relliott
22nd September, 2002, 8:58 PM
Firstly, let me just say that I make no apology for this post. This is an important issue that I want to help raise awareness of. I understand that this message board is intended for medical debates, but this is a worthy campaign to be spread through all available means
Just today I was at a conference by the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign in Glasgow which marked the 2nd Anniversary of the Al Aqsa Intifda and the information that I heard there was compelling. Speakers that were arranged were:
Joyce Carmichael - born in palestine and is now involved in the Campaign for Palestinian Rights
Alex Mosson - the Lord Provost of Glasgow and supporter of the solidarity campaign
Alan MacKinnon from CND Scotland
Murdo Rtichie - primarily from Socialist Labour Party, but also affiliated to the Campaign for Justice not War
Hasan Nowarah - a Palestinian from Ramallah and Member of the SPSC
Nehail Yadh - A Sikh representative from Radio Awaz (107.2FM) in Glasgow
Dr Azzam Tamimi - Palestinian representative from The Institute of Islamic Political Thought
Rabia Choudri - Legal representative from the SPSC
some of you are probably wondering why I was there. Recently I have been taking more of an interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have discovered certain facts that are never reported in the Western Press. For example - taking the recent suicide bomb in Tel Aviv that killed a young Jewish student from Eastwood and injured his cousin. Extensively covered in the news we saw his funeral, interviews with relatives and comments from various political leaders. It was also reported that this came after a 6 week "lull" in the violence. What has NOT been reported in the press is that in that 6 weeks it has been reported in Middle East news and indeed confirmed by Israeli press that dozens of Palestinians have been killed by occupation forces, houses of "suspected" bombers and their families bulldozed to the ground and indeed just reported recently details of a 13yr old boy who broke the Israeli imposed curfew (which incidentily is a violation of the 4th Geneva convention) to but cigarettes for his father: he was shot and killed by soldiers. This so called "lull" has not been peaceful nor in fact been devoid of human casualties - merely that no Israeli has been killed.
Right now the leader of the Palestinian Authority Yassar Arafat is being held in his quarters in Ramallah with gunfire aimed a the building and the rest of the complex destroyed, even though he has already called for an end to the bombings, which are not perpetuated by his organisation, but Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a call which he re-iterated just yesterday. The Islamic Defence force says that it wants the surrender of 20 suspected terrorists who are in the building - neglecting the fact that there are around 200 others also in the building who are NOT wanted, but are injured none the less. Just this morning it was reported that the new aim of the IDF is to force Mr Arafat into exile by use of force.
Among the speakers at the conference - Muslim, Christian and Jewish alike - some spoke of eye-witness accounts of violence against Palestinians by the IDF, massacres by Jewish settlers who are allowed to carry weaponsof worshippers in Mosques who are forbidden any form of weapon while the IDF stood and watched, and indeed posters and leaflets to inform of the massacres at Palestinian settlements in Sabra and Shatilla 20 yrs ago which claimed around 3000 palestinian lives in a 3 day orgy of rape, torture and murder whilst yet again, the IDF did nothing except watch.
If western press is to be fully believed then the picture is somewhat different. I encourage you all to look past what is given to you on the TV and in the papers and read the news releases from http://electronicintifada.net , from reuters reporters in Ramallah, Jerusalem, the Gaza strip and the West Bank and don't just take everything at face value
In support of the BIG campain (Ban Israeli Goods) I am extending my boycott of Nestle products to many other countries who have been proven to be linked to supplying money and equipment to Israel to fund its illegal occupation which contravines 20 times more UN resolutions that Saddam Hussein ever has. These include the following:
Caterpillar - who supply bulldozing equipment to Israel which destroys the Palestinian residences to force them to leave their lands
Marks and Spencer - which supplies money to fund the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, again which is in direct violation of article 49 of the 4th Geneva convention, and more recently UN resolution 446. There is a campaign organised on October 19th outside M&S in Argyle Street to raise awareness
Sara Lee - who has industrial manufacturing in Israel - money from which funds the IDF
McDonalds - who contibute to a fund called the Jewish Foundation in America who are a Zionist organisation who fund military training to Jewish Students and actively encourage them to go fight in the occupied territories
Other companies with strong links to funding Israel's actions are Nestle, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Coca-cola, Starbucks, Intel and L'Oreal
Disney is also guilty of a campaign of mis-information as it states plainly in its World Tour attraction that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and has convinced many people of this - the capital of Israel is Tel Aviv and Israeli occupation of Jerusalem has never been internationally recognised as confirming it as the capital
more information on the boycott is availalbe from www.boycottisraeligoods.org, but I'm afraid even supermarkets who stock Israeli produce fall into the boycott - this includes Sainsbury, Tesco and some branches of Safeway. To tell if what you are buying came from Israel then check the labelling for country of origin and for barcodes that start "729". By joining the boycott you can help raise awareness of the Palestinian plight and help stop the violence and in-humanity in the area
About there I should stop, but one thing needs to be made clear. In no way am I or any othe organisation s i mention anti-Jewish. We are anti-Zionist. There is indeed a growing amount of Jewish support for the condemnation of Israel and Zionist movement. Anyone who takes offence at what i have said must have taken me the wrong way. I say this not to offend, but inform and encourage people in this country to show solidarity with our fellow man who is subjected to daily inhumanity.
