3 june 2019
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The 2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry is urging a boycott of a physics competition in Tel Aviv in July.
George P. Smith and 19 other scientists signed an open letter last week that calls on “all students and mentors from all over the world not to participate in the next International Physics Olympiad in Israel and to stand for human rights of the young Palestinian pupils and students, including their right to education.” Smith, emeritus professor of biology at the University of Missouri, won last year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry for his invention of a process to evolve proteins that can be used to develop new medicines. The International Physics Olympiad claims that its goal is to plant “the seeds of cooperation and friendship among students from all over the world.” |
But the scientists’ letter notes that “Under the present circumstances, citizens of many countries are de facto excluded from entering Israel and attending the IPhO, not to mention Palestinian students from the West Bank and Gaza.”
“As academics and citizens we wish to draw your attention to the serious situation facing Palestinian schoolchildren, students and teachers,” the letter adds.
“The people in Gaza live under a harsh blockade, students and academics cannot leave even if they have a scholarship to study abroad.”
Other signatories include Catherine Goldstein, research director at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, Ivar Ekeland, former president of the Université Paris-Dauphine, and Emmanuel Farjoun, mathematics professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The scientists name two of more than 200 Palestinian children currently in Israeli military detention: High school students Omar Zahran and Jawad Hdaib have both been in an Israeli prison without trial since last year, according to the letter.
The International Phyisics Olympiad in Tel Aviv is being sponsored by Israel’s education ministry, which until this week was headed by Naftali Bennett, a far-right anti-Palestinian politician who has boasted of his record of killing Arabs.
The contest is hosted by Tel Aviv University, which is itself deeply complicit in Israel’s system of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid against Palestinians.
Israel promotes itself as a center of science and technology, however scientific research, including some funded by the European Union, is often a cover for developing Israel’s war industry.
“We call on the boards of other International Science Olympiads to refrain from organizing their future contests in Israel, as long as it continues its military occupation and apartheid policy, in defiance of international law,” the scientists state.
Smith has previously spoken in support of the BDS – boycott, divestment and sanctions – movement for Palestinian rights, including during his trip to Stockholm, Sweden, last December to pick up his Nobel Prize.
“As academics and citizens we wish to draw your attention to the serious situation facing Palestinian schoolchildren, students and teachers,” the letter adds.
“The people in Gaza live under a harsh blockade, students and academics cannot leave even if they have a scholarship to study abroad.”
Other signatories include Catherine Goldstein, research director at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, Ivar Ekeland, former president of the Université Paris-Dauphine, and Emmanuel Farjoun, mathematics professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The scientists name two of more than 200 Palestinian children currently in Israeli military detention: High school students Omar Zahran and Jawad Hdaib have both been in an Israeli prison without trial since last year, according to the letter.
The International Phyisics Olympiad in Tel Aviv is being sponsored by Israel’s education ministry, which until this week was headed by Naftali Bennett, a far-right anti-Palestinian politician who has boasted of his record of killing Arabs.
The contest is hosted by Tel Aviv University, which is itself deeply complicit in Israel’s system of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid against Palestinians.
Israel promotes itself as a center of science and technology, however scientific research, including some funded by the European Union, is often a cover for developing Israel’s war industry.
“We call on the boards of other International Science Olympiads to refrain from organizing their future contests in Israel, as long as it continues its military occupation and apartheid policy, in defiance of international law,” the scientists state.
Smith has previously spoken in support of the BDS – boycott, divestment and sanctions – movement for Palestinian rights, including during his trip to Stockholm, Sweden, last December to pick up his Nobel Prize.

Head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan writes to finance, transportation ministers, accusing Israeli branch of fast food giant of refusing to open branches in West Bank in violation of anti-boycott law
Settler leaders are trying to stop the McDonald's from participating in a government tender for the duty free hall at Ben-Gurion International Airport over what they say is an unofficial boycott of the settlements by the fast food chain.
