One of our members, Caroline Poland walked from Land’s End to John o Groats to raise money and spread awareness of the oppression of Palestinians. Some forty people joined her for parts of the walk. In this country people struggled to get access to our beautiful countryside. In Palestine movement is severely restricted by the Israeli Army. The calendar shows the contrast.
Watch out for it at vigils and meetings.
Two years ago, Sheffield PSC and others lobbied the council vigorously, concerned that the council persisted in purchasing good and services from organisations complicit in the occupation and denial of basic human rights to Palestinians
As a result, Sheffield City Council voted unanimously to adopt an Ethical Procurement policy. Such a policy tries to ensure that the best, most trustworthy companies are used to provide local services.
But, after two years, Sheffield still does not have an Ethical Procurement Policy.
Please add your name to this petition saying two years is long enough to carry out what the Council voted to do.
[emailpetition id=”2″]
About thirty people joined our Saturday Vigil on 29th October. We were pointing out how Palestinian farmers were being oppressed by Israel. There is land theft, water theft, olive trees uprooted and much else in the Israeli imposed Apartheid state.
There was very little hostility in spite of a wave of right wing propaganda falsely claiming that we are anti Semitic. We oppose the Government of Israel and its supporters for the imposition of an Apartheid state. These words are not just terms of abuse they are the simple honest assessment of facts on the ground.
The Home Affairs Committee has just produced a report into Anti-Semitism. There is a huge amount of confusion about the subject. This report does not help. National PSC has given a reply here.
I want to take up just one point.
Under conclusions and recommendations (page 50) there is this sentence ‘The word Zionist or worse Zio as a term of abuse however has no place in civilised society.’
The practice of Zionism as implemented by successive Israeli Governments includes the following
1. Ethnic cleansing of about 700,000 Palestinians in 1948.
2. Systematic land theft in Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1967.
3. Theft of water from Palestinian lands.
4. A systematic illegal house building program for Israelis on stolen land.
5. The blockade of Gaza, the destruction of its economy and periodic devastating attacks.
6. A systematic system of barriers in the West Bank that make travel for Palestinians very difficult.
7. The establishment of an Apartheid regime in the area that Israel controls.
Let me expand on the last one. There are roads that Palestinians are not allowed to drive on. There are areas that Palestinians are not allowed to live. There is a separate system of law for Palestinians.
Three fourteen year olds who came to dance in Sheffield have been arrested. We think it is for throwing stones. They will be charged in a military court. In the unlikely event that an Israeli was charged for the same act, (s)he would be tried in a civilian court.
There is a set of clauses from the UN that define what is Apartheid. The clauses of freedom of movement alone shows Israel is imposing an Apartheid state.
Desmond Tutu said “I am especially urging the Assembly to adopt the overture naming Israel as an apartheid state through its domestic policies and maintenance of the occupation [of Palestinian lands]….”
“In the situation that exists today, until a Palestinian state is created, we are actually one state. This joint state — in the hope that the status quo is temporary — is an apartheid state,” Alon Liel Ex Israeli Ambassador to South Africa
We in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign oppose all racism. The claim of the Israeli Government that it represents all Jews, and that it acts in the interests of all Jews is manifestly untrue, deeply offensive and breeds anti-Semitism. Jews are not responsible for Apartheid Israel. Probably the most important figure in the establishment of Israel was the Anti-Semitic Balfour. He introduced the Aliens Act of 1905 to prevent Jewish refugees from coming to Britain.
I regard the practice of Zionism in creating Israeli Apartheid deeply offensive. How do I use the word in a non abusive way?
The Tory Party supported South African Apartheid till very late.
It would be very nice if it did not wait as long to oppose Israeli Apartheid.
On 9th July this summer, over a hundred people saw at Sheffield’s Broomhall Centre a performance by 20 Palestinian teenagers, from Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem.
The previous day, Sheffield’s Deputy Mayor had welcomed the group, the Lajee Dance Troupe, at the Town Hall. On Wednesday, 
October 5th, three of the 14-year- old dancers, Mustafa Bdair, Mutaz Barakah and Omar Radi were arrested by masked Israeli soldiers.
Attacks by the Israeli army on the Lajee centre have escalated since Celtic football fans raised over £170,000 divided between Medical Aid for Palestine and the Lajee Centre in Aida Camp.
These night raids by Israeli soldiers fit into a pattern of reprisals that have followed international gestures of solidarity with the Centre under an Israeli military occupation that the UK and other governments consider to be illegal.
Israeli soldiers attacked the Lajee Centre with teargas and rubber bullets on 19 Sept while the children were inside. The following night they forced open the gate of the centre, threw teargas grenades inside and closed the gate, trapping the children inside, forcing them to inhale toxic teargas.
Mutaz, Mustafa and Omar have been released on bail but will be tried by an Israeli military court where defendants are routinely found guilty.
In total, 440 children under 18 are currently held in military detention almost two-and- half times the number imprisoned a year ago. According to the Defense for Children International–Palestine (DCIP), no other country in the world systematically prosecutes hundreds of children in military courts each year.
Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign are urging Sheffield MPs to call on the Foreign Office to condemn the Israeli government’s campaign of intimidation against the Lajee Centre and to press for the dropping of the charges against the teenagers.
Sheffield Palestine Women’s Scholarship Fund is supporting 41 Palestinian women into university in Gaza this year. The students are studying a range of subjects from medicine to English Literature, from Law to Sociology. See the full list here and watch the video of students who have received funding this year: جمعية آفاق جديدة – منحة شيفلد
There are some this changes this year as we have been asked by the organising committee in Gaza to alter how much we pay for each scholarship. One university has reduced its fees to $500, others remain at $600 but medical and health related courses vary from $1-1500. By paying the additional fees for the medical and health related subjects, we are able to support Palestinian women to aspire and achieve.
However on top of this, the exchange rate this year has been very poor. This means that though we sent out more money than last year, it is worth less in dollars. Therefore, this year we are sponsoring 41 students (in 2015/16 we sponsored 43 students).
Over 200 cyclists took part in the Big Ride to Shenstone. There it joined with other protesters on Monday 8th August, including a good contingent from Sheffield PSC. The wholly owned Israeli Elbit factory there makes engines for drones. Drones helped the attack on Gaza in 2014. This attack killed about 1,500 civilians including 500 children. The oppression continues today.
While our PSC bank accounts which help educate young women and fund children’s projects have been closed the daily business of making weapons for the Israeli military goes ahead as normal. Time to end it.
More pictures are here.
There is also a lovely video of the Sheffield leg of the ride and protest. It is made by Angela Martin from Sheffield. Please have a look at it and share with friends. It is here.
We are cycling to raise awareness of the UK’s complicity in arming Israel. Groups of cyclists from London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield will converge on Shenstone. The Elbit factory there is a wholly owned Israeli arms manufacturer. It makes parts for drones. Two years ago drones helped kill 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza. Most were civilians, over five hundred were children.
Send us on our way at Sheffield Town Hall 10.30 Saturday 6th August.
Or cycle with us for a hundred yards or a hundred miles.
Or you can drive to Shenstone on Monday the 8th August to join the protest.
More information here.