Open Bethlehem

The documentary film Open Bethlehem will be screened at the Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) this Saturday, 13th December at 2.30. Tickets can be bought in advance. The director, Leila Sansour, will be in attendance for a Q&A session after the film.  For more about the film visit its website: http://www.openbethlehem.org

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Stop Arms Sales to Israel – Public Meeting

Speaking tour with Goretti Horgan and Eamonn McCann

Saturday 25th October, 2pm
Baxter Suite
University of Dundee

This summer, as Israel devastated Gaza, killing over 2000 Palestinians and maiming thousands more, Scottish people demonstrated in their thousands and endorsed, once again, the Palestinian call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against the state of Israel. The Scottish government publicly supported demands for an end to arms sales to Israel.

In August, Scottish PSC Fife organised a demonstration in Glenrothes, where one of the world’s biggest arms companies, Raytheon, has a plant. Other firms with bases in Scotland, Denchi Power and Selex, were also found to be selling military hardware to Israel. Following a similar protest at Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms company plant near Birmingham, in September, activists from Glasgow Palestine Action were arrested for protests at the entrance and the rooftop of a Thales plant near Glasgow. Elbit and Thales are working together to make the next generation of ‘Watchkeeper’ drones, a contract worth £1 billion.

This speaking tour is a chance for us to hear from the Raytheon Derry campaign, and is an opportunity to share ideas and build a sustained campaign to end Scottish arms sales to Israel.

Goretti Horgan is a Derry based socialist, trade unionist, women’s rights activist and social policy researcher/lecturer at the University of Ulster. She was one of the ‘Raytheon 9’ women, members of the Derry Anti War Coalition, charged with burglary and attempted criminal damage as a result of their occupation of the Raytheon plant in Derry on 12 January 2009 during Israel’s assault on Gaza. The nine women entered the building that housed Raytheon and chained themselves to each other and to the internal doors leading to Raytheon’s part of the building. Five men were also arrested while demonstrating outside in support of the women.

A jury in Belfast Crown Court acquitted the ‘Raytheon 9’ women. Three of the men arrested were also acquitted while two were convicted of minor offences. In 2010 Derry campaigners won a massive victory when Raytheon closed down its Derry plant.

In August 2006, Eamonn McCann, journalist and socialist activist, was one of nine male protesters, also known as the ‘Raytheon 9’, who were charged with £350k worth of criminal damage after deliberately sabotaging Raytheon’s mainframe computer. This action was a direct response to Israel’s targeting of residential apartments in Qana, Lebanon, when 28 civilians were killed with a Raytheon “Bunker Buster” bomb.
In June 2008 the ‘Raytheon 9’ were acquitted unanimously by a Belfast jury after it accepted that the action was being done in order to prevent further loss of life. During the same trial, representatives from Raytheon had to admit that they had continued to supply weaponry to Israel in spite of evidence that it was being used to commit war crimes.

Organised by Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, initiated by the newly established Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Women’s Committee
www.scottishpsc.org.uk – campaign@scottishpsc.org.uk

 

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Palestinian Legislative Council member Khaleda Jarrar illegally transferred to Jericho

This is a press release from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

As Israeli occupation forces continue their offensive against the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank they have they issued a decision ordering transfer of Ms. Khalida Jarra, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc and Member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), from her place of residence in Ramallah to Jericho for six months, claiming that she endangers the security of the region.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, at approximately 01:45 on Wednesday, 20 August 2014, Israeli forces, accompanied by a police force, an intelligence officer and female soldiers, raided the house of Ms. Khalida Jarrar, Member of the PLC and Member of the PFLP Political Bureau, in Salam Za’rour Street near the Continuous Education Center in the center of Ramallah. An Israeli officer delivered to her a military notice ordering her transfer from Ramallah to Jericho until 19 February 2015, claiming that “she poses a threat to the security of the region, so she must be put under special monitoring.” Ms. Jarrar stated to PCHR that the notice was written in Hebrew, but the officer read it to her in Arabic and requested her to sign it, but she refused. The officer then gave her a map that specifies her movement inside Jericho.
PCHR strongly condemns the decision to transfer PLC Member Khalida Jarrar to Jericho, and stresses that it violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which states: “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.” In this context, PCHR calls upon the international community to immediately act to stop all Israeli crimes, and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 of the Convention to respect and ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligations under Article 146 of the Convention to search for and prosecute those suspected of perpetrating grave breaches of the Convention.

