The Anger at Racist Cartoons Continues

1 Balata refugee camp is being invaded- Two youth killed and over thirty injured

2 The Joint Struggle Against the Occupation- The Conference

8.The Anger at Racist Cartoons Continues

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1.Balata refugee camp is being invaded- Two youth killed and over thirty injured

February 19th, 2006

Balata Refugee camp was invaded early this morning. A resident of the camp, Muhammad Al Qaisy, leader of Al Aqsa was arrested the house he was found in belonging to the Hamami family was blown up from the inside and it's garden bulldozed.

The military set up a military base in the UNRWA girl school bringing in tents, generators and water tanks and have taken over twenty houses locking the families in a room of their own homes.

Youth that confronted the soldiers with stones were shot at with live ammunition. Ibrahim Issa Hader and Muhamad Ahmad Natur were killed.

Over thirty have been injured among them, Salih Abu Aifa and Mahmnud

Raje, were shot in the legs and then detained from red Crescent ambulance before being evacuated to hospital Another youth who was shot in the shoulder was detained by the military for half an hour before being evacuated to the hospital by the UPMRC (united Palestinians Medical Relief Committees). The UPMRC are have set up a field clinic to treat the wounded on the site.

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2. The Joint Struggle Against the Occupation- The Conference An international conference in Bil'ín:

The conference will be held over two days at the public school in the village of Bil'ín. It will consist of a few opening presentations followed by workshops focusing on the non-violent struggles taking place in different locations. The workshops are the main part of the conference and are where activists will share their experiences and new ideas will be discussed. The focus of the discussion will be practical and the workshops aim to lead to a joint non-violent action being initiated by the participants in the conference and carried out a few weeks later.

Day 1: Monday February 20th

9:00-10:30, Opening session: Overview

1. Welcome message.

2.The history of the Palestinian popular struggle: Kadura Faris.

3. The history of Joint Israeli Palestinian struggle: Uri Avnery.

4. Israel's Apartheid wall: Dr. Mustafa Bargouti.

5. The political situation after the Palestinian elections

6.World media and the popular struggle in Palestine:Kasem El Hatib.

10:30-11:00 Break.

11:00-12:15 Presentations session: Representatives of struggles at different areas of Palestine and the rest of the world will give short

5-10 minute introductions to the struggle in their area. The areas that will present are North, Central and South Palestine as well as the world outside Palestine. The introductions will list the different struggle locations in their regions (see the complete list of workshops) and participants will choose the workshop they wish to join based on the presentations.

1.North Palestine: Nawaf Asuf.

2.Bil'in: Muhamad El Hatib.

3.Central Palestine (Ramalla region).

4.Southern Palestine: Hani Abu Haikal.

5 Outside Palestine: Neta Golan.

12:15-12:45 Break and choosing workshops: Participants can choose one of the workshops from the list and go to the room in the school where it will be held. The workshop facilitators will organize translation as needed to fit the people who want to participate in the workshops.

12:45-14:00 First workshop session: The pros and cons of joint struggle. What constitutes a joint struggle, what advantages it has and what disadvantage? What problems are encountered in the course of joint struggle and how they can be dealt with? The list of workshops is:

Salfit, Hares, Tulkarem, Nablus, Mas'ha, Qalqilya, Budrus, Bil'in, Beit Likya, Jerusalem, Hebron, Inside Israel, The world outside Palestine and Israel.

14:00-15:30 Lunch break

15:30-16:45 Second Workshop session: The practice of non violent resistance in the struggles and brainstorming for new ideas and methods, a discussion of tactics which have been tried and how successful they were.

16:45-17:15 Break.

17:15-18:30 Conclusions session: Representatives from each workshop will present the results of the discussions to the whole assembly.

18:30-19:30 Dinner.

19:30-21:00 A presentation of a movie by Bil'in photographer Imad Burnat.

Day 2 Tues February 21st

9:00-11:00

1.Presentation of findings Beir Zeit university researchers about weapons used against demonstrators in Bil'in.

2.A discussion by the whole assembly of a joint action to be taken a few weeks after the conference at different locations by the participants.

3.Conclusion statement.

11:00-14:00

The conference will be concluded by the planting of olive trees, the establishment of a new playground and a football tournament.

After the conference the occupation will reach an end and world peace will be established- Don't miss this Historical event! Come and bring friends!

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3. Post Publishes Three Letters in Defense of Georgetown Conference

Letters were printed on Friday, February 17, 2006, in the Washington

Post:

Regarding the Feb. 12 Close to Home commentary by Eric Adler and Jack

Langer ["Why Is Georgetown Providing a Platform for This Dangerous

Group?"] about the student conference being held on the Georgetown

University campus this weekend:

First, Georgetown prizes its commitment to free speech and expression. Georgetown student groups and faculty have the right to invite speakers and conferences to campus in accordance with the university's speech and expression policy. This does not mean that the university endorses any speakers or their views.

