Action Palestine members and representatives from Manchester Green Party as well as MPACUK, with the support of PSC and StW,  met with Withington MP John Leech this afternoon at his surgery in Withington Library to discuss the massacre made by Israel against the Free Gaza Flotilla.

They congradulated Mr Leech on his support for the Early Day Motion 127 being tabled in Parliament which ‘recognises that Israel’s blockade which has destroyed the economy of Gaza and deepened poverty still inflicts widespread suffering and, by imposing collective punishment on the people of Gaza, is itself contrary to international law; and calls on the international community to require Israel to end its blockade’

In addition, Action Palestine asked Mr Leech if he would help a campaign which goes beyond merely issuing words of condemnation, and push the British Government to take real punitive measures against Israel. It was pointed out to him that Israel’s status within the EU was in the process of being upgraded and it was asked if he would ensure he would do what he could to prevent any rewarding of Israel in light of its actions of aggression against the Free Gaza Flotilla. Mr Leech said that he would present our concerns to his colleagues dealing with European affairs and raise the matter with the foreign Office.

Mr Leech accepted an invitation to meet again at the Students Union, and accepted the following letter written by Action Palestine promising to respond as soon as possible;

‘Dear John,

Firstly, we would like to congratulate you on signing the early day motion 127. However, we believe that now more than ever, real effective and punitive actions are necessary against the government of Israel.

Therefore we would like you as our MP to commit working towards ensuring that:

That the British government ends its complicity in the political and economical blockade of Gaza;

• That there is an International rather than an Israeli led enquiry;

• That the British government should demand of Israel that ALL hostages taken from the Free Gaza Flotilla be freed with the promise that those who are Citizens of Israel or Palestinians from the Occupied territories will not suffer any retribution for their participation in the aid convoy;

• That the parliamentary foreign affairs committee should meet with all the
  British participants in the flotilla to give an accurate account of
  the situation;

• Support the Palestinian civil society call for an Anti-Apartheid modelled campaign of Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions  against Israel;

• An end to the EU-Israel Trade Association Agreement.

• A formal statement from yourself that is disseminated to all media outlets expressing your condemnation of Monday’s massacre and incorporating the proposals from the above suggestions that you find yourself in agreement.

Action Palestine is a long standing student group within both Man Met and the University of Manchester. We have built a strong reputation for organising some of the biggest mobilisations of the student body over the continuing illegal Israeli violations of Palestinian Human Rights.

In addition, we have twinned our student union in solidarity with students trying to achieve an education in the difficult conditions of occupation at Nablus University in the West Bank. As part of the twining agreement, we have raised a plaque that expresses our commitment to our fellow students in the occupied territories, inhabiting the space, and embodying the spirit, of a building named after the anti-apartheid South African revolutionary ‘Steve Biko’.

We would like to invite you to come see it, and have a picture taken so that we may send it to Nablus, as a gesture of solidarity and help breakdown the large barriers which continue to exist in preventing them from enjoying the fruits of a full, free and peaceful education.

Manchester University Action Palestine and MMU Action Palestine.’

Mass Lobby of John Leech MP
Friday the 4th of June, 3pm Withington Library, Wilmslow Road.

End the Siege of Gaza

No to an Israeli enquiry, yes to an International enquiry

Sanctions on Israel – End the EU-Israel Association Agreement

The massacre of at least 9 international humanitarian activists illustrates to the world the extent to which Israel’s words are at odds with its deeds. Despite its professed commitment to democratic ideals and international cooperation in pursuit of long lasting peace in the region, Israel’s assault on the Free Gaza Flotilla adds to its record of putting obstacles in the way of Justice.

This massacre comes in the aftermath of Israel’s 2006 invasion of Lebanon, Israel’s three year siege of Gaza, its assault on Gaza in 2009, recent political assassination abroad, as well as the continuation of illegal settlement building in the West Bank, all of which has continued to hamper the development of regional stability and thus undermined the prospects for real peace with Justice in the Middle East as well as for Palestine.

In light of this record we feel that it is our duty to not simply speak out against Israel’s policies but also now imperative to take inspiration from the anti- apartheid struggle in South Africa and step up our grassroots campaign for solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for Justice and Peace.

