The Vienna City Council has taken a number of unanimous decisions against anti-Semitism. In principle this is to be welcomed. However, the satisfaction is clouded by the fact that there is no resolution on the current aggressive smear campaign against Muslims. What is more, criticism of Israeli colonialism and the oppression of the Palestinian people is to be labelled anti-Semitic and subsequently even stopped. The anti-fascist basic consensus is thus turned against democracy and human rights, which should be equally enjoyed by all. The BDS boycott campaign, launched by Palestinian civil society according to the South African model, which aims to achieve nothing more than compliance with the relevant UN resolutions in a peaceful manner, is thereby placed in the … [read more]

In the poorest countries of the world, where hundreds of thousands of people die of hunger and diseases, many have celebrated the massacre of New York. Among those peoples who in the last decades have been suffering from all kinds of humiliations, aggressions, massacres and injustice, many have cheered in occasion of the twin tower collapse. They see the evil where the rich see the good. Only priests with fully stuffed stomachs could condemn these extreme sentiments of the damned of earth. In fact, the poor and miserable consider the USA and their allies as those responsible for their inhuman conditions of life, for the hopeless barbarism they have to suffer from. Are they wrong? The hypocrite governors of the US and the NATO states are threatening, cursing and crying that peace … [read more]

The conference was a breakthrough not only regarding the number of participants but first of all because of its quality. It indicates a political shift which in most western countries is already in full swing. The two-state solution is being recognized more and more not only as deception and farce but as an outright support for Israeli apartheid. This change is due to the dramatic impact of the continuing blockade of Gaza, the Israeli military aggression on Gaza in January 2009 as well as the massacre on the Gaza freedom flotilla. Outstanding orator was Ilan Pappé, an Israel historian teaching in England. He was setting the line: A Jewish state cannot be other than colonial oppressing the Palestinians. There is no such thing as progressive Zionism. On the contrary Pappé compared … [read more]

Equality – or nothing (Edward W. Said) The speakers were the Israeli historian Prof. Ilan Pappé from the University of Exeter (U.K.), Prof. Haidar Eid from the Al Aqsa University Gaza, Prof Mazin Qumsiyeh from Bir Zeit University Ramallah, the co-founder of the Internet Portal Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah, the Palestinian activist Lubna Masarwa, the international law expert from Hamburg Prof. Norman Paech, the journalist and human rights activist Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, Annette Groth MP from the parliamentary fraction of the left party (DIE LINKE), lawyer Jörg Lang, and Attia Rajab and Verena Rajab from the Stuttgart Palestine Committee. The jazz musician Gilad Atzmon supported the conference with his welcome address. The actress Julianna Herzberg and Samir Mansour with his … [read more]

Founded in 1983 the “Islamic Jihad” (IJ) has been the first Islamic organisation which took up arms and joined the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. It offered the first Islamic alternative to the secular project of Arafat even before the Muslim Brotherhood created Hamas and embarked on the armed struggle. The political difference between IJ and Hamas is that the first puts national liberation before the Islamisation of society. Inspired by the Islamic revolution in Iran its founder Fathi Shikaki (born 1951 and assassinated 1995 in Malta) absorbed many social and political elements not only from Shiite political Islam but also from the secular left and the Pan-arabist movement. His book “Khomeini: The Islamic Solution and the Alternative” which appeared in 1979 can be … [read more]

In total some 1,000 people attended. There was the Arab left represented by personalities like Omar Barghouti, the coordinator of the campaign for Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS), Jamal Jumaa of Stop the Wall, Heidar Eid (by video link from Gaza), a political leader of the campaign to lift the blockade, recognised across the factions, or Abd el-Latif Gheith, chairman of the prisoners support association Adameer from Jerusalem (also by internet transmission) – to name only a few. Ahmed Saadat, leader of the PFLP lingering in Zionist jail, sent an address. A good portion of the participants came from Abnaa el-Balad, “children of the land”, the engine of the committee for a secular democratic state. There were also several Jewish Israeli partcipants like the professors Ilan … [read more]

We thank the many hundreds of dedicated activists for the rights of the Palestinian people and for justice and freedom that made the long way from different parts of Palestine and from all over the world and shared with us their enthusiasm and insights through three long days of networking, discussions and commitment to struggle together for the just cause. We thank the many hundreds of organizations and individuals that couldn’t come to attend the conference but send us their warm greetings and supportive messages or signed the petition in support of the goals of the conference. We want to assure all of you that our common effort was not in vain. The conference was an important step forward for analyzing the roots of the racist regime, critically study many different experiences … [read more]

United against Israeli apartheid and colonialism The Second Haifa Conference for the Return of the Palestinian Refugees and for the Democratic Secular State in Historic Palestine (28-30 May 2010) The goals of the conference are to: • Raise awareness and interest in a solution based on the return of the refugees and the democratic secular state locally and internationally. • Provide a forum for the free exchange of opinions and experiences between the supporters of the project, leading to common activities. • Create follow-up and coordination mechanisms to build the movement. Lawyer Salma Wakeem, from the preparatory committee of the conference, sees the conference as “a qualitative step in the building of a world-wide progressive movement that is based on the … [read more]

Last week, the Secretary-General of the PFLP -through written answers to Reuters- has warned against more peace talks with Israel, saying a resumption of negotiations will not achieve Palestinian goals and deepen divisions among Palestinians. He said the Middle East conflict could only be resolved through the creation of a state shared by Palestinians and Jews. The talks proposed by the United States to revive the two-decade old peace process aimed to hide “American impotence” and US President Barack Obama’s failure to make good on promises of a new beginning with the Muslim world, he said. (sources: the News.com / … [read more]

* Stop ethnic cleansing. For the return of the Palestinian refugees to all the areas from which they were expelled. * Put an end to all forms of occupation, Apartheid, racism, discrimination and oppression. The Palestinian people should re-unite and live as a free nation in their homeland. * The returning refugees and all the residents of Palestine will live in one democratic state, without discrimination. This state will ensure human rights, equality, prosperity and full participation in building the new society for all its citizens. To ensure these rights, the prospective state will adopt a constitution that will prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, class or any other reason. We support the call for building an international … [read more]

In an interview with Reuters released on May 5, 2010, conducted in written responses obtained through his lawyer, Comrade Sa'adat emphasized that any negotiations will not achieve the objectives of the Palestinian people and will only deepen internal divisions. Comrade Sa'adat said that the establishment of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders and the right of return are considered a step towards the resolution of the historic conflict. However, he stressed that the indirect negotiations being pushed by the United States are only a cover for the "continuation of an Israeli policy built on the continuation of occupation." Comrade Sa'adat condemned any Palestinian participation in these indirect negotiations, asserting that they frustrate any attempt to restore national unity. Said … [read more]

Declaration of the Preparatory Committee of the Second Haifa Conference For the Return of the Palestinian Refugees and the Democratic Secular State in Historic Palestine Endorsed by the committee in its meeting in Jaffa, 9/4/2010 The Preparatory Committee The preparatory committee is a group of activists and individuals from different political movements and parties, human rights organizations, civil society and various sectors of public life such as the arts, academic research and culture. We have decided to work together to convene this conference out of conviction in the importance of its message. Why we call for the Return of Palestinian refugees and the Democratic Secular State? The Palestinian people suffer from the denial of their national and human rights, from … [read more]