Hastings and Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Newsletter   19 January 2021
 
Israel's medical apartheid:
Israel refuses to provide Palestinians with COVID-19 vaccines

While Israel has announced that it has carried out the world's fastest Covid vaccination drive, the government has made it clear that millions of Palestinians living under its occupation in the West Bank and Gaza will not be included in the vaccine drive. Israeli citizens and settlers in its illegal colonies are eligible for the vaccine; non-Israelis, including Palestinian Muslims and Christians, are not.

So far, Israeli officials have said that they might offer whatever they have leftover to the West Bank and Gaza. Source.

As the occupying power, Israel has a responsibility under international law, including article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to ensure "public health and hygiene in the occupied territory." Write to the Foreign Office: End Medical Apartheid.

Israel is not showing vaccine leadership, it is demonstrating medical apartheid: Article here.
Palestinians excluded from Israeli Covid vaccine rollout as jabs go to settlers: Article here.
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Expulsion without Return? The Palestinian Experience
with Ilan Pappé and Ghada Karmi
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 7.00 pm / 19.00 hours London time

A reminder of tomorrow's meeting

To gain access to the meeting: REGISTER HERE

More information about the meeting:

EXPULSION WITHOUT RETURN?

This link can be shared on social media.

Hastings Online Times Article here.
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Israeli human rights group: Israel is an 'apartheid regime'

This is the grounbreaking report 'This is Apartheid' by Israel's most prominent and respected human rights group B'Tselem. It shows explicitly that the state of Israel is based on racism. Israel's apologists will find it difficult to charge Palestinian solidarity activists as antisemitic.

B'Tselem details the segregationist practices and policies Israel has enforced throughout the territories it rules. "A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to establish and maintain the supremacy of one group over another is an apartheid regime."

B'Tselem: 'A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid:' Report here.

"What is perhaps most daring about B'Tselem's analysis is its admission that apartheid exists not just in the occupied territories....It describes the entire regime between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River - which encompasses both Israel and the Palestinian territories - as an apartheid regime. It thereby denies Israel's claims to be a democratic state even inside its internationally recognised borders." Jonathan Cook: Israel is losing the fight to obscure its apartheid character.
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Israeli high school students refuse to join the Israeli military

Sixty Israeli high school students have signed a letter refusing their compulsory enlistment in the Israeli military. "The Zionist policy of brutal violence towards and expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands began in 1948 and has not stopped since." It's important that the letter not only refers to the 1967 occupation, but also the 1948 Nakba, the "continuing Nakba."

The students refer to the actions of the Israeli military as war crimes, and state that violent military rule "is enforced through policies of apartheid entailing two different legal systems: one for Palestinians and the other for Jews."

The 2021 Shministiyot Letter.
Sixty teens announce refusal to serve in Israeli army: 'We're taking responsibility.'
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US Congress gives $600 to US citizens - and $3.8 billion to the Israel military

The COVID-19 Relief Package awarded a meagre $600 dollar payment to help struggling American families, but the US Congress found it essential to provide Israel with $3.3 billion in 'security assistance' and $500 million for US-Israel missile defence cooperation. American Aid to Israel: The US Money Tree.
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Webinar: How Artists Resist: Palestinian Political Cartoons

Jan 19, 2021 5 PM GMT. Author and activist Miko Peled hosts three cartoonists who have directed their art at highlighting the spirit of Palestinian resistance in the face of a brutal Israeli regime. Featuring Sara Qaed, Mohammad Sabaaneh, and Carlos Latuff. How to register.
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'A Game Changer:' Ilan Pappé and Awad Abdelfattah on the One Democratic State Campaign

In the interview, Ilan Pappé says: "I think we have only had one option since the creation of the State of Israel, and this was to replace a settler-colonial state with a genuine, democratic state for all." "There is no doubt about it, but I think that the main push for the one-state solution will come from a popular movement with a lot of young people in it...." A Game Changer.
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Israeli bombing of Syria continues

Twice recently Israel has bombed Syria. This is In clear breach of international law, regarded as a war crime.

Israel bombs Syria on Christmas Eve, bombs Gaza on Christmas Day: Article here.
Israeli warplanes carry out intense airstrikes in eastern Syria (13 Jan).
Golan Heights: Israeli energy firm Energix plans a sprawling complex of wind turbines which will soon cover up to a quarter of the agricultural land still under the control of Syria's indigenous Golan residents. Under Guise of Green Energy, Israel Entrenches Itself in Syria's Golan Heights: Article here.
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BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) news

170 Latin American Academics Endorse Boycott of Complicit Israeli Academic Institutions: Article here.

(US) Boston students reject Israeli training of campus cops: Article here.

What were the top BDS victories of 2020? Article here.
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The campaign against the IHRA 'definition' and the witch hunt

The fight back against the government's plan to enforce the IHRA so-called definition of anti-semitism.

Ben White: The IHRA censors Palestinians by design, not by accident: Article here.

Antisemitism definition is undermining free speech: Letter from lawyers and retired judges.

In Canada, the IHRA definition has begun to stifle pro-Palestinian voices: Article here.

(Canada) The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is intended to censor political expression: Article here.
Labour and antisemitism: What's going on at the Forde inquiry? Article here.
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News from and about the occupation:

Child, teen injured, hospital, handicapped centre damaged in Israeli strikes on Gaza: Article here.

Israel Detained 4636 Palestinians, Including 543 Minors, 128 Women: Article here.

'They took everything from me:' Israel destroyed his house. A month later they shot and paralyzed his son: Article here.

YouTube's Violation of Palestinian Digital Rights: What Needs to be Done: Article here.

Israel orders wave of new house demolitions in Silwan, Jerusalem: Article here.

A Women's Boxing Team Grows in Gaza: Article here.
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Hastings and Rye PSC online membership and donations

Becoming a member of Hastings and Rye PSC is an important way of supporting our work.The annual subscription is £10 waged, £5 unwaged. We now have an online membership payment form. It can also be used to renew membership. The work of Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity could not continue without the generous donations from members of the public. If you would like to support our work without becoming a member please visit our shop page here and see the right hand column: Donate to Hastings & Rye PSC.
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Recent Hastings and Rye PSC newsletters:

23 December 2020
11 December 2020
11 November 2020

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