Ruby Wax Pulls Out Of Israeli Independence Festival in London

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1. PRESS STATEMENT BY SCOTTISH PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
c/o Peace and Justice Centre, Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ  http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk
Ruby Wax Supports Racist Organisation Issued: 24 March 2004
For Immediate Release
Ruby Wax will be attending the Jewish National Fund dinner this coming Sunday evening (March 28th) at the Glasgow Hilton.

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is an extremist racist organisation which promotes the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians from their land.

The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign with other human rights campaigns is calling for a huge demonstration at the Glasgow Hilton.

The JNF has frequently broken the law by dispossessing peasant cultivators from their customary lands. Most of the lands acquired by the JNF since 1948 are lands which belonged to the refugees forced to flee in 1948 or lands expropriated by the government from Arab citizens. Once acquired by the JNF, land becomes an inalienable part of the Jewish national heritage -- that is, it may not be sold or leased to non-Jews.

The JNF has the right of first refusal when any public lands not owned by it outright are sold or transferred. The JNF has exclusive responsibility for land development. Non-Jews, regardless of their citizenship status, are not eligible for JNF services. This means they cannot lease or sublease JNF-owned lands and cannot work as hired laborers on these lands.

The JNF supports the occupation and helps to finance the illegal settlements in the territories. Since 1978 most JNF activities have been involved in acquiring and developing land for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The JNF has collaborated with the Israeli authorities in expropriating Palestinian lands, razing cultivated fields and bulldozing orchards, and denying equal access to water sources.

In December of 1998, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, under the aegis of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a scathing report on Israel’s violations of its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in both Israel and the territories it still occupies.

The magnitude and extent of this discrimination is further underlined by Israeli practices with regard to land ownership as evidenced in the activities of the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency. Although these organizations are chartered under private law, the Government of Israel works collaboratively with them, facilitating their activities and often exercising a decisive influence on their policies. As stated in the UN report, "the Committee notes with grave concern that the Status Law of 1952 authorizes the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency and its subsidiaries, including the Jewish National Fund, to control most of the land in Israel, since these institutions are chartered to benefit Jews exclusively."

The activities of these groups with regard to the land are particularly troubling. The Committee noted that "large-scale and systematic confiscation of Palestinian land and property by the State and the transfer of that property to these agencies constitute an institutionalized form of discrimination because these agencies by definition would deny the use of these properties to non-Jews. Thus, these practices constitute a breach of Israel’s obligations under the Covenant."

For further information please contact
Zahid Ali
Tel:07946 11 222 4
or
Mick Napier:
07803-244-739 / 0131-620-0052
E-mail:  palsolcam@blueyonder.co.uk , Tel:
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
c/o Peace and Justice Centre, Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ
www.scottishpsc.org.uk
Our Aims:
1. The withdrawal of the Israeli army from all the occupied territories.
2. An International Commission of Enquiry into Israeli massacres of Palestinian civilians.
3. The end to Zionist ethnic cleansing and the right of all refugees to return to their homeland.
4. The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

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2. PRESS STATEMENT BY SCOTTISH PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN
Issued: 27 March 2004
For Immediate Release
THREAT OF LEGAL ACTION FROM JNF
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign deplores the decision of the entertainer Ruby Wax to appear at a Jewish National Fund dinner in Glasgow this coming Sunday. We have called on all individuals and groups opposed to discrimination on ethnic grounds to join us in protest at this event.

As a result of some of our publicity for this protest, the SPSC has been threatened with legal action by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). A letter to our campaign from solicitors acting for the JNF is attached. They have demanded a full retraction and apology, as well as substantial damages and legal costs. None of this will be forthcoming. In addition, the SPSC web site at was temporarily disabled this week as a result of a complaint from the JNF to our service providers.

The content to which the JNF objected included the following quotes:
"Ruby Wax to support ethnic cleansing in Glasgow"
"the Jewish National Fund (JNF) raises funds for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians"
"The JNF is a quasi-official organisation of the Israeli state that exists to raise funds for the acquisition and development of land for Jewish settlement. As such, it provides one of the main mechanisms through which Israel's system of ethnic segregation and discrimination is enforced."

