Fighting for a Free Palestine: What we can do in the UK!

With the genocide in Gaza still ongoing and Israel plunging the whole Middle East into war, solidarity with the Palestinian people is more important than ever. The University and College Union (UCU) joined other trade unions and organisations in the UK to call for a Workplace Day of Action on 10 October ‘Ceasefire Now – Stop Arming Israel’. To mark this day, UCU at the University of Nottingham hosted an online talk by Angie Mindel, the secretary of Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and treasurer of Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) as well as a retired member of the National Education Union. This guest post is the written version of her talk discussing not only Israeli atrocities, but also what we in the UK can do in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

‘As the grandchild of a Jewish refugee who escaped from Russian pogroms in 1902, born after the holocaust of the 2^nd World War, I have believed in the principle of Never Again Ever, meaning anywhere and to any people. As an active member of Jewish Voice for Labour, my principles like theirs are “Always with the oppressed, never the oppressor” which echo the words of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who stated that “if you are neutral in situations of injustice, then you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.

 

I grew up in a household that supported Israel as a matter of course – we had the customary blue and white JNF collection box for loose change (Jewish National Fund is still to this day responsible for taking Palestinian land) and in 1967 aged 13 I did a sponsored walk for Israel. At some point after I left home I realised the extent of the oppression of the Palestinian people and I have been arguing about it ever since…

 

I didn’t become what I would call a Palestine activist until sometime after the Gaza bombardment of 2014 when there was a large protest march and rally in Nottingham.  A couple of thousand local people came out to protest - just like now – and when the immediate violence stopped featuring in the media most also stopped protesting.

 

But that year Nottingham PSC hosted actors of the Freedom Theatre from Jenin for a few days who put on a play ‘The Siege’ at the Playhouse as part of a UK tour – the first time I had got to know Palestinians and hear first-hand what life was like in the West Bank.

 

I also retired from teaching that year and determined to finally go to Palestine to see for myself. My visit there in 2015 with an organisation called Travel2Palestine was a life changer – from the Palestinian people I met and their wonderful hospitality, the things I heard about and witnessed: the many checkpoints, sinister watchtowers and armed military and the cruelty of the apartheid system. In Jenin at the end of my visit I was asked to do two things on my return – to tell as many people as I could what I had witnessed – and to boycott Israeli goods. Both of which I have since done to the utmost of my ability! I have returned several times since – for the olive harvest and last June for a cultural/political tour. Palestine activism is now in my blood and a major and important part of my life.

I’m going to assume that you know already much of the history of Palestine and the occupation, and that you are seeing all the same horrors on your screens as I am. There will be time later to ask anything I don’t cover.

 

As you will know, this week is the anniversary of October 7^th but of course the current crisis did not start on that one day - Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank have suffered increasingly brutal occupation for over 76 years.

 

Gaza has been an outsize refugee camp since 1948 – taking in thousands of Palestinian refugees fleeing their villages in fear during the Nakba – catastrophe – when the State of Israel was formed, with an initial barrier built in 1996. Many of those nearby kibbutzim were built over Palestinian villages whose ruins lie beneath. 

Gaza has been under siege since 2007-8 when Israeli settlers were forced out by their government of the time and Palestinians were blockaded in – described by many over the years as the world’s largest openair prison. Since then, the people of Gaza have been dependent on Israel for all supplies coming in. Hence the ease with which Israel has cut off all food water and medical supplies and laid further siege – all notably condoned by our politicians as if this really were an act of self-defence rather than collective punishment, a war crime. And while it was not reported by Western media, Gaza had continued to be under intermittent bombardment for many years before this.

This past year will stand out in history as being a time when the world watched a genocide unfold in real time across all our screens, when no one can say they didn’t know, but one in which our Western Governments in particular not only didn’t do everything in their power to stop it but were actively complicit in it. Even when some of Israel’s Government ministers promised to turn Gaza into an uninhabitable desert our government, support did not waver.

The US and UK in particular have been duplicitous in the extreme – drawing red lines and allowing them to be erased, relabelling war crimes as ‘self-defence’, publicly stating that they were putting pressure for a ceasefire while behind the scenes they were providing the arms that were bombing innocent civilians in their thousands. There are suspicions – disputed of course - that the US has had foreknowledge of every action Israel has taken, including the exploding pagers. The UK has been conducting constant surveillance flights from Cyprus, shooting down missiles, supplying military transport planes, supporting Israel in its massacre rather than holding it to account.

