30 july 2020
Israeli occupation forces detained a number of Palestinians between last night and this morning, including an activist with the Israel boycott movement, BDS, in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS).
It said the occupation forces detained Mahmoud Nawajah, coordinator of the BDS movement in the West Bank.
Israeli police also detained six Palestinians this morning while at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, including a guard working with the Islamic Waqf department, for challenging Jewish fanatics performing rituals in violation of standing rules at the Muslim holy site.
Israeli police also detained a number of Palestinian activists in Jerusalem but later set them free, said reports.
The Israeli occupation army detained five Palestinians from the Nablus district in the north of the West Bank, one from nearby Qalqilya, two from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and one from nearby city of Hebron.
#FreeMahmoud: Israeli occupation forces arrest BDS coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa during night raid
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC): Tens of Israeli occupation soldiers stormed the home of Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), near Ramallah, handcuffing, blindfolding and taking him away from his wife and three young children.
Occupied Ramallah, 30 July 2020 – At around 3:30 am, tens of Israeli occupation soldiers, accompanied by at least one dog, stormed the home of Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), near Ramallah, handcuffing, blindfolding and taking him away from his wife and three young children. tweet-video
Mahmoud Nawajaa, 34 years old, was born in Yatta, south Hebron, and holds a master’s degree in International Relations.
Before being led away, Nawajaa told his wife, “Take care of the kids.”
Mahmoud’s two older children, 9 and 7, shouted defiantly at the soldiers who invaded their home to arrest their father. The older son said, “Leave dad alone. Get out. Your dog doesn’t scare me.”
Under the UN’s International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid [pdf], the “Persecution of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid,” is one of the inhumane acts committed to maintain an apartheid system.
The global, peaceful Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was launched in 2005 by the overwhelming majority of Palestinian unions, mass movements, women’s organizations, and campaigns. It calls for ending Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime and for realizing the UN-stipulated rights of Palestinian refugees, forcibly displaced since 1948, to return to their homes.
The BNC, the largest coalition in Palestinian society, leads the BDS movement worldwide.
In a recent BNC statement welcoming the position of tens of UN human rights experts that have condemned Israel’s formal annexation plans as a crystallization of “a 21st century apartheid,” Mahmoud Nawajaa said:
For decades, international inaction and complicity have enabled Israel to violate the laws of belligerent occupation, advance its colonization of the occupied Palestinian territory and impose an apartheid regime that is enshrined in Israel’s domestic law.[pdf]
Faced with Israel’s illegal annexation, its regime of apartheid and its denial of our inalienable right to self-determination, it is high time for all States and international organizations to comply with their legal obligations by adopting effective countermeasures, including sanctions.
In recent years, the BDS movement has grown in prominence worldwide, its impact reaching parliaments across the globe, from South Africa to the US Congress, political parties, major trade unions, churches, campuses, racial justice movements, and renowned cultural and artistic figures.
Israel’s far-right government has been fighting the BDS movement for years, recognizing its strategic impact and allocating massive financial and human resources in its “war” against it.
BDS movement co-founder, Omar Barghouti, called for effective international pressure to secure Mahmoud Nawajaa’s immediate release:
Mahmoud is a leading Palestinian human rights defender who is highly regarded in Palestine and around the world for his tireless and passionate advocacy of Palestinian rights. As a young civil society leader, Mahmoud is a role model for Palestinians, young and old, and an inspiration to advocates of Palestinian rights everywhere.
Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is desperately trying to terrorize Palestinian BDS activists and their families, after having failed to slow down the growth of the movement. We call on all BDS activists everywhere to further strengthen BDS campaigning to hold Israel accountable.
As Israel becomes a role model for the racist, authoritarian far right, BDS is becoming a key component of the global progressive wave that fights for Indigenous, racial, economic, social, gender and climate justice.
It is high time for States not just to defend Palestinian and other human rights defenders, like Mahmoud, but also to impose lawful, targeted sanctions to end Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and entire regime of oppression of the Indigenous Palestinians. Only that can help us achieve freedom, justice and equality.
It said the occupation forces detained Mahmoud Nawajah, coordinator of the BDS movement in the West Bank.
Israeli police also detained six Palestinians this morning while at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, including a guard working with the Islamic Waqf department, for challenging Jewish fanatics performing rituals in violation of standing rules at the Muslim holy site.
Israeli police also detained a number of Palestinian activists in Jerusalem but later set them free, said reports.
The Israeli occupation army detained five Palestinians from the Nablus district in the north of the West Bank, one from nearby Qalqilya, two from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and one from nearby city of Hebron.
#FreeMahmoud: Israeli occupation forces arrest BDS coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa during night raid
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC): Tens of Israeli occupation soldiers stormed the home of Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), near Ramallah, handcuffing, blindfolding and taking him away from his wife and three young children.
Occupied Ramallah, 30 July 2020 – At around 3:30 am, tens of Israeli occupation soldiers, accompanied by at least one dog, stormed the home of Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), near Ramallah, handcuffing, blindfolding and taking him away from his wife and three young children. tweet-video
Mahmoud Nawajaa, 34 years old, was born in Yatta, south Hebron, and holds a master’s degree in International Relations.
Before being led away, Nawajaa told his wife, “Take care of the kids.”
Mahmoud’s two older children, 9 and 7, shouted defiantly at the soldiers who invaded their home to arrest their father. The older son said, “Leave dad alone. Get out. Your dog doesn’t scare me.”
Under the UN’s International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid [pdf], the “Persecution of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid,” is one of the inhumane acts committed to maintain an apartheid system.
The global, peaceful Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was launched in 2005 by the overwhelming majority of Palestinian unions, mass movements, women’s organizations, and campaigns. It calls for ending Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime and for realizing the UN-stipulated rights of Palestinian refugees, forcibly displaced since 1948, to return to their homes.
The BNC, the largest coalition in Palestinian society, leads the BDS movement worldwide.
In a recent BNC statement welcoming the position of tens of UN human rights experts that have condemned Israel’s formal annexation plans as a crystallization of “a 21st century apartheid,” Mahmoud Nawajaa said:
For decades, international inaction and complicity have enabled Israel to violate the laws of belligerent occupation, advance its colonization of the occupied Palestinian territory and impose an apartheid regime that is enshrined in Israel’s domestic law.[pdf]
Faced with Israel’s illegal annexation, its regime of apartheid and its denial of our inalienable right to self-determination, it is high time for all States and international organizations to comply with their legal obligations by adopting effective countermeasures, including sanctions.
In recent years, the BDS movement has grown in prominence worldwide, its impact reaching parliaments across the globe, from South Africa to the US Congress, political parties, major trade unions, churches, campuses, racial justice movements, and renowned cultural and artistic figures.
Israel’s far-right government has been fighting the BDS movement for years, recognizing its strategic impact and allocating massive financial and human resources in its “war” against it.
BDS movement co-founder, Omar Barghouti, called for effective international pressure to secure Mahmoud Nawajaa’s immediate release:
Mahmoud is a leading Palestinian human rights defender who is highly regarded in Palestine and around the world for his tireless and passionate advocacy of Palestinian rights. As a young civil society leader, Mahmoud is a role model for Palestinians, young and old, and an inspiration to advocates of Palestinian rights everywhere.
Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is desperately trying to terrorize Palestinian BDS activists and their families, after having failed to slow down the growth of the movement. We call on all BDS activists everywhere to further strengthen BDS campaigning to hold Israel accountable.
As Israel becomes a role model for the racist, authoritarian far right, BDS is becoming a key component of the global progressive wave that fights for Indigenous, racial, economic, social, gender and climate justice.
It is high time for States not just to defend Palestinian and other human rights defenders, like Mahmoud, but also to impose lawful, targeted sanctions to end Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and entire regime of oppression of the Indigenous Palestinians. Only that can help us achieve freedom, justice and equality.
15 july 2020
Two civil society organizations today called on the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to include the German multinational company, HeidelbergCement, in its annual update of the database on businesses involved in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Ramallah-based Al-Haq and SOMO, the Dutch Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), submitted their research report [pdf], Violations Set in Stone, to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in support of HeidelbergCement’s inclusion in the office’s annual update on business activities related to illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
OHCHR released earlier this year its long-awaited database on companies doing business in the illegal Israeli settlements, which the two organizations described in a press release as “a significant milestone in the pursuit of accountability for corporate involvement in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise.”