This final paragraph is a restatement of the findings of the 1998 report of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights. Paragraph 237 notes "grave concern that the status Law of 1952 authorizes the World Zionist organization/Jewish Agency and its subsidiaries, including the Jewish National Fund, to control most of the land in Israel, since these institutions are chartered to benefit Jews exclusively...The Committee takes the view that large-scale and systematic confiscation of Palestinian land and property by the State and the transfer of that property to these agencies constitute an institutionalized form of discrimination". (our emphasis)

As the report implies, the JNF has been a major beneficiary of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians perpetrated by the Israeli state. Following the removal of the inhabitants, the state "privatised" their lands by a transfer of ownership to the JNF and related bodies. Such lands may not under the JNF charter, be returned or even sold or leased to their original owners. Millions of Palestinians languish in refugee camps as a result.

According to Israeli historians, Josef Weitz, the head of the JNF lands division during the 1948 war, was directly involved in the forced removal of Palestinians. The following quote will suffice to indicate his thinking.

"There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to neighbouring countries ... all of them; not one village, not one tribe, should be left."

The impression one would gain from JNF publicity is of a benevolent charity whose main activity seems to be planting trees. The reality is very different.

The SPSC calls upon the Charities Commission to investigate the charitable status of the JNF and to verify that it meets the requirements of the charity commission.

The SPSC is a small organisation with limited resources which opposes all forms of racial or ethnic discrimination. We reject all attempts by the JNF to silence the voices calling for justice.

APPENDIX. THREAT OF LEGAL ACTION FROM JNF FOLLOWS:
Dear Sirs,

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

We act for the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a charitable organisation.

Today, 24 March 2004, we have been referred to an article on the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Website set up or caused to be set up by you on the World Wide Web system. On the Internet address you published the following words defamatory of our client:

"Ruby Wax to support ethnic cleansing in Glasgow"

"the Jewish National Fund (JNF) raises funds for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians".

"The JNF is a quasi-official organisation of the Israeli state that exists to raise funds for the acquisition and development of land for Jewish settlement. As such, it provides one of the main mechanisms through
which Israel's system of ethnic segregation and discrimination is enforced".

These words meant and would have been understood to mean that our client supports the unlawful expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from their homelands. This slur is particularly damaging because of the inference that our
client is abusing its charitable status. The allegation and the imputation
and/or inference are each entirely false.

Our client has never raised funds or used their funds for the purposes of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians or indeed of any ethnic group.

Your publication of these allegations on the Internet on a Website which is readily accessible to users of the system constitutes a very serious libel and has cause our client very serious embarrassment. The extent of the
damage caused to our client's reputation is evidenced by the fact that in the course of 2 ? hours your Website has been accessed over 100 times as recorded on the Websites' front page.

In the circumstances our client requires you to remove the Website or at least the words referred to above and any similar words or phrases. Also our client requires as a matter of urgency a full and unequivocal
retraction and an apology in terms to be approved by us together with an undertaking not to repeat these allegations. Our client is also entitled to substantial damages upon which we invite your proposals. In
addition, our client will also require payment by you of all legal costs it has incurred in this matter.

We look forward to hearing from you without delay. If we do not receive a constructive response to this letter by 12 noon on 25 March 2004 our instructions are to issue proceedings for damages, costs and to apply for
injunctive relief. In that eventuality, we would be obliged if you could indicate to us as quickly as possible the name and address of a solicitor who can accept service of proceedings on your behalf.

In the meantime our client reserves all of its rights.