The head of Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, wrote a letter to the finance and transportation ministers claiming that McDonald's Israel, under the guidance of owner Omri Padan has continuously refused to open any McDonald's branches in the West Bank, and therefore effectively boycotting Israeli citizens.
"In the past few days, I have learned about McDonald's intention to compete in the Israel Airport Authority tender to open restaurants at Ben-Gurion Airport," Dagan wrote.
"As you know, McDonald's Israel, headed by Omri Padan, blatantly boycotts the citizens and territories of the State of Israel beyond the Green Line. This blatant boycott was not created casually, but officially and openly, as Omri Padan emphasized in 2013 when he vehemently refused to open a branch of the chain in (the West Bank settlement of) Ariel," he wrote.
"The law to prevent harm to the State of Israel via a boycott is clear and unequivocal (regarding) any public call for a cultural, academic or economic boycott of any person or entity solely because of a connection to the State of Israel," he said.
According to Dagan, as Padan is in violation of the anti-boycott law, he cannot participate in a government tender. Therefore, Dagan wrote, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon is entitled to block Padan's application for airport concessions.
Padan was among the founders of the Peace Now movement, which has been advocating an end to occupation of the West Bank by Israel and the formation of an adjacent Palestinian state.
In response, McDonald’s Israel said the global McDonald’s headquarters did not approve branches in the West Bank.
Both the Transportation Ministry and the Finance Ministry said that a decision on the issue was not down to them, as they were not involved in any way in commercial tenders at the Ben Gurion airport.
Settler leaders are trying to stop the McDonald's from participating in a government tender for the duty free hall at Ben-Gurion International Airport over what they say is an unofficial boycott of the settlements by the fast food chain.
The head of Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, wrote a letter to the finance and transportation ministers claiming that McDonald's Israel, under the guidance of owner Omri Padan has continuously refused to open any McDonald's branches in the West Bank, and therefore effectively boycotting Israeli citizens.
"In the past few days, I have learned about McDonald's intention to compete in the Israel Airport Authority tender to open restaurants at Ben-Gurion Airport," Dagan wrote.
"As you know, McDonald's Israel, headed by Omri Padan, blatantly boycotts the citizens and territories of the State of Israel beyond the Green Line. This blatant boycott was not created casually, but officially and openly, as Omri Padan emphasized in 2013 when he vehemently refused to open a branch of the chain in (the West Bank settlement of) Ariel," he wrote.
"The law to prevent harm to the State of Israel via a boycott is clear and unequivocal (regarding) any public call for a cultural, academic or economic boycott of any person or entity solely because of a connection to the State of Israel," he said.
According to Dagan, as Padan is in violation of the anti-boycott law, he cannot participate in a government tender. Therefore, Dagan wrote, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon is entitled to block Padan's application for airport concessions.
Padan was among the founders of the Peace Now movement, which has been advocating an end to occupation of the West Bank by Israel and the formation of an adjacent Palestinian state.
In response, McDonald’s Israel said the global McDonald’s headquarters did not approve branches in the West Bank.
Both the Transportation Ministry and the Finance Ministry said that a decision on the issue was not down to them, as they were not involved in any way in commercial tenders at the Ben Gurion airport.
2 june 2019

The Islamic Movement, activist youth and other groups staged a protest sit-in, in the vicinity of the US embassy in Amman, this past week, to express their rejection of a visit byJared Kushner, US President Donald Turmp’s senior adviser.
Jordanian security forces closed the square facing the embassy and prevented demonstrators from performing Isha and Taraweeh prayers in the zone.
The participants stood away from the embassy, carrying placards calling on Jordanian leadership not to receive Kushner or participate in the Bahrain economic workshop.
They also chanted slogans against the US, Kushner and Israel, Days of Palestine reports.
Addressing the crowds, secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood Abdul-Hamid al-Dunaibat called on the Jordanian government to be clear about its position towards the participation in the Bahrain conference.
