Date

18/05/2013
11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Location
Old Palace Yard 
opposite Parliament
London

Join: www.palestinecampaign.org/join
Donate: www.palestinecampaign.org/donate

Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Box BM PSA
London
WC1N 3XX

Tel: 020 7700 6192
Fax: 020 7609 7779

Email: info@palestinecampaign.org
Web: www.palestinecampaign.org

At its 2013 Annual Congress in Perth, the Scottish Trades Union Council (STUC) re-affirmed its support for the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and extended the scope of its campaign to include G4S. A series of delegates queued to speak in support of the motion which was carried nem con, with no opposition. Mike Arnott of Dundee Trades Union Council moved the G4S motion saying that “it is a direct response to the appeal by former Palestinian prisoner Shireen Issawi, sister of hunger striker Samer Issawi… to ‘deliver the voice of the oppressed prisoners and hold this company accountable for its responsibility towards these prisoners, and its partnership with the occupation in its inhumane practices’”.

Congress delegates passed four other Palestine motions, all unanimous, including an endorsement of the international call for action against the JNF and calls for BDS campaigning in response to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and settlement building.  

UCU Scotland official Mary Senior explained to delegates the significance of her union’s recent victory at an employment tribunal which dismissed allegations of institutional anti-semitism levelled at the UCU.

Watch video messages of solidarity: vimeo.com/64269753

STUC G4S resolution
“That this Congress notes that the ‘World Social Forum – Free Palestine’ agreed to make the next annual Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, April 17th 2013, a worldwide day of action against security company G4S.

In Occupied Palestine, G4S is involved in human rights abuses and violations of international law through the services it provides to the Israeli Occupation Forces, including providing or operating:
• equipment for Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza;
• security system of Ktziot prison, central control room of Megido prison, central control room for Ofer prison compound and security services to Damon prison, which are all facilities detaining Palestinian political prisoners;
• equipment for West Bank Israeli Police headquarters in the highly contested E1 area; and
• security services to businesses, including banks and supermarkets, in illegal West Bank settlements and in East Jerusalem.

“Congress believes G4S’s activities in the Israeli Prison Service constitute a breach of international law, including Articles 49 and 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and that they are complicit in violations of the human rights of Palestinian prisoners, including children.

“Congress notes that G4S in Norway was petitioned by trade unions and others, calling for it to cease activities complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and mistreatment of Palestinians.

“Congress therefore:
• demands that G4S withdraws forthwith from all activities that contribute to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem and to its denial of human rights to Palestinians;
• calls on the General Council and the trade union movement in Scotland to raise these points, through every possible channel, with G4S;
• resolves that until G4S concedes to these demands, it will be a target of the STUC’s policy of Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions;
• calls on the Scottish Government to cancel G4S’s new contract for tagging of offenders; and
• endorses the UK StopG4S Campaign.”

JNF resolution
“That this Congress re-endorses the international call for action against the Jewish National Fund and the STUC campaign to expose the role of the Jewish National Fund in the oppression of Palestinians.

“Congress applauds the STUC’s history of support for the rights of the Palestinian people and the STUC’s support for the international
campaign of Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions against Israel.

“Congress calls on the General Council to make more use of the STUC website to expose the role of the Jewish National Fund, to campaign for Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions and to publicise the plight of the Palestinian people.”

Illegal Israeli Settlement of Palestinian Land resolution
“That this Congress welcomes the historic vote at the UN to recognise Palestine as a State with observer status. It was disappointing that the UK Government abstained on this issue.

“Congress condemns the reaction of the Israeli Government to the vote. The Israeli Government has authorised the construction of housing units and other buildings on the ‘E1′ zone to the north east of Jerusalem. The ‘E1′ zone is Palestinian land and the construction is illegal under international law, as is all settlement building within the West Bank.