Yours faithfully,
PHILIPPSOHN CRAWFORDS BERWALD
Samantha Thomas

Philippsohn Crawfords Berwald Solicitors Lawson House 294-295 High holborn
London WC1V 7JG Tel : +44 (0) 207 831 2691 Fax : +44 (0) 207 405 8629
email :  sct@pcblitigation.com
www.pcblitigation.com


This is an E-mail from Philippsohn Crawfords Berwald, Solicitors. The contents of this E-mail are confidential to the ordinary user of the E-mail address to which it was sent and may be privileged. No one else may
place any reliance on it or copy, disclose or forward all or any of it in any form. Our postal address is at Lawson House, 294-295 High Holborn, London WC1V 7JG at which address a list of our Partners may be inspected. If
you receive this E-mail in error, please notify us immediately.

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3. LETTER: From Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign to To Jewish National Fund
To: Jewish National Fund
We have received a letter from your lawyers threatening to sue us and demanding damages and apology from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign on the grounds that we have stated publicly that “the Jewish National Fund (JNF) raises funds for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians".

As you know, every word we have written is true and we look forward to meeting representatives of your racist organisation in front of a British jury. We will produce witnesses to verify that they personally have been, and remain to this day, the victims of ethnic cleansing by the Israelis, which is supported by the Jewish National Fund. They will testify that this ethnic cleansing has gone on for over 56 years and continues to this day.

Hell will freeze over before we part with one penny to your Fund, which would only go towards the further violation of the human rights of Palestinians.

Your demand for damages is an impertinence – your organisers deserve to be in prison for the human rights violations they have encouraged and supported.

We stand by our statement and many similar statements and will continue, with many others committed to opposing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, to publicise the evidence of your involvement in the world's longest-running, unfinished programme of ethnic cleansing.

The pathetic nature of your ‘case’ is made clear by your slight of hand, namely, that we implied that the JNF “supports the unlawful expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from their homelands.” Far from being unlawful, your atrocious violations of Palestinian human rights are perfectly legal in the racist State of Israel.

We are a campaign for the human rights of all; our supporters, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and many of no religious persuasion, are determined to see the end of a fund which violates in Israel/Palestine every generally accepted norm of human rights with the assistance of generous subsidies from Gordon Brown and the British taxpayer.

The JNF is the only group of organised racists we have corresponded with and it is not a pleasant experience. Please do not write back except to inform us of the date of the first court appearance.

Any decision on your part not to proceed with your threats of legal action will be taken as an admission that you are indeed, as we claim and insist, involved in racist activities and the ongoing programme of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Mick Napier Chair, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Caroline Greaney Secretary, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
c/o Peace & Justice Centre 2 Princes Street Edinburgh EH 2 4BJ 0131-620-0052 / 0780-32-44-739
www.scottishpsc.org.uk
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4. Ruby Wax has cancelled an appearance at Israeli independence festival in London. This follows a vigorous, 150-strong protest against her support for a JNF fund-raising event last Sunday at the Glasgow Hilton. Who is the other "world star" who will be celebrating Israel's crimes and ethnic cleansing in London on April 26th.

The Jewish Telegraph reported this week:
"Now she opts out of London date
Ruby Wax has sensationally pulled out of London's Yom Ha'atzmaut celebrations because she disagrees with Israel's politics. Speaking exclusively to the Jewish Telegraph in Glasgow on Sunday, the American-born entertainer said she would tell the organisers of Israel is our Future that she has no intention of participating.

"It's because I don't agree with what Israel just did," she declared, referring to the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Alan Aziz, chief executive of the Zionist Federation, one of a number of organisations behind the celebrations, told me yesterday: "Nothing has been received as yet from her".

But he said that they had met Wax and her agent.
ZF president Eric Moonman added: "Representatives of Ruby Wax and the Yom Ha'atzmaut organisers are discussing the interview with the Jewish Telegraph.

