| |
A Meeting with the delegation from the Shu'fat Refugee Camp, Jerusalem/Al-Quds
 Saturday 16 September 4.30pm
The Common Room, 27-29 Cambridge Road, Hastings TN34 1DJ
The delegation is half-way through its whirlwind tour of the UK which is sponsored by Unite the Union.
Members of the delegation will be spending the weekend in Hastings. We're looking forward to Saturday's meeting with them at the Common Room. You are invited to join us afterwards for a meal, prepared by Palestinian-Syrian Chef Momo. While the meeting is free and open to all, the meal is priced £10 pp. To pre-book your meal, please email knightgill52@gmail.com.
More information.
Photo on the right is from earlier in the week in Liverpool at the TUC Congress with the Shu'fat delegation meeting RMT's Mick Lynch.
______________________________________________________________________
Information stalls
No stall this Saturday 16 September. The next stall (which will be at Barclays Bank) will be on Saturday 23 September, then weekly. Please pay us a visit. Apart from a range of leaflets, pamphlets and stickers, we have keffiyehs from Hirbawi in Hebron, a range of T-shirts and Palestinian flag umbrellas. We also have handicrafts from the Shu'fat Refugee Camp. And of course lots of interesting discussions and conversations!
______________________________________________________________________
 Barclays - Don't Bank On Apartheid
Saturday 23 September 12 noon - 2pm
Barclays Bank, Queens Road, TN34 1QP
Called by War on Want, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and the PSC. Barclays has more than £1 billion invested in companies supplying weapons and military technology to Israel. This includes investments in Israeli drone manufacturer Elbit which makes the militarised drones that are used to target and kill civilians in Gaza. In addition to its investments, Barclays provides £3.9 billion in loans and underwriting to these companies. More information at the PSC website: Barclays: Don't Bank on Apartheid.
______________________________________________________________________
 Support the Al-Mawasi Women's Project
The Committee for Community Resilience in Al-Mawasi is looking to open a cafe and shop on the beach front for local women to sell their own handmade craft goods and food. We are presently putting together a fundraising event for this project. Details to follow. In the meanwhile, we will be collecting donations at our information stalls.
Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi has been set up to develop links between Hastings and the town of Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza. More information about the fundraising project and the campaign to twin Hastings with Al-Mawasi on our website.
______________________________________________________________________
Dates for your diary
Right to Boycott Day of Action Saturday 7 October. 12.00 noon. Hastings town centre. More information to follow. PSC website.
'Israel, Palestine and me:' Views from non-Zionist Jews. Saturday 7 October. 3.30pm.
The Board of Deputies would like the country to believe that all British Jews hold Israel dear to their hearts, that it represents an integral part of their identity. This is far from the reality. The link between British Jewry and the State of Israel has never been more tenuous with increasing numbers declaring themselves non-Zionists or anti-Zionists. Here, three British Jews discuss their journeys towards Palestinian solidarity. More details to follow.
______________________________________________________________________
41 years since the Sabra and Shatila massacres
In 1982, after occupying southern Lebanon, Israeli forces surrounded the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, preventing anyone from escaping before allowing Phalangist militia members to enter and murder up to 3,500 (mainly) Palestinian refugees. Over a two-day period, Israeli forces would fire flares lighting the alleys of the camp to allow the massacre to continue overnight. The Kahan Commission later found that the then-Israeli defence minister, Ariel Sharon, bore "personal responsibility" for the massacre.
Eye witness accounts: Middle East Eye. Dr. Ang Swee.
______________________________________________________________________
The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism "not fit for purpose"
The controversial IHRA definition has been described as "not fit for purpose" by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) and the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) in a report published on Wednesday.
The report looks at 40 cases where it was found that anti-Semitism complaints against academics, student unions, students, and societies led to universities cancelling events critical of Israel and "sustained levels of monitoring and surveillance of complainants" including the recording of student speeches and staff lectures and the monitoring of reading lists, course material, and social media posts.
Neve Gordon, the chair of Brismes's committee on academic freedom and a professor at Queen Mary University of London, said that the IHRA has "been used as a tool to undermine and punish protected speech and to punish those in academia who voice criticism of the Israeli state's policies."
UK universities urged to drop IHRA definition over false antisemitism claims.
Report: The Adverse Impact of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism.
______________________________________________________________________
 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.
______________________________________________________________________
Recent Hastings and Rye PSC newsletters:
8 September 2023
6 September 2023
25 August 2023
Keep up to date with our website and social media:
Website Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Channel
|
