Sixty Years of Dispossession and Ethnic Cleansing Boycott the "Israel at 60" Celebrations!

Palestinian Appeal to International Civil Society

How can you celebrate? 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.
Sixty years ago, Zionist militias and gangs ransacked
Palestinian properties and destroyed hundreds of
Palestinian villages. How can people of conscience
celebrate this catastrophe?

Israel at 60 is a state that continues to deny
Palestinian refugees their UN-sanctioned right
to return to their homes and receive compensation,
simply because they are "non-Jews." It still illegally
occupies Palestinian and other Arab lands, in violation
of numerous UN resolutions. It persists in its blatant
denial of fundamental Palestinian human rights, in
contravention of international humanitarian
law and human rights conventions. It still subjects its
own Palestinian citizens to a system of institutionalized
discrimination, strongly reminiscent of the defunct
apartheid regime in South Africa. And Israel gets away
with all this, thanks to the unprecedented immunity
granted to it by the unlimited and munificent US and
European economic, diplomatic, political, and
academic support.

In view of this multi-faceted oppression that is
the reality of Israel today, we regard any Arab or
international participation, whether individual or institutional,
in any activity that contributes, either
directly or indirectly, to the "celebrations" of
Israel's establishment, as collusion in the perpetuation
of the dispossession and uprooting of
refugees, the prolongation of the occupation, and the
deepening of Israeli apartheid. Inviting Israel as a
"guest of honor" to the Turin
and Paris book fairs, for example, is not only a deliberate
betrayal of basic principles of human rights, including those
enshrined in the laws of the European Union itself, but is also
a deliberate attempt to cover up Israel's crimes against the
Arab people, especially its successive war crimes in Lebanon and
Palestine, and its acts of slow genocide against a million and a half
Palestinians in the besieged and collectively punished Gaza Strip.
In short, celebrating " Israel at 60"
is tantamount to dancing on Palestinian graves.


We urge international civil society in all its components,
particularly institutions and individuals working in the arts,
academia, sport, trade unions, and communities of faith to
boycott the "Israel at 60" celebrations wherever they are
held in the world. 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.

*Institutional Endorsers*:

- Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

- Department of Refugee Affairs - PLO

- Jerusalem-The Arab Cultural Capital Project, Jerusalem

- Higher National Committee for the
Defense of the Right to Return

- The General Union of Palestinian Women

- Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions,
PGFTU

- Palestinian Farmers' Union

- Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS), Gaza

- Federation of Palestinian Refugee Camp Youth Centers

- Higher National Committee for the Commemoration
of the Nakba, Palestine

- Refugee Affairs Department, Mobilization and
Organization, Fatah Movement

- Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)

- Ittijah-Union of the Arab Community Based
Organizations, Haifa

- Palestinian Lawyers' Syndicate

- Palestinian Journalists' Association, Jerusalem

- Palestinian Engineers' Syndicate, Jerusalem

- Union of Palestinian Women's Committees,
UPWC, Ramallah

- Stop the Wall-the Grassroots Palestinian
Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign

- Union of Employees at Private Schools-West Bank

- Association of Residents of Depopulated Villages
and Cities, Ramallah

- General Federation of Cultural Centers, Gaza

- Jerusalem Center for
Social & Economic Rights JCSER, Jerusalem

- Federation of Independent Workers Committees, Gaza

- League of Palestinian Refugees in Europe

- BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian
Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem

- Occupied Palestine Golan heights
Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI)

- Al-Aswar Organization for Cultural and
Social Development, Acre

- University Teachers Association, Gaza

- Joint Advocacy Initiative of the
YMCA-YWCA (JAI), Jerusalem

- General Union of Health Service Workers, Gaza

- Aida Refugee Camp Social Center, Aida Refugee Camp

- A'idoun Group, Syria

- Palestinian Community in Scandinavia

- Canadian Arab Federation

- Palestinian Counseling Center, Jerusalem

- Land Research Center, Palestine, Jerusalem

- Muwatin the Palestinian Institute
for the Study of Democracy

- Palestinian Association of Brantford--Canada

- Center for the Defense of Freedoms
and Civil Rights (Hurriyat)

