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The Global Call for Climate Justice at COP26 Saturday 6 November 12 til 2pm Hastings Town Centre (near Millets)Palestine is a climate justice issue 
Israel operates the crime of apartheid and persecution, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Source.
Central to this crime is the JNF (Jewish National Fund). Ever since its formation in 1901 the JNF has operated as an enterprise taking control over land using force to dispossess Palestinians.
During the Nakba in 1948-49, the JNF provided the documentation that helped the armed militias in their murderous targetting of villages - resulting in the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians, the destruction of more than 500 villages and the ensuing massacres. The JNF planted parks and forests to cover many ethnically cleansed villages, hiding the ruins and attempting to re-write their history. By this mass planting of trees, the JNF gives the pretence of "making the desert bloom," hence the charge of greenwashing.
The JNF has control of 93% of Israeli land, denying Palestinians the right to live and work on this land. The JNF, working alongside the Israeli military, is still playing a major role in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians particularly in East Jerusalem, the Galilee and the Naqab. The JNF has observer status at COP meetings - it has no place in COP26.
Israel has caused environmental destruction not only by uprooting trees (two million since 1967) and destroying Palestinians' agricultural lands, it has been dumping waste, including hazardous and toxic waste, into the West Bank. In some areas the Jordan river is running dry because of the demand for water from illegal Israeli settlements, and the Dead Sea has lost a third of its surface area in the last 20 years and is heavily polluted with raw sewage.
On Saturday we will be distributing information about Israeli environmental apartheid and the campaign to kick the JNF out of COP26 and to have its charitable status withdrawn. Please come and join us. More information here.
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Information stalls
Our weekly information stalls are held every Saturday 12 to 2 in the Hastings town centre near Millets (weather permitting). Please come and say hello.
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Israel outlaws 6 human rights organisations
The Israeli Government has declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be 'terrorist organisations.' Two of these groups are the Defence For Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) and Al-Haq. DCI-P highlights the detention and abuse of children in the military court system, and Al-Haq has been providing crucial evidence to the International Criminal Court for its investigation into alleged war crimes perpetrated in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The outlawing of these groups has been universally condemned. 16 UK-based human rights groups have condemned the attacks. There's even an article in the New York Times critical of the move.
Israel's Shin Bet has presented European governments with the dossier which is meant to prove the 6 organisations' involvement with violence. The European governments declined to cut funding to the groups  as the dossier didn't contain any "concrete evidence."
Please sign the petition
"The UK Government MUST defend the 6 Palestinian human rights organisations who have been criminalised by Israel. We must press Israel to immediately revoke its decision & end our complicity with apartheid." Petition here.
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Hastings Twinning with Al-Mawasi  Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting to launch the campaign for Hastings to twin with Al-Mawasi in Gaza. Members of the resilience committee give a presentation followed by questions and answers and discussion with residents from Hastings.
Mrs Laham of the committee: "We would like people to visit us. We would be more than happy." We very much look forward to the day that we can do that.The video of the meeting: YouTube.
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Free Palestinian aid worker Mohammed El-Halabi
Mohammed El Halabi has been imprisoned by Israel for more than 5 years, accused of stealing millions of dollars for Hamas, but internal investigations by World Vision and the Australian government found no evidence that Mohammed had done anything wrong. Asa Winstanley writes about the case: Article here. This is a recording of the meeting recently organised by Brighton and Hove PSC: Video here.
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Israel destroyed 172,900 homes, expelled 1.3m Palestinians since the Nakba
Statement from the Land Research Centre in Jerusalem included these figures:
"Israeli bulldozers demolished 11,900 Palestinian houses, 7,440 of which are in East Jerusalem, between 1967 and 2021. Thus, 73,000 Palestinians lost their homes...." "During the same period, Israeli air strikes demolished 21,000 Palestinian houses in the Gaza Strip.......leaving 189,000 Gazans homeless, most of them slept or are still sleeping at schools or with relatives, and some still live in tents." Article here.
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 More news:
Young Engineer Invents First Palestinian Satellite: Article here.
Israeli demolition of historic Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem a 'move to erase history:' Article here.
Livingstone, Bromley win first stage of legal fight vs 'arguably unlawful' EHRC: Article here.
David Miller was cleared of anti-Semitism, leaked document shows: Article here.
Council worker sacked for comments about Zionism wins back job: Article here.
UK court hears asylum appeal from Israeli student refusing to serve in army: Article here.
Green Party adopts antisemitism guidance including IHRA and Jerusalem Declaration definitions: Article here.
Ramzy Baroud: The Cultural Genocide in Palestine: On Sally Rooney's Decision to Boycott Israel: Article here.
Jonathan Cook: Over 500 scholars launch fightback against Israel lobby: Article here.
Six Syrian Soldiers Wounded in Israeli Strikes on Homs: Article here.
Report: Israel Approves $1.5 Billion Budget for Potential Attack on Iran: Article here.
Scotland's first Festival of Palestine kicks off with history tapestry exhibition: Article here.
Huge restored mosaic unveiled in Jericho desert castle: Article here.
Politico Requires Journos Push Pro-Israel Propaganda: Video here.
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 Hastings and Rye PSC online membership and donations
Becoming a member of Hastings and Rye PSC is an important way of supporting our work.The annual subscription is £10 waged, £5 unwaged. We now have an online membership payment form. It can also be used to renew membership. The work of Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity could not continue without the generous donations from members of the public. If you would like to support our work without becoming a member please visit our shop page here and see the right hand column: Donate to Hastings & Rye PSC.
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Recent Hastings and Rye PSC newsletters:
16 October 2021
7 October 2021
17 September 2021
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