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"We're like Firemen", a guest post by Paul Rehm
By mickielynn on 2013-05-01 07:59:01
We’re Like Firemen. 31 of us, representing national and international NGOs, gathered in the Hebron RC conference room
earlier this month [April 2013]. The increasing number of children being seized here by Israeli soldiers — 27 in one day, last
month [March of 2013] — drew us together. What could we do to reverse the trend and end the IDF’s abuse of Palestinian
children? The Israeli military pays no attention to Articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- which
are supposedly binding on all member states of the United Nations -- or to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
was ratified by the government of Israel in 1991. The US government pays scant attention to Israel’s violations of those
agreements or to the organizations that have reported on what happens to children held in Israeli military custody. Most
other UN member nations do little more than mount the podium occasionally and call on Israel to stop violating the rights of
Palestinian children. Does the fact that this charade has been going on for decades send any message but that Israel can —
with impunity — do whatever it chooses with the lives of children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories? [caption
id="attachment_4355" align="aligncenter" width="480"]|»JMG_5965 going to school under occupation in Hebron
Everyday journey to school in occupied Palestine, photo by Alice Brody[/caption] Governments continually fail these
children. The NGO representatives seated round the table were struggling with ways to help. Proposals like “expose the
Israeli violations against children,” follow up legally on behalf of the children who were seized, and provide “treatment and
therapy for the children” were discussed. Listening to these ideas that have been discussed and acted on over the years, it
struck me we were like firemen trying to douse a raging fire, while other more powerful actors pour fuel on that fire.
[caption id="attachment_4354" align="aligncenter" width="480"]
\ . . i) 7 ~ ot = nr ae “de
— __.___ Palestinian children going to school in Hebron,
photo by Alice Brody[/caption] Of course, Sit’ S important t to continue trying to put out the flames; but isn’t it time to stop
those who add fuel to the fire? In addition to the Israeli government, two major arson accomplices are the US government,
which funnels three billion of our tax dollars to the Israeli military every year, and the corporations that support and profit
from the Occupation. When other nations condemn the apartheid policies of the Israeli government, the US government is
silent. When the Israeli government imposes collective punishment that hurts Palestinian children, the US government is
silent. When respected international organizations like UNICEF, Defense for Children International, Christian Peacemaker
Teams, the YMCA and Save the Children expose the damage done to children by the Israeli government, the US government
responds with little more than finger shaking. We write letters to politicians and to newspapers, we share information far and
wide; but we have to do more to make those who are feeding the fire change their ways. We need to apply economic
pressure to end the occupation and the IDF’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Boycotts and divestments can
stop those who are fueling the fire. Don’t buy items like Ahava cosmetics and Soda Stream carbonation units...products
produced in illegal Israeli settlements. Contact those who sell such products and ask them to sell alternative competing
products instead. If you or organizations you’re part of, hold stock in companies profiting from the occupation and its
illegal settlements (Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Cement Roadstone, for example), divest from those companies and tell
them why you’re divesting. Do we now have the will to stop those responsible for torching the lives of Palestinian children?
[caption id="attachment_4353" a ee Check vie Ami
children going to school under occupation. Photo by Alice Brody[/caption] Paul Rehm is is amember of Christian
Peacemaker Teams who has been working in the occupied Palestinian Territories for many years. He lives in the Capital
District when he's not traveling. Worldwide campaigns for divestment and boycotts of companies supporting the occupation
and military abuses and the illegal presence of settlements continue to gain momentum. Here are just a few examples: UC
Berkeley student senate votes to divest from companies that profit from Israeli Occupation Thursday April 18, 2013 by
IMEMC News Staff
After a ten hour debate that began Wednesday evening and continued through the night, the Student Senate at
the University of California — Berkeley voted to divest University funds from three companies that profit from
Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [...] ...Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Cement
Roadstone Holdings. According to the bill, these companies provide equipment, materials and technology to the
Israeli military, including bulldozers and biometric identification systems.”
Read more here 100 American academics call for boycott of Israeli settlements
More than 100 American professors and teaching staff at Columbia University have called for five American
companies to withdraw their investment in Israeli jails over "breaches of human rights in the occupied
Palestinian territories," the website of Israeli TV channel 7 said. The companies that invest money from the
American Pension Fund included Motorola, a company which manufactures unmanned aircraft vehicles, and a
company that supplies Israel with apache and F 16 fighter jets. [...]
Read the complete article here: EU Countries to Label Products From Israeli Settlements Akiva Eldar, Al-Monitor Israel
Pulse, April 19
As the United States attempts to renew the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians, the European
Union is adopting tougher measures toward Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Al-Monitor has learned that 13
member states, including Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands, have decided to label the products
imported from the settlements. On April 12, in a letter sent to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs
Catherine Ashton, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Monitor, the foreign ministers welcomed the call by
Lady Ashton on Feb. 22 to the 27 EU foreign ministers for full enforcement of EU legislation regarding the
labeling of products from Israeli settlements. "This step is in fulfillment of our previous commitments and is
fully consistent with longstanding EU policy in relation to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian
territories," they wrote. [...]
Continue reading this article here. May 27, 2013: Here are two photos to accompany Paul's reflections on the detention of
Palestinians trying to pray, comment #13 to read the story: [caption id="attachment_4463" align="alignleft" width="600"]
lw..Photo to accompany Paul Rehm's reflections on Palestinians detained while trying to pray. Young men praying, by Paul
Rehm
Photo to accompany Paul Rehm's reflections on Palestinians detained while trying to pray. Young men praying, by Paul
Rehm|[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4464" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
detained on the way to daily prayer, photo by Paul Rehm, April 2013[/caption]