"No artiste would ever be asked to appear on a Yom Ha'atzmaut stage who was critical of Israeli policy and its people." He said that talks had been held with another world star "parallel to our negotiations with Ruby Wax" and he would be in London during the weekend of the event and prepared to fill the breach on Monday April 26." jewishtelegraph.com/glas_2.html

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5. FROM SCOTTISH PSC WEBSITE:  http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/Campaigns/cmp_jnf.html
The JNF - one fund or two?
On Sunday, March 28th, 2004, hundreds protested in Glasgow against a dinner organized by the Jewish National Fund, attended by the celebrity Ruby Wax. As a result of our publicity for this protest, the SPSC has been threatened with legal action by the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

[Click for more information]
The Jewish Telegraph web site carries an excellent report on this event:
["Jew warned Ruby off JNF" - Jewish Telegraph, 1st April 2004]
In it the following comments appear from the JNF UK chief executive Simon Winter:
"JNF UK wholly refutes the ongoing slander purported by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign are either confused, misinformed or wilfully misrepresenting the work carried out by JNF UK."

The double reference to "JNF UK" could possibly be interpreted as an attempt to distance the fund in this country from its Israeli counterpart. We would greatly welcome an unambiguous public statement from JNF UK expressing opposition to the thoroughly objectionable activities of the Israeli JNF.

Meanwhile we will discuss the UK version. The charities commission web site [click here] lists the beneficiaries of JNF UK as "people of a particular ethnic or racial origin". Let's examine how this works in practice.

What does JNF UK do?
The settlement at Be'er Milka
According to the JNF UK entry on the Smartchange web site [click here] :
"One of our main projects at the moment is to contribute to the building of a fledgling community in Israel’s Negev Desert. Be’er Milka is a proposed farming community in which each of the 100 families will be responsible for cultivating twenty acres of land. The base infrastructure is in place and water for irrigation will come from the nearby Nahal Lavan reservoir, recently built and completed by JNF UK, but the next phase – the building of the homes, hospitals, schools and gardens - is a critical stage in the project’s development and this is what we are aiming towards."

Be'er Milka is one of the first new Jewish settlements in the region known to Israelis as the Halutza dunes. It is widely believed that this area was offered to a future Palestinian state by the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the Camp David summit in 2000. This patch of barren desert was apparently offered in exchange for the annexation by Israel of a considerably larger area of Palestinian land in the West Bank, including the largest blocks of illegal Jewish-only settlements. It also appears that settlement in Halutza was one of the options proposed for Palestinian refugees at the subsequent Taba summit ([see this link] ) as part of a resolution of the most intractable issue of all in the Middle East conflict [More on the refugee issue] .

After he came to office Ariel Sharon initiated a programme of settlements in Halutza, including Be'er Milka. It has been suggested that part of his motivation was to destroy the chances of any land for peace deal ever being achieved with the Palestinians. For example an article in the leading Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz referred to:

"Sharon's idea of quashing the idea of swapping territory with the Palestinians"
and
"Sharon's demonstrative move to adopt the tried-and-true method of creating facts on the ground in order to neutralize an option outlined in the Beilin-Abu Mazen plan (for exchange of territory with the Palestinians)"

(Bogged down in the Halutza Sands", Ha'aretz, Ushpiz Ada, 13 July, 2001)
The following links also suggest that the Halutza settlements were conceived at least partly as a means of blocking peace moves:
[From the Jewish San Francisco web site]
[American committee on Jerusalem]
Ethnic discrimination in the Negev
Be'er Milka is described as a "religious settlement" in a Ha'aretz article published on December 20th, 2002 [click here] . This would certainly confirm that non-Jews are not welcome there. If this is the case, it would be consistent with JNF UK's classification on the charities commission web site [click here] which lists the beneficiaries as "people of a particular ethnic or racial origin".