- Wihdah Democratic Action Institute
(Wa'ad)--Bethlehem

- Federation of Agricultural Action Committees

- Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver

- Addameer, Ramallah

- Ma'an Development Center, Ramallah

- Gaza Center for Culture and Arts

- Voice of Palestine, Canada

- Canadian Palestinian Association, Ontario, Canada

- Taghrid Association for Culture,
Development and Reconstruction, Gaza

- Jabalya-al-Nazaleh Cultural Center,
Jabalya Camp, Gaza

- Federation of Agricultural Work Committees, Gaza

- Turathuna Charitable Society, Gaza

- The Popular Committee at al-Burayj Camp, Gaza

- El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance
Troupe, Al-Bireh

- Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in
the Middle East, New York

- General Union of Services and Trade
Workers, Gaza Governorates

- The National Council of Arab Americans
Metropolitan New York Chapter, NY

- The Arab Muslim American Federation

- The Palestinian American Congress, New York

- Dramatists' Federation

- Society for the Development of Women,
al-Burayj Camp, Gaza

- Yanbou' Cultural Forum, al-Reina

- Palestinian Human Rights Monitor
(Rassid), Gaza

- Yabous Productions, Jerusalem

- The Arab Student Observatory of Victims of
Occupation and Blockade of
the General Union of Arab Students (GUAS)

- Arab Culture Society

- Al-Siwar-Arab Feminist Movement to Support
Victims of Sexual Assault, Haifa

- Popular Art Centre, Al-Bireh

- Federation of Working Women's Committees

- Palestinian Federation of Women's
Action Committees

- Al-Najda Association for the Development of
Palestinian Women

- Teacher Creativity Center, Ramallah

- Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA)

- Al-Quds Information Bank, Gaza

- Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling,
Ramallah

- The Palestinian Working Women's Society
for Development

- Jimzo Charitable Society

- Al-Lidd (Lydda) Charitable Society,
Ramallah-Al-Bireh Governorate

- Al-Lidd (Lydda) Social Association, Beitunia

- Lifta Charitable Society, Palestine

- Committee of Residents of Greater Masmiyya,
Ramallah-Al-Bireh Governorate

- Falsteen Al Gaad association –
Deheisha refugee camp

- Meethaq Center for Development, Alkahder

- Women Development Center, Addoha, Bethlehem

- Al Feeneeq Center, Duheisheh Refugee Camp

- Palestinian Progressive Youth Union, Gaza

- Palestinian Women's Information and
Media Center, Gaza

- Said Mishal Foundation for Culture and
Science, Gaza

- Assala Association for Heritage and
Development, Gaza

- Jerusalem Center for Arabic Music, Jerusalem

- International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah

- Juthourr Cultural Society, Gaza

- Women's Research and Legal Counseling Center, Gaza

- Media Forum for Women Affairs Advocacy, Gaza

- Palestinian Cultural Center, Gaza

- Refugees Popular Committee, Gaza

- Workers Resource Center, Gaza

- Progressive Union Work Society, Gaza

- Friends of An-Nour Center Society, Gaza

- Al-Aqsa Charitable Youth Welfare Society, Gaza

- The One Democratic State Group, Gaza

- Arab Cultural Forum, Gaza

- Palestinian Democratic Union-Fida

{From Marlene}

Palestine: Pre-1947

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjEBQ_bE7uA

About this video:

"The old lie that palestine was dry desert waiting
for a people is just that--a lie. This clip for all people
to see the Beauty of the Palestinian People before
they were ethnically cleansed and murdered and
made into refugees by the State of Israe.
Music Joaquin Rodrigo, lyrics Helmut Lotti,
sung by Lotti
All Photos (b&w) from http://fai.cyberia.net.lb/ "

"Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled
to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against
tyranny and oppression, that human rights should
be protected by the rule of law" (From Preamble to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948)