March 30, 2008 http://www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/statements/statement03.htm http://www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/statements/statement03.htm Palestinian Appeal to International Civil Society Palestinian civil society organizations Sixty Years of Dispossession and Ethnic Cleansing Boycott the Israel at 60 Celebrations! March 30, 2008 How can you celebrate? The establishment of the State of Israel sixty years ago was a settler-colonial project that systematically and violently uprooted more than 750 thousand Palestinian Arabs from their lands and homes. Sixty years ago, Zionist militias and gangs ransacked Palestinian properties and destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages. How can people of conscience celebrate this catastrophe? Israel at 60 is a state that continues to deny Palestinian refugees their UN-sanctioned right to return to their homes and receive compensation, simply because they are “non-Jews.” It still illegally occupies Palestinian and other Arab lands, in violation of numerous UN resolutions. It persists in its blatant denial of fundamental Palestinian human rights, in contravention of international humanitarian law and human rights conventions. It still subjects its own Palestinian citizens to a system of institutionalized discrimination, strongly reminiscent of the defunct apartheid regime in South Africa. And Israel gets away with all this, thanks to the unprecedented immunity granted to it by the unlimited and munificent US and European economic, diplomatic, political, and academic support. In view of this multi-faceted oppression that is the reality of Israel today, we regard any Arab or international participation, whether individual or institutional, in any activity that contributes, either directly or indirectly, to the “celebrations” of Israel’s establishment, as collusion in the perpetuation of the dispossession and uprooting of refugees, the prolongation of the occupation, and the deepening of Israeli apartheid. Inviting Israel as a “guest of honor” to the Turin and Paris book fairs, for example, is not only a deliberate betrayal of basic principles of human rights, including those enshrined in the laws of the European Union itself, but is also a deliberate attempt to cover up Israel’s crimes against the Arab people, especially its successive war crimes in Lebanon and Palestine, and its acts of slow genocide against a million and a half Palestinians in the besieged and collectively punished Gaza Strip. In short, celebrating “Israel at 60” is tantamount to dancing on Palestinian graves. We urge international civil society in all its components, particularly institutions and individuals working in the arts, academia, sport, trade unions, and communities of faith to boycott the “Israel at 60” celebrations wherever they are held in the world. These celebrations, by definition, insult our history, violate our rights, and deepen our oppression. They also render the path to justice, freedom, equality, and sustainable peace based on international law longer than ever before. ------------------------------------- Institutional Endorsers: Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) Department of Refugee Affairs - PLO Jerusalem-The Arab Cultural Capital Project, Jerusalem Higher National Committee for the Defense of the Right to Return The General Union of Palestinian Women Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, PGFTU Palestinian Farmers’ Union Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS), Gaza Federation of Palestinian Refugee Camp Youth Centers Higher National Committee for the Commemoration of the Nakba, Palestine Refugee Affairs Department, Mobilization and Organization, Fatah Movement Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) Ittijah-Union of the Arab Community Based Organizations, Haifa Palestinian Lawyers’ Syndicate Palestinian Journalists’ Association, Jerusalem Palestinian Engineers’ Syndicate, Jerusalem Union of Palestinian Women's Committees, UPWC, Ramallah Stop the Wall-the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign Union of Employees at Private Schools-West Bank Association of Residents of Depopulated Villages and Cities, Ramallah General Federation of Cultural Centers, Gaza Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights JCSER, Jerusalem Federation of Independent Workers Committees, Gaza League of Palestinian Refugees in Europe BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem Occupied Palestine Golan heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI) Al-Aswar Organization for Cultural and Social Development, Acre University Teachers Association, Gaza Joint Advocacy Initiative of the YMCA-YWCA (JAI), Jerusalem General Union of Health Service Workers, Gaza Aida Refugee Camp Social Center, Aida Refugee Camp A’idoun Group, Syria Palestinian Community in Scandinavia Canadian Arab Federation Palestinian Counseling Center, Jerusalem Land Research Center, Palestine, Jerusalem Muwatin the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy Palestinian Association of Brantford--Canada Center for the Defense of Freedoms and Civil Rights (Hurriyat) Wihdah Democratic Action Institute (Wa’ad)--Bethlehem Federation of Agricultural Action Committees Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver Addameer, Ramallah Ma’an Development Center, Ramallah Gaza Center for Culture and Arts Voice of Palestine, Canada Canadian Palestinian Association, Ontario, Canada Taghrid Association for Culture, Development and Reconstruction, Gaza Jabalya-al-Nazaleh Cultural Center, Jabalya Camp, Gaza Federation of Agricultural Work Committees, Gaza Turathuna Charitable Society, Gaza The Popular Committee at al-Burayj Camp, Gaza El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe, Al-Bireh Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, New York General Union of Services and Trade Workers, Gaza Governorates The National Council of Arab Americans - Metropolitan New York Chapter, NY The Arab Muslim American Federation The Palestinian American Congress, New York Dramatists’ Federation Society for the Development of Women, al-Burayj Camp, Gaza Yanbou’ Cultural Forum, al-Reina Palestinian Human Rights Monitor (Rassid), Gaza Yabous Productions, Jerusalem The Arab Student Observatory of Victims of Occupation and Blockade of the General Union of Arab Students (GUAS( Arab Culture Society Al-Siwar-Arab Feminist Movement to Support Victims of Sexual Assault, Haifa Popular Art Centre, Al-Bireh Federation of Working Women’s Committees Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action Committees Al-Najda Association for the Development of Palestinian Women Teacher Creativity Center, Ramallah Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA) Al-Quds Information Bank, Gaza Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, Ramallah The Palestinian Working Women’s Society for Development Jimzo Charitable Society Al-Lidd (Lydda) Charitable Society, Ramallah-Al-Bireh Governorate Al-Lidd (Lydda) Social Association, Beitunia Lifta Charitable Society, Palestine Committee of Residents of Greater Masmiyya, Ramallah-Al-Bireh Governorate Falsteen Al Gaad association – Deheisha refugee camp Meethaq Center for Development, Alkahder Women Development Center, Addoha, Bethlehem Al Feeneeq Center, Duheisheh Refugee Camp Palestinian Progressive Youth Union, Gaza Palestinian Women’s Information and Media Center, Gaza Said Mishal Foundation for Culture and Science, Gaza Assala Association for Heritage and Development, Gaza Jerusalem Center for Arabic Music, Jerusalem International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah Juthourr Cultural Society, Gaza Women’s Research and Legal Counseling Center, Gaza Media Forum for Women Affairs Advocacy, Gaza Palestinian Cultural Center, Gaza Refugees Popular Committee, Gaza Workers Resource Center, Gaza Progressive Union Work Society, Gaza Friends of An-Nour Center Society, Gaza Al-Aqsa Charitable Youth Welfare Society, Gaza The One Democratic State Group, Gaza Arab Cultural Forum, Gaza Palestinian Democratic Union-Fida