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Protesters disrupted a lunchtime performance by the Jerusalem Quartet in London

BDS now | 29.03.2010 19:25 | Palestine | World

PRESS RELEASE

MONDAY MARCH 29TH 2010

1.30PM

Protesters disrupted a lunchtime performance by the Jerusalem Quartet in London today. The concert at the Wigmore Hall was being broadcast by the BBC.

They were protesting that the Quartet who are cultural ambassadors for the State of Israel, are promoting the interests of Israel and all its policies against the Palestinians, to the British public.

This protest comes the Day before the 2nd Global Day of Action on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel on 30th March 2010,

For more information contact 07765945596

Notes for editors:


To see the Palestinian call for the Second Global BDS Day of Action 30 March 2010 see www.bdsmovement.net

• The members of this Quartet are ‘cultural ambassadors’ for
Israel and the Israeli army. The Israeli Press Service says: ‘For
the three immigrants [3 of the Quartet came from Russia],
carrying a rifle in one hand and a violin in the other is the
ultimate Zionist statement’. Their record label hypes their
status within the army: ‘They now enjoy the status of
Distinguished IDF, playing for troops thrice weekly when the JQ
is in Israel.’


• For decades Israel has flouted international law, dozens of UN resolutions and the International Court by: stealing Palestinian land, building over 150 unlawful settlements (deemed illegal by the British and other governments) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and building its illegal Apartheid Wall.

The Israeli army keeps a military stranglehold over every aspect of life in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with repeated attacks on the Palestinian population – the latest in Gaza, with over 1400 deaths and terrible injuries to civilians including many children, and war crimes attested to by the UN and many human rights organizations.

Its latest ethnic cleansing activities in East Jerusalem flout international law and evict Palestinians from their homes while importing settlers in their place.

• The Palestinians are calling urgently for an international
consumer and cultural boycott after decades of failed talks. As
with Apartheid South Africa, we must respond – until Israel meets
its obligations under international law and a just solution is
agreed.

• As Aharon Shabtai, Israel’s greatest living poet, wrote
recently:
‘I do not believe that a State that maintains an occupation,
committing on a daily basis crimes against civilians, deserves to
be invited to any kind of cultural event. That is, it is
anti-cultural; it is a barbarian act masked as culture in the
most cynical way. It manifests support for Israel, and...that
sustains the occupation.’

BDS now

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  1. From the BBC message board re the protest — BDS er