ICAHD Newsletter October/November 2013 December 3, 2013 Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions http://www.icahd.org/node/519#sthash.LJcxBEZZ.O1kXzIWR.dpuf  ANNOUNCING ICAHD’S 2014 REBUILDING CAMP 3 – 18 August 2014, near Jerusalem    Join with Palestinians and Israelis who refuse to be enemies in a powerful act of non-violent resistance in rebuilding a Palestinian home.  Participate in an extensive educational program including field trips to both sides of the divide.  Strengthen your involvement in the global movement to end home demolitions and for peace with justice for all people groups.   Internationals are invited to participate in the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) 12th annual camp to rebuild a Palestinian home that was demolished by Israeli authorities. These political acts of resistance, in which Israelis, Palestinians and volunteers from abroad have so far rebuilt 187 homes, constitute one of the most powerful and meaningful ways we can stand in solidarity with Palestini an families. The fee for the 2014 camp is $1700 (US dollars) or £1130 (British pounds) or ¬ 1260 (Euros) per person. The fee includes: Basic accommodation Three full meals a day and snacks between meals All field trips and educational program provided by to p analysts and key people in the struggle for justice ICAHD materials Not included in the fee are: Airfare and transfer to and from Jerusalem before the start of the camp and return to the airport at the end of the camp Meals and beverages during free time away from campsite Personal spending money Full details about the camp and application forms will be ready in Dec 2013.    SALIM AND LINDA IN GENEVA    ICAHD participated in the International Tribunal on Evictions. Held in Geneva on the 17th-19th of October, Salim Shawamreh was selected to present his story of the six demolitions of his home, Beit Arabiya, as an example about what is happening to the Palestinians who suffer from home demolitions. Linda Ramsden, ICAHD UK Director, was asked to speak about how the demolitions are a violation of international law. The International Tribunal on Evictions is an opinion tribunal established by civil society organisations for the World Zero Evictions Days – for the Right to Habitat to practically and interactively discuss the question of forced evictions around the world. It was organized by PALC Genève, Productions à la Chaine, Genève in partnership with the International Alliance of Inhabitants, and supported by the 2013 World Assembly of Inhabitants, which includes over 270 inhabitant organizations, networks and other social movements from more than 45 countries on all continents. http://www.tribunal-evictions.org/ http://www.tribunal-evictions.org/.     NEWS FROM ICAHD UK    Although the weather was wet, members and friends of ICAHD UK were not daunted by it as they got out into the countryside to walk along the Shropshire-Welsh border to raise money for ICAHD UK’s core funding. Special guest for the weekend at the beginning of October was Frank Barat, one of the coordinators of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine who travelled from Brussels to join the walk. One evening he showed the new film that is being prepared about the sessions on the Tribunal. We were delighted to see that a clip of Jeff Halper giving testimony at the session on Apartheid that was held in South Africa is included in the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIQ0Ia57jf4&feature=youtu.be film.       EXCITING CHANGES IN ICAHD USA    ICAHD-USA is in the midst of an exciting reorganization and rejuvenation. Operations are moving from North Carolina to New York City to be more strategically located and with the goal of becoming more actively involved with advocacy efforts in the USA, as well as to continue ICAHD’s work at the UN. We are pleased to announce a new team of leaders with new board members and a new director, Mary Winter, a paralegal in New York City who attended last summer’s summer rebuilding camp. The new Board includes: Howard Horowitz, President of Horowitz Associates, Inc. Market and Multicultural Research, active for many years in WESPAC, a peace and justice organization in Westchester County (NY). Howard is also active with New Israel Fund, Jewish Voice for Peace, and J-Street, serves on his Temple’s Israel Action Committee and is a supporter of the Jenin Freedom Theater. In Israel/Palestine he has participated in demonstrations in Bi’ilin. David Klafter has been involved in anti-war, international solidarity and trade union work since the 1960s. He is a long-time resident of Brookline, MA, and is active in local politics. While he has long been a supporter of progressive action around Israel/Palestine, this is his first organizational involvement in this work. His previous involvement in solidarity work largely focused on Latin America. Dick Platkin teaches sustainable city planning at USC. In the 1970s he was a student in Jerusalem, where he met Jeff Halper through political activities. After that, in Seattle and Los Angeles, he participated in anti-war organizations and was a union officer. In response to Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2006, he helped found L.A. Jews for Peace, a Los Angeles-based organization that focuses on US foreign policy in the Middle East, especially Israel-Palestine. Glenn Riis, managing director of a publicly traded REIT and former senior bond trader with Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan. He also owns and operates a yoga studio in New York City. He became involved in the Israel/Palestine issue after completing a study tour with ICAHD. Lori Rudolph, a Fulbright Scholar and an associate professor of counseling at New Mexico Highlands University, she has spent extended periods of time in the West Bank as a mental health consultant and professor. She taught at two Universities, Al Quds and Bethlehem University and has lived in Dheisheh Refugee Camp where she worked with the Ibdaa Cultural Center. Sparked by the Sabra and Shatila massacre she has been actively involved since 1982, and co-founded various activist groups in Albuquerque, NM and served on Jewish Voice for Peace’s national coordinating committee for the TIAA-CREF campaign for two years. We welcome them all to the ever-expanding ICAHD family and look forward to working with a new ICAHD USA dedicated to bringing a critical Israeli voice to the American table. Thanks as well to those of the “old” ICAHD USA who helped so much in the transition: Elyse Crystal, Mary Lou Smith, Ann Franklin, Howard and David.   