WEEK OF BOYCOTT ZIO=NAZI GOODS By SHOAHNovember 18, 2010Campaigns NOVANEWS Report back from joint Lambeth and Wandsworth PSC and Lambeth Unison public meeting during BDS week – 9 November 2010 By Gurmeet Khurana, International Officer – Lambeth Unison Palestine Public meeting 9 November 2010 Photograph by Gurmeet Khurana Around 30 people attended this joint meeting organised by Lambeth and Wandsworth Palestine Solidarity Campaign (LWPCS) and Lambeth Unison during BDS week. The meeting was chaired by Jackie Lewis, chair of the LWPSC who opened the meeting by reading out the Sanctions against Israel from which the International BDS campaign originated. The statement can be read in full by visiting Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and www.palestinecampaign.org The first speaker was Bell Reberio-Addy who is on the National Union of Students Black students committee. She spoke about the role that students have played in the supporting the Palestinians concentrating on the actions that students took around the time of the Gaza bombing in 2008. She also mentioned that within the NUS, only the Black students committee and the LGBT group were affiliated to the Palestine Solidarity campaign and also stop the war. Unfortunately, she did not envisage that changing anytime soon as the leadership in the NUS have made it very difficult for students to attend meetings where this could be voted on and changed. The second speaker was Muthanna Al-Qadi who is the Middle East Affairs editor for the Al-Quds newspaper in Jerusalem. Muthanna gave an update of the current situation in Palestine. He spoke about Israel’s decision to give the go-ahead for the construction of more than one thousand new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem which was announced as Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, visits the United States. He also spoke about the continued eviction of Bedouin’s from their villages so their land could be confiscated. He went on to talk about tourism which has become an extremely political issue. He explained the proposed Knesset bill which would ban some 300 Palestinian tour guides from eastern Jerusalem from serving in the city and the anger that it was generating. According to the bill, the Palestinian tour guides do not present the Israeli viewpoint. Despite the fact that these Palestinian tour guides are certified by Israel’s Tourism Ministry, they are being told they will be banned from working! Muthanna explained the context behind the attacks on Palestinians in East Jerusalem is linked to Israel’s attempts to claim all of Jerusalem as its capital. Muthanna then went on to give an update on the situation in the West Bank talking about the violent attacks by settlers on the farmers and olive trees, which are the main source of income for many families in the West Bank, whilst IDF soldiers stand and watch. Mutanna ended by talking about the security situation in Gaza and warned of the signs of a possible future attack on Gaza and Iran. Next to speak was moving account of their journey to Gaza as she recalled her experience of driving as part of the convoy. She spoke about warm reception the convoy received at every stage of their journey from farmers in fields giving the convoy the peace sign to the family of some of those brave activists who were murdered on the Mavi Marmara. She also spoke about how people from local communities came to visit them to bring them medicine and clothes to take with them. The convoy was also able to visit the graves of three of the men who were killed on the Mavi Marmara and Amena recalled the moving story of the families of these men giving the convoy soil from the graves to take and mix with the soil in Gaza so a part of them would forever be in Gaza. In Leon, the convoy met the town’s Mayor who flies the Palestinian flag above the Town Hall. He has been ordered to remove it but refuses to do so until Palestine is free! Unfortunately, Amena was one the 17 members of the convoy who was denied entry into Gaza but was delighted that the convoy managed to break the siege. Amena Saleem who was on the Viva Palestina 5 convoy, gave a The final speaker was Sahida Uddin, who was part of a recent Lambeth Unison delegation to West Bank. Sahida opened by explaining the purpose of the delegation visit which was to officially twin Lambeth Unison Branch with the Nablus branch of the PGFTU. She explained the importance of such initiatives between unions and the role they can play in building International solidarity amongst workers and also as an opportunity to share experiences of organising in a trade union. It also provides us with a source for information about the latest situation in Palestine. Sahida also brought a clear message from the PGFTU who stated that while the Palestinian economy has been tied into the Israeli economy due to the occupation and and the Palestinians do not often have a choice to buy non-Israeli products, we clearly have a choice. BDS is a movement endorsed by the PGFTU and it is a powerful tool in the struggle for equality, justice and freedom for the Palestinian people. Sahida went on to talk about her experience of visiting the West Bank and the work of the Hebron rehabilitation centre and her shock at hearing about the settler attacks on Palestinians living and working in Hebron. She described seeing the checkpoints in Qalqilia and the horrific conditions that workers there had to endure to get to work in the settlement. She also recalled her experience of going to the weekly nonviolent demonstration at Bil’in, which is echoed throughout the West Bank in villages, towns and lands at risk of destruction from the Israeli apartheid barrier. Sahida spoke of the bravery of the international and Israeli activists as well as the determination and courage of the local Palestinians, who faced this weekly attack of tear gas, violence and often rubber and live bullets from the IDF, but continued to hold peaceful protests. She told the story of one of the key Palestinian leaders of the non-violent movement who was killed at Bi’lin, during one of these demonstrations, when a tear gas canister hit his chest and exploded. Sahida went on to talk about her visit to the Defence for Children International in Hebron and the accounts she heard about children sometimes as young as five years old being arrested, interrogated and scared into spying on family members. She talked of the annexing of Palestinian lands in Bethlehem and the visit to a Palestinian farmer whose land is being confiscated with a ruthlessness that means his parents’ graves will now be on the Israeli side of the proposed separation barrier. She went on to describe the mobile health clinics in Nablus and the effects of the military occupation on health, resulting in the deaths of Palestinians as a result of the long delays and harassment at checkpoints. She closed by taking about the main message that she has taken away from her visit which was that Internationals need to do what they can in their own countries and put pressure on their own governments as well as giving support to Palestinians. Gurmeet Khurana, International Officer – Lambeth Unison Email: [email protected]