 

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Protests stop second Israel state-sponsored show in Edinburgh

Israeli press reports have confirmed that the planned production at the Edinburgh Fringe by Ben-Gurion University dance group Pola has been cancelled.

The Jerusalem Post reports that “Ben-Gurion University of the Negev on Sunday cancelled the planned performances of its student dance company at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next week..”

This follows the cancellation of the hip hop opera by Israeli state funded Incubator Theatre at the Underbelly last week after protests led by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Israeli media also claim that the search for an alternative venue in Edinburgh is being supported by Scottish Government despite the massive outpouring of public anger over the murder of more than 1,700 Palestinians by Israel. YNET News quote Rafi Gimzu, vice president and head of the Foreign Ministry’s Cultural Affairs Division and Science (DCSA) who claims the Israeli embassy “is in close contact with the management of the Edinburgh Festival, the Ministry of Culture of Scotland and the local police”.

Recent reports, which have not been denied, claim that the Scottish Government plans to boycott planned events of the UK-Russia Year of Culture.

A spokesperson for SPSC said “The Scottish Government has to come clean over its position on boycott. It cannot withdraw support for one cultural event and then work against the rising popular opposition to the massacre of innocent Palestinians.

SPSC demonstration in Edinburgh

SPSC demonstration in Edinburgh

“Over the last few weeks there have been protests the length and breadth of Scotland, demonstrating the public’s opposition to the brutal and criminal actions of the Israeli government. The killing in Gaza must stop and instead of aiding and abetting the Israeli government, Fiona Hyslop and the Scottish Government must stand with the people of Scotland and send a clear message to the world that we oppose the massacre in Gaza and will do everything in our gift to stop it.”

A spokesperson for the Association of Palestinian Communities in Scotland said “As refugees from Palestine we live in constant fear of receiving a telephone or text message telling us that another family member or friend has been killed.

“The support and friendship we receive from the people of Scotland is being betrayed by the Scottish government’s refusal to support our call for the comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state until its crimes against the Palestinian people end. This call includes Israeli stated funded theatre.

“The Israeli government continues to seek out cultural events to sponsor at the same time as it is murdering Palestinians.”

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Public meeting – How Israel can be defeated in Scotland

Thurs 7th August, 7.30pm
T9 Lecture Theatre, Tower Building
Dundee University
DUNDEE,

Speakers: Yvonne Ridley, Dr Esam Hijjawi, Mick Napier

Organised by Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Other meetings in Scotland
Monday 4th August, 7.30pm – GLASGOW, Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, G2 4HZ
Tues 5th August, 8pm – EDINBURGH, New Empire Bingo Club, 50 Nicolson St
Fri 8th August, 7.30pm – STIRLING, venue to be confirmed

 

British journalist YVONNE RIDLEY has made several documentary films on Palestine visiting the West Bank, Gaza and refugee camps in the region. She was presented with a Palestinian passport in 2008 and became a roving ambassador for Palestine after breaking the siege of Gaza by boat. The boats were the first to run the gauntlet of Israeli gunboats and successfully entered the port of Gaza, the first to do so in more than 40 years. A founder member of Viva Palestina she also helped lead a convoy of ambulances across North Africa and into Gaza in 2009. Having moved to Scotland, she is now a member of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Dr ESAM HIJJAWI is an ophthalmologist practicing in Edinburgh. He was a leader of the Palestinian student movement in 1974-76 against the first illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank at Serbastia, near Nablus. During the First Intifada, Esam was a member of the Joint Leadership Council for the West Bank. He resigned from the PFLP in protest at the Oslo Accords. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Association of Palestinian Communities in Scotland.  Esam survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1990.

MICK NAPIER is a founder member of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. He has been illegally handcuffed and assaulted by police in both Israel and Scotland for Palestine solidarity activities. He and four other SPSC members defeated charges of ‘racism’ for protesting against Israeli musicians affiliated to the Israeli military. He is a contributing author, with Archbishop Atallah Hanna and others, to Generation Palestine: Voices of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement published last year. He is currently writing a book on effective Palestine solidarity campaigning to be finished when Israeli massacres allow.

 

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Show Solidarity with Gaza

Show Solidarity with Gaza -End Commercial Support with Israel.
Tuesday 29th July 12.30pm
Tesco Metro/Marks & Spencer, Murraygate, Dundee

As the death toll passes 1,000, and Israeli Operation Protective Edge looks set to become even more deadly than Operation Cast Lead in 2009-2010, we ask you to please support our lunchtime solidarity vigil to protest against this merciless Israeli attack on Gaza.

The vigil will focus upon encouraging shoppers in Dundee to support the Palestinian call for a consumer boycott of Israeli goods.

Please join us, if only for a few minutes. All support is valuable and very much appreciated

 

Protest in Dundee against the Israeli bombing of Gaza (12 July 2014)

Protest in Dundee against the Israeli bombing of Gaza (12 July 2014)

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Public Meeting: Israeli ethnic cleansing – an eyewitness account

7.30pm Tuesday 8th April

Community Centre, 7 Guthrie Street, Dundee, DD1 5DR

Ron Taylor is a regular visitor to the South Hebron Hills of Palestine. He has experienced at first hand the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Israeli state. He will speak about what he has witnessed and what action can be taken to try to prevent it.

Ron’s tour will see him speaking in towns and cities across Scotland at the start of April.

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Prawer Plan protest in Dundee

On Saturday 30th November, about 50 Palestinian solidarity activists from Dundee staged a protest in Dundee city centre against Israel’s so-called Prawer Plan.

Opposing Prawer 1

This was one of many actions across the world, involving thousands of protesters voicing their opposition to the Israeli state’s plan to ethnically cleanse thousands of Palestinian Bedouins from their land. They also intend to destroy 35 villages.Support from Minnie the Minx

The Dundee event included a short dramatisation of an eviction, together with speeches and the distribution of several hundred leaflets.

Opposing Prawer 2

 

 

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Say No To Ethnic Cleansing – protest in Dundee City Square

12-30 – 2pm Saturday 30th November

Saturday 30th November is an international day of protest against the Israeli State’s Prawer-Begin Plan, which aims to remove tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens from the Naqab (Negev), and relocate them to government-approved shanty towns, destroying 35 villages and stealing hundreds of thousands of dunams of land.
Palestine solidarity activists from all over Scotland will be gathering in Dundee City Square to show opposition to ethnic cleansing and Zionist colonisation of Palestine. Please come along and support this event. Bring flags, placards and banners.

 

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THE GREAT BOOK ROBBERY

Dundee University Action Palestine invite you to a showing of

THE GREAT BOOK ROBBERY on

Wednesday 20th November

5pm in Lecture Theatre 2, Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee

The Great Book Robbery tells the story of the systematic looting, in 1948, of tens of thousands of Palestinian books in a joint operation by the Haganah – what became the Israeli army, and the Israeli National Library. The film is the culmination of a joint project by filmmaker Benny Brunner and Arjan El Fassed, who is a co-founder of The Electronic Intifada.
Using eyewitness interviews, secretly shot footage, historic images and shots of the books themselves, The Great Book Robbery tells the story of the books and their owners, despite ongoing Israeli official denial.
Israel’s National Library denied the filmmakers permission to shoot the collection of looted Palestinian books it holds, but the filmmakers did so any way with a palm-sized camera. Not only did the National Library refuse to cooperate with the film, but the “Custodian of Absentee Property” which allegedly is responsible for the books, did not respond to requests for interviews. It was an Israeli graduate student who helped break the silence around the systematic theft. As Arwa Aburawa wrote in 2010:

“This untold story of the Nakba has remained hidden over the years until, by complete accident, Israeli graduate student Gish Amit stumbled across archives documenting the systematic looting of Palestinian books. “I came across this topic quite accidentally,” Gish admits. “I spent the first few months of my doctoral studies at various archives, among them the archive of the Jewish national and university library, where one day, I discovered the first documents regarding the collecting of the Palestinian libraries left behind during the 1948 war. Anyhow, it took me a few more weeks – and dozens of documents – to realize that there was a story to tell. A story that hasn’t yet been told and one that might enrich our knowledge about the Palestinian culture and its erasure.”

Although many Palestinian families were aware that their books were taken during the aftermath of 1948, they had no idea that there was a systematic and conscious effort to appropriate their books.
For those who are just learning about the Nakba or those who have lived with it all their lives, The Great Book Robbery is an eye-opening film.

You can also learn more about the books at the project’s website: thegreatbookrobbery.org.

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