Scottish Friends of Palestine – Press Release

Hiya again
Today I'd like to share this with you – it's been sitting in my in-box for a few days, and some of the info is no longer current, but the general picture deserves looking at – and action needs to be taken NOW!
Visit www.easi-piesi.org to find out what you can do.


Scottish Friends of Palestine – News Release

… what is it, exactly, that occupies our attentions?
What are the stories we embrace?
And what are the stories we ignore?
And why?
We could, of course, add: And what are the consequences?

Can you really get a more newsworthy story than the following?

85-year-old Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein, was refused permission to enter the ghetto where 1.5 million fellow human beings are under siege, suffering a slow genocide - with a minimal amounts of food and material essential for life allowed into the razor wire enclosure. Hedy has undertaken a fast in protest.

In company with many other peaceful, non-violent demonstrators, she is now barricaded in this capital city’s main square. At least one has been assaulted by the local police...

Meanwhile, many more concerned citizens of the world have gathered in the capital, denied permission to enter the ghetto. A convoy of dozens of vehicles, including ambulances, loaded with humanitarian supplies - medical and educational - is also denied entry, with government bureaucracy playing an apparent role. A bureaucracy which unsuccessfully masks the political decisions of the government.

Implant this scenario in Tehran, Baghdad, Kabul or virtually any other capital city in the world and headlines would be guaranteed, the news wires would be buzzing.

In reality, the above is taking place - in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on the first anniversary of the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the subsequent criminal carnage which the Goldstone report is now trying to address. The Gaza Freedom Marchers are now in Egypt, Hedy Epstein has undertaken a fast, the Viva Palestina convoy is denied entry - with the Egyptian government keeping them at bay.

This microcosm of international concern over the actions of the state of Israel which, in cooperation with the Obama administration and the Mubarak regime, is frantically trying to have the misery and the inhumanity of its deeds in Gaza consigned to the margins, is taking its place in history.

And, largely, the UK media is content to ignore it.

Scottish Friends of Palestine condemns the actions of all major players, the United States, Israel and Egypt, in refusing to allow peaceful, solidarity activists entry into the occupied Gaza Strip. We express our outrage at the continuing refusal of the Israel and Egypt to recognise the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza [according to UNCTAD, in the Gaza Strip 80% are impoverished, 43% unemployed, 75% lack food security] and allow constuction material, educational material, medical supplies and food - all the basic necessities of life in appropriate quantities into the Gaza Strip,

The consequences of such actions are only too apparent.

It was on the 3 November 1956 that Israeli troops lined lined up, and shot, over 250 male residents of Khan Younis. On this day nine year old Abed El-Aziz El-Rantisi learned of the cold blooded execution of his uncle by the state of Israel. On this day, in the words of the assassinated Hamas leader, Abed El-Aziz El-Rantisi, "They planted hatred in our hearts".

Today there are over one and a half million victims of the Israeli state policy and practice of slow genocide - all with the potential for having hatred planted in their hearts. And prime minister Gordon Brown appeals for help in thwarting tomorrow’s "extremists"?? Ignoring the obvious and ignoring the school of thought that one day the world will yearn for the relatively peaceful days of the Taliban and al Qaeda. In the absence of a sense of history, and a willingness to learn from history, today it is Pakistan, Afghanistan with Iran and Somalia in the cross-hairs. Tomorrow . . . .?

www.vivapalestina.org/home.htm

Scottish Friends of Palestine is keenly aware that there are also consequences closer to home, more current and more pressing. With the media and the international community largely indulging the state of Israel, it appears that the Scottish Government now feels safe to do business with this pariah state. The Scottish Development International (SDI) is planning a ‘Trade Mission’ to Israel from the 10th to the 15th January. This appalling decision - to trade with a country which has brutally military occupied the land of others for over 40 years, which has placed one and a half million under a military and economic siege for nearly 3 years, whose politicians now avoid visiting the UK for fear of arrest under charges of complicity over war crimes and crimes against humanity - is a shameful decision which brings disgrace to Scotland.

Scottish Friends of Palestine urges the Scottish Government to reconsider, and rescind, this planned visit by the SDI.

Scottish Friends of Palestine is a firm advocate of the total boycott of all Israeli institutions, academic and cultural bodies and Israeli products - until such times as the Israeli state ceases to boycott the rights of the Palestinian people, and international law as it pertains to the Palestinian people.

Visit www.easi-piesi.org to find out what you can do.

Hugh Humphries
Sec
Scottish Friends of Palestine
(0141 637 8046)

Scottish Friends of Palestine was formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent attacks on the Palestinian refugee communities. It is an independent organisation with no political or religious affiliations. SFoP supports the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty and the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. These rights have all been acknowledged by the United Nations.
SFoP campaigns for immediate and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from all territories illegally occupied, including East Jerusalem. We work for educational, social and cultural links between the Scottish and Palestinian peoples.

End of Press Release