Called by: Action Palestine
Supported by: Manchester PSC, Manchester Green Party, MPACUK,

The University of Manchester Palestine society (Action Palestine) today condemned the “Islam on Campus” report carried out by the Centre for Social Cohesion.

On page 21 the report says:
“Islamic societies often work in conjunction with other university societies generally. For example, at the University of Manchester, the ISOC works closely with the Palestinian Society, often co-hosting events and sharing email subscription lists.”

The University of Manchester Palestine society seeks to cooperate with all like-minded students and students’ groups over the last year and have co-hosted several events with several students’ groups and university departments, the University of Manchester Islamic Society is not one of them. We have never shared mailing lists with the Islamic Society nor any other group for that matter. We are also careful to only publicise our own events and actions organised by our own society. We don’t send out emails on our mailing list from other groups.

Having said this, we have a good relationship with many of our fellow students’ groups in the University of Manchester including the Islamic Society. We look forward to working with as many fellow students groups in the University of Manchester and beyond, when ever the opportunity arises for joint campaigns and events.

We are not in a position to provide a statement about the full content of the report but we have clearly shown that is has included inaccurate information. Also the language of the report appears to seek to attack Muslim students and provoke anger and suspicion towards Muslims on campus. Therefore we commend NUS and Wes Streeting (NUS president 08-09) for taking a clear position against the report, We also support the FOSIS statement against the report.

University of Manchester Palestine Society Committee

*End*

CSC “Islam on campus” (PDF) (HTML)

FOSIS statement on the CSC report

The Israeli army assassinated a Palestinians student from An-Najah University and early on the morning of 24 / 06 / 2008.

I am currently staying five minutes away from where this atrocity took place – in the Al-Sal’ous neighborhood in the Al-Makhfiyeh area of western Nablus.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Israeli offensive forces were carrying out one of its many illegal incursions into the city of Nablus where upon they ruthlessly killed, in cold blood 2 Palestinians, one of whom was 24-year-old Iyad Khanfar, a final-year student at An-Najah. We had the opportunity of visiting the apartment soon after and it was laced with blood, broken glass and bullets. The apartment had been
ransacked and torn apart by explosions used to instill life threatening fear in these innocent palestinians. Several matching reports say that one, a student, was filled
with 16 bullets to the chest whilst in bed.

The university is (was) on general strike with all classes cancelled and the local volunteers on my program were shocked as was I.

This is by now means an isolated incident and is common practice for the apartheid forces. We pray for their families.

T.C

End the Siege on Gaza
Northern Demonstration

Saturday 2nd Feb 12 noon

BBC Building, Oxford Road, Manchester

Action Palestine, with the support of Stop the War and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, has called a northern demonstration in solidarity with the people of Gaza. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has made life in the world’s most densely populated region in the world even worse in recent weeks. The blockade is an obvious case of collective punishment.

Much of Gaza is once again in darkness, as Israel cut off the fuel to its only power plant. Hospital patients have reportedly died, communications are out, and movement and commerce in an already beleaguered economy have come to a near halt.

Michele Mercier, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Gaza hospitals still had medications “but it won’t last for more than two or three days.” Now, Gazans must also contend with the possibility of already scarce food supplies being cut off. Christopher Gunness of UNRWA, the UN relief agency, said the agency could be forced to suspend food distribution to 860,000 people because of the shortage of fuel and plastic bags.

The New York Times, always to be counted on to provide the right euphemisms, reported that “Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered a temporary halt on all imports into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip late last week. The measure, along with stepped-up military operations in Gaza, was meant to persuade Palestinian militants there to stop firing rockets at Israel.” (Isabel Kershner, “Fuel Shortage Shuts Gaza Power Plant, Leaving City Dark,” 21 January 2008.)

Terms like “measures” and “persuasion” sound so gentle. But they cover up a brutal reality that Israeli leaders are keen to boast about: they are acting with premeditation to inflict suffering on the Palestinian civilian population, and they display an extraordinary degree of callousness for their victims.

“We are impacting the overall quality of life in Gaza and destroying the terror infrastructure,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak boasted.

As news of mounting suffering came out of Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert provided further confirmation that civilians were on Israel’s target list: “We are trying to hit only those involved in terrorism, but also signaling to the population in Gaza that it cannot be free from responsibility for the situation.” With fuel running out, he scoffed, “As far as I’m concerned, all the residents of Gaza can walk and have no fuel for their cars because they have a murderous terrorist regime that doesn’t allow people in the south of Israel to live in peace.”

The punishment of Gaza’s population is apparently succeeding beyond Israel’s wildest dreams. Unnamed Israeli “defense officials” told The Jerusalem Post on 20 January “that food supplies were running low in Gaza and would dry up by the middle of the week.” (“Gaza food will run out by midweek,” 20 Jan 2008). Meanwhile, the Israeli daily Haaretz cited “Israeli security officials” who said “that the electrical supply difficulties in the Gaza Strip were greater than Israel had previously expected when it cut off fuel to the coastal territory earlier in the day.” (“Barak: Gaza to get one-time fuel, medicine delivery,” 21 January 2008.)

Israeli leaders are usually careful to lace their statements with pro forma denials that they are deliberately trying to create a “humanitarian” crisis — though they never define what level of deliberately inflicted suffering might cross that threshold. Gaza’s residents “are hostages of a deranged regime, but there is no real humanitarian crisis there,” said housing minister Zeev Boim, apparently referring to Hamas, not his own government.

The logic seems to be that Israel can do whatever it wants, as long as officials use euphemisms to describe it. As Dov Weissglas, Olmert’s advisor, so notoriously put it when Israel began its strangulation of Gaza in early 2006, “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.” But they do die, in large numbers.

Some top Israelis make it clear that they do not actually believe that Palestinian civilians even exist. Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency (ISA), or Shin Bet secret police, responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial executions of Palestinians, told the cabinet on 13 January that the army and Shin Bet agents had “killed 1,000 terrorists in the Gaza Strip in the past two years.” By B’Tselem’s count Israel had killed 816 Palestinians in Gaza in the previous two years, of whom 152 were children and many others were adult civilians “who took no part in the hostilities.” Thus, B’Tselem concluded, the “head of the ISA defines every Palestinian killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip as a terrorist.” (B’Tselem, “Head of ISA defines a terrorist as any Palestinian killed by Israel,” 13 January 2008.)

From electronic intifada
—-

Action Palestine

Two students from the University of Manchester were not able to reach An-Najah their twin university in the West Bank due to the city being under siege, curfew, and attack from the Israeli army.

The students were in the west bank on a family visit, and agreed to visit an-Najah for the purpose of collecting important documents for the UMSU. However for the duration of their visit, the city of Nablus was under incursions from the Israeli army, to the damage of 40 million Israeli shekels, and the injury of 38 civilians including 2 disabled civilians and medical staff.

The students had arranged with the staff of the university and the students’ council to visit the university but every time they tried to travel from Bethlehem to Nablus (around 50miles) they were turned away by Israeli checkpoints around the Nablus.

Also, the journey, straight from Bethlehem to Nablus should take no more than one and a half hours. However, due to the status of the Manchester students, they were not allowed to go through Jerusalem, so the detour including waiting at the Israeli checkpoints took them up to four hours each time.

Palestinian students from An-Najah were clearly disappointed the visit was not allowed to happen when he said: “I was looking forward to meeting students from UMSU, the support we had from them is amazing, but it’s different when it’s face to face.”

Rana Batarseh, from UMSU was equally disappointed, “I guess this is why we choose to twin with a Palestinian university, the travel restrictions are collective punishment embossed on a whole people, they don’t allow a normal life to go on, we had been looking forward to this visit for a long time, I really hope, these the conditions change for the sake of the people who are living here. I was also shocked to hear that students from An Najah university were illegally detained by the Israeli army during the incursion without charge, and to this day haven’t been charged. I really think that UMSU should do something to support these students, who add to the 56 already being tortured in Israeli jails.”

The twinning between UMSU and An Najah University began after the motion to twin the two institutions was passed at the March 2006 General Meeting. Since then the two institutions have hosted shared events. The twinning has ignited many a debate on campus surrounding the situation in Palestine and has faced some opposition yet many students support this link and also defended this twinning at Nov 14th General Meeting 2007.