Palestinians living within the zone would be forcibly evicted. The annexation of ‘E1′ by Israel, implemented by the Israeli Defence Force,
will have the effect of completely isolating Palestinian East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and dividing the West Bank into two parts, which would make a unified Palestinian state unfeasible.

“Congress recognises that the completion of the annexation will prevent a two state solution as advocated by the international community, and end the possibility of a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

“Congress calls on the UK Government and the Scottish Government to implement sanctions against Israel with the objective of reversing the illegal annexation of ‘E1′, and encourage affiliated unions to support the call of Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions against Israel.”

Gaza blockade resolution
“That this Congress has a long history of support for the Palestinian struggle and has previously campaigned for economic, political and
social pressure to be applied to the Israeli Government and world powers, to reach a peaceful and just two state solution for Palestine and Israel.

“Congress notes that, following January 2013 elections, Israel maintains an ever tighter control of Gaza’s borders and is concerned that
foodstuffs, building materials and medical supplies are subject to blockade, while large areas have been destroyed and families have
been displaced and left homeless.

Congress deeply regrets that 90% of Gaza’s water is now undrinkable and sanitation-related diseases are common, power supplies are unreliable and industrial businesses are unable to import raw materials, while deepening levels of poverty means the majority of the population are now aid-dependent.

“Congress acknowledges that Foreign Office Minister, Alistair Burt MP, visited Gaza in 2011 and saw the damage Israeli restrictions on
movements of goods and people do to the economy and living standards of ordinary people.

Congress is aware that UK Government policy states that negotiations are needed to ensure more open access to and from Gaza, and to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the window for a two state solution closes.

“Congress calls on the General Council to support a continual awareness-raising process on these issues, and endeavor to step-up its
lobbying of the UK Government, to press for a complete lifting of the blockade and compliance with international law in Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people.”

FBU Palestinian Project resolution
“That this Congress notes the ongoing efforts of the Fire Brigades Union to provide practical training for the Fire and Rescue Service within Palestine.

“Congress welcomes the support of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in facilitating officers of the Palestinian Authority and Civil
Defence Department as they receive training in developing skills and training for their humanitarian role.

“Congress calls on the STUC General Council to continue its support for this project and to encourage the Scottish Government to continue its practical support, with a view to further developing the links between Palestine and Scotland.”

Occupied Palestine, November 29 – The Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (PTUC-BDS), the largest coalition of the Palestinian trade union movement, stands in solidarity with the millions of public sector workers across the UK taking strike action on November 30 to defend their pensions, jobs and public services. We understand the current government proposals, that ask you to pay more into public service pensions and work longer, only to receive smaller pensions, as a serious attack on your rights and the gains of the international trade union movement. All across the world, workers are being made to pay for a crisis we did not create and we in occupied Palestine stand in solidarity with your just action to defend your pensions, jobs and public services.

British trade unionists demonstrate to defend their pensions: every British TU has declared for BDSAt this crucial time, we also ask you to remember that Palestinians, too, are part of the 99% yearning for freedom, justice and equal rights. Whether living behind the Apartheid Wall and under occupation in the West Bank, under a medieval siege in Gaza, subjected to a system of institutionalised discrimination as citizens of Israel or as refugees unable to return to their homes, Palestinians, too, believe another world is possible and that ordinary people can create it.

With that in mind, we ask you to consider how your pensions are structured and what they are invested in. Working families have gradually lost control over pension funds and there is an urgent need for democratisation and accountability in how they are operated. These pension funds are too often invested in corporations that profit from human rights abuses and violations of international law in Palestine and internationally.

For example, most pension funds are invested in BAE Systems, which supplies components to F-16s used during the 2008-09 Gaza massacre, owns a company that maintains them for the Israeli military and, through a subsidiary, supplies tear gas to the Israeli police used to crush dissent.[1]

Most pension funds are also invested in Veolia and Alstom, which built and operate the illegal Jerusalem Light Rail, which is explicitly designed to literally cement Israel’s grip on the illegal settlements and has been condemned as illegal under international by the UN Human Rights Council. Adverts for staff for the Jerusalem Light Rail demanded applicants had completed Israeli military service, effectively barring Palestinians from applying.[2] Many local councils and private financial institutions have refused to deal with the two companies, yet pension funds for public sector workers continue to invest in them.

