Action Alert: please sign today!

This weekend the Australian Labor Party will meet for their triennial conference.  And Palestine is on the agenda!  Please join the APAN campaign to send an email to the Labor leaders and your representatives for them to vote for a change!
 

Uniting Church unanimously votes for Palestine, including settlement boycotts

In an historic Australian decision, the Uniting Church National Assembly has voted to campaign on Palestine, and endorsed the call for settlement boycotts.  The resolution asks the church to engage with PIEN in preparing materials.

Read full resolution, and read the speech by outgoing President Andrew Dutney who presented the motion.

 

Urgent Action #2 - help save Susiya

The Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel have led a call out internationally for people to contact their local Israeli Embassy to help stop the demolition of the Palestinian village of Susiya, home to 340 Palestinians.  There is a High Court appeal on the 3 August against the demolitions, but the Israeli administration have said they will demolish structures before then.  Please read more and act.
 

News from and about Palestine

The United Church of Christ (USA) chooses to boycott and divest
The United Church of Christ, one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States, overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation or control of Palestinian territories, and a boycott of products from Israeli settlements. Read more. 

Interfaith trumps justice, Rev Naim Ateek letter to Bishops
The Rev Naim Ateek writes to the Episcopal Church Bishops after they voted not to divest from Israel. “Although I expected disappointing results from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA, I was, nevertheless, heartbroken when I heard the news and discovered that our Bishops, yet again have failed to take a stand for justice". Click here to download full letter.
 
Statement of Bishop Munib A. Younan concerning the arson in Tabgha
“We are saddened by the silence vis-à-vis these atrocities. To be silent is to allow the extremists including the perpetrators to turn us to hostages and pawns. We demand that all believers in God speak up and raise their voices to denounce hostile acts such as this venomous act.” Read full statement.
 
Israel orders half of Palestinian village demolished after Ramadan
Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of around half of the homes in a village south of Hebron to be carried out after Ramadan, Israeli watchdogs said on Wednesday. Rabbis for Human Rights and B'Tselem said in a statement that pressure from Israeli settlers had led to the decision to carry out demolition orders in the village of Khirbet Susiya after Ramadan, although a high court hearing regarding the case is currently scheduled for August 3. Read more.

Christians and Muslims eat together during Ramadan
Members of the Palestinian national force, and volunteers from churches have been going out onto the streets of Zababdeh, a town in Jenin Province in the northern West Bank, to offer packs of dates and bottled water to people unable to get home on time to break their fast. “It’s a simple gesture of care that is so appreciated by our Muslim brothers and sisters,” notes Bible Society Executive Secretary Nashat Filmon.  Read more.
 
Supreme Court reverses decision on Cremisan wall
The Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision on the 6th of July 2015, giving the Israeli Ministry of Defense the green light to begin building the separation wall in the Cremisan Valley in Beit Jala. This ruling limits the effect of the Court’s previous decision to stop building the separation wall in Cremisan. Read more.
 
Kairos Palestine’s statement on attempt to detain Archbishop Atallah Hanna
Archbishop Attallah Hanna asked Kairos Palestine to convey his sincere greetings and express his gratitude for the concern and interest about his safety and well-being following the attempt to detain him last Saturday by the Israeli forces. Summarizing the unpleasant incident he said: “Without belittling or blowing the incident out of proportion, I see it as an attempt to intimidate me, to scare me and force me into silence about the injustices perpetrated against the Palestinians". Read more
 
Israel takes over ship seeking to break Gaza blockade
The Guardian
Navy boards vessel carrying pro-Palestinian activists in a peaceful operation five years after the deaths of 10 people in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla Read more.

UN chief criticizes Israel over deaths of children in Gaza
Ynet News
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Israel for the death and suffering of Palestinian children during last summer's conflict in Gaza, reiterating his demand for the Israeli government to take immediate steps to prevent such killings. Read more.

Israel battles the boycotts
The American Conservative
Supporting boycotts or foreign sanctions has now been declared illegal for any citizen of Israel and the government is also taking aim at local human rights groups that it says are providing fodder for foreign critics. Read more.

Israelis, Palestinians would gain billions from peace
Associated Press
Israelis and Palestinians would gain billions of dollars from making peace with each other while both would face daunting economic losses in the case of other alternatives, particularly in the case of a return to violence, according to a new study. Read more.