Second, federal law enforcement authorities assured the university that allegations that the conference host, the Palestine Solidarity

Movement, is connected to terrorism are false.

Third, Georgetown faculty and administrators will monitor the conference to ensure that both conferees and protesters comply with the university's policy on speech and expression.

Mr. Alder and Mr. Langer also said that Georgetown refused to host a conference for America's Truth Forum. In fact, Georgetown had no role in that decision. Decisions about that conference were made by Marriott Corp., which operates an independent hotel and conference center on campus.

Erik Smulson

Assistant Vice President for Communications

Georgetown University

Washington

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Eric Adler and Jack Langer disparaged the International Solidarity

Movement (ISM), a movement that I co-founded in the spring of 2001 in the occupied territories of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East

Jerusalem to help draw attention to the human rights abuses suffered by Palestinians as a result of Israel's occupation. The ISM also is a resource for Palestinian nonviolent resistance to the occupation. The

ISM believes that average civilians can bring about change, and it tries to unite Palestinians, Israelis and other people in nonviolent resistance to Israel's occupation policies.

When I "acknowledged" that the ISM "cooperates with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of

Palestine," I was offering concrete examples of the ways in which these groups were engaging in nonviolent resistance.

Both the ISM and the Palestine Solidarity Movement advocate nonviolent resistance to Israel's human rights abuses -- the ISM through organized action in the occupied territories and the PSM by promoting international divestment from companies that profit from occupation.

Huwaida Arraf

Washington

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The piece about the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) conference that starts today at Georgetown University was misleading. PSM's organizers are people of all faiths and backgrounds. Many are Jews.

The PSM's Web site condemns racism and discrimination. Its FAQ page says, "The PSM does not support or endorse terrorism." The FBI does not consider the PSM to be a terrorist organization; nor does any other government agency.

The Close to Home commentary was nothing more than an attempt to stop Americans from hearing our message.

Fadi Kiblawi

The writer is an organizer of the PSM conference at Georgetown

University

Arlington

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8. The Anger at Racist Cartoons Continues

From Socialist Worker, http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/

From London's Trafalgar Square to Ramallah in Palestine, from Lebanon to Austria, the caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, first printed in a Danish paper, have sparked rage.

Some 20,000 protesters filled Trafalgar Square in London on Saturday of last week for a rally against Islamophobia and incitement. The event was called at short notice by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and others in the wake of the cartoons row.

The protest was also supported by the Stop the War Coalition and CND. Lindsey German, convenor of Stop the War, was warmly received by the crowd when she spoke at the rally.

She noted that it wasn't only Muslims who find the cartoons offensive: "They offend me because they offend my politics – they are racist provocations from a racist newspaper."

MAB spokesperson Dr Azzam Tamimi also drew cheers and applause for a fiery and uncompromising speech. "They say Muslims don't understand that governments can't control the media. Who are they bullshitting?" he said.

Kate Hudson, chair of CND, said she was proud to be "standing here in solidarity with the Muslim community". She was one of many speakers to note how anti-Muslim racism is being used to cover up for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Respect MP George Galloway backed up this message of solidarity, noting that the anti-war movement today stood in a proud tradition of working people mobilising against racism and fascism.

Yvonne Ridley, political editor of the Islam Channel, attacked the mainstream media's stereotypes about Muslims and double standards over "freedom of speech".

She and others drew a direct parallel between contemporary anti-Muslim caricatures and the anti-Semitic caricatures of the 1930s that helped lay the groundwork for the Nazi Holocaust.

Throughout the rally, the speakers who made political connections between the cartoons row, racism and the "war on terror" were cheered and applauded.

In contrast, those who spoke more defensively about the need for "moderation" were received less well.

The same anger felt on the demonstration in London echoes through the streets of Ramallah, on the Palestinian West Bank, 1,500 miles away.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in Palestine has joined the international chorus of criticism of the cartoons.

The movement, which brings together activists from around the world to stage non-violent direct action in support of Palestinians, released a statement denouncing the cartoons.

Israeli-Canadian peace activist and ISM founder Neta Golan spoke to Socialist Worker from Ramallah.

She said, "The Danish cartoons have sparked deep anger among the

Palestinian people. Many feel that it is part of the discrimination, racism and disrespect that they have been suffering under occupation.

"By labelling the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, they are labeling all Arabs and Muslims as terrorists.

"This disrespect reinforces the feeling that the life of a Palestinian is worth less than that of a Westerner, that Palestinians and Muslims are to be looked down on."

The ISM has called on the newspapers that published the cartoons to

apologise and is demanding Western governments condemn Islamophobia.

Neta says these cartoons are a part of the demonisation of Arabs and

Muslims:

"Racism against people in the Middle East, and towards their own

Muslim citizens, has a long history in the West and underlies much of the current policies in the Middle East - whether in Afghanistan,

Iraq or Palestine.

"Most Western media are ignoring these facts while discussing the issue of free speech. They are reinforcing stereotypes that the Muslim world rejects Western liberties."

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