SIXTH TOM HURNDALL MEMORIAL LECTURE

Tom Hurndall was a student at Manchester Metropolitan University. He was fatally wounded by the Israeli Defence Force whilst protecting Palestinian children in Gaza. He died on January 13 2004. Each year MMU hosts a lecture in his memory and in solidarity with the ideals he championed.

The Sixth Tom Hurndall Memorial Lecture will be on Wednesday 10 November at 6.00pm, with Karma Nabulsi (University of Oxford) on ‘Overcoming Fragmentation: Palestinian Refugees and the Right of Return’. The lecture is at 6.00pm in Lecture Theatre C0.14 of John Dalton Building of MMU (opposite the BBC on Oxford Road, location map: http://www.mmu.ac.uk/travel/allsaints/

Karma Nabulsi is Fellow in Politics at St Edmund Hall and lectures at the University of Oxford. She is Director of the MPhil in International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations. 

For further information go to the ‘Tom Hurndall Memorial Lecture’ page on Facebook or contact Ian Parker, Professor of Psychology at MMU at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it For more details about Karma Nabulsi see http://users.ox.ac.uk/~polf0002/director/index.html and on her research see http://www.forcedmigration.org/browse/thematic/palestiniansregister/

CEMENTING OUR SOLIDARTY WITH THE PEOPLE OF GAZA - FROM THE FREE GAZA MOVEMENT

First, we'd like to thank those of you who have stepped up to send us euros, dollars and pounds for our next mission. That appeal went out on April 9, and, in four days,  you have already sent us over a quarter of the money we need. So we are adding this plea to our first one. We have a cement company in Ireland who will match the bags of cement that we buy...bag for bag. Here is another way that you can help.

Normally we don't ask for donations for specific items, since all donations to our tax-exempt accounts in Cyprus or the U.S. are used to buy the boats or for operating costs  However, we are sending out this special appeal to the hundreds of you who have said, "But can't I contribute to something specific, something that I can be proud to buy and know will help the people of Gaza?" Therefore, our PayPal account athttp://www.freegaza.org/en/donate can accept donations for cement and book bags. In the message section on PayPal, tell us you want the money used to purchase cement or book bags. Or you can wire money into the Irish account designated below this announcement. We will use your donation for cement for reconstruction or book bags for the children if you designate it's for them.

The Free Gaza Movement calls on communities, schools, hospitals, trade unions and families across Ireland and the world to sponsor bags of cement and school supplies to send to Gaza. They will be loaded onto our Irish cargo ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, as part of an international flotilla of ships sailing to Gaza in May.

Just €5 will pay for a bag of cement to help the people of Gaza rebuild, supporting the Palestinian people and their refusal to be broken despite a devastating siege and Occupation. €5 for a bag of cement (or €10 for two bags, €20 for four bags, €100 for 20 bags) or €10 for a school/sports bag.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is in its third year, and virtually no reconstruction materials have been allowed into the Gaza Strip, which is still in ruins after Israel's massive onslaught in Dec/Jan 2009 which killed over 1,400 Palestinians, almost 400 of them children.

At least 11,000 houses, 105 factories, 20 hospitals and clinics, 159 schools, universities, playschools and technical institutions were either damaged or destroyed and are still in ruins. Over 20,000 people were driven from their homes – many still living in tents.

Israel has also banned books, paper, pens and school supplies, and we plan to deliver them along with messages of solidarity to the children of Gaza. For €10, you can sponsor  a school bag filled with school supplies to support children struggling to study under siege.                                                 

John Ging, the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency told reporters in March 2010:    ‘I have no cement or steel or iron.  We can't get in one bag of cement, one pane of glass… to actually begin that reconstruction.’

This May, The Free Gaza Movement is answering the call for help by sending a flotilla of boats carrying building supplies, humanitarian relief, and human rights defenders from across the world to Gaza.

The flotilla is made up of a coalition of organisations- from Turkey, Greece, Malaysia, Belgium, Sweden, Indonesia and Ireland, and will set sail in mid May to challenge the illegality of the siege of Gaza and devastating occupation of Palestine. Help us support the Palestinians' right to rebulid their lives.

You can wire your donations to the Bank of Ireland, 32 south Mall, Cork, Republic of Ireland, Acct #41818255, Sort Code 902768, IBAN #, IE58BOFI90276841818255. BIC# BOFIIE2D

If you have questions, please email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

25 THOUSAND TENTS (MAYBE MORE) - DOCUMENTARY FROM AL TANAF REFUGEE CAMP

This film, made by two young Palestinian Filmmakers from Yarmouk Refugee Camp, explores the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in their struggle to survive and return to their homeland. It documents the lives of Palestinians stranded in Al-Tanaf detention camp in no man's land between the Iraqi-Syrian borders and explores the lives of Palestinians who first found refuge in Iraq following the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the expulsion of its people in 1948. Following the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, they have been forced to flee and find refuge elsewhere once again. This film gives voice to the suffering and heroism of Palestinians as they tell of personal experiences, the hardships they endure, what led them to flee Iraq, as well as their aspirations and hopes for the future. Watch it here.