Dr Nabil’s thoughts on the invasion “The invasion happened at a time when the governor of Nablus was able to restore order to the City by collecting arms from all armed men who roamed the streets of Nablus. The invasion disturbed the students who live in the City away from their families after commuting has become impossible because of the atrocities and harassments they are exposed to at the roadblocks. The invasion increases frustrations among the young population of university students, who were anticipating an ease up of the situation after Annapolis only to face a new wave of unjustified harassment. The Israelis always like to abort all attempts made at improving the Palestinian conditions under the pretext of Security. Palestinian young men are aware of the fact that detaining, humiliating and killing helpless young men will certainly not help in promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli acts of violence against Palestinians aim at evacuating Palestinian young from their land after driving them to the limits of despair. The invasion renewed scenes of bloodshed in the street of Nablus; one Palestinian young man was shot in the head on his way to the Friday prayer right in front of The Old Campus of An-Najah National University. The killed man was a father of two young children and the Israeli soldiers admitted killing him by mistake. During the incursion, the University was closed for three days, and several young people were arrested.

Nabil Alawi, Ph.D., Director, Public Relations Department

End the Siege on Gaza
International Day of Action
Saturday 26th January

The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition will hold a protest at 10am in Adderley Street, Cape Town, on 26th January 2008.

This has been declared as an International Day of Action to End the Siege on Gaza.

Action Palestine is organising a coach from Manchester to go to London
for the protest outside the Parliament
Leaving from outside the Students’ union at 9am
The coach will be returning on the same day.
Tickets: £5

Tickets available from the Campaigns office in UMSU.

Join us in protesting against Israel blocking desperately ill Palestinians from accessing medical treatment and its escalating military attacks on Gaza.

Saturday 26 January, 4-6pm Parliament

We are particularly appealing to medical staff to join us in uniform to visibly express their opposition to Israel preventing Gazans from travelling for lifesaving medical treatment.

‘The human catastrophe deliberately inflicted on Gaza by western policies over the past two years is one of the great crimes of the century so far’. Jonathan Steele, Guardian 11 January.

Israel’s illegal, brutal siege of Gaza is tightening, restricting fuel and electricity, and preventing even medical supplies, food, essential construction materials and paper for UN schoolbooks from entering Gaza . With lethal military strikes being launched on Gaza , and Ehud Barak has warned that an Israeli invasion of Gaza is nearing.

Even those who desperately need medical treatment are prevented from leaving. Over 65 Palestinians have died as a direct result of Israel ’s prevention of access to medical treatment. Miri Weingarten from the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said ‘ Israel intends and wishes to punish the general population in Gaza , and they’re not hiding it — in fact, they’ve stated it clearly.’

Dr Ahmed Abu Tawahineh, deputy director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, has pointed out that since last June, only a hundred patients have been allowed out of Gaza to seek treatment – less than 10 per cent of the more than 1,000 applicants.

How long can this inhuman treatment continue unchallenged by international leaders?

Collective punishment is being inflicted upon the Palestinians for voting for a government against the wishes of Israel , the US and the EU.

Call on the British government to end its collusion with these policies, which are imprisoning Gazans and attempting to destroy their lives by limiting access to food, electricity, clean water supplies and medical treatment.

Action Palestine

University of Manchester Students’ Union Executive has written an open letter to University of Nottingham Students’ Union Executive asking them why they haven’t defended political freedoms on their campus.

An Open Letter to Nottingham Students’ Union Executive

When activists at the University of Nottingham decided to inject some politics onto their campus and protest against the Israeli Apertheid Wall, campus security called the Police who arrested one activist. The response of the University and the Police was appaling. However, even worse, the Students’ Union did nothing to defend its membership. Below is a copy of the letter sent by UMSU to Nottingham in protest.

Dear Executive Members, Nottingham Students’ Union

We are writing to express our concerns regarding an incident involving Students at Nothingham University on the 04/12/07.

Given the sacrosanct nature of freedom of assembly in facilitating the right of students to be politically active on any campus across the country, and the implied responsibility student unions have in supporting students ability to engage freely and without hinderence in pursuit of their causes, it is vital that we, as representatives of student bodies, ensure that any infringements are condemned and these basic rights asserted.

It is in the spirit of defending the rights of Students to engage in political activity that we, the executive of Manchester Students Union write to you.

It is our belief that if students are attacked in one part of the country, as a student movement we have an obligation to stand in solidarity with those attacked. In this case it appears that Nothingham Students have had their basic democratic rights attacked, and any future student actions undermined.