Far from taking meaningful steps to support justice for Palestinians, most of the international community is deeply complicit with Israel’s apartheid system over the Palestinian people. In response, Palestinian civil society, including the entirety of the Palestinian trade union movement, has called upon people of conscience to take action under the framework of boycotts, divestment and sanctions until Israel complies with international law. Pressuring pension funds to divest from corporations complicit with Israel’s system of oppression over the Palestinian people is an effective and vital form of solidarity with our struggle for our rights, and we ask you to consider working with us to work to establish campaigns to that aim.

We wish you the very best in your struggle against government attacks on your conditions. An injury to one is an injury to all!

The Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS)

Source: Scottish PSC

Saturday 13 April 10.30–4.30 Brunei Gallery, SOAS (London University)

Advance booking essential. Register today.

With a live link up with Gaza;  Speakers include:

Raji Sourani, Palestinian Committee for Human Rights

Khalil Abu Shamalla, Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisation Network

Jamal El-Khoudary, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council

Dr Mona El-Farra, Middle East Children’s Alliance

Diana Alzeer, activist-journalist

Jamal Juma, Stop the Wall Campaign

Patricia McKeown, Unison/Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition

Hugh Lanning, Kamel Hawwash and Sarah Colborne, PSC

Essam Mustafa, Interpal

Dr Phyllis Starkey, campaigner against settlements

Professor Nur Masalha, SOAS

Maha Rezeq, activist

Find out more about the conference on the PSC website.

International solidarity with Palestine is at a level never seen before. This conference will reflect upon experiences of Palestinian activists and academics from Gaza, Jerusalem, the West Bank and the diaspora and discuss how to work towards ending international complicity in oppression and denial of Palestinian human rights.

Sessions include:

• Palestine in the 21st century – new challenges, new opportunities

• Gaza: Surviving siege, challenging occupation

• Challenges and opportunities for the solidarity movement

To register online and for more details: www.palestinecampaign.org

Palestinian prisoners also launched a three-day hunger strike following the death of 64-year-old Abu Hamdiyeh, who was serving a life term in Israeli prison.

An autopsy of Abu Hamdiyeh’s body was scheduled to take place Wednesday at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv in the presence of a Palestinian observer. The body will then be transferred to the Palestinian Authority for burial.

Abu Hamdiyeh’s funeral was scheduled to take place Thursday in his hometown of Hebron.

Protests immediately erupted in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and in Israeli prisons on Tuesday over his death. More protests are expected to break out at his funeral in Hebron on Thursday.

Protestors and the Palestinian Authority (PA) blamed on Israel for medical negligence and bare Israeli authorities the full responsibility for Abu Hamdiyeh’s death. Abu Hamdiyeh was claimed a hero and a martyr.

Qaraqe said Israel did not abide by international and humanitarian principles, and that Palestine must head to the ICC to protect Palestinians from Israel’s “continuous crimes against humanity.”

The minister’s comments were made at a meeting in Hebron with the family of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, a cancer-sufferer who died in Israeli custody on Tuesday after Israel rejected repeated calls and protests for his release.

The Palestinian Authority’s attorney-general Abdul Ghani Oweiwi has ordered an autopsy on Abu Hamidiyeh’s body.

Palestinian and Arab doctors will be present at the autopsy, which will be conducted at the Abu Dis Institute of Forensic Medicine, Qaraqe said, adding that Palestinians had a right to know what led to Abu Hamdiyeh’s death on Tuesday.