Just today I was at a conference by the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign in Glasgow which marked the 2nd Anniversary of the Al Aqsa Intifda and the information that I heard there was compelling. Speakers that were arranged were:
Joyce Carmichael - born in palestine and is now involved in the Campaign for Palestinian Rights
Alex Mosson - the Lord Provost of Glasgow and supporter of the solidarity campaign
Alan MacKinnon from CND Scotland
Murdo Rtichie - primarily from Socialist Labour Party, but also affiliated to the Campaign for Justice not War
Hasan Nowarah - a Palestinian from Ramallah and Member of the SPSC
Nehail Yadh - A Sikh representative from Radio Awaz (107.2FM) in Glasgow
Dr Azzam Tamimi - Palestinian representative from The Institute of Islamic Political Thought
Rabia Choudri - Legal representative from the SPSC
some of you are probably wondering why I was there. Recently I have been taking more of an interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have discovered certain facts that are never reported in the Western Press. For example - taking the recent suicide bomb in Tel Aviv that killed a young Jewish student from Eastwood and injured his cousin. Extensively covered in the news we saw his funeral, interviews with relatives and comments from various political leaders. It was also reported that this came after a 6 week "lull" in the violence. What has NOT been reported in the press is that in that 6 weeks it has been reported in Middle East news and indeed confirmed by Israeli press that dozens of Palestinians have been killed by occupation forces, houses of "suspected" bombers and their families bulldozed to the ground and indeed just reported recently details of a 13yr old boy who broke the Israeli imposed curfew (which incidentily is a violation of the 4th Geneva convention) to but cigarettes for his father: he was shot and killed by soldiers. This so called "lull" has not been peaceful nor in fact been devoid of human casualties - merely that no Israeli has been killed.
Right now the leader of the Palestinian Authority Yassar Arafat is being held in his quarters in Ramallah with gunfire aimed a the building and the rest of the complex destroyed, even though he has already called for an end to the bombings, which are not perpetuated by his organisation, but Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a call which he re-iterated just yesterday. The Islamic Defence force says that it wants the surrender of 20 suspected terrorists who are in the building - neglecting the fact that there are around 200 others also in the building who are NOT wanted, but are injured none the less. Just this morning it was reported that the new aim of the IDF is to force Mr Arafat into exile by use of force.
Among the speakers at the conference - Muslim, Christian and Jewish alike - some spoke of eye-witness accounts of violence against Palestinians by the IDF, massacres by Jewish settlers who are allowed to carry weaponsof worshippers in Mosques who are forbidden any form of weapon while the IDF stood and watched, and indeed posters and leaflets to inform of the massacres at Palestinian settlements in Sabra and Shatilla 20 yrs ago which claimed around 3000 palestinian lives in a 3 day orgy of rape, torture and murder whilst yet again, the IDF did nothing except watch.
If western press is to be fully believed then the picture is somewhat different. I encourage you all to look past what is given to you on the TV and in the papers and read the news releases from http://electronicintifada.net , from reuters reporters in Ramallah, Jerusalem, the Gaza strip and the West Bank and don't just take everything at face value
In support of the BIG campain (Ban Israeli Goods) I am extending my boycott of Nestle products to many other countries who have been proven to be linked to supplying money and equipment to Israel to fund its illegal occupation which contravines 20 times more UN resolutions that Saddam Hussein ever has. These include the following:
Caterpillar - who supply bulldozing equipment to Israel which destroys the Palestinian residences to force them to leave their lands
Marks and Spencer - which supplies money to fund the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, again which is in direct violation of article 49 of the 4th Geneva convention, and more recently UN resolution 446. There is a campaign organised on October 19th outside M&S in Argyle Street to raise awareness
Sara Lee - who has industrial manufacturing in Israel - money from which funds the IDF
McDonalds - who contibute to a fund called the Jewish Foundation in America who are a Zionist organisation who fund military training to Jewish Students and actively encourage them to go fight in the occupied territories
Other companies with strong links to funding Israel's actions are Nestle, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Coca-cola, Starbucks, Intel and L'Oreal
Disney is also guilty of a campaign of mis-information as it states plainly in its World Tour attraction that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and has convinced many people of this - the capital of Israel is Tel Aviv and Israeli occupation of Jerusalem has never been internationally recognised as confirming it as the capital
more information on the boycott is availalbe from www.boycottisraeligoods.org, but I'm afraid even supermarkets who stock Israeli produce fall into the boycott - this includes Sainsbury, Tesco and some branches of Safeway. To tell if what you are buying came from Israel then check the labelling for country of origin and for barcodes that start "729". By joining the boycott you can help raise awareness of the Palestinian plight and help stop the violence and in-humanity in the area
About there I should stop, but one thing needs to be made clear. In no way am I or any othe organisation s i mention anti-Jewish. We are anti-Zionist. There is indeed a growing amount of Jewish support for the condemnation of Israel and Zionist movement. Anyone who takes offence at what i have said must have taken me the wrong way. I say this not to offend, but inform and encourage people in this country to show solidarity with our fellow man who is subjected to daily inhumanity.