ICAHD UK August 2020 Newsletter August 2020 Newsletter * Jeff Halper responds to the agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the UAE * ICAHD UK interviews Dr Haidar Eid from Gaza, supporter of One Democratic State * Launch of online petition to NSPCC to stop taking tarnished money from JCB * Demolitions and displacements surge in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and within Israel even during Covid-19 * Help save the Sumarin family from being evicted – we must win this * Dates for your diary As always, we need to ask, what’s in it for the parties? The answer is clear: military weapons, surveillance, technology transfer and political hegemony, all directed against the Arab peoples. The US, ever hungry for oil and control of the flow of raw materials, is using compliant, corrupt and authoritarian regimes in its struggle for regional hegemony against Russia and Iran but especially against the peoples of the Middle East who yearn for democracy and development (and more freedom from religious coercion that we may suspect). The UAE epitomizes the problem. An autocratic state with no democratic institutions (it is ruled by Sharia law, in which flogging, stoning and even amputations are routine punishments), the UAE is an oil-rich country with huge financial and tourist sectors in which a thin layer of 1.4 million citizens enjoy the labor of almost 8 million non-citizens, both Emirati and foreign, with no legal or contractual rights. Read more... ICAHD UK Interview with Gaza's Dr Haidar Eid who calls for One Democratic State Haidar, you reside in Gaza where two-thirds of the population residing there are from refugee families, is this also the case for you? Yes, my parents are from the village of Zarnouqa, in the Ramla district, which was ethnically cleansed by Zionist gangs in 1948. I was born in a refugee camp in Gaza and then lived in Gaza City where I grew up. My father worked for UNRWA and my mother was at home. My parents died in 2005 but all of their lives they dreamed of returning to their village. While growing up, were you ever able to leave Gaza to experience life in other countries? Of course, it has always been difficult to travel, even before 1993 the year of the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel controlled the Rafah Crossing and one had to apply for a permit to travel. Many young people travelled abroad to study and even work. I’ve been able to travel to many countries. I gained my first and second degrees from Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus, and my PhD from the University if Johannesburg, South Africa, where I stayed for about 6 years. I was fortunate because I had the support of my father and I also managed to get scholarships from my own universities due to my performance. I want to add that I learned a lot about the anti-apartheid struggle and the sacrifices of the black majority while staying in South Africa. I arrived there in 1997, three years after the collapse of the racist regime. The similarities between the two apartheid regimes (SA and Israel) were so obvious to me that I felt at home while staying in Joburg. Did you always aspire to be an academic in Gaza, educating and inspiring the next generations? Much detailed information has been sent to NSPCC Trustees as well as senior officers about JCB’s complicity in Israel’s house demolitions, a strand of the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine, but the NSPCC has taken no action. Recently over 2000 postcards have been sent to NSPCC as part of this campaign but with still not response, we are moving on to another action: an online petition to NSPCC. Click here to see the petition which we encourage you to sign and then please forward it to others. Help call the NSPCC to account so that it can maintain its reputation as an ethical charity that genuinely cares about the lives of all children. Demolitions continue despite Covid-19 Photo: Lance Larson Demolitions of Palestinian homes by Israeli authorities have been aggressive during recent weeks despite a severe second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 11 – 24^th of August, a total of 25 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished or seized for the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 32 Palestinians, and affecting around 160 others. According to the UN’s Office for Humanitarian Affairs, so far this year, about half of all demolitions in East Jerusalem (118) were carried out by the owners, following the issuance of demolition orders by the Israeli authorities, and done to avoid paying for the demolition plus the hefty fines to the Jerusalem Municipality. A few examples are: * On 15 August, a Palestinian newlywed couple had to self-demolish their house in Silwan, East Jerusalem. * On 18 August, Israeli authorities demolished a Palestinian residential building composed of six floors in Jabal al-Mukabbur, south of Jerusalem’s Old City. * On 19 August, Israeli Civil Administration along with Israeli forces demolished two agricultural structures in Hizma, East Jerusalem, affecting a family of seven, including four children. The family reported they did not receive a demolition order prior to the incident. * On 27 August, within the state of Israel, the Israeli authorities demolished the tents and crude homes in the Palestinian Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert for the 177th consecutive time. The Negev Coexistence Forum stated in its annual report for 2019, that there were approximately 2,241 structures demolished in the Bedouin communities of the Negev that year of which some 655 are estimated to be residential. Full report here . Also within the state of Israel, demolitions of homes, shops and industrial workshops under the pretext of non-licensing, have taken place this year affecting Palestinians who live in Ain Mahal, Jaffa, Shfaram, Kafr Qasim, Qalansawa, Kafr Yasif, Arara, Umm al-Fahm, Lod, Jaffa, Sakhnin, Harfish and others. Follow our posts on Facebook and Twitter to keep abreast of our demolition alerts. Write to your MP demanding Israel be held to account for violating international law. See sample lobby letters here . Watch the recording of ICAHD UK’s August webinar ‘Demolitions within Israel and the Impact on Women and Children’ with Khalil Alamour from the Negev and Nabila Espanioly from Nazareth here . On our website, we have added the links to four short films of about how demolitions impact women and children in the Naqab. Watch then via this link . Help save these Sumarin family children from being evicted from their home Photo: David Shulman ICAHD UK continues its involvement in the Sumarin Campaign to stop the Jewish National Fund (JNF) from evicting the 18-member Sumarin family from their home in East Jerusalem, located directly below the Old City. On June 30th, 2020, the Jerusalem District Court ruled in favour of the JNF and ordered the family to leave their home on 16^th August so that the JNF could take it over. However, on 5th August, the Israeli Supreme Court stayed the eviction, stating that it will debate whether to hear the family's appeal. For now the family remain in their home and we have more time to continue building the campaign. This appeal has been described as a ‘test case’. If the Sumarin family is not successful, the expulsion of Palestinians from their privately owned land could accelerate therefore much is at stake. Help us win! ICAHD’s Jeff Halper stated, “Using in this case the Jewish National Fund, a quasi-governmental corporation with charitable status in the UK, Israel is expending time, resources and political capital on removing one family on doubtful legal and moral grounds. If this is allowed to happen, if the UK government continues to grant the JNF charitable status, if the Jewish community and other ‘pro-Israel’ voices continue to support policies of Judaization and displacement, then they are all complicit. We of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) call on the British government to protect the Sumarin family and revoke the political JNF’s charitable status.” If you haven’t already done so, please write to your MP with the request to sign the Early Day Motion about the family and also send a message to the JNF using the text that has been prepared. All of this information can be found on our website here . 5 September at 4.00pm (UK time) - Stop the JNF Webinar. Nexus of Forces Allied with the JNF. Kholoud al-Ajarma (Palestinian activist), Cody O'Rourke (Good Shepherd Collective) and Myssana Morany (Adalah). Register here 26 September at 10.45am (UK time) - ICAHD UK Webinar / Workshop - Resisting the companies complicit in home demolitions. Including a presentation from Stop the Demolitions (UK) and Corporate Occupation/Shoal Collective. Stop the Demolitions is part of Palestine Action (PalestineAction.org). Register via this link Advance Notice: ICAHD UK’s 2021 annual conference is set for Saturday, 24 April, at Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London. Many thanks for your ongoing support. If you're not already a member of ICAHD UK, please consider joining us to enable our campaign to spread at this critical time in history. From all at ICAHD UK. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israeli-Committee-Against-House-Demolitions-UK/366423593418140 Facebook https://www.twitter.com/ICAHDUK/ Twitter http://icahduk.org Website mailto:info@icahduk.org Email Normalization between Israel and the UAE: When "peace" is not a good thing - Jeff Halper The agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is being sold to us as “historic” and a positive development that will change the Middle East. Bahrain, Oman, Sudan and Saudi Arabia are said to be waiting in line. Peace always appears to be good, especially if it can help resolve the Arab-Israeli Conflict. So what’s the problem? Yes, that was my goal all along. This is one of the reasons as to why I chose to do my MA degree in Post-Colonial Studies where I studied the works of the likes of Ghassan Kanafani, Edward Said, Aime Cezire, Frantz Fanon, Ngugi Wa Thiongo—amongst other anti-colonial thinkers and writers. This has helped me contextualize what I am teaching here in Palestine as Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Postmodern Literature at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University. My classes encompass Resistance Literature so I include Ghassan Kanfani’s novels and short stories, Edward Said’s and Fanon’s theories, V.S Naipaul’s racist works, NJabulu Ndebele’s short stories, Nawas Saddawi’s feminist works, Ahdaf Soueif’s narratives of Egyptian women, Alice Walker’s wonderful stories of African Americans, Anton Chekhov’s brilliant short stories. But also, postmodern and modern works from James Joyce to Don Delillo. Read more... Tell the NSPCC to stop accepting dirty money! Sign this new petition The National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) claims to “Give a voice to children when no one is listening” and it states, “Become a campaigner and help us demand that all children are worth fighting for. Join our network and fight for every childhood.” However, it has accepted millions of pounds from JCB and its owners, the Bamford family, despite JCB bulldozers being used to demolish Palestinian homes, affecting the lives of Palestinian children. Dates for Your Diary 5 September and 19 September at 10.45am (UK time) – UK Palestine Mental Health Network Webinars begin with live music arranged by PalMusic UK followed by a guest speaker and discussion. For further details and to register go to https://ukpalmhn.com/ — ICAHD (icahd.org) /newsletter/icahd-uk-august-2020-newsletter