Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
29 August
MADNESS OF A SCOTTISH STATE PROSECUTOR (1)
On this day in 2008, five SPSC members interrupted a performance being recorded live by the BBC, a ”flagship concert” of the Edinburgh International Festival by the Israeli state-sponsored Jerusalem Quartet. The five were arrested and initially minor charges later escalated to racially aggravated offences. The racism, it was revealed in court almost two years later, consisted of saying, “End the siege of Gaza! Genocide in Gaza!” Scottish prosecutors claimed such words would be a crime if uttered on a public street.
جنحة المدعي العام الاسكتلندي (1)
29 أغسطس
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2008، قاطع خمسة أعضاء من حملة التضامن الاسكوتلندية مع فلسطين عرضًا تم تسجيله على الهواء مباشرة من قبل هيئة الإذاعة البريطانية BBC، وهو"حفل موسيقي رائد" لمهرجان أدنبرة الدولي تقدمه فرقة جيروساليم كورتيت وبرعاية دولة اسرائيل. ألقي القبض على الاعضاء الخمسة، وفي البداية تصاعدت التهم البسيطة في وقت لاحق إلى جرائم مرتبطة بالعنصرية. بعد ذلك بعامين تقريبًا تم الكشف في المحكمة ان العنصرية تمثلت في قول "إنهوا حصار غزة! إبادة جماعية في غزة!". وزعم المدعون الإسكوتلنديون أن مثل هذه الكلمات تعتبر جريمة إذا تم نطقها في شارع عام.
From science to classical music, Israel clamps down on Palestinian culture
The last months have seen Israel crack down on cultural figures and intellectuals in the occupied territories. Critics say the attacks are part of a larger strategy of suppressing Palestinian civil society.
The Israeli string ensemble, the Jerusalem Quartet, have been praised by the World Zionist Press Service:
'For the three immigrants, carrying a rifle in one hand and a violin in the other is the ultimate Zionist statement.' (three of them are Russian.)...One minute they're in T-shirts and the next in ties and jackets, these days they can just as frequently be seen in army fatigues." Their record label also boasts of their status within the Israeli Army: "They now enjoy the status of Distinguished IDF, playing for troops thrice weekly when the JSQ is in Israel.”
“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 week. 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.”
Aharon Shabtai, Israel’s greatest living poet, wrote shortly before the protest:
Protests against the 'Distinguished IDF Musicians' spread to Portugal - here in Lisbon
The London Declaration on Combatting Anti-Semitism was issued on 19 February 2009 and urged that "calls for boycotts" of Israel be made "illegal". This would make the 600,000 strong STUC guilty, the UK and Scottish Green Parties, and the Church of Scotland's Church and Society Council.
The Declaration called for UK media to oppose anyone who concluded "that the...State of Israel is a racist endeavor" or any "comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis". The first effort comes up against the hard fact that belief that Israel is a racist project is widespread and for many it is an inevitable conclusion from a starting point of democratic values.
Festival Director Jonathan Mills vowed after the protests that the Jerusalem Quartet would return the following year but they did not and have not darkened the doors of Scotland since.