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Hello to anyone who's been involved in any of the sessions so far and welcome to everyone else!

Plans for the next session are coming together and will be posted here shortly. For more about the last session and other previous reading groups see below.


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GOLDSTONE PROJECT
Listen to it here! -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7wHlV0Lt_8&feature=PlayList&p=CBE08DE090DEA606&index=0&playnext=1

(If you would like a copy of the recording in mp3 format please email ipreadinggroup@googlemail.com ).

See below for more details about the session, which took place on wednesday 9th. http://israelpalestinereadinggroup.blogspot.com/2009/11/text-for-session-5-date-tba-goldstone_01.html

Here’s the plan

Meetings happen about once a month. We'll aim to wrap up each discussion within two hours. There is no fixed venue at the moment so this will be decided from week to week – expect it to be somewhere in London. See below for details of the 5th session.

Anyone can come along – bring friends and spread the word!

Texts will be chosen from week to week from a pool of suggestions, which you can add to by mailing ideas to: ipreadinggroup@googlemail.com .
Feel free to stretch and interpret this as far as possible – it could be an online video, film, maps, images etc. Any material that people discover in relation to a given text would be great additions to bring along to the discussion session.

All texts will be posted on this website (see below), either as links or downloadable jpegs. There is also the beginnings of a mailing list being put together so that texts and any other information can be sent out directly. Add your name to it by writing to the address above.

Bring thoughts and feelings. Let’s light a fuse.

Introduction

Welcome to the Israel-Palestine reading group, an open forum for learning, discussion and debate, meeting to consider issues concerning the ongoing Israeli occupation, its impact on the Palestinian people, the various involvements of western powers, and the broader possibilities of peace in the Middle East.

The bombing of Gaza earlier this year was a wake-up call to many in the UK and around the world. During that assault we saw Israeli jets devastate homes, factories, hospitals, schools, infrastructure and the lives of innocent people. We saw the bombardment of densely populated civilian areas. We saw the cruel and illegal use of weaponry such as dime bombs and white phosphorus. We also saw protests numbering tens and hundreds of thousands – in London, Paris, New York, Caracas, Oslo and Cairo to name a few – and students here in the UK, organising to win divestment and support from their universities with a string of occupations that spread throughout the country in a matter of days. But the attack on Gaza was not an isolated or unprecedented event in Israel’s history. For many it called to mind the invasions of Lebanon in 2006, 1982 and 1978. As horrifying as it was, the attack on Gaza formed part of a systematic oppression of the Palestinians; whether it be the blockade of that same region, the apartheid wall in the west bank or the frequent and arbitrary arrests, beatings and killings throughout the occupied territories.

Although a significant and long standing movement working towards Palestinian Solidarity and an end to the occupation and continuing violence in the region does exist, in Britain and worldwide, many people remain in the dark about the true nature of the conflict and feel unable to form a coherent judgement or take a stand on the issues. The aim of this reading group will be to overcome these difficulties by presenting information for people to assess for themselves and bringing together people of different experiences, interests, backgrounds and levels of commitment. Following this principle, each week a text will serve as the point of departure for conversation. Texts will be chosen from session to session as we go along, from a pool of suggestions which people can add to freely via email (see below). Hopefully the process of selection will naturally develop out of the discussion as it carries over from week to week, adding people and sharing knowledge as it grows.

To sum up, the two main aims of this scheme are: firstly to allow people to build up knowledge and sharpen analysis, drawing judgements from the facts and written argumentation, in an atmosphere free from invective and unquestioned assumptions; and secondly, to break down any kind of perceived exclusivity that might exist between committed activists and those who are less familiar with the issues, in order to learn from each other and share ideas.

However the idea of a reading group may in some ways be misleading: this is not a book club; the end goal should not be merely an airing of opinions and literary references. Ultimately the goal must be political action. But how that comes about and what it should mean is another question. The reasoning behind this project is that certain barriers exist which can block political participation. How do we acquire the confidence to act politically; what kind of encounters are necessary, facilitating or debilitating; what are the mental barriers; what are the social barriers? These are some of the fundamental questions that might circulate in the background of the discussion.

We want a meeting place that is open and welcoming to anyone who wants to be there. Nothing should be taboo. At the same time this is not an exercise in apologetics. Perhaps the end goal should be that eventually this project, at least as it’s framed here, will no longer be necessary, or will have evolved into something unrecognisable from its present state.

For now,

Peace and solidarity,

Over and out.

Text for session 5, 9th December 6.45pm, UCL (main quad, Pearson block, room G17) - the Goldstone report

GOLDSTONE PROJECT
Listen to it here! -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7wHlV0Lt_8&feature=PlayList&p=CBE08DE090DEA606&index=0&playnext=1

(This link will take you to a youtube playlist. The playlist is divided up into several sections. Each section corresponds roughly to the chapter headings of the Goldstone report. Each reader studied a section comprising one or a few chapter headings. See below for details and a copy of the full report text).

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The format for this session is a little different and involves a bit of an experiment in collective investigation.

The aim of the project will be to read, in detail and in its entirety, the Goldstone report - the UN commissioned fact-finding mission into human rights violations in Gaza and the occupied territories established soon after the assault of Operation Cast Lead.

The report is 450 pages long. We need:

1. Readers to take on about 30 pages each for close scrutiny in their own time.

2. As many people as possible to take part, as witness and audience to the next session of the reading group, which will meet to put together these individual efforts.

At the bottom of this post is a breakdown of the report into sections of about 30 pages each.
If you’d like to get involved as a reader please pick a section and send an email to ipreadinggroup@googlemail.com to say which one.

Otherwise just turn up on the 9th to join the discussion!

How to get there: Nearest tube Euston Square. Take gower street exit from tube. Left down Gower street. UCL main quad on your left after 100m, opposite hospital (redbrick building). Once in quad Pearson building immediately to your left. Ask for directions to room G17 + look for signs. Any problems call 07826 541 052.

N.B. Paul Troop from Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights will be lending his expertise at the discussion ( http://www.lphr.org.uk/ ). + There will be a live audio link-up with the Wheeler middle school in Providence, Rhode Island. A similar reading group is being run there and for our next session, technology permitting, we will have the pleasure of teaming up across the Atlantic.

Full copy of the Goldstone report: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf

Other useful links from the UN Human Rights Council: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm

As ever, NO expert knowledge required. Newcomers welcome. Open to one and all.

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13 – 45 (33 pages)
Executive summary & methodology

46 – 70 (25 pages)
Political/historical context & events leading up to Operation Cast Lead.

71 – 92 (22 pages)
Legal context, blockade of Gaza & overview of military operations

93 – 123 (31 pages)
Attacks on government buildings and police & obligations on Palestinian armed groups to protect civilians.

124 – 157 (34 pages)
Obligations on Israel to protect civilians in Gaza & indiscriminate attacks by IDF.

158 – 193 (36 pages)
Deliberate attacks against civilians.

194 – 217 (24 pages)
Particular weaponry & attacks on industry and infrastructure.

218 – 249 (32 pages)
Use of Palestinian civilians as human shields & detentions during Operation Cast Lead.

250 – 283 (34 pages)
Objectives and strategy for Israel & impact of blockade and military operations on Gazans.

284 – 307 (24 pages)
Detention of Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit, internal violence among Palestinains (Hamas attacks on Fatah) & treatment of Palestinians in West Bank.

308 – 334 (27 pages)
Detention of Palestinians by Israel & violations of right to free movement.

335 – 365 (31 pages)
Internal violence (Palestinian Authority attacks on Hamas) & impact of rocket attacks on Israelis.

366 – 396 (31 pages)
Repression of dissent in Israel, proceedings and responses by Israel to allegations of violations & proceedings by Palestinian authorities.

397 – 429 (33 pages)
Universal jurisdiction, reparation & conclusions and recommendations.

Text for session 4, Saturday 10th October, 2-4pm - John Berger letter

Follow link to http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=415 for a full copy of the letter.

John Berger's letter of 2006 followed Israel's attack on Lebanon. It called for a cultural boycott directed against Israel's regime of occupation and was signed by 93 other writers, artists and filmakers. It was published in the Guardian that year.

The discussion will raise the question of the necessity and validity of a Boycott, particularly when applied to cultural events, institutions, works and artists, as well as the role that artists can play in the campiagn against the occupation and in activism more generally.

The venue for this session will be Goshka Macuga's installation at the Whitechapel Gallery, The Nature of The Beast, which centres around Picasso's great anti-war painting Guernica and the way its image has been variously employed, appropriated and fought over, not least of all serving as a rallying point and protest image for anti-war activists over the years. Continuing that vein in the picture's dispersal, Berger also included a drawing after Guernica with his letter. Check out http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/the-bloomberg-commission-goshka-macuga-the-nature-of-the-beast for images of the installation and more details about its history.

Btw there is also an interesting documentary about the occupation in Hebron (http://www.welcometohebron.com/film.html) which is currently screening in the installation .

For directions see http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit

Till the 10th!

Text for session 3, Saturday 19th of September - Illan Pappe talk in London!

The 3rd reading group is planned for this coming saturday (the 19th) to coincide with the national Stop the War Coalition student conference. Illan Pappe (author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, the text for the first session) will be speaking so instead of a text, Pappe's talk will be the starting point for the discussion.

The talk starts at 10am. The reading group will meet at 1pm in Russel Square gardens. (See http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl for directions).

Details of the conference can be found at http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1429/1/ .

Entrance is free but you need to book ahead - just email office@stopwar.org.uk with "Stop the War Student Conference" in the subject line. You need to provide the name of your uni but don't worry if you're not a student - I have asked about this and recent grads are welcome + they won't be checking ID. See you there!

Text for session 2, Thursday 11th September - Eyal Weizman, Hollow Land

Eyal Weizman is an architect based in London. He teaches at Goldsmith's College and is a member of

'Decolonizing Architecture', an architectural collective whose premise is the reappropriation of Israel's architecture of occupation. For more information and further articles see:

http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/?page_id=2
http://roundtable.kein.org/user/3
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/the_art_of_war/
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/legislative-attack

The following pages are taken from the second chapter of his book 'Hollow Land' (Notes included). Apologies that all the pages are sideways - working to fix that but should be easy to print them off.