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Why is south Africa still helping apartheid Isarael?

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Why is South Africa still helping apartheid Israel?

Sayed Dhansay

Sayed Dhansay is a South African writer and political activist who volunteered for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2006-2007.
 
 
A few weeks ago I departed from South Africa for the Gaza Strip in order to take up a short-term voluntary post with a humanitarian organization there. As the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is effectively the only passage in and out of the besieged territory, flying to Cairo was my only option in gaining access to Gaza.
 
The Egyptian border authorities controlling the Rafah crossing have varying and often arbitrary requirements that must be fulfilled by anyone wishing to enter Gaza, which change regularly and without notice. The latest requirement is that any non-Palestinian wishing to visit Gaza needs to obtain prior written permission from their embassy in Cairo. This is ostensibly to ensure that foreigners have received the relevant travel warnings from their respective embassies and to absolve the Egyptian government of any responsibility for their health or safety once in Gaza.
 
While this appears reasonable, as I learned over the next few days, it is actually designed to prevent the entry of foreigners into the Gaza Strip. At the South African Embassy in Cairo, I quickly realized that my government was conspiring with the Egyptian and Israeli siege of the tiny coastal territory. After repeated requests with various representatives, my embassy refused to provide the necessary permission for me to enter Gaza. Indeed, I was told that the embassy was under "strict orders directly from the South African government not to facilitate the travel of any South African citizen to Gaza via Rafah." Even when I contacted the South African Ambassador, Ms. Santo Kudjoe directly, my request for assistance was denied without any credible reasons. After this, the embassy simply began ignoring my telephone calls.
 
What enraged me further was that the embassies of every other country, except Sweden, were cooperating with their citizens and providing them with the necessary letters of consent. I personally saw American, French and Polish aid workers entering because they had the dreaded letter.
 

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Womens peace group launches boycott campaign of Isaraeli ahava cosmetics

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Women’s Peace Group Launches Boycott Campaign of Israeli Ahava Cosmetics

Company violates international law for use of West Bank resources

NEW YORK – July 21 – Following a dramatic, bikini-clad demonstration yesterday inside the beauty industry’s annual major Cosmoprof conference in Las Vegas, the leading women’s peace and justice group CODEPINK announces the launch of "Stolen Beauty," a boycott campaign against the Israeli cosmetics company, Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories. Through this campaign, CODEPINK plans to move the company — which sells its products in upscale shops, spas and salons worldwide — to end its exploitative, illegal practices and pressure Israel to end its violations of international law against Palestine and its people. "Ahava, which means ‘love’ in Hebrew, is hardly loving in what it’s doing in the Occupied West Bank," said Nancy Kricorian, main organizer of the "Stolen Beauty" campaign. "With its misleading packaging, shady exploitation of West Bank resources and more, Ahava violates international human rights’ laws and makes its profit on dirty products. By boycotting Ahava, one supports human rights and an end to a brutal occupation." CODEPINK, which in the past two months has already staged three demonstrations against Ahava in Israel and New York City (view photos and video here and of yesterday’s actions here), recently sent a fact-finding mission to the Ahava headquarters in the Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the Occupied West Bank. What they found made their skin crawl: its products produced on site in the Occupied West Bank are labeled of ‘Israeli origin’ even though, according to international law including the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, the West Bank cannot be considered to be part of the State of Israel. The company also exploits occupied natural resources for profit, which is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

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Christians in jerusalem want jews to stop spitting on them

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By Amiram Barkat

(source: Rise For Truth)

A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face.

The clergyman prefered not to lodge a complaint with the police and told an acquaintance that he was used to being spat at by Jews. Many Jerusalem clergy have been subjected to abuse of this kind. For the most part, they ignore it but sometimes they cannot.

On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop’s 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student.

Both were questioned by police and the yeshiva student will be brought to trial. The Jerusalem District Court has meanwhile banned the student from approaching the Old City for 75 days.

But the Armenians are far from satisfied by the police action and say this sort of thing has been going on for years. Archbishop Nourhan Manougian says he expects the education minister to say something.

"When there is an attack against Jews anywhere in the world, the Israeli government is incensed, so why when our religion and pride are hurt, don’t they take harsher measures?" he asks.

According to Daniel Rossing, former adviser to the Religious Affairs Ministry on Christian affairs and director of a Jerusalem center for Christian-Jewish dialogue, there has been an increase in the number of such incidents recently, "as part of a general atmosphere of lack of tolerance in the country."

Rossing says there are certain common characeristics from the point of view of time and location to the incidents. He points to the fact that there are more incidents in areas where Jews and Christians mingle, such as the Jewish and Armenian quarters of the Old City and the Jaffa Gate.

There are an increased number at certain times of year, such as during the Purim holiday."I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire Purim holiday," he says.

Former adviser to the mayor on Christian affairs, Shmuel Evyatar, describes the situation as "a huge disgrace." He says most of the instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City who view the Christian religion with disdain.

"I’m sure the phenomenon would end as soon as rabbis and well-known educators denounce it. In practice, rabbis of yeshivas ignore or even encourage it," he says.

Evyatar says he himself was spat at while walking with a Serbian bishop in the Jewish quarter, near his home. "A group of yeshiva students spat at us and their teacher just stood by and watched."

Jerusalem municipal officials said they are aware of the problem but it has to be dealt with by the police. Shmuel Ben-Ruby, the police spokesman, said they had only two complaints from Christians in the past two years. He said that, in both cases, the culprits were caught and punished.

He said the police deploy an inordinately high number of patrols and special technology in the Old City and its surroundings in an attempt to keep order.

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