The Dominion - bds campaign

The Changing Face of Oil Extraction

stephlaw — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:39:35 +0000

Shale oil and gas plays in Israel/Palestine, Jordan and Morocco

You may have heard of "Dirty Oil", "Ethical Oil", "Bloody Oil" or even "Conflict Oil"-- but have you heard of "Apartheid Oil"? This is the topic that Edmonton-based writer and activist Macdonald Stainsby has been exploring ever since he visited the Middle East and Northern Africa earlier this year.

In a four-part series to be released over the next month, Stainsby examines key shifts in technology and politics that could change the face of oil extraction in Israel/Palestine, Jordan and Morocco. As an introduction to the series, The Media Co-op had a chance to talk with Stainsby about what he learned on his visit and through the writing process.

Media Co-op: How important are the new shale oil and gas plays in the Middle East?

Macdonald Stainsby: The question is fairly technological, as well as geopolitical. If the Israeli plans go ahead for example, it could mean a dramatic shift towards Israeli power and away from the traditional sources of oil in the region. It would take many years for Israel to be able to produce at a level that could undermine other countries, but the impact of proving the ability would be immediate. In the case of Jordan, the question will be the destruction of local water first and foremost, as well as tightening the previous "peace accords" with Israel without repatriating a single refugee. In North Africa, Morocco has the potential to become one of the most polluted countries in the region where environmental standards are already alarmingly low. In each of these cases, it is hardwiring forms of oil production possibly even more destructive than Canadian based tar sands production.

Media Co-op: What surprised you about your time in the Middle East and North Africa?

MS: In all three cases, the biggest surprise was the level of media awareness [about tar sands and shale oil] in the business pages — which was quite high — and how little concern it seemed to generate among the population that one would hope should oppose such projects. In Israel in particular, the main opponents are pro-Zionist groups that openly collaborate with sectors of the government involved in ethnic cleansing inside the 1948 borders internationally recognized as Israel.

Media Co-op: Are people aware of what is going to happen because of these projects?

MS: Not really, though, community groups near the proposed site in Israel are taking an oppositional, "not in my backyard" approach. Considering the condition of water in Morocco and, even more so, Jordan, education about the potential dangers to the little water available is paramount.

Media Co-op: How could these new oil and gas plays factor into the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] campaign against Israeli Apartheid and other organizing in Canada?

MS: If BDS is to work, it has to be able to make the Israeli state economically scream, to borrow a phrase. The ability to sanction a state with a massive oil and gas sector is slim to nil. BDS is already having strong effects, but pollution aside, the energy security provided to the state by such a play would be monumental and could be the single greatest enabler of Israeli intransigence for years to come, all the more reason — along with those other pesky issues like climate change, peak oil and water in desert regions — such projects must be halted.

Media Co-op: Can you talk about the interconnections between the heavy oil discoveries and the longer term state response to the uprisings in the spring?

MS: It also appears the US is openly planning to use GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries — all of them currently major oil producers — as a local attack dog in the region for US interests. We saw this with Saudi and Qatari troops invading Bahrain, as well as Qatar openly engaging the adventure in Libya. With Morocco and Jordan invited into the GCC, likely also now to be oil producers — this locks them into that alliance, which ultimately also serves American and Israeli interests. This could end up having these tar sands and oil shale projects playing major role in global capitals efforts to steer the Arab Spring in the direction they want, again as we have recently seen in Libya.

Stay tuned: over the next month, the Dominion will publish four articles exploring the theme of Apartheid Oil. This series originally ran on the Media Co-op in November 2011.

Shale Oil Basins in Israel and Jordan

Identifying Apartheid

Moira Peters — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:09:17 +0000

Canadian students respond to Israel's rights abuses

TORONTO—In the first week of March, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) will take place in 13 cities across Canada and more than 40 cities internationally.

“When we first organized Israeli Apartheid Week in 2005, I don't think we comprehended this kind of growth,” says longtime Palestine solidarity activist Rafeef Ziadah.

IAW began as a project initiated by the Arab Students Collective at the University of Toronto in 2005. The IAW annual lecture series provides a space for discussion and education surrounding Israeli apartheid policies and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. In its sixth year, IAW has become an international movement, facing opposition as it gains momentum. Discussion themes this year include: BDS successes; “fighting racism, fighting apartheid;” the structural planning—environmental and architectureal—of apartheid; queer and feminist solidarity activism in the anti-apartheid movement; and national liberation movements, with particular focus on North America’s First Nations, Palestine and Venezuela.

In “Eroding Israel’s Legitimacy in the International Arena,” the Reut Institute describes the BDS campaign and IAW on campuses.

“The risk posed is that such campaigns will create an equivalency between Israel and Apartheid-era South Africa that penetrates the mainstream of public and political consciousness.” Apartheid Week organizers and BDS activists in Canada not only stress the similarities of these two systems, but also emphasize the importance of linking apartheid to other forms of systematic discrimination, such as the Canadian state's treatment of Indigenous communities.

Palestinian civil society issued a call for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, endorsed by over 170 Palestinian parties, organizations and trade unions representing Palestinians in Israel, the Occupied Territories and the global diaspora. Through the application of economic, political and diplomatic pressure on Israel, the BDS movement seeks Israel's compliance with international law and its recognition of the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination, and demands an end to Israeli occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and the dismantling of the Wall, the recognition of the fundamental rights of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality, and the protection and promotion of the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands.

Last year, Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff delivered a statement accusing Israeli Apartheid Week of going “beyond reasonable criticism into demonization.” The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition Combating Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) has also gone as far as accusing IAW of anti-Semitism. However, in his statement at the coalition’s fourth hearing, Assistant Vice President of Strategic Communications at the University of Toronto Robert Steiner asserted that “there is no evidence of generalized anti-Semitism on our U of T campuses, there is no evidence of Jewish students being systemically harassed and intimidated on our campuses.”

The opposition faced by the BDS movement, whether in the form of verbal harassment at events or bureaucratic hold-ups, is considered a byproduct of the growing international success of the campaign. In 2006, delegates at the CUPE Ontario convention voted almost unanimously on a resolution to support the international campaign against Israel until the right to Palestinian self-determination is recognized.

This support was further solidified in 2009 as the university sector of CUPE passed a motion in support of academic boycott. Over 80 professors and employees at colleges and universities in Quebec have signed a petition calling for a comprehensive campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions, including a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Most recently, Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) launched a divestment campaign at Carleton University following the lead of students at Hampshire College in the US, whose work led to the Board of Trustees divesting from six Israeli companies directly involved in human rights violations on February 7, 2009. SAIA's report exposes Carleton University's Pension Fund investments in five companies linked to Israeli's military. Inspired by this example, SAIA groups on Toronto campuses have initiated research with the aim of formulating a divestment plan for York University and the University of Toronto.

IAW organizers say it’s no surprise the movement started in Canada, pointing to Ottawa's blatant support for Israel's apartheid system. On January 12, 2009, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Canada was the sole nation to vote against demanding “urgent international action” to halt Israel's “massive violations” of human rights in Gaza. A recent report by Ottawa's Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) exposes Canadian complicity in equipping American warplanes and attack helicopters used by Israel.

Beyond its allegations of demonization and hatred, the Reut Institute document presented at the 10th Herzliya Conference also admits the growing success of the BDS movement. “Given Israel's dependence on vigorous trade, as well as scientific, academic, and technological engagement with other countries, this movement towards isolating the country may pose a strategic threat.”

Organizers hope this threat will pressure Israel into ending its apartheid policies and practices, as it did in South Africa 16 years ago.

A complete schedule of Israeli Apartheid Week with speaker biographies is available on the website.

Lama Shoufani is an undergraduate student in the Anthropology and Life Sciences departments at the University of Toronto. She is also a volunteer with the Ontario Public Interest Research Group.

Rafah Wall

Prisoners

Jews for Palestine

Stuart Neatby — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:21:11 +0000

Remembering the Nakbah

On May 15, the State of Israel turned 60. Celebrations around the world were held to mark Israel's Day of Independence. Remarked also for different reasons, this day has made a global impact under its other title, "the Catastrophe," or Al Nakbah in Arabic. It is mourned as a day that commemorates the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, as a result of which Israel is today a Jewish majority state.

Resistance to these celebrations has also taken place across North America under a campaign entitled “No Time To Celebrate: Jews Remember the Nakbah.” This activism demonstrates a growing Jewish presence within the movement to oppose Israeli policies, the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and the ongoing oppression of Palestinians. In Canada, this presence was strongly felt on March 29 when over a hundred representatives of various organizations joined at the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadian's (ACJC) conference. The aim of the conference was to create an effective and justice-oriented strategy for future collaboration of jews critical of Israel's policies.

A jewish stance in solidarity with Palestinians is particularly significant, given recent remarks by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Reminding the world of the Holocaust, Harper announced that Israel was "threatened by those groups and regimes who deny to this day its right to exist." Despite Israel’s refusal to acknowledge a Palestinian state, in deed if not in word, Harper further emphasized his alliance with the State of Israel by calling it "one of the most successful countries on earth... Israel truly is the ‘miracle in the desert.’”

"The source of Israel's strength and success,” continued Harper, “is its commitment to the universal values of all civilized peoples: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law." Post-Holocaust Jewish settlers in Israel, according to the Prime Minister, have "led the world back to the light."

Such flamboyant support stands in stark contrast to Canada's historical record of siding with the majority of the world, whose national representatives have consistently voted at the UN General Assembly for an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

During a teach-in held in Ottawa days before the anniversary of the Nakbah, Diana Ralph, Coordinator of the ACJC conference, reduced much of Harper's statements to little more than myths. Ralph broke down the logic in Harper’s speech, which proposed that all criticism of Israel was equated with anti-Semitism, that Israel was the only democracy in the Middle East, and that Arab and Jewish people hate each other.

“If this is a beacon of light onto nations,” said Ralph, referring to Harper’s position on Israel's settlers, “I think we need to turn out the lights."

Ralph's support for human rights in the Middle East went hand in hand with the outcome of the historic ACJC conference. The ACJC body has made a remarkable move in declaring its support for "a properly negotiated peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people" and opposing "any attempt by the Israeli government to impose its own solutions on the Palestinians."

The organization further recognizes the world's repeated calls for Israel to respect international law, particularly the 2004 International Court of Justice's ruling on post-1967 affairs in the region. The ICJ ruled that the so-called “Annexation Wall,” as well as the West Bank settlements, were illegal and demanded Israel pay reparation for "all damage caused by the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, includ[ing] in and around East Jerusalem."

Such international decisions have been amplified worldwide by opposition to the celebrations of Israel's 60th anniversary. In San Francisco, 20 Jewish activists were arrested while protesting their local community centre's celebrations of Israel@60. In New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, and dozens of other cities across the continent, organizers put together street theatre shows, die-ins, educational and media events, mournful vigils, and peaceful disruptions, all in solidarity with Palestine.

In Canada’s capital, Not In Our Name (NION): Jews Against Israel's Wars, which represents pro-justice Jewish voices in the Ottawa community, has linked with many others to form what has become the Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network (OPSN). On May 8, over 70 community members and activists joined to mourn outside the Ottawa Civic Centre where the local Israel@60 celebration took place. Continuing their visible support for understanding the real history of Israel/Palestine, OPSN held a teach-in on May 18 that posed the question of whether the 60th anniversary of the State's inception was indeed something to celebrate.

Samah Sabawi, a Palestinian refugee, presented the history and fallout of the 1948 Nakbah. She spoke of the 500 villages that were destroyed in the lead-up and in the midst of the 1948 War of Independence, a war that displaced 750,000 refugees. Today, the West Bank hosts over 500 checkpoints; the Israeli State controls all Palestinian access to water, land, and employment; and an “Annexation Wall” now segregates communities from each other. In places such as Qualqilia the wall completely surrounds entire villages, while the checkpoints reinforce a segregation system. Israeli-only settlements are interspersed in the West Bank among Palestinian farms, connected to one another and Israel-proper by Israeli-only roads which are heavily protected by walls, fences, and armed soldiers. Effectively, Sabawi explained, the Nakbah Catastrophe has never ended.

Ralph followed Sabawi's short history with a talk entitled "Which Side Are You On?" which emphasized the importance for Jews to stand for justice in Palestine. Ralph’s message was further amplified by Rabbi Dovid Feldman, who drew from the Old Testament to argue that traditional Judaism rejects the idea of Zionism. The philosophy of zionism, to which the creation of the State of Israel has been attributed has, according to Feldman, been countered by Jewish leaders since its very inception at the end of the 19th century. Rejecting the celebrations of Israeli Statehood, Feldman stated, "Every Israeli Independence Day, we have a day of fasting. It is a day of mourning."

Concluding the teach-in, Mazen Masri, a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and a PhD candidate at York University, spoke about the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Arising from Palestinian civil society, the BDS campaign began in the summer of 2005. The campaign calls for tactics similar to those which contributed to the official end of South African apartheid to be applied to Israel. The BDS campaign calls for the boycott of Israeli businesses by individuals, the divestment of international corporations from the Israeli economy, and the enforcement of sanctions by governments against the State of Israel until its apartheid policies end.

Days later, on May 20, a fundraiser held at the National Arts Centre (NAC) was sponsored by the Jewish National Fund and hosted by Israeli Ambassador to Canada Alan Baker, who was also the guest of honour. Baker has been under strict in recent weeks after making remarks that have been called discriminatory and racist against Muslim and Arab people. Baker argued that Canada should limit immigration of Muslim people on that grounds that they may alter Canadian demographics as well as Canada's overt support for Israel. In response, almost a hundred protestors crowded the doors of the NAC, including over twenty Haredi religious Jews as well as dozens of Israelis, secular Jews, Palestinians, and other supporters. A mock check-point was constructed and activists, dressed as soldiers, with the inscription "Israel Offense Forces" attached to their uniforms, controlled access to the entrance. Organizers billed this as a mild demonstration of the daily humiliation and delay to which Palestinians are subjugated.

In Toronto, on Sunday May 25, the UJA Federation’s annual ‘Walk with Israel’ was held. Advertised as a fundraiser for “programs for children and youth in Israel with a specific focus on those in Sderot and the Western Negev,” the event drew thousands of participants as well as approximately three dozen protesters. Holding a silent vigil on the outskirts of the Walk, the protestors were met with discriminatory remarks such as “go back to Jordan.” Some parents even stopped to demonstrate to their children that the men and women who were dressed in black to commemorate the Nakbah, were forever Israel’s enemy.

“I would kill another 800,000 of you!” one man yelled, referring to the 1948 ethnic cleansing.

In Israel/Palestine, 21,915 black balloons were released over Jerusalem to represent the number of days since the beginning of the Nakbah. Spearheaded by the Badil Resource Centre in Ramallah, the idea was part of an international campaign called "Justice is the Key to Tomorrow." The organization's website explains the reasons for which thousands worldwide have mobilized in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

"How can you celebrate?" the site asks. "The establishment of the State of Israel sixty years ago was a settler-colonial project that systematically and violently uprooted more than 750 thousand Palestinian Arabs from their lands and homes... These celebrations, by definition, insult our history, violate our rights, and deepen our oppression. They also render the path to justice, freedom, equality, and sustainable peace based on international law longer than ever before."

Rabbis for Palestine

NION