“As civil society representatives, it is our responsibility to support the office in the implementation of the mandate by continuing to provide information regarding the involvement of businesses in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise,” they said.
The report documents the direct and indirect implications of HeidelbergCement’s operations in the Nahal Raba stone quarry through its subsidiary, Hanson Israel. “The extraction of Palestinian natural resources, namely stone, has taken place in a context of deliberate institutional policies aimed towards the confiscation and exploitation of Palestinian land and resources by Israel, the Occupying Power, while also providing construction materials used to establish and expand illegal Israeli settlements,” they said.
Al-Haq and SOMO said they expect that HeidelbergCement and all businesses playing a role in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise will be included in the update “as a means to challenge the economic incentive structure perpetuating the occupation and the continued denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination and to permanent sovereignty over natural resources.”
The Ramallah-based Al-Haq and SOMO, the Dutch Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), submitted their research report [pdf], Violations Set in Stone, to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in support of HeidelbergCement’s inclusion in the office’s annual update on business activities related to illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
OHCHR released earlier this year its long-awaited database on companies doing business in the illegal Israeli settlements, which the two organizations described in a press release as “a significant milestone in the pursuit of accountability for corporate involvement in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise.”
“As civil society representatives, it is our responsibility to support the office in the implementation of the mandate by continuing to provide information regarding the involvement of businesses in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise,” they said.
The report documents the direct and indirect implications of HeidelbergCement’s operations in the Nahal Raba stone quarry through its subsidiary, Hanson Israel. “The extraction of Palestinian natural resources, namely stone, has taken place in a context of deliberate institutional policies aimed towards the confiscation and exploitation of Palestinian land and resources by Israel, the Occupying Power, while also providing construction materials used to establish and expand illegal Israeli settlements,” they said.
Al-Haq and SOMO said they expect that HeidelbergCement and all businesses playing a role in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise will be included in the update “as a means to challenge the economic incentive structure perpetuating the occupation and the continued denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination and to permanent sovereignty over natural resources.”
28 june 2020
This call to action was posted today by Amnesty International:
As Israel steps up construction of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), in brazen defiance of international law, Amnesty International is calling on TripAdvisor to urgently remove its listings in settlements and send a clear message that it will no longer contribute to human rights violations.
With a sharp increase in settlement expansion underway, and persistent attacks on Palestinians and their properties by some Israeli settlers, it is more important than ever that companies do not further legitimize settlements by doing business in them.
Companies which operate in the settlements are tacitly supporting Israel’s policy of forcing Palestinians out of their homes.
Saleh Higazi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North AfricaAmnesty International today submitted a petition to TripAdvisor’s CEO Stephen Kaufer, signed by more than 300,000 people from around the world, calling on the company to pull out of illegal settlements. The company has not responded to Amnesty International’s requests for comment.
“Israeli settlements violate international law and amount to war crimes. Companies which operate in the settlements are contributing to human rights violations and tacitly supporting Israel’s policy of forcing Palestinians out of their homes and crushing their basic rights,” said Saleh Higazi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“It is shameful that TripAdvisor has failed to update its policies, even as Israel forges ahead with increasingly aggressive land grabs that will intensify the suffering of Palestinians. Trip Advisor must comply with its responsibility to respect human rights and refrain from contributing to war crimes.”
In 2019 Amnesty International documented how digital tourism companies fuel and profit from war crimes and human rights violations against Palestinians by promoting attractions on illegally occupied land.
Since 1967 tens of thousands of Palestinian properties have been demolished and whole communities forcibly displaced to make way for illegal settlements. Natural resources have been diverted and appropriated to settlements, which flourish while Palestinians communities face systematic and institutionalized human rights violations.
International law is clear that establishing settlements in occupied territory is illegal and constitutes a war crime, and the international community has long opposed these violations.
Earlier this year the UN published a database listing more than 100 companies with business links to settlements, including TripAdvisor. Listed companies which continue their involvement in settlements are knowingly breaching their international obligations to “avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities and address such impacts when they occur”.
Tourism industry driving violations
Amnesty’s research shows that the tourism industry plays an important role in driving settlement expansion by drawing in visitors who boost their economies, and by legitimizing and normalizing the existence of settlements. TripAdvisor is the most visited online tourism website by foreign visitors to Israel, and it promotes at least 70 places to stay or things to do in Israeli settlements.