THE FREEDOM THEATRE ON YOUTUBE

The Youtube page devoted to films produced at The Freedom Theatre - a theatre and multimedia centre in Jenin Refugee Camp, Palestine can be found here - highly recommended.

APARTHEID - FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO ISRAEL/PALESTINE

The Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights has produced an excellent resource on the history of South African and Israeli apartheid. It overviews the common features of oppression under the apartheid system and makes important connections between the two struggles for self determination and justice. The booklet (in the form of a pdf document) can be found here.

B'LIN AVATAR PROTEST

The indefatigable villagers of B'lin added a new twist to their weekly protest against the Apartheid Wall grabbing their land by dressing as characters from Avatar. See photos here http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/feb/14/west-bank-barrier-avatar-protest?picture=359309724

THE ONLY DEMOCRACY?  - NEW BLOG

Jewish Voices for Peace have launched a new blog called The Only Democracy? which questions the very notion of Israel as “the only democracy” in the Middle East, and puts a spotlight on the intensifying struggle for human rights largely ignored by the mainstream media.  Well worth subscribing to for news of what's really going on in the Occupied Territories.

THE SECOND BATTLE OF GAZA - JEFF HALPER

"We are in the midst of the second battle of Gaza, a campaign not only to refute and defame the UN’s Goldstone Report and sanitize Israel’s actions there but to change international humanitarian law in a way that protects the powerful states and their armies while removing the fundamental rights of the world’s poor and downtrodden to resist. The stakes are high."  read the rest of Jeff Halper's important article here.

IN THE WAKE OF WAR : GAZA ONE YEAR ON

Watch MAP's film made in the run up to the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. In the Wake of War is testimony-based, telling but some of the stories of survival, tragedy, and ongoing hardship in Gaza - with no effective action to end the blockade, no reconstruction, no accountability here

HUDDERSFIELD UNIVERSITY PALESTINE AWARENESS WEEK - 15th-19th MARCH

1948 - LEST WE FORGET

Have a look at this interesting website with a wealth of information about the Nakba which aims to expose the lies which have, for too long, been presented and accepted as the true scenario of how Israel came to be in 1948.

LEEDS PSC

Leeds PSC's are promoting their new internet presence - full details here.

MY FATHER WAS A FREEDOM FIGHTER: GAZA'S UNTOLD STORY

Watch a beautiful tribute to Ramzi Baroud's father and the people of Gaza here which publicises his new book - "You will laugh, and you will cry, and you will never forget what he has written or his love for Gaza and his mother and father" - then buy the book.

BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY STUDENT LOSES FIGHT TO COMPLETE STUDIES IN BETHLEHEM

Berlanty Azzam, a 21 year-old Christian woman from Gaza studying at Bethlehem University who was arrested by the Israeli military on October 30th and - blindfolded and handcuffed - moved her from Bethlehem to Gaza against her will has lost her legal case to return to Bethlehem to complete her studies.  Read more about the case here.

IMPORTANT NEW WEBSITE

For those of you interested in the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement there is an important new website set up after the recent gathering of activists in Wooler, Northmberland. The Boycott Israel Network aims to be a communication network connecting all the organizations that are committed to working for BDS and wish to join in.

AMNESTY REPORT ACCUSES ISRAEL OF DENYING PALESTINIANS WATER

In a new report published on 27 October Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies. Read about the report here or download a copy (pdf) here.

"EVERY KIND OF WEAPON WAS USED AGAINST THEM" - EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE IN GAZA

Ewa Jasiewicz, Free Gaza Coordinator in Gaza, talks in Berlin, Germany about what she witnessed during the 22-day massacre of civilians in Gaza. Her on-the-ground reporting of what she and seven others saw during that time is heart-wrenching.  Israel deliberately murdered 16 medics trying to do their job of rescuing other injured Palestinians, targeting them directly. Ewa and the other volunteers from Free Gaza and the International Solidarity Movement accompanied thes ambulances, horrified at what they saw.
http://www.youtube.com/gazafriends#p/a

GOLDSTONE REPORT - TWO ARTICLES FROM THE JERUSALEM POST

Bernard Pierce forwarded these two responses published in The Jerusalem Post to the barrage of criticism of the Goldstone Report.  The first is by Richard Goldstone himself and the second a powerful satire.  

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1255694838474

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254861893834&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull