This posting combines three separate but linked episodes of cultural boycott. 1 and 2, responses to the feverish (Nazi book-burning) reaction to the letter of protest at the invitation to Habima to perform at the Globe, London. 3 and 4 are reports of the 2010 decision by 60 leading Israeli theatre people and by Israel’s 4 best-known authors to boycott performances at settlements – where Habima has been happy to perform. 5 and 6 are about the successful 1987 campaign, to which Arnold Wesker was a signatory (he changed his mind in 1999), to get Jim Allen’s play Perdition banned.

As in the post below by Ramzy Baroud, Rabab Abdulhadi is wondering about how Palestinians should organise themselves for liberation. Acting on the principle of the indivisibility of justice – meaning how Palestinian you are is not a criterion for belonging – she looks at a variety of struggles — from armed resistance through BDS to ‘stay-puts’ against eviction – all behind the leadership of a reinvigorated PLO.

ANC veterans advise: Palestinians themselves must initiate solidarity action. But which Palestinians? Ramzy Baroud excoriates the ‘quisling’ Palestinian Authority. Not Hamas, not the PA, no longer the PLO. There are popular movements like BDS, but no political leadership to protect Palestinians from Israeli depredations. Only an absence which solidarity movements can’t fill.

On 26 March, Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, introduced a Commons debate (albeit at 11pm) on the humanitarian issues in Jerusalem. This prompted a clear statement by minister Jeremy Browne that ‘Israel has particular obligations under international law as the occupying force’ which it was not fulfilling. The debate was prompted by a PSC petition supported by JfJfP amongst others urging action against the eradication of Palestinian life in the city

The sale by Germany to Israel of a sixth nuclear submarine was reported by the Israeli press (4, Ynet) – but not by many others. Gunter Grass’s poem brought much wider coverage But the horde of pro-Israeli bloggers attacked him and ignored the (subsidised by Germany) sale. Two blogging defenders (1 and 2) and a telling table from Juan Cole, (3)

In a new study Nu’man Kanafani and Ziad Ghaith use all available methods to estimate the economic flows between the settlements and the three complimentary players: Israeli government, private sector and Jewish organizations. Here we post one chapter on the huge and complex subsidies to the settlements which should make citizens of Israel-proper angry in their own right. Tables have been omitted but noted.

Norman Finkelstein has announced that he has given up ‘Israel bashing’, not because his critique has changed but because public opinion has. Claiming that this shift is due to ignorance, the Israeli government has poured more money into propaganda. It’s not working and Finkelstein thinks that once the blind defence of Israel in the west breaks up, there is hope for resolution. And his views on BDS? Read on…

The report for 2011 by B’Tselem, the human rights organisation, does not record dramatic events of mass violence. It provides, in dry detail, how abuse – slaps, kicks, insults, arrests, detention without trial, the appropriation of parcels of Palestinian land, the absence of legal redress or accountability, the casual bestowal of injury and humiliation on Palestinians by young IDF soldiers – is the order of every day.

The ideal of Zionism was realised through military power and since Israel’s foundation, writes Uri Yaakobi Keller, the country’s rulers have been obsessed with maintaining their military power, including with the nuclear bomb, at the expense of any thought about the consequences. This period of an American presidential election is particularly dangerous.

German citizenship is becoming the political identity of choice for thousands of Israelis as well as a growing number of American and Russian Jews. The reasons given are freedom, safety, cultural richness and cheap rents. And for some it is a way of of recovering a tradition that was stolen from them.

‘This general silence on the facts, before which my own silence has bowed, seems to me a troubling lie, and compels me toward a likely punishment’. Gunter Grass speaks out against Israel’s nuclear power and threatening words, knowing he will be ‘punished’ Here the original German poem (1), and English translation (2), report from the Jerusalem Post (3), commentary from Larry Derfner (4), and news report from Ha’aretz (5).

Sheikh Raed Salah, invited to Britain for a speaking tour, was arrested shortly after he arrived on an order from the Home Secretary, made on secretive and highly dubious grounds. JfJfP was one of several bodies which protested at this high-handed behaviour. Now with all the information available to a court, Salah has won his appeal and the Home Secretary has been reprimanded. JfJfP welcomes the court’s decision.

!n 1995 Yossi Beilin and Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) drew up the framework agreement between the PLO and Israeli government which was to lead to the establishment of two states. Here Beilin argues that it has been sabotaged by extremists on both sides and Abu Mazen should and could declare the end of the Oslo peace accord and break the deadlock by winding up the PA. Apart from +972 there has been no response in the region.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Amnesty International called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Operation Cast Lead for war crimes committed by both sides. The Prosecutor’s office has rejected this because the PA is not a state party. Amnesty argues the decision should be made by jurists, not taken from a blocked political process and calls on the Prosecutor to reconsider the decision.

Jews for Justice for Palestinians wish all our signatories, supporters and readers a Happy Passover and Happy Easter – where these can be observed in peace and freedom. But in Israel and the West Bank the festivities bring new restrictions for both Muslims and Christians. News and opinion from PNN, the Washington Post and +972 . In his Easter sermon about God acting in the world the Archbishop of Canterbury urges all concerned in Israel/Palestine to make room for those who believe in a God who acts for empathy and reconciliation as well as justice

The invitation to Israel’s Habima theatre company by the Globe theatre to perform at its Cultural Olympiad has sparked a number of protests, most recently by a group of theatre people. This week, other writers and actors hit back arguing that art builds bridges and ‘addresses our unaligned humanity’ and such boycotts are like ‘Nazi book-burning’..

Leehee Rothschild, an Israeli activist against the occupation describes her treatment by Israeli security staff at Luton airport. This is not the first time she has been subjected to harassment by security forces – a report from Al Jazeera from 2011 2nd. And to throw light on why she’s seen as an enemy of the state, an interview with her by International Socialist Group, also 2011.

Obama won amost four fifths of the Jewish vote at the last election – and most plan to stay with him because of his stance on social questions. Israel has little salience as a voting issue amongst Jewish Democrats reports the Jewish Forward.

Nine years ago someone asked if the ancient mitzvah (religious command or duty) to rape gentile women in war still applied. Rabbi Eyal Qarim wrote that it did – because all Israel’s wars were mitzvot and thus any law should be broken if it helped the cause. The rabbi is now an IDF Colonel in the Military Rabbinate. The IDF today, of course, angrily denounces this judgment. It is of interest that any rabbi could hold these beliefs – and that the IDF should promote such a man to a senior position.

Mayssun Sukarieh reviews a new book by Khalil Nakhleh which explores from the inside how the PA facilitated the rise to wealth and prominence of a Palestinian elite which has made its money through firms linked to global capitalism – mainly the ex-pats who went to the Gulf states. NGOs (creator of a middle class) helped solidify this class structure. The reviewer questions the values of the author.