Campaigns

NOVANEWS upcoming events: BDS and education on Tuesday Via Brooklyn for Peace: Please join us Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. to tell Ricky's Brooklyn: "No More Ahava Cosmetics!" Tuesday, October 26, 5:30-6:30 Ricky's, 107 Montague Street (between Henry and Hicks) Pink Spa Attire Recommended but Not Required--bathrobes, towels, etc. When you buy Ahava products made in a factory in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank, you help finance the destruction of hope for a peaceful and just future for both Israelis and Palestinians. Ahava products are made from Palestinian natural resources illegally taken from the Dead Sea. We are picketing Ricky's store to bring the message to shoppers: Help us tell Ricky's not to carry Ahava products. Sponsored by Brookly...

NOVANEWS Yup we knew it all along. But Gisha dug it out: Thursday, October 21, 2010: After one and a half years in which Israel at first denied their existence and then claimed that revealing them would harm "state security", the State of Israel today released three documents that outline its policy for permitting transfer of goods into the Gaza Strip prior to the May 31 flotilla incident. The documents were released due to a Freedom of Information Act petition submitted by Gisha in the Tel Aviv District Court, in which Gisha demanded transparency regarding the Gaza closure policy.  Israel still refuses to release the current documents governing the closure policy as amended after the flotilla incident.   "Policy of Deliberate Reduction" The documents reveal that the state approved "a ...

NOVANEWS by JGlatzer   January 29, 2010    Joseph Glatzer is president of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Cal State Northridge. He visited Gaza earlier this month. His report: When we were almost at the Rafah border I burst into tears and couldn’t stop. What shot through my consciousness like a lightning bolt was, “If it’s this hard for people with Western citizenship and passports to get into Gaza, what must life be like for the people there?” The heartbreaking reality suddenly sunk in: I was about to visit some of the most isolated and oppressed people on the face of the Earth. Going to Gaza was a truly wonderful and life-changing experience for me. I can say this despite the issues which arose. I never considered getting off the bus for a second. I didn’t care what a...

NOVANEWS RACHEL CORRIE CASE: ISRAELI SOLDIER TO TESTIFY ANONYMOUSLY October 20, 2010by Debbie Menon   Family criticises decision to allow soldier who drove bulldozer that killed daughter to give evidence from behind screen  American peace activist Rachel Corrie being interviewed in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza Strip a few days before she was killed by a bulldozer. Photograph: Getty Images The Israeli soldier at the controls of a bulldozer that crushed to death 23-year-old Rachel Corrie in Gaza in March 2003 is due to give evidence tomorrow in the civil lawsuit brought by the American activist’s family. However the judge hearing the case in Haifa has ruled that, for security reasons, the soldier can testify anonymously from behind a screen, denying Cindy and Craig Corrie the opportunity ...

NOVANEWS   Mike Leigh joins the growing Israeli boycott festival   By Jesse Bacon You could already have a quite a film festival with the  stars supporting the Ariel settlement boycott. Now one of my favorite directors  Mike Leigh, has refused to come to Israel at all. On the same weekend that I heard  JVP advisory board member Udi Aloni speak about artists who let themselves be used by the government versus those who don’t, Leigh gives us a good example.  He had already refused to come since 1990, but was about to make an exception when  the loyatly oath came up for a vote. British director Mike Leigh has canceled his scheduled visit to Israel after  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved a controversial amendment to the Citizenship Law last week requiri...

NOVANEWS According to a new report by Who Profits, a research project that exposes Israeli and international corporate involvement in the occupation: "The banks are well aware of the activities carried out with their financial assistance."             A report published today by Who Profits exposes the financial support provided by Israeli banks to illegal Israeli settlements and the direct involvement of Israeli banks in control over the Palestinian banking market. The report, "Financing the Occupation,” investigated the involvement of  Israeli banks in the economy of occupation: "Israeli banks provide the financial infrastructure for all activities of companies, governmental agencies and individuals in the continuing occupation of Palestine and the Syrian Golan Heights. The services prov...

NOVANEWS Forwarded message אנא הפיצו PLEASE CIRCULATE This time Ezra Nawi needs our help! A few weeks ago, human rights activist, Ezra Nawi, was released from jail after serving a month's sentence following his attempt to prevent a bulldozer from destroying Palestinian homes in the South Hebron Hills. His imprisonment constitutes a relatively small milestone in his dedicated activism, which has continued non-stop for the past decade. For the past ten years, Ezra has travelled to the South Hebron Hills a few times each week and has worked tirelessly against settler violence and the oppression of the Civil Administration in an attempt to preserve the basic rights of the local Palestinian residents. People who have had the chance to met Ezra know that he is a righteous man. A few years ago,...

NOVANEWS For decades, Israel has maintained an "opaque" nuclear posture -- neither confirming nor denying that it possesses nuclear weapons. The time has come for Israel to reconsider the policy of nuclear ambiguity. It can do so without jeopardizing the nation's security. AVNER COHEN is a Senior Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the author of the forthcoming book The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel's Bargain With the Bomb. MARVIN MILLER is a Research Associate in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Senior Research Scientist in the MIT Nuclear Engineering Department and has served as a consultant to the U.S. State Department and the Los Alamos and O...

NOVANEWS BDS Week of Action: 6th – 16th November 2010 In response to a call from Palestine for solidarity with their struggle against the Apartheid wall, the PSC have called for a Boycott Divestment and Sanctions ‘Week of Action’ from the 6th to the 16th of November 2010– an opportunity for all Palestine supporters to target British civil society and help inform the general public on how their consumer choices could, in fact be aiding Israel’s occupation of the Palestine. PSC encourages its supporters to focus on 4 companies that are complicit in the occupation, through a variety of actions - from street protests, e-lobbying, phone-in and social networking sites – to get more people involved in the boycott movement and help bring an end to Israel ’s occupation, just like the movement again...

NOVANEWS Israel: Grant Status Long Denied to Arab Village in Central Israel Discriminatory Planning Procedures Prevent Access to Basic Services; Court to Rule on Demolition Orders October 8, 2010 A child from Dahmash prepares to cross train tracks to enter the road leading to the neighboring city of Ramle. © 2010 Yuri Haasz/Human Rights Watch Lack of drainage and sewage systems leads to persistent flooding of Dahmash’s unpaved roads in winter. © 2010 Arafat Ismayil, Dahmash This playground, funded by a nongovernmental organization, was erected in 2006 in Dahmash. Once it was erected the Israeli Land Administration issued demolition orders on the grounds that the playground was constructed without a permit. © 2010 Arafat Ismayil, Dahmash Related Materials:  Off the MapSecond Class ...