Published: 04 July 2014 04 July 2014

Israel must be held accountable for its collective punishment of Palestinians

http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/israel-must-be-held-accountable-for-its-collective-punishment-of-palestinians-12181

Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activists are urging governments and international civil society to take action to hold Israel to account for its continued collective punishment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza following the disappearance and death of three Israeli settlers.

Zaid Shuaibi, a spokesperson for the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the civil society coalition that leads and supports the BDS movement, said:

“Israel’s on-going actions are designed to terrorise Palestinians and constitute collective punishment. Military violence, collective punishment and the deliberate targeting of civilians are endemic to Israel’s of decades old system of occupation, colonisation and apartheid.”

“Israel is able to act with utter impunity because of the military, economic and political support it receives from governments around the world. We call on international governments to impose a two-way arms embargo immediately and to suspend bilateral agreements until Israel fully complies with international law”.

“At a time when mainstream bodies such as the Bill Gates Foundation, the Presbyterian Church USA and the US​ United Methodist Church are divesting from companies profiting from Israel’s occupation, including G4S and Hewlett Packard, we call on people of conscience to intensify BDS pressure.”

Shuabi also called on people of conscience and supporters of BDS to consider joining the Month Against the Apartheid Wall that is marking the 10th anniversary of the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s apartheid Wall is illegal.

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ACTION ALERT: Tent of Nations attacked by Israeli soldiers

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Written by Friends of Tent of Nations North America Friends of Tent of Nations North America
Published: 22 May 2014 22 May 2014

Tent of Nations is a farm near Bethlehem, owned by the Nassar family, members of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Surrounded by Israeli settlements, their road blocked by Israeli soldiers, they operate the farm as a peace center, under their motto: "We refuse to be enemies." Please read details of Monday's attack and destruction of their orchards by Israeli soldiers and take action. Details below.

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Israeli forces destroy 1,500 fruit trees at Tent of Nations family farm near Bethlehem

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Written by Ben White Ben White
Published: 20 May 2014 20 May 2014

Israeli forces destroyed an estimated 1,500 fruit trees belonging to the Tent of Nations farm outside Nahalin village, in the Bethlehem region of the occupied West Bank yesterday morning.

Owned by the Nassar family, the farm lies just below Neve Daniel, an Israeli settlement, located in the Gush Etzion bloc. The property has long been targeted by Israeli occupation authorities seeking to confiscate the land and remove an obstacle to settlement expansion.

According to the family, soldiers arrived at their land early in the morning, and in a couple of hours uprooted some 1,500 apricot and apple trees, burying them under piles of soil. “This is going to make it very difficult for us to recover and rehabilitate the land,” Daoud Nassar, a member of the family, told me. Photographs are available on the project’s Facebook page.

Read more: Israeli forces destroy 1,500 fruit trees at Tent of Nations family farm near Bethlehem

Israeli forces display recklessness in killing of two protesters in West Bank

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Written by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Published: 15 May 2014 15 May 2014

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
NEWS FLASH

15 May 2014

Israeli forces display recklessness in killing of two protesters in West Bank

Israeli forces have displayed continuing recklessness in their use of force against Palestinian protesters when they killed a young man and a teenager, and injured others, during a crackdown on demonstrations to commemorate the Nakba in the occupied West Bank today, said Amnesty International.

The killings occurred in a demonstration outside Ofer military camp. As well as commemorating the Nakba (the dispossession of Palestinians in 1948), the demonstrators were expressing solidarity with around 125 Palestinian detainees who are being held by Israel without charge and have been on hunger strike for 22 days to protest their detention conditions.

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Can you hear us now? Audio Analysis of voter fraud at the Democratic National Convention.

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Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
Published: 15 May 2014 15 May 2014

September 13, 2012
Peter Miller
With technical assistance by Steven Miller

On the second day of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, the world was treated to a spectacle of voter fraud on national TV.  The Democratic leadership, apparently at the behest of President Obama, brought forth last minute changes to the language of the Democratic platform that required a 2/3rd vote of the convention delegates.  There were two changes, quickly shown and obviously intended to be pushed through: introducing the word “God” into the platform, and affirming that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.  After three attempts and obviously lacking the required 2/3rd vote, the convention chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ignored the voice of the delegates and continued reading the scripted proceedings from his teleprompter, announcing that the Ayes had won.  Amidst boos and looks of disgust, Villaraigosa soldiered on, the teleprompter trumping the vote.  Jon Stewart commented, “On the bright side we’ve finally discovered the evidence of Democratic voter fraud the Republicans are always complaining about.”

An audio analysis of the Yes (Aye) and No votes demonstrates that not only was there not a 2/3rd majority in favor of changing the language, but that the No vote was louder by at least 162% meaning that the changes were defeated by a majority of 62% to 38%.  This is close in fact to a two third majority in favor of the No votes.  Of course, if the votes had actually been counted, perhaps it would have gone differently, the loudness of the No votes might simply be evidence of the anger of delegates watching their democratic rights trampled before their eyes in the name of a foreign country. The one chance the delegates had to actually make a real decision at the convention, even though cynically presented to them, was shabbily and fraudulently denied them. 

As this little study makes it obvious, the voice vote extremely problematic as an measure of voter intent.  As was also obvious from the floor of the Democratic convention, people always have to struggle to make democracy work or it will not happen.

Read more: Can you hear us now? Audio Analysis of voter fraud at the Democratic National Convention.

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