The same Ha'aretz article gives considerable insight into the mindset of some of those involved in the establishment of new Jewish communities in the Negev. It appears that the same religious fanatics involved in the settler movement in the Palestinian occupied territories are active in the south, where the "demographic threat" comes from the local Bedouin Arabs:

"All the land-settlement movements have gone down the tubes...The only movement capable of creating settlements today is Amana" the settlers' movement in the (Palestinian occupied) territories and Or, its counterpart within the Green Line..."We have to bring a million Jews to the Negev in order not to lose it to the Bedouin. That is the Zionist challenge for the next 50 years. The Negev - and Galilee. And the only ones who come in their masses, to live with small children in places like these, in all kinds of `holes,' in mobile homes, without minimal conditions, are the religious Zionist guys"

(Shmuel Rifman, head of the local regional council, quoted in "New Frontiers" Ha'aretz, 20 December 2002)
However even the local religious settlers may be less racist than their secular neighbours. The Ha'aretz article carries the following quotes from Uzi Habshoush, a local kibutznik:

"Even the biggest leftists are aware of the Bedouin problem today. There is a high crime rate here. Drugs, violence, theft...They break in and steal everywhere...What's with you? Wake up. When was the last time you were at Golda's Park? On Saturdays, on weekdays, all you see is Bedouin. You come for an outing with the kids and you see hundreds of them kneeling in prayer."

Government policy: settlement and demolitions
The article makes clear that the new settlements within Israel form part of a government policy:
"to strengthen the Jewish hold in sensitive areas...(Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Natan) Sharansky's policy perfectly matches the well-known conception of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon has always urged the creation of Jewish territorial continuity in Galilee, along the "seam line" (the 1967 Green Line) and in the Negev. The underlying idea is in order to break up the formation of Arab-Bedouin, Arab-Israeli or Palestinian territorial continuity."

As new Jewish settlements have been established in the Negev, the Israeli government has accelerated the demolition of Arab houses. On the 15th of August 2003, Yair Ettinger reported for Ha'aretz:

"sources close to Sharon are speaking of an all-out war. "Our campaign to demolish illegal edifices is gaining momentum," they say with satisfaction. "The prime minister is following developments personally. Unfortunately, house demolition is not being carried out to the extent we would like because of legal restrictions..."

...Sharon's current campaign against illegal construction is being interpreted by leaders of the Arab public not just as a discriminatory policy, but as the first stage of a transfer plan..."

In the Israeli political lexicon the word "transfer" refers to the mass removal of Arabs from their land in order to alter the demographic balance in an area.

Many house demolitions in the Negev take place in the so-called "unrecognised villages". These are Arab communities, some of which are older than the state of Israel, which officially do not exist. This means that when the state prepares development plans it simply ignores them. When planning the extension of services such as water, roads and electricity, no efforts are made to provide services to these communities.

When evaluating the role of JNF UK in providing services to a settlement like Be'er Milka, it is important to understand this context.

JNF UK - some questions
Is JNF UK prepared to criticise publicly the policies of the Israeli JNF, which were criticised in the 1998 report of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights?

Settlements such as Be'er Milka in the Halutza dunes have been seen as part of a political plan to prevent a land for peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian leadership. Such settlements would also jeopardise the proposal that has come closest to creating agreement on a resolution of the Palestinian refugee isssue. In funding the Be'er Milka settlement, is JNF UK supporting the rejectionist agenda of the Sharon government, in direct opposition to the policy of the government of the UK?

Is Be'er Milka a religious Zionist community?
To what extent are potential residents selected on the basis of their ethnic identity?
What proportion of Be'er Milka residents does JNF UK expect to come from the local majority Bedouin population and why?
Why is JNF UK supporting the new settlement of Be'er Milka instead of providing services to existing Israeli communities in desperate need, such as the unrecognised Arab villages?

Should the people of the UK be providing a substantial subsidy to JNF UK through its beneficial tax status as a registered charity?

If you have an opinion on this final question, please raise your concerns with the bodies listed below:
The new Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR):
OSCR Investigations
Team Argyll House
Marketgait
Dundee
DD1 1QP
Tel: 01382 220 446
Fax: 01382 220 314
Email:  investigations@oscr.org.uk
The Charity Commission for England and Wales:
Harmsworth House
13-15 Bouverie Street
London EC4Y 8DP
Fax: 020 7674 2300
Email:  enquiries@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk