To date, official diplomacy has failed in enforcing scores of UN resolutions and relevant principles of international law aimed at ending Israel's occupation, colonization, displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people. US-led Middle East diplomacy, favoring military intervention and unilateralism over respect for international law, is also directly implicated in wars and occupation in Iraq and Lebanon, complicit with Israel's colonial regime in Palestine, and actively encouraging division and civil war in the region.

During the latest assault against the village of Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza, civilians were greatly affected by the brutal practices of the Israeli army during six continuous days. Women in labour gave birth on the road while waiting for permission to go to hospital. Some of the injured bled to death while waiting for the same permission. Four emergency health rescue officers were killed while on duty and wearing clearly visible uniform.

The recent attacks and re-invasion of Gaza and Lebanon expose the contempt with which Israel treats the UN, its resolution and its own bilateral agreements.

The letter, published in the Irish Times on September 16th, has caused a public stir in Israel; the education minister Yuli Tamir has travelled to England to 'verify if they [the signatories] are lecturers who have influence'.

In trade fair that is taking place in Tulkarem city, Palestinian citizens and traders gathered in the refugee camp to buy and sell Palestinian products in a statement of boycott and resistance to the Israeli occupation.

Goods produced in the camp itself were on sale, including carob energy drinks, children's clothes and packaged cakes.

For more information on the cultural boycott:
[url=http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=309_0_1_0_C ]Greece pulls out of Israeli Film Festival[/url]
[url=http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=287_0_1_0_C ]Locarno Film Festival drops Israeli Government Sponsorship[/url]

STATEMENT BY KEN LOACH

I support the call by Palestinian film-makers, artists and others to boycott state sponsored Israeli cultural institutions and urge others
to join their campaign.

Palestinians are driven to call for this boycott after forty years of the occupation of their land, destruction of their

The statement calls for an end to the war, and an end to the root of the problem in the Middle East which is the continued military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, that has lasted for almost 40 years.