FROM ICAHD GERMANY…    Stop the JNF – No land robbery in Silwan, in East-Jerusalem, in Al Arakib, in the Jordan Valley, in the Naqab This was the motto for the protest against the strategic partnership of the organizers of the 3rd Israel-Congress with the Jewish National Fund in Berlin on November 10, 2013. 80-100 people followed the call of the Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle-East - Germany and many organisations had signed the appeal, among them ICAHD Germany. Some time before several organisations had written to different foundations of the political parties in Germany to withdraw their support for the congress - to no avail. About 1000 people were expected to take part in the congress and German Lufthansa had even offered cheaper flights for participants. We held up signs (stop the JFN, no land robbery in the Naqab etc.) and JFN-World-Chairman Efi Stenzler even came over to find out more about the protest (see picture). For 2 1/2 hours people attending the congress as well as passers-by were exposed to the demands, among them “full implementation of the EU regulations concerning Israel and the Occupied Territories.”       MORE INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY    During the last two weeks of October Jeff did a speaking tour focused on several communities he had visited in the past and whose activists have worked with ICAHD for many years: Youngstown, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. In order to build an infrastructure of support, to provide updated information to activists and the wider community and, in the end, to effectively insert our critical Israeli voice into the analysis, ICAHD staff – Jeff for the most part, that’s true, but also others – spend 3-4 days in a particular community. That way we can touch base with a broad range of local people. In Youngstown, for instance, Jeff spoke on the radio, in a number of classes at Youngstown State University, before the Arab-American Club and in several churches, as well as presenting before the general public and conducting an all-day workshop for activists. In Cleveland he had a secret” meetings with leaders of the Cleveland Jewish Federation, not an everyday events, which was a friendly if somewhat tense exchange conducted on the understanding that he would not mention BDS or the one-state solution. In Pittsburgh he also spoke before a number of audiences, including two presentations at the University of Pittsburgh (one sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine) and introducing the environmental activist Bill McKibben at a festive gathering of Pittsburgh’s progressive community as he was being honored with the Merton Award. Jeff also gave another workshop for activists. As a reward for his hard efforts, Jeff was invited by activist/professor Ken Boas to a steam bath, Jacuzzi and massage at the Jewish Community Center. Jeff also gave two workshops at the Sabeel conference held in Jerusalem in late November, while Salim Shawamreh took almost 50 conference participants on a tour of the Shuafat refugee camp, Anata and the Maaleh Adumim settlement.   ICAHD PUBLICATIONS    While on his trip the Israeli government issued demolition orders against 2000 housing units in East Jerusalem while approving some 5000 (!) in the settlements. He wrote the piece on the Mondoweiss site. You can read it http://mondoweiss.net/2013/11/stop-demolitions-jerusalem.html%20%20 here. ICAHD and the European Coordinating Committee on Palestine (ECCP, based in Brussels) issued the following joint statement on demolitions.” You can read it http://www.eccpalestine.org/recent-demolitions-and-the-announcement-of-more-israeli-settlement-units-in-the-occupied-west-bank/ here. Jeff wrote also a piece about the bi national solution. You can read it http://mondoweiss.net/2013/12/towards-national-palestineisrael.html here.   ICAHD ISRAEL    For the past several months Jeff has been meeting with a group of about 10 key young Israeli activists, with the idea of staying involved but also “passing” ICAHD on to a new generation. They have reviewed ICAHD’s mission and its strategy of political advocacy, its financial situation (still struggling but starting to see the light) and its fund-raising efforts, and have begun to assume certain key tasks. Ruth Edmonds, who is also an ICAHD guide, is gradually replacing Hibat, our office manager for the past decade who is now teaching full-time. Ofer Nieman is assisting Ruth and has taken responsibility for ICAHD’s facebook page and tour coordination. Inbar Horesh is interested in being trained for international advocacy, as is Ruth El-Raz, a long-time ICAHD Board member. Together with the ICAHD chapters abroad we are developing a work plan and budget for 2014. With the (non)office covered, Jeff is on his way to London for two months to finish (inshallah) his book on “Globalizing Palestine,” on how Israel is exporting the Occupation. More news in December.