Dozens of top Israeli rabbis sign ruling to forbid rental of homes to Arabs

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Written by Chaim Levinson Chaim Levinson

Published: 07 December 2010 07 December 2010

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The religious ruling comes just months after a group of 18 prominent rabbis, including the chief rabbi of Safed, signed a call to that effect.

Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis have signed on to a new religious ruling that would forbid the rental of homes to gentiles in a move particularly aimed against Arabs, Haaretz has learned.

The religious ruling comes just months after a group of 18 prominent rabbis, including the chief rabbi of Safed, signed a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews.

Arab town - Olivier Fitoussi - October 11 2010     
The Arab neighborhood of Dahiyat al-Salam.
Photo by: Olivier Fitoussi

Most of the signatories to the letter are from Safed, a city that has seen an increase in its Arab student population that is enrolled at the town's local college. Safed chief rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who has been criticized in the past for incendiary remarks against Arabs, is the most prominent figure to sign the letter.

The group to sign on to the religious ruling includes the chief rabbis of Ramat Hasharon, Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, Rishon Letzion, Carmiel, Gadera, Afula, Nahariya, Herzliya, Nahariya and Pardes Hannah, among a number of other cities.

The signatories also called on the religious community to voice support Rabbi Eliyahu, who could face trial for incitement against Arabs. Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman has also asked Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to begin the process of suspending Eliyahu immediately from his post as municipal rabbi.

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Kulongoski criticized for dealing with Israel

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Written by Erick Bengel Erick Bengel

Published: 06 December 2010 06 December 2010

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Portland activist groups say Kulongoski is wrong to ignore Israel's human rights violations

Several human rights groups, including Portland State's own SUPER (Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights), have recently criticized Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski for conducting business with Israel despite the nation-state's ongoing human rights violations.

On Oct. 27, Kulongoski signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Oregon and the State of Israel "to develop and strengthen economic, industrial, technological and commercial cooperation between [them]," according to the governor's press release.

In response, the organization Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR) composed an open letter to the governor, titled "The Moral Implications of Doing Business with Israel." This letter outlines the organization's grievances with Israel, which subsume both Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands and its systematic discrimination against Palestinian citizens.

Although Kulongoski declined to meet with AUPHR, Jodi Sherwood, deputy communications director for the governor, sent an e-mail to AUPHR member Peter Miller.

"The Governor believes that the Memorandum is in the best interest of the people of Oregon. Israel is a strong and democratic friend of Oregon and the United States," Sherwood said in the e-mail. "This agreement will build on our existing trade relationship with Israel, open up new opportunities to share information and foster commercial ties in areas that are vital to Oregon's economic future."

However, SUPER President Wael Elasady said that there is a precedent for Oregon to refuse to do business with states that violate international law, namely, Oregon's "Sudan Divestment Legislation" that arose from growing concern over Sudan's genocide.

According to Miller, Israel routinely violates the rights of Palestinians by enforcing racist domestic policies that confer second-class citizenship status upon its Palestinian population. This is true for both the Palestinians who reside within Israel and those who reside in the Occupied Territories: the West Bank, Gaza and Arab East Jerusalem.

"Israel has dozens of laws that privilege Jewish citizens over non-Jewish citizens," Miller said. "Racism against non-Jews is institutional and in the open."

Israel's institutional racism against Palestinians, according to Miller, extends from unequal access to housing and government jobs to limited access to water and the possibility of being jailed indefinitely without due process.

According to Elasady, human rights groups like SUPER and AUPHR make three basic demands of Israel.

First, Israel must end its occupation of Palestinian lands. Second, it must end the second-class citizenship status of Palestinians. Third, it must honor the "right of return" of displaced first-generation Palestinian refugees and their descendents.

SUPER was co-founded in January of 2009 by PSU students Wadah Sofan and Elasady, a student of international studies focusing on the Middle East.

According to Elasady, SUPER is currently working on raising awareness in the PSU community and in Portland at large on the reality of Israel's occupation of Palestine. In addition, the organization is expanding an activist tactic known as a "boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign," in which businesses refuse to carry Israeli products until the nation-state complies with international law.

Elasady said that the campaign is a nonviolent way of placing economic pressure on Israeli society to help abolish Israel's oppressive policies.

Elasady emphasizes that SUPER is "not anti-Israeli."

"[SUPER] advocates for equal and full rights for all people, for both Palestinians and Israelis in that region," he said.

According to Miller, every American should be conscious of Israel's track record of violations because the U.S. government heavily subsidizes Israel and is, therefore, complicit in Israel's apartheid-like laws and imperialist posture on the world stage.

"The U.S. gives Israel $3 billion in military aid every year," Miller said. "That amounts to about $28 million federal tax dollars leaving the State of Oregon and going to Israel as weapons every year."

Miller added that this figure should concern Oregonians because the state's decision to ignore Israel's crimes comes at great cost to its security interests and to the state's reputation

Palestine 2011

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Written by Jeff Halper Jeff Halper

Published: 06 December 2010 06 December 2010

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Struggling as I have for the past decades to grasp the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and find ways to get out of this interminable and absolutely superfluous conflict, I have been two-thirds successful. After many years of activism and analysis, I think I have put my finger on the first third of the equation: What is the problem? My answer, which has withstood the test of time and today is so evident that it elicits the response…“duh”…is that all Israeli governments are unwaveringly determined to maintain complete control of Palestine/Israel from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, frustrating any just and workable solution based on Palestinian claims to self-determination. There will be no negotiated settlement, period.

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Argentina, Uruguay join Brazil to recognize Palestinian state

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Written by AFP AFP

Published: 06 December 2010 06 December 2010

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Argentina, Uruguay to recognize Palestinian state AFP/File – A Palestinian flag painted on the face of a girl during a protest in the West Bank village of Bilin, …

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina and Uruguay said Monday they were joining Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, earning praise from Palestinian officials but an immediate sharp rebuke from Israel.

Israel called the announcement by Buenos Aires "regrettable" and said it went against an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that such a state should only be recognized with Israeli approval.

That echoed criticism Israel made after Brazil started the South American movement on Friday by saying it recognized a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, before the Six Day War in which Israel seized Gaza and the West Bank.

But Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, on a visit to Turkey, expressed his "pride" over the decision by Buenos Aires, according to an official statement.

His foreign minister, Riad al-Malki, told AFP the Palestinians had expected that "Paraguay and other Latin American countries will make similar decisions."

"The Argentine government recognizes Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967," Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said, reading a letter sent by President Cristina Kirchner to Abbas.

Timerman said the recognition reflected a general consensus among members of Mercosur, the South American trade bloc.

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