Author: admin

Young Israeli women follow their consciences into prison

by adminin Lead Story, Writing

bilde1The National, November 14, 2009

At a time when most Israeli girls her age are fantasizing about their post-army travels, Emelia Markovich, 19, is considering the jail time that looms ahead.

Markovich is a member of a group of shministim, Hebrew for 12th graders. But these shministim aren’t your average high school students. They are conscientious objectors, referred to refuseniks because they are unwilling to participate in the army service that is mandatory for non-religious Jewish men and women.

In October, 88 shministim—some still enrolled in school, some recent graduates—signed a letter of refusal addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and IDF Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi. “We hereby declare that we will toil against the occupation and oppression policies of the Israeli government,” the statement reads.

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Examining genocide

by adminin Israel, Writing

daniel_1 The Jerusalem Post, November 13, 2009

Tel Aviv University will host the International Conference on Genocide Prevention from November 17 to 18. The two day event will bring experts and activists from around the world to Israel which, according to two of the organizers, Romi Kaplan and Nikki Levitan, is a natural place to examine the topic.

The history of the Jewish nation is intimately intertwined with that of genocide—the idea of Zionism came about, in part, as a response to anti-Semitic pogroms. After World War II, Holocaust survivors sought refuge on Palestine’s shores. And the term was coined by a Polish Jew, attorney Raphael Lemkin, who joined the Greek word for family, tribe, or race, genos, with the Latin word for killing, cide.

Although Lemkin created the word in 1943, at the height of the Shoah, Lemkin’s interests went beyond the horrors of the Holocaust—he also engaged in intensive studies of the Armenian genocide that occurred during World War I in the Ottoman Empire as well as the 1933 slaughter of the Assyrians in Iraq.

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Israel targeting the boycott movement

by adminin Politics, Writing

090925-mohammad-othman_31 The Electronic Intifada, November 9, 2009

Is Israel threatened by the BDS movement? Maan News Agency, November 11, 2009

For over six weeks now Mohammed Othman, a prominent Palestinian activist and an outspoken advocate of the nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, has been held in an Israeli military prison without charges. On 22 September 2009 Othman, 34, was detained at the Allenby Crossing as he attempted to enter the occupied West Bank from Jordan. He was returning from a trip to Norway, where he met with Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen, amongst other officials.

At the beginning of September, Finance Minister Halvorsen announced Norway’s divestment from the Israeli company Elbit due to “ethical concerns.” Elbit provides security systems for Israel’s wall in the West Bank and illegal settlements as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones) and other technology for the Israeli military. According to many Middle East analysts and human rights groups, Othman played a pivotal role in Norway’s decision to disassociate from Elbit.

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Starting a new chapter

by adminin Migrant workers, Writing

dsc05494The Jerusalem Post, November 6, 2009

The pulse of drums pounded through Levinsky Park Saturday evening, kicking off the opening of The Garden Library for Migrant Communities in Tel Aviv. The project was initiated by Arteam, an Israeli nonprofit organization, in an attempt to address the intellectual and cultural needs of the many foreign workers and African refugees who now call Israel their home.

Designed by architect Yoav Meiri, a member of Arteam, the open air library consists of two wood and metal bookcases—one lined with children’s books; the other filled with books for adults. Reading materials are available in a variety of languages including Tagalog, Bengali, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Romanian, English, and Amharic. Only children’s books come in Hebrew.

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Raising their spirits

by adminin Israel, Writing

dsc05295The Jerusalem Post, October 30, 2009

A Star-of-David-wearing Batman chased a Hebrew-speaking Spiderman. The pair wove their way through a crowd of dancing ghouls, singing witches, and smiling princesses—including a blonde Snow White. Orange balloons bobbed overhead and children toted pumpkin-shaped plastic buckets full of candy, reminding the partygoer that it wasn’t Purim, it was Halloween.

Although the Saturday night party was hosted by Israel’s Ilonggo tribe, comprised of Filipinos who hail from the Iloilo province, foreign workers and families from all over the Philippines received a warm welcome from the group’s president, Victor Soriano. The Embassy of the Philippine’s Labor Attach, Miriam Cuasay, also greeted the crowd at a nightclub in Tel Aviv’s Tachana Merkazit.

