Setting off from different parks in Sheffield all converging, all in unison, all for #ceasefirenow!

After many discussions between four organisations, we are pleased that there will be a launch conference on November 26th, Sheffield Victoria Hall We recognise that Sheffield played an important role in the battle to break South African Apartheid. We aim for Sheffield to play its part in breaking the new Apartheid – the Israeli Apartheid. There is a letter here that anyone can take to their trade union branch, sporting club, study group, and religious group.

On Saturday we held our regular monthly protest. We were thin on the ground but we gave out a large number of flyers. here.

At the Stop the War protest on Sunday, we had a speaker, who pointed out the Hypocrisy of our politicians. They are gathering evidence for crimes against humanity, now, against Putin’s bloody invasion. Excellent, but what about the crime against Humanity of Apartheid. Israel’s Apartheid has been growing for over 50 years. The West has been rewarding Israel with subsidies and preferential treatment. A system of justice cannot simply be wheeled out to deal with the West’s enemies. Had Israeli leaders been punished with guilty verdicts at an International Criminal Court, it is likely that Putin would believe that such a fate is waiting for him.

This is the meeting we were advertising. We are particularly pleased to welcome Kholoud al Ajarma. She is from the village of Ajjur. The JNF British Park sits on the ruins of her village. When she complained to a British Court, it ruled that she had no standing to complain. It is our first physical meeting in two years, so we are a bit nervous. Please come (unless you have Covid!!)

On Saturday Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign held its monthly protest. Come along next time 12 noon Sheffield Town Hall first Saturday of the month. We gave out leaflets highlighting the Amnesty report which documents Israeli Apartheid. It is a 274 pages long. It took four years to produce. Join our campaign.We defeated the South African Apartheid, if we work together we can defeat Israel’s Apartheid.

Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians – https://www.amnesty.org/…/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoFjbnvkmQ0

Amnesty International has just brought out a report on Israeli Apartheid. It says

“Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act”

Jonathan Cook has a good analysis here.

Join us at our monthly protest. Please share this post and come along on Saturday

January 28-30 

Global Days of Action for Palestinian Rights 

#EndEthnicCleansing

Leer la Llamada a la Acción en español.

Call to Action

On  28, 29, 30 January 2022, we call for a global mobilization in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their steadfast resistance against Israel’s forced displacement in Jerusalem’s neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, in Al-Naqab, the Jordan Valley, the southern Hebron Hills and beyond. 

These Global Days of Action are in response to the call by the Bedouin-Palestinian community of Al-Naqab for international solidarity to support their struggle against Israel’s ongoing Nakba.

The last week has seen a dramatic escalation in the intensity and brutality of Israel’s relentless policy of expulsion that still threatens to expel thousands of Indigenous Palestinians more from their homes and lands. As Human Rights Watch and other international human rights organizations have said, this wave of forced displacement is yet another manifestation of Israel’s system of apartheid against all Palestinians. Apartheid is a crime against humanity in international law.

We call for intensifying our efforts to end international complicity by states, corporations and institutions in Israel’s policies of apartheid, settler colonialism and military occupation. In other words, we call for meaningful solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against Israeli attempts to dehumanize them and to criminalize their popular resistance to cultural erasure and the ongoing dispossession and displacement. 

Let’s demand effective accountability for complicity in war crimes now.

Take the lead from Palestinians in Al-Naqab as they organize another mass protest this Sunday. 

Be inspired by the sumud of the Palestinian community in Sheikh Jarrah, and by the words of Mahmoud Salhiya: “We’d rather die in our land with dignity than surrender.” They embody the determined resilience of the entire Palestinian people, including Palestinians besieged in the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Palestinian women, men and youth continue to rise up for their rights, whether in their homeland or in exile, where they’ve lived as refugees ethnically cleansed from their homeland in the 1948 Nakba and denied their inherent and UN-stipulated right of return. 

On 28, 29, 30 January – the Global Days of Action to #EndEthnicCleansing, let’s:

Organize/join protests, vigils and rallies across the world. 

Pressure governments and parliaments to take action, including lawful and targeted sanctions and military-security trade bans, and call out those who are complicit with apartheid Israel.

Strengthen and build BDS campaigns against the JNF, Hyundai Heavy Industries, G4S/Allied Universal, NSO (Pegasus), HP, and others to hold corporations enabling Israeli apartheid accountable for their complicity.

Build support for the UN to investigate and end Israeli apartheid, as was done with South African apartheid.

Storm social media with the hashtags #EndEthnicCleansing and #UnitedAgainstApartheid as well as #SaveSheikhJarrah, #SaveAlNaqab, #UNInvestigateApartheid. 

Initial Signatories: 

• Save Al-Naqab Campaign 
• Save Silwan Committee, Jerusalem 
• Jordan Valley Solidarity
• Stop the Wall Campaign 
• The BDS National Committee (BNC)
•  Palestinian NGOs Network 
• Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network- Friends of the Earth Palestine 
• The Land Defense Coalition
• Palestinian Farmers’ Union
• The Palestine New Federation of Trade Unions

Bottom of Form

The leadership of the JNF UK has made racist comments. This has led to complaints by important sections of Jews in the UK. This has led to an investigation by the Charity Commission. Up to now the Commission has covered up the racism of the JNF. This time it will be a harder task. More information here.

Students from Sheffield Palsoc have been found guilty of anti Semitism and ordered to attend an anti Semitism awareness course.  The accusation arises from a placard stating “stop the holocaust of Palestinians”.  The placard was not used but could be seen on Facebook in a video clip showing the students making banners.

There will be a considered official statement from Sheffield PSC on the case in due course.

One of our members has produced a blog here.