Dunaibat called on Kushner to go back to his country, stressing that Jordan is not for sale and will not be a substitute homeland for anyone.
He slammed the rulers of the Gulf countries for scrambling to the arms of Israel and Trump, and allowing the latter to plunder their wealth.
Jordanian security forces closed the square facing the embassy and prevented demonstrators from performing Isha and Taraweeh prayers in the zone.
The participants stood away from the embassy, carrying placards calling on Jordanian leadership not to receive Kushner or participate in the Bahrain economic workshop.
They also chanted slogans against the US, Kushner and Israel, Days of Palestine reports.
Addressing the crowds, secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood Abdul-Hamid al-Dunaibat called on the Jordanian government to be clear about its position towards the participation in the Bahrain conference.
Dunaibat called on Kushner to go back to his country, stressing that Jordan is not for sale and will not be a substitute homeland for anyone.
He slammed the rulers of the Gulf countries for scrambling to the arms of Israel and Trump, and allowing the latter to plunder their wealth.
1 june 2019

Protesters, including Lebanese nationals and Palestinian refugees, wave Palestinian and Lebanese flags during a demonstration in the medieval Beaufort Castle, known in Arabic as al-Shaqif Citadel, near Arnoun, Lebanon, May 15, 2018
US President Donald Trump's "the deal of the century" wants Palestinian refugees to be naturalized and settled in several countries, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq, Israeli daily Haaretz reports.
As the world marked the International Quds Day on Friday, political leaders warned of mysterious aspects of the much-touted US plan and its ramifications for the future of Palestinians.
Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said one definite prospect is that the plan seeks to do away with the issue of returning 6 million refugees to their homeland.
"To realize this goal, America is about to arrange an economic deal and get its money from the miserable Persian Gulf countries," he said in Tehran.
Haaretz said Washington is thought to be pressing Lebanon to grant citizenship to Palestinian refugees living in the country.
"In the process, this is seen as defusing the issue of a right of return of refugees to Israel, which has been a major obstacle to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the paper said.
According to UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, about 450,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon.
Other reports have put the figure lower, prompting Lebanese groups to say that the census had been conducted under US pressure designed to underreport the real numbers because that way Lebanon could absorb a modest-sized population.
The Lebanese constitution, however, provides that the country's territory is indivisible and that refugees living there are not to receive citizenship.
The official reason for this is that the absorption of Palestinian refugees would impair their claim to a right of return.
However, the US has sugarcoated the plan with a lifeline to extract Lebanon from its economic crisis, where the country's debt is estimated at more than $85 billion (about 155 percent of GDP), Haaretz said.
According to the Israeli paper, giving Palestinians citizenship is likely to prompt the roughly 1 million Syrian refugees in the country to demand similar status.
However, Lebanon isn't the only country concerned about Washington dictating a solution to the refugee problem.
Jordan is horrified over the prospect that the United States will demand it absorb hundreds of thousands or even a million Palestinian refugees in the country, Haaretz added.
The paper cited investigative journalist Vicky Ward recounting in her new book "Kushner Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption" that the Trump administration's plan sees Jordan providing territory to the Palestinians and receiving Saudi territory in return.
The Saudis, for their part, would get the islands of Sanafir and Tiran from Egypt, it said.
"Land swaps appear to be the magic formula that the Trump administration has adopted, and not just for Jordan," Haaretz said.
According to Ward, it has been suggested that Egypt give up territory along the Sinai coast between Gaza and el-Arish, to which some of the Gaza population would be transferred. In return, Israel would give Egypt territory of equivalent size in the western Negev.
Haaretz, meanwhile, revealed lucrative projects to be funded by European countries, the US and wealthy Arab states, including an underwater tunnel which Israel would allow to be dug between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Egypt, the paper said, has been promised a whopping $65 billion to help boost its economy which is currently in shambles.
