A lawsuit has been filed in a US court seeking to stop non-profit groups from sending billions of dollars worth of tax-exempt donations to support illegal Israeli settlements and the Israeli army. A group of American citizens filed the suit on December 21 against the US Department of Treasury, claiming about 150 non-profits have sent an estimated $280bn to Israel over the past two decades.
In this policy brief, Al-Shabaka Policy Fellow Nur Arafeh and Policy Advisors Samia al-Botmeh and Leila Farsakh debunk Israel’s arguments by demonstrating the devastating impact Israel’s settlement enterprise has had on the Palestinian economy, dispossessing Palestinians of their land, water, and other resources and creating mass unemployment.
In a months-long investigation, Haaretz correspondent Uri Blau analyzed thousands of documents from the tax reports of U.S. charities that support Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These charities, known as 501(c)(3) organizations under the Internal Revenue Code, are granted tax-exempt status by U.S. authorities and donors to them can claim a tax deduction on their gift.
THE prize-winning Psagot Winery in a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem has become a favourite destination in recent years for right-wing Israeli and American politicians, eager not just to quaff Cabernet but also to score political points by highlighting the return of the Jews to their biblical homeland.
The Palestine Center’s 2015 conference examines multiple aspects of the current situation, focusing on the context and representation of Palestinians in the media, regional and international politics, and the United States. Internationally renowned scholars, activists, journalists, and practitioners analyze factors on the ground and larger policies in four panels.
Dr. Shira Robinson traces how Jewish leaders struggled to advance their historic settler project while forced by new international human rights norms to share political power with the very people they sought to uproot.
Yousef Munayyer: The most central and persistent theme is the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. During intifadas, not during intifadas, during peace talks, not during peace talks, it didn’t matter. For the Israelis, every year was a good year to build more settlements.
Well, it’s finally happened. The European Union, Israel’s largest trading partner, has finally moved to leverage that relationship in the interest of changing Israel’s colonial behaviour. News broke yesterday of new guidelines for trade between the EU and Israel. The EU directive instructs “all 28 member states”, forbidding “any funding, cooperation, awarding of scholarships, research funds or prizes to anyone residing in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
94 mins, 2012, explores in detail the apartheid comparison as it is used in the enduring Israel-Palestine conflict. As much an historical document of the rise and fall of apartheid, the film shows us why many Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world agree with them.
Through educational events, humanitarian support, and cultural preservation, the Jerusalem Fund is helping build the movement for Palestinian liberation.
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