Following the publication of Amnesty’s report in 2019, TripAdvisor said:
“We understand that this issue is a sensitive matter with cultural and political implications. The listing of a property or business on TripAdvisor does not represent our endorsement of that establishment.”
TripAdvisor’s response completely ignores the hard facts of international law. Saleh Higazi
Since then the company has not changed any of its policies and TripAdvisor’s website continues to carry listings which present what are, in effect, crime scenes, as exciting tourist destinations. For example, it lists a vineyard and an archaeological site in Susya in the southern Hebron hills, an ever-expanding settlement which has forced generations of Palestinians out of their homes and continues to cause human rights violations for the displaced community. It is a site which Palestinians are not allowed to enter – including those ex-residents of the village on whose ruins the site was constructed.
“TripAdvisor’s response completely ignores the hard facts of international law, as well as the fact that its own listings pump money into the settlement economy,” said Saleh Higazi.
“While tourists in Susya settlement enjoy wine and a swimming pool, Palestinians on the other side of a barbed wire fence live in makeshift shelters slated for demolition and struggle to find clean water. Tourism is sustaining this outrageous situation.”
Amnesty campaigner punished
Shortly after the release of Amnesty’s report, Israel placed Israel/OPT campaigner Laith Abu-Zeyad under a punitive travel ban. Laith, who lives in the West Bank, has been given no justification for the ban nor a meaningful opportunity to challenge it.
Laith’s case shows the brutal reality of the Israeli occupation. TripAdvisor is contributing to a system which displaces, traps and traumatizes millions of Palestinians Saleh Higazi
Not only can he not travel abroad, he was barred from crossing into Jerusalem to visit his mother before she died, for undisclosed “security reasons”. There is every reason to believe the ban is a response to Laith’s human rights work and Amnesty’s documentation of violations by Israel.
“Laith’s case shows the brutal reality of the Israeli occupation. TripAdvisor is contributing to a system which displaces, traps and traumatizes millions of Palestinians, and punishes those who speak out,” said Saleh Higazi.
Deteriorating situation
According to Peace Now, there has been a sharp increase in settlement expansion since the beginning of the year, and the release of US President Donald Trump’s so-called “deal of the century”. At the same time, violence perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians has continued throughout the OPT, including East Jerusalem, with Israeli authorities rarely intervening.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, since the release of the Trump deal there have been at least 250 incidents involving violence, intimidation or trespass carried out by Israeli settlers.
The Israeli government soon plans to put in motion its proposed annexation of large swathes of the West Bank. The plan was set out in the Trump Administration’s so-called “peace deal” which was announced without Palestinian consultation and has been rejected by most of the international community. International law prohibits annexation of occupied territory in any circumstances.
“Against this backdrop it is more important than ever that businesses update their policies and cease activities in the settlements, to make it clear that they do not support Israel’s flagrant violations of international law,” said Saleh Higazi.
“By continuing to do business with settlements TripAdvisor is siding with the abusive policies of the Israeli government and the Trump administration, ignoring the suffering of Palestinians, and going against international law.”
As Israel steps up construction of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), in brazen defiance of international law, Amnesty International is calling on TripAdvisor to urgently remove its listings in settlements and send a clear message that it will no longer contribute to human rights violations.
With a sharp increase in settlement expansion underway, and persistent attacks on Palestinians and their properties by some Israeli settlers, it is more important than ever that companies do not further legitimize settlements by doing business in them.
Companies which operate in the settlements are tacitly supporting Israel’s policy of forcing Palestinians out of their homes.
Saleh Higazi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North AfricaAmnesty International today submitted a petition to TripAdvisor’s CEO Stephen Kaufer, signed by more than 300,000 people from around the world, calling on the company to pull out of illegal settlements. The company has not responded to Amnesty International’s requests for comment.
“Israeli settlements violate international law and amount to war crimes. Companies which operate in the settlements are contributing to human rights violations and tacitly supporting Israel’s policy of forcing Palestinians out of their homes and crushing their basic rights,” said Saleh Higazi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“It is shameful that TripAdvisor has failed to update its policies, even as Israel forges ahead with increasingly aggressive land grabs that will intensify the suffering of Palestinians. Trip Advisor must comply with its responsibility to respect human rights and refrain from contributing to war crimes.”
In 2019 Amnesty International documented how digital tourism companies fuel and profit from war crimes and human rights violations against Palestinians by promoting attractions on illegally occupied land.
Since 1967 tens of thousands of Palestinian properties have been demolished and whole communities forcibly displaced to make way for illegal settlements. Natural resources have been diverted and appropriated to settlements, which flourish while Palestinians communities face systematic and institutionalized human rights violations.
International law is clear that establishing settlements in occupied territory is illegal and constitutes a war crime, and the international community has long opposed these violations.
Earlier this year the UN published a database listing more than 100 companies with business links to settlements, including TripAdvisor. Listed companies which continue their involvement in settlements are knowingly breaching their international obligations to “avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities and address such impacts when they occur”.
Tourism industry driving violations
Amnesty’s research shows that the tourism industry plays an important role in driving settlement expansion by drawing in visitors who boost their economies, and by legitimizing and normalizing the existence of settlements. TripAdvisor is the most visited online tourism website by foreign visitors to Israel, and it promotes at least 70 places to stay or things to do in Israeli settlements.
Following the publication of Amnesty’s report in 2019, TripAdvisor said:
“We understand that this issue is a sensitive matter with cultural and political implications. The listing of a property or business on TripAdvisor does not represent our endorsement of that establishment.”
TripAdvisor’s response completely ignores the hard facts of international law. Saleh Higazi
Since then the company has not changed any of its policies and TripAdvisor’s website continues to carry listings which present what are, in effect, crime scenes, as exciting tourist destinations. For example, it lists a vineyard and an archaeological site in Susya in the southern Hebron hills, an ever-expanding settlement which has forced generations of Palestinians out of their homes and continues to cause human rights violations for the displaced community. It is a site which Palestinians are not allowed to enter – including those ex-residents of the village on whose ruins the site was constructed.
“TripAdvisor’s response completely ignores the hard facts of international law, as well as the fact that its own listings pump money into the settlement economy,” said Saleh Higazi.
“While tourists in Susya settlement enjoy wine and a swimming pool, Palestinians on the other side of a barbed wire fence live in makeshift shelters slated for demolition and struggle to find clean water. Tourism is sustaining this outrageous situation.”
Amnesty campaigner punished
Shortly after the release of Amnesty’s report, Israel placed Israel/OPT campaigner Laith Abu-Zeyad under a punitive travel ban. Laith, who lives in the West Bank, has been given no justification for the ban nor a meaningful opportunity to challenge it.
Laith’s case shows the brutal reality of the Israeli occupation. TripAdvisor is contributing to a system which displaces, traps and traumatizes millions of Palestinians Saleh Higazi
Not only can he not travel abroad, he was barred from crossing into Jerusalem to visit his mother before she died, for undisclosed “security reasons”. There is every reason to believe the ban is a response to Laith’s human rights work and Amnesty’s documentation of violations by Israel.
“Laith’s case shows the brutal reality of the Israeli occupation. TripAdvisor is contributing to a system which displaces, traps and traumatizes millions of Palestinians, and punishes those who speak out,” said Saleh Higazi.
Deteriorating situation
According to Peace Now, there has been a sharp increase in settlement expansion since the beginning of the year, and the release of US President Donald Trump’s so-called “deal of the century”. At the same time, violence perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians has continued throughout the OPT, including East Jerusalem, with Israeli authorities rarely intervening.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, since the release of the Trump deal there have been at least 250 incidents involving violence, intimidation or trespass carried out by Israeli settlers.
The Israeli government soon plans to put in motion its proposed annexation of large swathes of the West Bank. The plan was set out in the Trump Administration’s so-called “peace deal” which was announced without Palestinian consultation and has been rejected by most of the international community. International law prohibits annexation of occupied territory in any circumstances.
“Against this backdrop it is more important than ever that businesses update their policies and cease activities in the settlements, to make it clear that they do not support Israel’s flagrant violations of international law,” said Saleh Higazi.
“By continuing to do business with settlements TripAdvisor is siding with the abusive policies of the Israeli government and the Trump administration, ignoring the suffering of Palestinians, and going against international law.”