The plan also says Palestinian refugees in Syria, Iraq and other Arab countries would receive citizenship in exchange for generous assistance to the host countries.
The Israeli paper, however, cast doubt on the viability of the "plan of generous financial compensation and empty tracts of land for new housing".
"The problem is that the Palestinian refugees are the supreme symbols of Palestinian nationhood," it said.
"An American deal that blatantly relies on buying up that symbol for cash, even lots of it, can't be acceptable to the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza," it added.
The Trump administration is set to unveil the economic portion of the so-called “deal of the century” during a conference in Manama, Bahrain, on June 25-26.
All Palestinian factions have boycotted the event, accusing Washington of offering financial rewards for accepting the Israeli occupation.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said they will send delegations to the Manama forum and Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has said he intends to attend.
US President Donald Trump's "the deal of the century" wants Palestinian refugees to be naturalized and settled in several countries, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq, Israeli daily Haaretz reports.
As the world marked the International Quds Day on Friday, political leaders warned of mysterious aspects of the much-touted US plan and its ramifications for the future of Palestinians.
Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said one definite prospect is that the plan seeks to do away with the issue of returning 6 million refugees to their homeland.
"To realize this goal, America is about to arrange an economic deal and get its money from the miserable Persian Gulf countries," he said in Tehran.
Haaretz said Washington is thought to be pressing Lebanon to grant citizenship to Palestinian refugees living in the country.
"In the process, this is seen as defusing the issue of a right of return of refugees to Israel, which has been a major obstacle to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the paper said.
According to UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, about 450,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon.
Other reports have put the figure lower, prompting Lebanese groups to say that the census had been conducted under US pressure designed to underreport the real numbers because that way Lebanon could absorb a modest-sized population.
The Lebanese constitution, however, provides that the country's territory is indivisible and that refugees living there are not to receive citizenship.
The official reason for this is that the absorption of Palestinian refugees would impair their claim to a right of return.
However, the US has sugarcoated the plan with a lifeline to extract Lebanon from its economic crisis, where the country's debt is estimated at more than $85 billion (about 155 percent of GDP), Haaretz said.
According to the Israeli paper, giving Palestinians citizenship is likely to prompt the roughly 1 million Syrian refugees in the country to demand similar status.
However, Lebanon isn't the only country concerned about Washington dictating a solution to the refugee problem.
Jordan is horrified over the prospect that the United States will demand it absorb hundreds of thousands or even a million Palestinian refugees in the country, Haaretz added.
The paper cited investigative journalist Vicky Ward recounting in her new book "Kushner Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption" that the Trump administration's plan sees Jordan providing territory to the Palestinians and receiving Saudi territory in return.
The Saudis, for their part, would get the islands of Sanafir and Tiran from Egypt, it said.
"Land swaps appear to be the magic formula that the Trump administration has adopted, and not just for Jordan," Haaretz said.
According to Ward, it has been suggested that Egypt give up territory along the Sinai coast between Gaza and el-Arish, to which some of the Gaza population would be transferred. In return, Israel would give Egypt territory of equivalent size in the western Negev.
Haaretz, meanwhile, revealed lucrative projects to be funded by European countries, the US and wealthy Arab states, including an underwater tunnel which Israel would allow to be dug between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Egypt, the paper said, has been promised a whopping $65 billion to help boost its economy which is currently in shambles.
The plan also says Palestinian refugees in Syria, Iraq and other Arab countries would receive citizenship in exchange for generous assistance to the host countries.
The Israeli paper, however, cast doubt on the viability of the "plan of generous financial compensation and empty tracts of land for new housing".
"The problem is that the Palestinian refugees are the supreme symbols of Palestinian nationhood," it said.
"An American deal that blatantly relies on buying up that symbol for cash, even lots of it, can't be acceptable to the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza," it added.
The Trump administration is set to unveil the economic portion of the so-called “deal of the century” during a conference in Manama, Bahrain, on June 25-26.
