Alternative Information Center
Encyclopedia
The Alternative Information Center (AIC) is a joint Palestinian
-Israel
i non-governmental organization
(NGO) which "engages in dissemination of information, political advocacy, grassroots activism and critical analysis of the Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict". It was established in February 1984 by Israeli activists from the Revolutionary Communist League
(previously Matzpen
-Jerusalem) and Palestinian leftwing activists from the West Bank
.
The AIC's main activities include numerous publications, whose intention is to offer an analysis from a critical point of view of events and occurrences in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as supporting and providing resources to movements and campaigns associated with its goals.
It employs both Israelis and Palestinians, and has offices in both western Jerusalem and the town of Beit Sahour
in the West Bank.
On February 17th, 1987 the Israeli police and General Security Service (GSS) raided the AIC, alleging cooperation with a terrorist organization ("The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
" headed by Dr. George Habash
). The Israeli government forced the temporary closing of the AIC, and its director, Michel Warschawski, was arrested and charged with supporting a terror organization and providing services to, and the holding of material for, illegal organizations. However, the licence to publish its journal News From Within, was not rescinded, and during the First Intifada
, in the enforced absence of its director, the AIC continued regular monthly publication. At this time, the AIC also began the publication of a fortnightly newssheet, The Other Front, focussing on Israeli peace and anti-occupation activity.
The subsequent landmark trial of Warschawski ended with his acquittal on 30 out of the 31 clauses stated in the indictment. However, he was found guilty of the last clause: "Turning a blind eye" on the printing of an "Instruction Manual" – a pamphlet which contained testimonies on GSS interrogations, the torture used during them and advice on how to overcome them. Warschawski was sentenced to eight months in prison with twelve months of a suspended sentence, while the AIC itself was heavily fined.
In January 1999, three principal activists from the AIC, Elias Jeraysi, Inbal Perlson and Yohanan Lorwin, were killed in a flash flood in the Judean desert.
The AIC is active within the Israeli and Palestinian peace camps. It has supported and become involved in campaigns and movements, and the global movement against neoliberal globalization.
English:
Hebrew:
English:
Hebrew:
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
-Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
(NGO) which "engages in dissemination of information, political advocacy, grassroots activism and critical analysis of the Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict". It was established in February 1984 by Israeli activists from the Revolutionary Communist League
Revolutionary Communist League
The Revolutionary Communist League can refer to one of several different parties:*Japan Revolutionary Communist League*Revolutionary Communist League *Revolutionary Communist League...
(previously Matzpen
Matzpen
Matzpen is the name of an anti-capitalist and anti-Zionist organisation, founded in Israel in 1962 which was active until the 1980s. Its official name was the Israeli Socialist Organisation, but it became better known as Matzpen after its monthly publication....
-Jerusalem) and Palestinian leftwing activists from the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
.
Activities
The AIC aims to promote responsible cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis based on the values of social and political justice, equality, solidarity, community involvement and respect for the national rights of the Palestinian people. The AIC sees itself as a bridge through which Palestinians and Israelis can not only meet and communicate, but also work together and promote their common goals.The AIC's main activities include numerous publications, whose intention is to offer an analysis from a critical point of view of events and occurrences in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as supporting and providing resources to movements and campaigns associated with its goals.
It employs both Israelis and Palestinians, and has offices in both western Jerusalem and the town of Beit Sahour
Beit Sahour
Beit Sahour is a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority...
in the West Bank.
Funding
Funders include : Diakonia, using money from the Swedish government (1.5 million Swedish Kroner in 2007-9); ICCO (more than 500,000NIS in 2008); Christian Aid, with money from the Irish government (329,000 NIS in 2006); NGO PTM – Mundubat (Spain), (1 million NIS in 2006); and Sodepau (support from the Catalan government 200,000 NIS in 2006).History
Although officially founded in 1984, the AIC had already begun a year before in the form of discussions and as a partnership between Palestinian and Israeli activists. When established, it was one of Israel's very first Non Governmental Organizations and one of the first organizations to define itself as an explicitly joint Palestinian and Israeli organization, a very radical idea at the time (and, perhaps, still today). From its very beginning, the AIC was active in the Israeli and Palestinian peace movements and was very much involved in campaigns such as the (successful) one to stop the torture of the prisoner Palestinian Adnan Anans. In 1985, roughly a year after its founding, the AIC was even involved in secret negotiations between the Israeli government, the organization of Ahmad Jibril (PFLP-GC) and the Red Cross concerning the exchange of captives between Jibril's organization and Israel.On February 17th, 1987 the Israeli police and General Security Service (GSS) raided the AIC, alleging cooperation with a terrorist organization ("The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
" headed by Dr. George Habash
George Habash
George Habash also known by his laqab "al-Hakim" was a Palestinian nationalist. Habash, a Palestinian Christian, founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which pioneered the hijacking of airplanes as a Middle East militant tactic...
). The Israeli government forced the temporary closing of the AIC, and its director, Michel Warschawski, was arrested and charged with supporting a terror organization and providing services to, and the holding of material for, illegal organizations. However, the licence to publish its journal News From Within, was not rescinded, and during the First Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
, in the enforced absence of its director, the AIC continued regular monthly publication. At this time, the AIC also began the publication of a fortnightly newssheet, The Other Front, focussing on Israeli peace and anti-occupation activity.
