Call to Boycott

Beethovians for Boycotting Israel perfom "Ode to Boycott". Dedicated to all the musicians of Palestine.

Pro- Palestine window protest continues

 

One of the workers at the wholesalers has written up the full story...

 

After the Israeli air attacks on Gaza in December 2008 / January 2009 the people at my workplace all agreed that we should use our window on Fawcett Road to show our outrage - and our solidarity with the Palestinian people. In the grand scheme of things it's not exactly the greatest act of resistance, but no matter how small a gesture, it felt that we were at least doing something.

 

Read more

The Nine Britons are released from Israeli Prison and return home

All of the remaining British contingent of Welcome to Palestine 2012
arrived at Manchester Airport last night at 10.30pm, having spent 5 days in
Givon Prison, Ramla. There were never charged with any crime nor given any
explanations to why they were detained in
the first place. The Israeli crackdown
on anyone attempting to openly visit
Palestine is more repressive than ever,
and the British Government is blatantly
colluding in this practice as is evidenced by
'advice' they give on their website.

One detainee is quoted as saying:  'Really the Home Office 
should be transparent about it on their website 
-  if you want to travel to the West Bank, we advise you to lie'.

Five British Women held in Givon Prison near Tel Aviv continue to refuse food

 

The five British women imprisoned by the Israeli government for their part in ‘Welcome to Palestine 2012’ are refusing food in support of the demandsof Palestinian political prisoners. Some 3,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel started a hunger strike yesterday demanding rights to family visits and education, an end to isolation and an end to administrative detention, a procedure under  which detainees are held without charge or trial. Khader Adnan, who ended his protest hunger strike in February after 67 days, was released yesterday. There are currently three Palestinian political prisoners who have been striking for more than 40 days. In total Israel holds 4,610 political prisoners, including 6 women and 203 children.

The five women, from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Dumfries and Glasgow, were 

taken to Givon prisonon landing at Tel Aviv airport on Sunday. They were amongst 

1,300 international participants of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ initiative that sought to highlight Israel’s blockade of the West Bank and attempts to isolate Palestinians. In addition to the five women, four British men are being held at Givon prison near Tel Aviv.

Welcome to Palestine detainees refuse food in solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners' Hunger Strike:

Today the 12 British people who flew with Welcome to Palestine 2012 on Sunday and who are currently detained in Givon Prison Ramlah, are refusing food in solidarity with 1200 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike protesting administrative detention. 

 One of these is Joy Cherkaoui, a community work has long been involved in social justice issues. She was part of the group who last year first attempted to visit the West Bank via Tel Aviv openly declaring the purpose of their visit. Then she spent 6 days in the same Prison with 127 others.  Joy lives in Castle Douglas and is treasurer of the local branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. She has one grown up son, who lives in Edinburgh.

   
You can learn more about  the others being detained and why they took part in the initiative http://welcometopalestine.info/index.php/participant-profiles-uk-us

Revs thoughts on being deported

Sams thoughts on being deported

40% of Israeli black-list had no history of activism

Forty percent of the non-Israeli citizens whose names appeared on Israeli blacklist ahead of Sunday's Flytilla protest by pro-Palestinian activists were added to the list despite the fact that the security service had no concrete information showing they were connected with the protest in any way. This information comes from a high-ranking Israeli source with knowledge of the blacklist, who added that the Shin Bet (Israeli 'intelligence service') also had no solid grounds for believing that 470 of the 1,200 people whom Israel labeled as "pro-Palestinian activists" intended to do anything illegal. Read more

Sam and Rev deported from Israel

Sam and Rev back in the UK after being deported by Israel in a 12 hour marathon flight. They got on a flight at 12.25pm, flew to Israel, were put back on a plane and flown back to the UK. They arrived at 12.30am in Luton.

Read a list of people who were refused permission to board the planes to Israel.

Press TV report from Paris

Hundreds of activists at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, the departure site for nearly half of the group’s 1,200 participants, were barred from flying to Tel Aviv on Sunday, a Press TV correspondent reported. Watch the TV report here

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/236403.html

Israeli police have arrested 40 pro-Palestinian activists from the “Welcome to Palestine 2012” campaign at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

Israeli police have arrested 40 pro-Palestinian activists from the “Welcome to Palestine 2012” campaign at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. They have all been released. On Sunday, 33 French nationals, two Spanish activists, two Italians, one Swiss, one Canadian and one Portuguese were arrested by Israeli police.Israel deployed hundreds of police forces at the airport to stop activists from entering the occupied Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, major European airlines cancelled scores of tickets for passengers heading for Palestine following heavy Israeli pressure.Angry activists held demonstrations at airports in several European capitals on Sunday after they were prevented from boarding flights despite having tickets. Organizers of the “flytilla” to Palestine, the “Welcome to Palestine 2012” campaign, had previously scheduled a gathering of activists at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday. The campaigners had plans to travel to the West Bank city of Bethlehem and other Palestinian cities in the territory to express support for the Palestinian cause. This is not the first flytilla that planned a trip to the occupied Palestinian territories. In July 2011, Israeli authorities made intense efforts to interrupt the first flytilla and arrested a number of activists. Several European countries also prohibited activists from boarding their flights as the Tel Aviv regime had already blacklisted them.

Are EasyJet lying to the media?

While the 3 people are deported back to the UK tonight, it appears that EasyJet have been lying to the media about stopping people boarding at Luton airport.From everyone I have spoken I am convinced that EasyJet didn't actually stop anyone from getting on the plane at Luton to Israel. When I asked the airline how many people they stopped from boarding, a spokesperson for EasyJet told me 'I don't have an exact number but it I can say it is not a significant number of people who are affected.' This sounds like bullshit so I am not sure what games EasyJet are playing. Perhaps they want to curry favour with Israel?