Some Filipino traditions echo those practiced by Americans. As in the United States, many Filipino children go trick-or-treating. And families often hold costume parties on October 31.

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Israeli blockade strangling Gaza agriculture

by adminin Writing

gaza agriculture carnation farmers The Electronic Intifada, October 29, 2009

Recently, Israel announced that it would import palm fronds from the Gaza Strip for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The move came at the behest of Minister of Religious Services, Yakov Margi, who feared that a shortage of palm fronds and a local monopoly on the item would send prices skyrocketing for the Jewish holiday Sukkot, which came in early October this year.

Before the holiday, palm fronds are in high demand as religiously observant Jews build thatched huts that commemorate the 40 years that, according to Biblical tradition, the ancient Hebrews wandered the desert. Once Sukkot begins, however, palm fronds are no longer needed.

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Village a symbol of resistance

by adminin Writing

dsc05221The National, October 31, 2009

Hebrew translation: here.

Every Friday, as midday prayers draw to a close, a few dozen protestors meet outside Bilin’s humble mosque. From there, they march though the village, calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. By the time they enter a thin, dusty grove of olive trees adjacent to the barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank the crowd has usually grown to at least 100.

The area is considered a no-access zone, a no man’s land, by the IDF. Israeli soldiers in riot gear wait on the other side of the barbed wire fence. They blast a siren and warn the demonstrators to disperse. Seconds later, the soldiers fire tear gas into the crowd. Sometimes, they shoot rubber-coated bullets.

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Casting out its own children

by adminin Writing

Mondoweiss, October 24, 2009

South Tel Aviv, home to foreign workers and African refugees, is in turmoil again after Interior Minister Eli Yishai recently indicated that children of illegal residents will be deported by the end of the school year.

They won’t be going alone—their parents will be deported, too—but that’s beside the point. Many of the 1200 children now targeted for deportation were born and raised in Israel. Some are teenagers who hope to serve in the army and join the Jewish collective they already consider themselves a part of. These kids have Israeli names, celebrate the chagim (holidays) and are culturally Israeli in every way.

The Interior Ministry estimates that there are currently 300,000 foreign workers in Israel—250,000 of these are in the country illegally. Migrants from the Philippines constitute the largest group; laborers also come from India, Nepal, China, and Thailand. Additionally, there is also a small community from Latin America. Usually, the Filipino, Indian, and Nepali workers are employed as caregivers, the Thai are found in the agricultural sector, and the Chinese labor in the construction. Israel is also home to almost 15,000 African asylum seekers from Eritrea, Sudan, and Darfur.

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Children born in Israel now denied the right to live there

by adminin Writing

dsc05242The National, October 23, 2009

Michael Trinanis is eight. Like most children born in Israel, he likes football, learns English in school and when he bickers with his older sister, he does so in Hebrew.

But Michael is not a typical Israeli boy. As the son of illegal Filipino workers he is facing deportation back to a country he has never seen and knows little about.

Up until now, children of foreign workers, whether illegal or legal, have been allowed to stay in the country, attend school and access all services. But that is now changing after the interior minister, Eli Yishai, indicated that illegal labourers and their children will all be deported by the end of the school year.

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Making a mark on Israel

by adminin Israel, Writing

dsc04395The Jerusalem Post, October 23, 2009

Over-sized Lego men aren’t something you normally see in an art gallery. But a new exhibition at Tel Aviv’s Kishon Gallery brings the work of street artist Ame72—known for playful Lego-inspired figures that decorate walls throughout the city—indoors.

Not only is “Let’s Go!” Israel’s first solo show of a British urban artist, Ame72 is arguably amongst the most prominent and well-established of the local street art scene.

Ame72 is something of a founding father in the urban art arena—when he moved here four years ago with his Israeli wife, there wasn’t much of a local movement to speak of. Soon after his arrival, Ame72 recalls, he teamed up with a French artist to produce the city’s first major work of graffiti. Like this piece, many of the images that are found in Tel Aviv today are created by foreign-born artists. “There is a lack of homegrown artists,” Ame72 remarks. “The street art scene in Tel Aviv is still developing,” Ame72 says.

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