Israel as a Roque State 140

What the Israeli establishment has called, "the nightmare scenario," is
happening, at last: support for the one person, one vote liberal ideal in historic
Palestine is on the rise among American voters.

Indeed, US voters have started showing signs of intolerance of Israeli
apartheid. In Massachusetts, four more districts have voted YES with an
inspiring majority (57%) on the ballot question of whether Palestinians in
Israel must be treated equally and all racist laws must be abrogated.

http://jta.org/news/article/2010/11/03/2741587/resolution-supporting-
palestinians-passes-near-boston

For a quick list of some of Israel's many racist laws that the campaign in MA
has targeted see:
http://www.divestmentproject.org/downloads/Jews-non-jewsv2.pdf

This victory proves that even such a taboo issue in the US as protecting
Israel's "right to exist" as an apartheid state (i.e. "Jewish State") can be
effectively challenged when brought up in creative and persistent ways.

Advocating equality for all people regardless of identity should be easy to
promote in the US, if it weren't for a well-financed Israel lobbying network that
instills fear, intimidation and punishes dissenting voices severely. Still, the
tide seems to be changing, and MA is taking the lead! Maybe this will support
efforts in California to include a ballot question on divesting the state's large
pension funds from companies profiting from Israel's occupation and violations
of international law.

Omar Barghouti



Press Release
Organization: Massachusetts Residents for International Human Rights
Contact persons: John Spritzler 857 540 3690 (cell), 617 566-9637
(home), Kathy Felgran (cell) 617 785-0448
Subject: Results of local ballot questions on equal rights for
Palestinians
Voters Choose Equality: 57 % vote for
ending Israeli government
discrimination against Palestinians
Vote echoes 2008 vote in Somerville
and Cambridge

Voters in the 34th Middlesex district of South Medford - West Somerville, the
23rd Middlesex district of Arlington, the 15th Suffolk district of Boston
(Jamaica Plain), and the 29th Middlesex of Watertown voted "Yes" on a
Question that asked: "Shall the state representative from this district be
instructed to vote in favor of a non-binding resolution calling on the
federal government to support the right of all people, including non-
Jewish Palestinian citizens of Israel, to live free from laws that give
more rights to people of one religion than another?"

The winning percentages were 55%, 54%, 66%, 61% respectively. In
total 30,778 people voted Yes (57%) and 22,813 voted No.

Voters in one district, the 2nd Suffolk district of Charlestown - Chelsea
voted 48 % in favor but came up just short in passing the ballot
question.

The victories in 4 of 5 districts came even though only 1 municipal
elected politician supported the ballot question, out of nearly 5 dozen
elected officials who were contacted.

In 2008, 73% of voters in the 25th Middlesex district (Central Cambridge) and
62% of Somerville voters in 27th Middlesex District (Central Somerville) voted
Yes on the same question. The ballot question has carried in state
representative districts in 7 of 8 cities where the question was on the ballot in
the last two years.

John Spritzler, a Brighton resident of the Massachusetts Residents for
International Human Rights (MRIHR) says "We´re ecstatic. Voters showed
that they support the principle of equality and don´t support Israeli laws that
discriminate. When given a chance to choose between the principle of
equality versus the Zionist principle of inequality (i.e. that Israel must be a
Jewish state in which the sovereign authority is "the Jewish people" and not
all citizens equally) then Americans chose equality, even when few if any
politicians will openly support equality.

Kathy Felgran, a Watertown resident of MRIHR, stated "The road to lasting
peace is equality for all, and the recognition of the oneness of all humanity.
It´s heartening that the majority of residents agreed."

Spritzler believes thatMRIHR canhelp Americans throughout the nation
understand this: "The principles of equality and democracy, that they
overwhelmingly support, are the opposite of theprinciples of inequality and
top-down controlthat ourpoliticians and mass media defend by telling us lies
about Israel and about Palestinians."

Massachusetts Residents for International Human Rights
P.O. Box 441259
Somerville, MA 02144
Phone: 617 230-2835

MRIHR opposes all attacks by anyone, anywhere, and at any time where unarmed
civilian casualties are clearly likely, whether the attacks are aggressive or
retaliatory. At the same time we support self-defense actions and armed
resistance against individuals who use physical violence to oppress people.