Benjamin Netanyahu is on a charmless offensive this month. Australia, of course, is on his itinerary.
First stop, however, is Theresa May's United Kingdom... today.
The UK's Palestine Solidarity Campaign has called for a 'Justice Now: Stand Up for Palestine' rally outside Downing Street this morning. Here's why:
"Netanyahu's visit comes at the start of a year which marks significant anniversaries in the history of the dispossession of the Palestinian people and denial of their basic rights, including;
*100 years since the Balfour Declaration where Britain promised the land of Palestine to another people
*70 years since the UN Partition Plan and the beginning of the Nakba which saw 750,000 Palestinians driven into exile and nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns wiped from the map
*50 years since Israel's illegal occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem
*10 years since the imposition of the siege of Gaza
"These anniversaries highlight Britain's complicit role in Palestinian dispossession. It also highlights our continuing responsibility to act in accordance with international law, in order to support the rights of the Palestinian people to justice and equality and to help secure a lasting peace.
"As we stand outside Downing Street on Monday, we will be calling on Theresa May to make Netanyahu aware that Britain was serious when it supported UN resolution 2334. The resolution confirmed the illegality of Israel's occupation and condemned settlement building as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Given that Netanyahu has made it clear he will ignore the resolution, Theresa May must make clear that the UK will follow up its words with action. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but the UK government should do the following if it wants to remain true to its word:
*Announce a review of all of the UK's financial relationships with settlements and exclude all settlement goods from UK markets.
*End any talk of a UK trade deal with Israel unless it complies with international law.
*Suspend military relations with Israel - UK arms exports to Israel violate the international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
"Theresa May told us on the eve of her meeting with Donald Trump that she would not be afraid to tell the heads of other governments when they were doing things that were unacceptable. Her failure to respond to Donald Trump's announcement of a ban on Syrian refugees and Muslims from 7 different countries travelling to the US saw her fail the test she had set herself." (Protest Netanyahu's Visit on the 6th February - Palestine Solidarity Campaign, 4/2/17)
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2 comments:
In addition to visits of politicians from one country to another making "promises" which they don't have any intention of keeping, the other interesting development was the al jazeera journalist infiltrated into labour and conservative jewish friends of israel in the UK and 4 very interesting videos produced by them on their web site. The biggest worry for me at the moment is there does not seem to be any government anywhere which sides with the Palestinians and will give them support in their quest for their own country. A boycott of everything emanating from Israel is all I can do as one individual apart from supporting a group effort such as BDS, but it won't mae one jot of difference. I have roughly 250 web pages, each with a counter on them, and whenever there is a hit from Israel I bar its IP address immediately and for all time. Not much of a protest in the greater scheme of things but a small piece of personal satisfaction.
Keep up your good work - it helps to keep me going too.
Mannie, you're an inspiration!
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