The subsequent landmark trial of Warschawski ended with his acquittal on 30 out of the 31 clauses stated in the indictment. However, he was found guilty of the last clause: "Turning a blind eye" on the printing of an "Instruction Manual" – a pamphlet which contained testimonies on GSS interrogations, the torture used during them and advice on how to overcome them. Warschawski was sentenced to eight months in prison with twelve months of a suspended sentence, while the AIC itself was heavily fined.
In January 1999, three principal activists from the AIC, Elias Jeraysi, Inbal Perlson and Yohanan Lorwin, were killed in a flash flood in the Judean desert.
The AIC is active within the Israeli and Palestinian peace camps. It has supported and become involved in campaigns and movements, and the global movement against neoliberal globalization.
Views on Israel and Israeli leaders
- Accuses Israel and the Jewish National FundJewish National FundThe Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
of "ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
". - "It is politically unacceptable, and morally disgusting. Shimon PeresShimon PeresGCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
is definitely an enemy of the Palestinian people, of human rights and of peace..." - (Nassar Ibrahim, The Case against Palestinian Normalization with Israel, AIC, September 4, 2007) - “One has to unequivocally reject the very idea (and existence) of a Jewish stateArab–Israeli conflictThe Arab–Israeli conflict refers to political tensions and open hostilities between the Arab peoples and the Jewish community of the Middle East. The modern Arab-Israeli conflict began with the rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism towards the end of the nineteenth century, and intensified with the...
, whatever will be its borders.” - (Michel Warschawski, The Haifa Conference for the Right of Return, June 2008) - "Ehud BarakEhud BarakEhud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
, Tzipi LivniTzipi LivniTzipporah Malkah "Tzipi" Livni is an Israeli lawyer and politician. She is the current Israeli Opposition Leader and leader of Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset. Raised an ardent nationalist, Livni has become one of her nation's leading voices for the two-state solution. In Israel she has...
, Gabi AshkenaziGabi AshkenaziGavriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi , was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces from 2007 to 2011.- Background and early life :...
and Ehud OlmertEhud OlmertEhud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
--don’t you dare show your faces at any memorial ceremony for the heroes of the Warsaw GhettoWarsaw GhettoThe Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
, LublinLublin GhettoThe Lublin Ghetto was a World War II ghetto created by Nazi Germany in the city of Lublin in occupied Poland, on the Nazi-administered territory of the General Government. Its inhabitants were mostly Polish Jews, although a number of Roma were also present. The Lublin Ghetto, set up in March 1941,...
, VilnaVilna GhettoThe Vilna Ghetto or Vilnius Ghetto was a Jewish ghetto established by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the occupied Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , during the Holocaust in World War II...
or KishinevKishinev pogromThe Kishinev pogrom was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Chişinău, then the capital of the Bessarabia province of the Russian Empire on April 6-7, 1903.-First pogrom:...
… You are not representing any continuity with the Warsaw Ghetto, because today the Warsaw Ghetto is right in front of you, targeted by your own tanks and artillery, and its name is GazaGazaGaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
..." - (Michel Warschawski, Absolutely Not in Their Name, Not in Ours, AIC, January 18, 2009)
Periodicals
Arabic:- Rou’ya Ukhra ("Another Vision")
English:
- News From Within
Hebrew:
- Mitsad Sheni ("The Other Front")
Various publications
Arabic, English and Hebrew:- Walls and Bridges (2005)
English:
- Palestine and the Other Israel – Alternative Directory of Progressive Groups and Institutions in Israel and the Occupies Territories (1993)
- Globalisation and the Palestinian Struggle (2002)
- Ethnic Cleansing in the Negev (2003)
- Occupation in Hebron (2004)
- From Communal Strife to Global Struggle: Justice for the Palestinian People (2004)
- Cleansing and Apartheid in Jerusalem – An Alternative Guide to Jerusalem (2004)
- Globalisation and International Advocacy by Palestinian and Progressive Israeli Organisations: Initial Survey and Networking (2004)
- The Alternative Information Center: 20 Years of Joint Struggle (2005)
- A Wall on the Green Line? Israel's Wall Project Under Scrutiny (2006)
Hebrew:
- 1985 – The Renewal of the Torture Policy (1986)
- The Deportation – What Really Happened in 1948? A Palestinian Answer to the Zionist Historians and New Historians (1991)
- The Right of Family Reunification – The Abolishment of the Right of Residency of Partners of non-Jewish Israeli Citizens (1992)
- The Crawling Transfer – An Inquiry On the Residency Problems of the Palestinian Residents of East Jerusalem (1994)
- Creative Resistance – The Experience of the Protest Movement in Israel(1994)
- The Arab world, the Palestinians and the Israeli Occupation – A Retrospective Discussion (1994)
- Two Years after Oslo – The Peace Camp in Israel (1994)
- The Settlements 1967-1995 and How To Fight Them (1995)
- We Came To This Land – Discrimination of Palestinian Citizens in the Real Estate Policy in the State of Israel (1997)
- The Golan Heights – The Syrian Highland (1998)
- The Oriental Revolution (1999)
- The Political Activity in the Golan Heights in Relation to the Negotiations Between Syria and Israel (1999)
- The Palestinian Residency in the Mixed Cities – Demography, Education, Employment and Crime (1999)
- The Deportation of the Palestinian Residents of the South Hebron Mountain Area (2001)
Publications supported by the AIC
Hebrew:- Letters to a Lemon Tree (1997)
- Encounters of Memory (2000)
- Forbidden Reminiscences – A Collection of Essays (2001)