Students from Nothingham University excerised their right to protest against the Apartheid Israeli Wall currently being constructed in the Occupied territories. Those students used their right to engage in political activity to legitimately raise awareness of this situation and illustrated how the wall is creating an obstacle to the development of a lasting peace.

The fact that University Security Guards were deployed by the authorities with the expressed objective to illegitimately shut down this student action stands as an affront to all basic principles of student autonomy.

If this was not bad enough, the involvement of the police on a student campus threatening the arrest of students in their own university raising awareness on an issue would be more akin to the response of Mugabe’s Zimbawe or the military in Burma.

We ask that you take this issue seriously, and affirm the freedom of students to engage in political activity on campus. In addition, we would hope that the Students’ Union take the issue up with the University authority and point out that across the country students have engaged in similar actions without the violent response of the authorities.

If we can be of any assistance in helping you to assert these basic student rights then please get in touch and we will offer all the solidarity and support necessary to challenge these unacceptable infringements.

In solidarity,

University of Manchester Students’ Union Executive.

Manchester Students reaffirm their commitment to the Palestinians’ Right to Education.

Yesterday (Wed 14th) Manchester Student’s Union held it’s General Meeting with attendance of over 1100 students and strengthened their commitment to the Palestinian’s Right to Education and their twinning with An-Najah University with almost a two-thirds majority.

A motion called “Peace through Education” was proposed which aimed at undermining the twinning of Manchester Student’s Union with An Najah. It gave the Palestinian university the ultimatum of signing a statement condemning terrorism within two months or the twinning would be abandoned.

It was a racist motion that caused vast indignation amongst the student population by stereotyping Palestinians as terrorists and accusing An-Najah University of actively supporting terrorism. The writers of the motion cited an unreliable website as a resource which included many inaccuracies and racist quotes.

The movement against the motion involved a very wide layer of groups and societies from different backgrounds and interests, who were unified by the will to defeat the racist motion and support UMSU’s stance on solidarity with Palestinian students under occupation. One student who attended the meeting said, “The motion shows that the racism against the Palestinians is one of the last forms of acceptable racism. If we had been twinned with a black university during apartheid in South Africa and they had been given them the ultimatum asking them to condemn gun crime there would have been international outrage, and rightly so.”

With over 16 500 students enrolled in its 19 faculties and two colleges, An-Najah is one of the largest Universities in Palestine. It is located in the city of Nablus, part of the territories that, according to the United Nations, the state of Israel has been illegally occupying since 1967. On 11th November, members of the Right to Education Campaign at An-Najah University published a response to the motion in question – through it, they stated: “Neither the University nor its Student Council is a terrorist organisation, and the implication that they are is insulting” and further “The motion ‘Peace Through Education’ is defamatory because it repeatedly implies that ANU and it’s Student Council promotes, facilitates or has links with terrorism”.

It is a fact that the Israeli occupation and the apartheid policing tactics that they uphold cause great suffering to the Palestinian people. Moreover, the Palestinian youth’s basic human right to education has been systematically denied by the state of Israel: Universities have been shelled, broken into and forced to close for large periods of time – not to mention the very practical difficulties students must face when trying to pursue their degrees against the backdrop of a military occupation.

The motivation for our Union’s twinning with An-Najah University was based around the ideal of showing solidarity with fellow students enduring acute hardship in Palestine and helping to break the isolation imposed on the Palestinian people. Also it highlights the importance of a right to education globally, and how it should be fought for. These beliefs are something that is part UMSU’s long history of internationalism and it’s excellent commitment to supporting just causes all across the world.

The motion resolved to accept the invitation made by An-Najah University for an olive tree from the university to be planted on campus at Manchester as a gesture of peace and as a symbol of life, and allow for a fortnightly article from An-Najah University students to be printed in Student Direct, the students’ official news paper.

The reaction from An Najah after the new amended motion was passed was very positive. A statement from them included, “we are very pleased that the amended motion was passed. The solidarity from Manchester Students Union is something we are glad to have. We hope that this will help us to get more attention to our right to an education”.

The strengthening of the twinning in Manchester is part of a nationwide movement for solidarity with Palestinians students. Many universities in the UK are now twinned with Palestinian Universities and many others are in the process of finding a twin. A student from Leeds University who was involved with the campaign to get Leeds University twinned with Berzeit University said, “This is an exceptionally significant victory, and can only help other forms of solidarity with Palestinian.”

Action Palestine