South African Officials Must Reject Israeli Blood Diamonds and Secure Jobs in Diamond Beneficiation

 South African civil society and organised labour call on South African officials to show leadership by demanding change to the shamefully discredited “Kimberley Process Certification Scheme” which facilitates trade in diamonds that fund gross human rights violations by rogue regimes, and by securing decent jobs for South Africans in diamond beneficiation.

Last week the hacking group Anonymous launched a cyber-attack campaign dubbed #OpIsrael replacing Israeli homepage messages with anti-Israel slogans and causing massive disruption to government, academic and private sites. The attach reached its peak on Sunday with high-profile government systems such as the Foreign Ministry, the Bank of Jerusalem, the Israeli Occupation Ministry, the IOF blog and the Israeli President's official website all being hacked.

The Palestinian Authority would be “traitors” if they agreed to a condition the UK is seeking to impose in exchange for agreeing to  support Palestine upgrading its membership in the UN. So said Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestine Center for Human Rights (PCHR) at a meeting with lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) in Gaza City today.

Activists block the entrance to G4S’ offices in Oslo.
(Norwegian Palestine Committee)

Early this morning, a group of activists from the Palestine Committee of Norway blocked the entrance to the offices of the security firm G4S in Oslo. The activists demanded that G4S stop all activities that contribute to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The blockade adds weight to a petition — signed by 21 Norwegian organizations — which was presented to G4S management last week.

The Palestine Committee writes in a press release:

NEW YORK (25 October 2012) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, today called on the UN General Assembly and civil society to take action against Israeli and international businesses that are profiting from Israeli settlements.

Elected pledging to hand over large swathes of land to the landless peasants of one of the most impoverished countries in Latin America, Lugo offered a challenge to the 70 year rule of the Colorado Party, and the interests of the business oligarchy who have subjected the country, and indeed the whole continent, to their own personal greed. Of course, the monopolies of the elites of Latin America have only ever been possible with the unequivocal support of the United States and their allies, and the dictators that the CIA have periodically installed.

Gathered at the Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes for the First National Encounter on Palestine, the Palestinian National Committee and the Brazilian National preparatory committee we launched the WSF Free Palestine, to be held in November 2012 in Porto Alegre (Brazil).

This call follows the decision of the International Council of the WSF in May to support the project of a WSF on Palestine as well as extensive consultation in Brazil including the federal and national governments as well as the commitment to the event of the Coordination of the Social Movements in Brazil.