Local News & Reports

UNRESTRICTED MEDIA RELEASE 25 MAY 2018

Brighton to host a boat from the 2018 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza 5-8 June

Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign, together with the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition, are very pleased to announce that Brighton will be hosting one of the boats sailing from Scandinavia to Gaza this summer. Like international flotillas to Gaza in previous years, this flotilla aims to raise international awareness of the 11-year illegal blockade of Gaza, and to put pressure on the international community to end the blockade.

The boat “Freedom” is scheduled to arrive in Brighton on Tuesday 5 June and will stay for three nights, departing for its onward voyage to Gaza on Friday 8 June. There is a call-out to supporters of the Palestinian struggle across southeast England to welcome “Freedom” when it sails into Brighton on the 5th of June, and when it departs Brighton on the 8th of June.

“Freedom” is one of four boats taking part in the Flotilla, and the only one being brought to English territorial waters. We hope that this will give people in England and throughout Britain an opportunity to show their support for the Palestinian people of Gaza, and to send a message to the British Government to end its complicity in the ongoing illegal blockade.

During their stay in Brighton, activists and crew from “Freedom” will meet with politicians, campaigners and prominent local people, to convey the message of solidarity at the heart of the Flotilla’s journey and to raise awareness about the 11-year illegal blockade of Gaza.

There will be a public meeting on Wednesday 6th June 2018 at 7.30pm at the Friends Meeting House in Ship Street, Brighton BN1 1AF, featuring activists and crew from “Freedom” as well as prominent supporters in the UK. Please refer to the Events section of our website.

Background

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is led by a fishing boat “Al-Awda” (Arabic for “Return”). “Al-Awda” left the Norwegian port of Bergen on April 30, together with “Freedom” and “Mairead”, named after Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, who was on board the 2010 flotilla and the Women’s Boat to Gaza in 2016.

In the coming weeks, a fourth ship “Palestine” is expected to join the Flotilla. Two boats will travel via European canals and rivers, while two others will sail along the Atlantic coast. All of the boats will make many port stops before meeting again in the Mediterranean Sea for the final leg towards Gaza in mid-July. There are many different participants and crew, including activists from 20 countries – details are progressively being promoted on the Freedom Flotilla Coalition website (https://jfp.freedomflotilla.org/participants).

The flotilla is expected to reach the Gaza Strip in July.

The international Freedom Flotilla Coalition states:

“In response to the brutal Israeli blockade, for seven years the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has carried out nonviolent direct actions aimed at raising international awareness and putting pressure on the international community to end the blockade”.

“We sail this year for the right to a just future for Palestine… We will continue to put pressure on our governments and protest their complicity with Israel’s crimes against humanity. We sail again to stand with the Palestinians of Gaza, as they demand their freedom of movement and their right to a just future in their land”.

One of the activists joining the flotilla will be Yudit Ilany, political consultant to Israeli Knesset Member Haneen Zoabi. Ilany was also part of the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza. She is currently on board the “Al Awda“ but will be leaving the Flotilla in Amsterdam.

Before the Flotilla left Gothenburg, a solidarity ceremony was held in the Swedish city with the participation of hundreds of activists from Scandinavia and other European countries to mark the launch of the flotilla.

The ceremony coincided with “Nakba Day,” the “Day of Catastrophe” that marks the ethnic cleansing of over 700,000 Palestinians leading to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Israel’s declared policy is not to allow any protest flotillas to reach Gaza. In the past, the Israeli Occupation Forces have taken control of all the vessels in international waters. Information about previous campaigns and missions here: https://freedomflotilla.org/.  

Notes for editors:

Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign (BHPSC):
www.brightonpsc.org
Facebook: BrightonandHovePalestineSolidarityCampaign
Twitter: @BrightonPSC

Local contact for Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign is Ben Steele (BHPSC Secretary). Email bhpsc.secretary@gmail.com or mobile 07448 130963.

More information on the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the 2018 Flotilla:

https://jfp.freedomflotilla.org/

https://freedomflotilla.org/

https://shiptogaza.se/en

 

The UK is complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights through our arms trade. Despite the illegality of Israel’s occupation and apartheid system, the UK is one of the main arms exporters to Israel as well as a major purchaser of Israeli weapons and weapon technology. The chain of complicity extends to various corporate stakeholders who profit from Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, including UK high street bank HSBC.

An important part of the campaign to Stop Arming Israel is to tackle corporate complicity by calling on HSBC to cut its ties with companies trading weapons with Israel. HSBC is complicit in Israel’s crimes and violations of human rights through the bank’s investments in arms companies as well as through providing a range of financial services to these companies, such as loans.

Here in Brighton we have demonstrated outside the main branch of HSBC once a month for nearly a year, raising awareness about the bank’s involvement in the Israeli arms industry, and about the UK government’s hypocritical support for Israel’s war crimes.

You can find out more about the background to this campaign by downloading and reading the War on Want report Deadly Investments: UK bank complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.

And you can write to HSBC’s CEO expressing your outrage by using PSC’s online email facility.

We were fortunate enough to welcome Haim to Brighton on the 12th of April. He enlightened us with his talk the history of the so-called ‘left’ in Israel. 

Many in the audience were so inspired by Haim’s talk that they asked for links to his website, and to related websites.

The links are provided below, together with some of the background information about Haim that was included in the advance publicity.

You can also access the Powerpoint slides from Haim’s talk by clicking this link: The Israeli Left

Haim has been a prominent critic of Zionism, the Occupation and Israeli apartheid for many years. He was Professor of Film Studies and Chair of Cultural and Media Studies at the University of East London and is Professorial Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies.
 
Haim is a prolific writer and filmmaker. His books include the bestselling ‘Introduction to the Holocaust’ and his edited publications include ‘The Gulf War and the New World Order’ and ‘The Conflict and Contemporary Visual Culture in Palestine and Israel’. His films include ‘London is Burning: Painful Conversations’.
 
Personal Website: http://www.haimbresheeth.com http://www.haimbresheeth.com/> 
Gaza Website: http://haimbresheeth.com/gaza/
One State website: http://www.1not2.org/One_State_in_Palestine/Welcome.html
Film website:http://www.haimbresheeth.com/lib/London_is_Burning/Welcome.html
 
“Most of my family was destroyed in the Holocaust – in concentration camps and in the Warsaw Ghetto.  I was born in a refugee camp in Italy immediately after the War.  I’m not saying this in order to elicit sympathy … but in order to explain why it is so easy for me to understand the Palestinians in Gaza and in the rest of Palestine.  It is easy for me to understand because they live in a combination of concentration camp and Warsaw Ghetto for so many years that we have stopped counting.”

The Argus ran a story this afternoon about a security crisis at Hove Town Hall. The Argus reported that the City Council and local police were concerned about the threat posed by ‘a planned pro-Palestine protest’ to the lighting of the Chanukah Menorah – so concerned in fact that the ceremony had to be held ‘behind closed doors’. 

The Argus also reported that ‘two sources close to the city’s pro-Palestinian movement told The Argus no demonstration was ever planned’. In later online updates the Argus reported that ‘there was no demonstration’.

Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign wishes to state clearly that no such protest was ever planned by local campaigners for Palestinian rights. Religious ceremonies would never be targeted by pro-Palestine groups. BHPSC is naturally sorry to learn that concerns over security disrupted the Menorah-lighting ceremony. 

Questions must be asked about the source of this unfounded rumour, as they appear to be using religious sensitivities to discredit legitimate political protest. The Argus judged that the security alert was newsworthy: what was newsworthy was that rumours about a non-existent protest were spread in order to create a security crisis. The important questions for the press to ask are: who spread them? and why?