The indigenous peope of the Negev, the Bedouin, face massive displacement and dispossession by the Israeli state. JfJfP is committed to speaking up for their rights. One way anyone can do this is to sign the petition set up by Care2, an online network to help connect activists and causes. anywhere in the world.

Sodastream is an Israeli company which makes devices for turning tap water fizzy and syrups to flavour the water. Its main production plant is in the West Bank settlement of Mishor Adumin and so has attracted a growing boycott campaign. The company has called on the aid of Edelman, global American PR agency with clients including News International and Twitter. It hasn’t helped. News release and article

The third annual conference of the Palestinian branch of the BDS movement was held in Hebron last Saturday, 17th December. Debates among the 450 participants debated encouraging, discouraging and difficult aspects of the campaign. Different reports from IMEMC and PNN, plus brief news on a London BDS event last month

The OWS assembly forced fierce thinking on antisemitism, power within diaspora Jewish communities, and collusion with Israeli power over the Palestinians. Young, Jewish and Proud – see above posting – issued a declaration calling for the occupation of Jewish institutions that obstruct human rights for Palestinians.

JfJfP is supporting the annual lobby of parliament, organised by PSC. We need your help to tell Parliament to help end the siege on Gaza, to act now on Jerusalem and to stop arming Israel…

In some eyes, the Palestinians are a single body, wholly crushed, or wholly dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Driven by a desire to find out, Arthur Neslen interviews many different Palestinians about their lives and ideas. In an extract from chapter 1, we find out why 15 year-old Abdul says “I just want to be a shahid. I want to die, because so many other people have died. I don’t have a future”.

The slogan of the Occupy protesters on Saturday was ‘Human need before corporate greed’. In London and New York the focus has been on the financial centres which for known, historic reasons have high-profile Jewish-owned firms. The US right used this to condemn the protest as anti-semitic. Tthere have undoubtedly been some anti-semitic displays – Ynet news, 2, – their charge also rests on a sighting of ‘the anti-Israel’ Code Pink and ‘other Arab’ groups’. 3, list of Code Pink founders and staff and link to page with their pictures and biographies.
Perhaps Ynet is confusing the semitic faces of the Jewish members with Arab ones.

The Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike continues. Please consider signing the petition of support, disseminating information about the strike and sending messages to the the Israeli embassy, the International Committee of the Red Cross and to other human-rights organisations asking them to act swiftly to demand that all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees are freed from punitive isolation

Many Bedouin have lived in the Negev for centuries, with clear ownership rights. But these are not recognised by Israel which wants the land as an agricultural resource. The Bedouin are thus being evicted and deported to towns, with predictable consequences. Dr. Awad Abu Freih of �Recognition Now’ and others speak at venues across Britain

It has been a long-running scandal that young Palestinians over age 15 are tried in military courts. After extensive lobbying, formal complaints and reports – such as that from Defence for Children International, from which there is an extract 2nd- Israel has agreed to bring its law into line with other developed countries This move is welcomed by Caabu, 1st post, and by JfJfP.

A split has opened on Palestine at the UN between J Street, founded 2008 to press for American diplomatic leadership in resolving the Israel/Palestine conflict (3), and less-establishment peace groups, represented here by Tikkun, founded 1986 as a new voice for the Jewish left. (1) and their petition of support for the bid, (2)

Here three individual Jewish Americans, all ‘friends of Israel’ argue why it is in the best interests of Israel to support the Palestinian request for UN recognition. 1, Jerry Haber of Magnes Zionist, 2, Yossi Alpher, co-editor of bitterlemons.net and writer for Americans for Peace Now, 3, Rachel Biale, Jewish community activist in the Bay Area, SF

The reaction of establishment Jewish groups to the PA’s statehood request at the UN has been uniformly hostile – though not to the point of demonstrating – item 4. Jewish groups in Britain independent of the British or Israeli states are more likely to welcome the initiative. JfJfP associates itself with the statement from Independent Jewish Voices, 1. The new group Yashad, 2, also welcomes the bid. The American Jewish Voice for Peace, 4, is divided but opposes the US’s use of its veto in the Security Council

Rare and immense applause for Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the UN is reported, along with some diplomatic repercussions, in the NY Times, Al Jazeera, AFP, and New Middle East News. Last, the manifesto for a Palestine state, signed so far by over 80 leading Israelis

The suspension of 4 members of the LPO – see Musicians punished for public criticism of Israel, this page – has shocked many in the cultural industries in particular. Posted here the letters that have been printed – 1 Daily Telegraph, 2 The Times, 3 & 4, Guardian, 5 JfJfP The Independent

What did the Proms protest achieve? First, two blogs from Zionist Federation co-chairman Jonathan Hoffman (who was ejected from the concert for waving an Israeli flag) then a hard-argued debate between the editor of Israeli Occupation Archive and critics including Tony Greenstein

On September 3, 1 million Israelis are expected to march for social justice, democracy and equality- all devastating lacks in today’s Israel. The New Israel Fund has launched a petition of support – letter of invitation 1), preamble and petition 2). Jewish Forward on NIF support for the protest, 3)

JfJfP signatory Dan Judelson has lodged a petition on the new government website calling for the UK government to recognize Palestine as a state and support its admission to the UN in September. If you are a British resident or citizen, please e-sign the petition.
Thursday 18th August, 6.00pm: this petition is supported by The Amos Trust, City Circle, The Green Party, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, One Voice, Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine and Unison

Nadia Hihab is co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network and is on the advisory board of US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. The BDS campaign, initiated and led by Palestinian civil society, is the best alternative to ‘a sterile, U.S.-Israeli led process’ and a means for Palestinians to work together. All can support it, she argues, as a means to Palestinian self-determination

European Jews for a Just Peace – of which JfJfP is a member body – has issued this statement supporting the activists making for the West Bank and Gaza by sea and air, a legal exercise of freedom to travel, and condemns the efforts of Isaeli authorities to stop them