All Palestinian factions have boycotted the event, accusing Washington of offering financial rewards for accepting the Israeli occupation.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said they will send delegations to the Manama forum and Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has said he intends to attend.

Canadian Law Professor, Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on the situation in the Palestinian territories, along with the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve, whose article was featured on Australian News site, The Conversation.
The authors begin by stating that “While Israel rejects that it’s the occupying power, there is a virtual wall-to-wall consensus among the international community — including the United Nations, the European Union, the International Court of Justice, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Canada — that the laws of occupation, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, apply in full to the Palestinian territory.”
On May 9, the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-85 — the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, which amends and updates the original 1997 free-trade agreement, and on May 27, it received royal assent.
Two fundamental provisions, Lynk says are missing in the updated agreement, a human rights provision, requiring both parties to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law.
The agreement allows goods and services produced in the illegal Israeli settlements to enter Canada on the same tariff-free terms as those originating in Israel. No distinction is made between Israel and its illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories encourages the economic growth of settlements.
This, the pair state, is not only contrary to Canada’s general duty to uphold international law, it expressly violates both international and Canadian law, as well as the direction of the UN Security Council.
Treating the Israeli settlements as part of Israel, and extending the benefits of our open market to settlements’ goods and services, ensnares Canada in the serious violations of both international human rights and humanitarian law that are part and parcel of the Israeli occupation.
The authors cite the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49(6), which states that, the occupying power is prohibited against transferring its civilian population onto the occupied territory.
In direct violation of this, during its 52-year occupation of the Palestinian territory, Israel has built 240 Jewish only settlements in the West Bank, housing 630,000 illegal settlers.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, declared the Israeli settlements are “a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of a two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
Lynk and Neve affirm that at the heart of the illegal settlement enterprise, is a “discriminatory two-tier system of laws governing political rights, zoning laws, roads, water and natural resources, property, public services and access to courts — all based entirely on ethnicity.”
The report concludes “the Canadian government is knowingly extending economic benefits and political cover to an illegal enterprise at a time when these settlements are undermining the chances for peace and generating systematic human rights violations.”
The authors begin by stating that “While Israel rejects that it’s the occupying power, there is a virtual wall-to-wall consensus among the international community — including the United Nations, the European Union, the International Court of Justice, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Canada — that the laws of occupation, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, apply in full to the Palestinian territory.”
On May 9, the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-85 — the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, which amends and updates the original 1997 free-trade agreement, and on May 27, it received royal assent.
Two fundamental provisions, Lynk says are missing in the updated agreement, a human rights provision, requiring both parties to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law.
The agreement allows goods and services produced in the illegal Israeli settlements to enter Canada on the same tariff-free terms as those originating in Israel. No distinction is made between Israel and its illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories encourages the economic growth of settlements.
This, the pair state, is not only contrary to Canada’s general duty to uphold international law, it expressly violates both international and Canadian law, as well as the direction of the UN Security Council.
Treating the Israeli settlements as part of Israel, and extending the benefits of our open market to settlements’ goods and services, ensnares Canada in the serious violations of both international human rights and humanitarian law that are part and parcel of the Israeli occupation.
The authors cite the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49(6), which states that, the occupying power is prohibited against transferring its civilian population onto the occupied territory.
In direct violation of this, during its 52-year occupation of the Palestinian territory, Israel has built 240 Jewish only settlements in the West Bank, housing 630,000 illegal settlers.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, declared the Israeli settlements are “a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of a two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
Lynk and Neve affirm that at the heart of the illegal settlement enterprise, is a “discriminatory two-tier system of laws governing political rights, zoning laws, roads, water and natural resources, property, public services and access to courts — all based entirely on ethnicity.”
The report concludes “the Canadian government is knowingly extending economic benefits and political cover to an illegal enterprise at a time when these settlements are undermining the chances for peace and generating systematic human rights violations.”