[NYTr] Glitterati at Leviev's NY Gala stunned by encounter with Palestinian rights protest

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

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sent by Tim Murphy - activ-l

NYC Indymedia - Nov 16, 2007

Glitterati at Leviev's New York Gala stunned by encounter 
with Palestinian rights protest

By Adalah-NY

Over 100 well-dressed, well-heeled New Yorkers attending the
invitation-only opening of diamond mogul Lev Leviev's Madison Avenue
jewelry store this evening appeared stunned and aghast to find their
evening derailed by a noisy protest against Leviev's construction of
illegal West Bank settlements. Gala attendees set down their champagne
glasses and gathered by windows to view the signs and Palestinian
flags, and hear protesters' chants.

30 New York City human rights activists chanted, "You're glitz, you're
glam, you're stealing Palestinian land" and "All your diamonds cannot
hide, your support for Apartheid." Protesters called on New York City's
upscale residents to boycott Leviev's diamonds. Disconcerted attendees
hastily exited to their limousines to loud chants of "Occupation is a
drag, just say no to your gift bag."

Lev Leviev is one of Israel's richest men. He built his enormous fortune
trading in diamonds with Apartheid-era South Africa. His company now
buys diamonds from the repressive Angolan government. Leviev uses
profits from diamond sales to fuel the conflict in Palestine and Israel
by funding the construction of suburban developments for Israeli
settlers on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, undermining the
prospects for Middle East peace, and threatening farmers' ability to
survive and remain in their homes. Leviev's diamonds are "conflict
diamonds" in a broad sense of the term, funding repression in Angola
and violations of international law in Palestine.

Leviev and his former US partner Shaya Boymlegreen have also angered New
Yorkers with their abusive local developments schemes. Leviev has
invested $1 billion in real estate in New York City over the last year.
In New York City, Leviev and Boymelgreen have employed underpaid,
non-union workers in hazardous conditions and violated housing codes to
construct luxury apartments that displace low-income and
moderate-income residents in Brooklyn, provoking local branches of the
Laborer's International Union and ACORN to launch a campaign against
these abuses ( www.shayaiscoming.org ). Brooklynites remain concerned
that Leviev and Boymelgreen are key developers in the planned Gowanus
Village project.

Leviev's real estate empire in Israel is building homes for Israelis in
the West Bank settlements of Mattityahu East and Zufim, according to
Gadi Algazi in the August, 2006 Le Monde Diplomatique, and in Maale
Adumim and Har Homa, according to The Jerusalem Post. He has also built
homes in the settlement of Ariel. All the settlements in which Leviev
has built homes seize vital Palestinian water and agricultural
resources and carve the West Bank into disconnected Bantustans,
destroying hopes for a viable Palestinian state. All Israeli
settlements built in the Occupied Palestinian Territories violate
international law.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth also reported on January 28, 2004
that Leviev is a primary donor to the Israeli organization the Land
Redemption Fund, which allegedly uses fraud and intimidation to extort
land from Palestinian farmers for Israeli settlement. While Leviev
donates to UNICEF and OXFAM, 50% of families in the farming village of
Jayyous are now on food aid, according to the Financial Times, because
they are being choked by Leviev's expansion of the all-Jewish
settlement of Zufim. Leveiv and Boymlegreen are building the settlement
of Mattityahu East on the village of Bil'in's land. Bil'in has earned
international acclaim for its three year campaign of nonviolent protest
against the construction of settlements and Israel's wall on their
farmland.

"Leviev's new Manhattan store hides the devastating use of its owner's
fortune underneath shimmering facets of polished diamonds. As long as
Lev Leviev violates international law by building settlements in the
West Bank and attacks New York's communities with invasive luxury
development, there can be no business as usual for him," said Daniel
Lang/Levitsky of Jews Against the Occupation/NYC. Adalah-NY will hold a
second protest at Leviev's 700 Madison Avenue jewelry store on Tuesday
November 20 from 4:30 - 6:00 PM.

For more info: 
Adalah-NY: 
The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East: 
http://www.mideastjustice.org
justiceme at gmail.com