Issa Qaraqe said the Palestinian side had information that Abu Hamdiyeh’s cancer spread because he was given the wrong medication by Israeli authorities. He was given pain killers to treat his cancer, Qaraqe said.

He said the Israeli Prison Service had neglected Abu Hamdiyeh’s medical condition for two years and did not provide treatment “until his last breath.”

Abu Hamdiyeh was admitted to Israel’s Soroka Hospital in late March.

A military funeral will be held for Abu Hamdiyeh in Hebron after noon prayers on Thursday.

Today, Maysara Abu Hamdiya, a 64 Palestinian prisoner, died while being held under Israeli custody due to medical negligence by the Israeli prison authorities. He died while his hands and feet were shackled to his hospital bed and being denied any family visit. The Palestinian Mission-UK holds the Israeli prison authorities responsible due to its continued policy of medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners as well as the delay in providing them with proper medical treatment. We call on the UK Government to uphold international law by pressuring Israel to end its widespread systematic policy of mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Abu Hamdiya’s health condition was dismissed after suffering from severe throat pain in August 2012. He was later diagnosed with throat cancer at Beersheba’s Soroka hospital in January 2013. However, the Israeli prison authorities refused to release him for treatment despite international appeal. He was deliberately refused the necessary treatment, which aggravated his health condition.

He described in a letter he wrote, the deliberate medical negligence of the Israeli Prison authorities and the cruel behaviour of doctors towards sick prisoners, who he said were subjected to medical experimentation without their consent. AbuHamdiya said, “The goal is to keep the prisoners alive but not cured to be a lesson to others.” He further, referred to the ill-treatment of fellow inmates also suffering from poor health at Ramleh prison, such as Alaa Hassouneh, who is described as suffering from heart disease but is only given painkillers. Another prisoner, Mansour Maqoudeh, was shot in the spine during his arrest by the occupation forces in 2002, which left him paralyzed. He was given injections in his abdomen by the Israeli prison authorities causing him intestinal damage.

Currently, there are at least 1,500 ill prisoners suffering from a policy of medical negligence; of which 25 prisoners are diagnosed with cancer and 18 suffering from various chronic illnesses. Since 1967, 207 detained martyrs died in Israeli prisons including 54 as a result of medical negligence. There are over 4,743 Palestinian prisoners currently detained by Israel including; 12 women, 236 of them children, 15 MPs and 178 of them held under administrative detention.

The Palestinian Mission calls on the international community to assume its political, legal, and moral responsibilities, to compel Israel to respect international law, including the required international monitoring of these prisons by relevant human rights organizations in order to have access to the facts about conditions inside Israeli prisons, especially in relation to the medical care provided to prisoners. We demand the immediate implementation of the resolution adopted by the World Health Organization on forming a fact-finding mission to investigate the health conditions of prisoners as well as the recent European Parliament resolution to send a fact-finding committee to investigate the conditions of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

ACT NOW!

1) Contact the FCO and demand that they put pressure on Israel to stop its mistreatment of Palestinian political prisoners

Use this  feedback form or write to them at Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH

2) Write to your MP and ask him to sign this  Early Day Motion on the Mistreatment of Palestinian Prisoners: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/1222

3) Join the Global Campaign to end  the Administrative Detention on the 17^th of April . Please visit www.Adameer.org for more information

In this regard, the Prime Minister strongly condemns the continued policy of medical negligence of Israeli prison authorities against prisoners as well as the delay in providing them with proper medical treatment and delayed diagnosis of cancer among prisoners. Furthermore, the Prime Minister strongly condemns the delay in reaching the cancer for martyr Abu Hamdiya until it had spread throughout his body, affirming that this delay was a primary reason for his martyrdom.

