Chicago, IL – Chicago police at downtown Millennium Park arrested an activist who was participating in a protest organized by the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago, Aug. 23. At the Chicago Sister Cities annual International Festival, more than 30 activists protested Israel’s inclusion in the program and called for the cutting of Chicago ties with Israeli apartheid.

The activist was arrested while the protest was ending outside of the International Festival tent. The protesters were on their way out when the police began shoving the activists and grabbed the young Arab male protester and placed him under arrest.

Minutes earlier, after picketing and chanting directly outside of the front entrance of the tent, activists brought the message into the actual venue. Protesters chanted in the tent for a few minutes to make the message clear: “Drop Petach Tikva!” – Chicago’s sister city in Israel. The pianist who was performing in the hall at the time stood at attention out of respect once he heard the protesters’ message.

The Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG) and allies brought the message directly into the festival because for the last year and a half, the Chicago Sister Cities International has refused to meet with PSG and members of the community to hear about Petach Tikva’s special role in Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people.

Petach Tikva – an officially segregated city, the first Jewish-only settlement in historic Palestine and the site of the primary detention center where Israeli forces abuse and torture Palestinian political prisoners – has been dubbed by the rights group Amnesty International as “Israel’s Guantanamo.”

Upholding the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions measures on apartheid Israel, PSG and its allies object to business-as-usual with Israel. Under the false premise of promoting culture and education, Petach Tikva’s inclusion in Chicago Sister Cities promotes Israel-U.S. business ties while it whitewashes Israel’s occupation and human rights abuses.

Anel Montes, a manager with the Chicago Sister Cities, repeated the program’s refusal to take a principled stance or meet with activists, using the false language of ‘neutrality.’ However, Chicago Sister Cities has made its position clear by maintaining its relationship with Petach Tikva, whose committee members belong to organizations that have played a role in the dispossession of the Palestinian people and are committed to promoting U.S. aid to apartheid Israel.

The Palestine Solidarity Group and allies claimed a victory. Petach Tikva was not visible at the festival because war-profiteering corporations Motorola and Boeing, the main sponsors of the Chicago Sister Cities International, don’t want protesters raining on their public relations parade. PSG and its allies will keep up the pressure until Chicago Sister Cities drops Israel’s Guantanamo.

#ChicagoIL #PalestineSolidarityGroup #PetachTikva #MiddleEast

Chicago, IL – Activists took part in the International Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Day of action by holding a demonstration at the offices of the Chicago Sister City Program, July 9 to demand that the Chicago drop ties with the Israeli city of Petach Tikva.

Protesters were outraged when they saw the closed wooden door on the fourth floor of the Chicago Cultural Center and realized that Leroy Allala the Executive Director had closed the entire Sister City office early to avoid dealing with our protest. The group left a list of demands and continued the protest outside .

The crowd grew to 50 people, with many Palestinian flags tucked in to the trees in front of the building. Students from the University of Chicago, Depaul, Wright College and also Northeastern held a very large center banner that read “No to Israel’s Guantanamo.” One activist who was dressed in an orange jumpsuit and had his hands handcuffed to educate the passersby about the torture that happens in the detention center in Petach Tikva said, “ I know that this campaign is part of freeing political prisoners tortured there like Ameer Makoul and I am determined to keep up the pressure.”

Last month, former police commander John Burge was convicted for the torture of hundreds of Chicagoans. Protesters made the connection that Israel’s Guantanamo, Petach Tikva, where Palestinian BDS leaders like Ameer Makhoul are tortured, must be closed down too. Maureen Murphy, in her closing speech, said, “This sister city relationship is a key link in helping Boeing, Caterpillar and United Airlines do business in the Israeli occupation.” She invited people to join in the call- in campaign on July 14 to the Sister City program office and for the next protest at the Sister City Festival in the end of August.

#ChicagoIL #Palestine #PetachTikva #MiddleEast

Chicago, IL – “One, two, three, four – Petach Tikva – no more! Five, six, seven, eight – take away their dinner plate!” The chant came from protesters outside the Hilton Hotel June 2 as the Chicago Sister City International's Consular Corps Ball was happening.

As tuxedo and gown wearing representatives from over 70 governments and Mayor Daley arrived, the group of activists from a number of different groups in the city – bearing bullhorns, banners, flyers and Palestinian flags – made it completely clear that they were demanding that the U.S. cut all money to Israel and that Chicago end its ties with the Israeli city.

This same city has recently been in the news as the place where Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian peace activist, has been held without access to a lawyer and tortured with sleep deprivation and stress positions in the detention center there.

Many Chicago activists were inspired to see new faces at the protest. One woman who had heard about the demonstration from the announcements at the Gaza rally the day before said about her new activism: “I just felt that after I saw the Israeli attacks on the boats that I had to do something to help.”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #FreedomFlotilla #PetachTikva