Dr. Fayyad affirms that this tragic incident requires the international community and all relevant human rights organizations to assume its political, legal, and moral responsibilities, to compel Israel to respect international law, including the required international monitoring of these prisons by relevant human rights organizations in order to have access to the facts about conditions inside Israeli prisons, especially in relation to the medical care provided to prisoners. The Prime Minister also calls for the immediate implementation of the resolution adopted by the World Health Organization on forming a fact-finding mission to investigate the health conditions of prisoners as well as the recent European Parliament resolution to send a fact-finding committee to investigate the conditions of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

In its monthly statement on Israel’s detentions of Palestinians and the conditions facing them in Israeli jails, the PPC said that last month’s arrests were made during 300 military operations across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Most of those detained are still behind bars.

The PPC’s spokesperson, Reyad Al-Ashqar, said that March witnessed an increase in the number of children detained by the Israelis. Out of the total of 90 children taken into detention, 50 were captured on the streets of Hebron in one day. Of the six women detained, one 14 year-old girl was interrogated in the absence of her parents or lawyer for several hours before being released.

Elected parliamentarian Ahmed Attoun had his appeal against his detention refused by the military court in Ofer; he was put in “administrative detention” without charge or trial for six months. The same court set down sentences on a number of Palestinians, ranging from two years for Intissar Al-Sayyad to life plus 60 years for Ishaq Arafah. Ms Al-Sayyad’s fellow female detainee, Alaa Al-Jaaba, had her hearing postponed yet again.

Al-Ashqar said that journalists arrested by the Israelis included Waleed Khalid, who has already served 18 years behind bars. Other journalists are being held in custody pending court cases; Sharif Al-Rajoub, however, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, while Mahmoud Abu-Khader and Amer Abu-Arafa had their detentions extended for another six months.

Two of those detained during March, said the PPC, are disabled and seriously ill: former prisoner Feras Abu-Shokor is paralysed and deaf, while 16 year-old Naser Abu-Baker has debilitating kidney failure.

The organisation’s report notes the deterioration of the health of dozens of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel. Of prime concern is Maysara Abu-Hamdiyya, who has cancer but has been denied access to proper treatment. After a lot of external pressure, he has finally been admitted to Soroka Hospital.

Meanwhile, Mansour Mowqada, who is suffering from hemiplegia and lives on an artificial respirator, is also critically-ill. Critical health condition notwithstanding, Samer Al-Issawi is still on hunger strike after eight months. Fellow hunger striker Ayman al-Sharawneh was deported to the Gaza Strip after a severe deterioration in his condition.

According to the PPC, the Israeli occupation authorities have carried out several punishment measures against Palestinian prisoners, cutting water supplies to some prisons and depriving a number of prisoners of family visits. Solitary confinement is also a punishment used by Israel, with Sami Asaliyya joining others as a victim of such conditions after being subject to violent assault by his captors.

The PPC called on all human right organisations to intervene to stop Israel’s brutality against Palestinian prisoners.

Source: MEMO

Do you want to make sure that special needs kids in Palestine have some opportunities despite the occupation?

If you do then please join us in this innovative fundraising campaign called Live Below the Line to raise funds for the Spafford Children’s Centre in Jerusalem.

Why?
Taking part, or sponsoring someone, helps the Spafford Chidren’s Centre provide holistic healthcare for some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

How?
It’s simple…

You could sign up to take the challenge of living on £1 a day for food and drink for 5 days (the Challenge will take place nationally from 29 April-3 May) and find people to sponsor you or sponsor someone who is living below the line for raising vital funds for the Spafford Children’s Centre to make a difference!

Sign up here!

Once you have signed up, you will get a username, send this link: www.livebelowtheline.com/me/<your USERNAME> to potential sponsors and ask them to sponsor you online!

The Challenge is too hard for you, no problem you could:

Donate by clicking and searching for the Spafford Children’s Centre for a direct donation here

Before you go…
Spread the word to your friends, family, relatives and all those who love the children of Palestine, we want to get many sign ups and many more funds!

For more information on the Spafford Children’s Centre, visit our website at http://spaffordcenter.org/ or find us on Facebook