International law itself is under threat with the credibility of the UN constantly being called into question, while Israeli lies and propaganda caused many nations including the UK to withdraw its funding for the main Palestinian aid agency UNRWA – with no evidence produced. Gaza is now the most dangerous place for aid workers with over 300 killed, some evidently directly targeted.

Is it now the case that a precedent has been set to legitimise the targeted bombing of hospitals, schools, universities, mosques and churches? Flimsy tents and shelters, people waving white flags? That journalists wearing distinct Press vests can be targeted and killed in large numbers, as can aid convoys and health workers in clearly marked ambulances? That ambulances and firefighters can be routinely blocked from attending the injured?

Is it now acceptable to use starvation as an instrument of war and to block aid from reaching a starving population? For children playing in front of their homes to be targeted and shot in the head or chest by snipers? A daily occurrence, as reported by international doctors who have worked there.

Where was the outcry when evidence emerged of the rape, torture, bestiality, starvation and deaths of those in detention in Sde Teiman? Of widespread abuse in other detention centres? Of unidentified bodies being dumped by truck into Gaza? Videos of bodies thrown off a roof? It seems that Israel can act with impunity, not just illegally occupying and imposing an apartheid state, but again invading another sovereign country, bombing its civilians, destroying its infrastructure and displacing millions of people. It can use white phosphorus – banned under International Law – that prevents land being used for agriculture for years – and there are suspicions of use of depleted uranium, also banned. But that doesn’t stop US providing billions of dollars of military aid and the UK providing weapons components and other support.

And it is not only our government that is complicit but our mainstream media (msm) too. The language used is intended to blur the edges of our understanding, to infer that illegal actions have legitimate aims, transferring active and passive voices, so that one sides victims have died or are starving rather than being killed and being deliberately starved. The use of terms: proxy, regime, “hamas run health ministry” designed to diminish the awful reality. All in the service of Israeli propaganda.

Also our msm has not described the impact over the last year on the daily life of those living in the West Bank – road closures, even more checkpoints, curfews, house demolitions, detentions, killings by military snipers, increasing attacks by violent settlers, heavily armed by their government since last October. Whole villages in the West bank have been deserted out of fear and threats of attacks by settlers – reminiscent of the Nakba of 1948. Over 6000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their land, the majority after their homes have been bulldozed. While since last October around 700 have been killed by military or violent settlers, including over 160 children. That is nearly one child killed every 2 days. Over 6000 have been injured, homes have been damaged, livestock stolen and trees destroyed. Adults unable to go to work, children unable to go to school, farmers to their land… an economic as well as human disaster.

 

Children from both Gaza and West Bank are being detained in increasingly deteriorating conditions, interrogated and abused, deliberately inflicting deep and complex trauma and systematic dehumanisation.

 

Even refugee camps have been targeted in the north of the West Bank: Tulkarm, Jenin and Nablus, with tanks destroying roads, buildings and infrastructure and only last week an Israeli fighter jet fired 3 missiles on Tulkarem refugee camp, 3 children among those killed. Yet another war crime.

 

Every time I visit the West Bank I see ever greater expansion of illegal settlements. Settlements may sound small and benign but some are in fact as big as a city or large town – with all the infrastructure that is denied to Palestinians. Many of them take the water supplies from the neighbouring Palestinian villages and block off access roads. They are all given ‘protection’ from the military who further restrict Palestinian right of way, often accompanied by military watchtowers looming over their land and houses. I have picked olives in some of these places, overlooked by heavily armed military and settler security.

 

My last visit was in June last year. We witnessed a massive new road building programme, with earthmoving equipment everywhere – all for new illegal Jewish settlements further dividing up the West Bank and making any “two state solution” ever more unworkable. There are now over 700,000 illegal settlers in the West Bank. Every new settlement is accompanied by new Israeli-only roads that cut through the surrounding land and emphasise the apartheid nature of the infrastructure. Palestinian residents of nearby towns and villages look on in fear wondering what these new structures and people will have in store for them.

Currently under threat from new settlements is the small Christian Al Makhrour community in Beit Jala on the outskirts of Bethlehem where settlers are trying to lay claim to the land owned by the Kisiya family. Last week their church was demolished and the Israeli courts are examining the legality of the land ownership which has been in the ownership of the family for many generations. The outcome of this case is crucial - Al Makhrour is the last green unspoilt area in Bethlehem and is a UNESCO world heritage site since 2014. If the land is lost to illegal settlement then it will complete a line of settlements between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, blocking off access to pilgrims, tourists and Palestinians alike.

 

The bustling old city of Jerusalem is now described as deserted, with military checkpoints at Damascus Gate and other entrances searching all those going in, preventing many from attending prayers at Al Aqsa, while Israeli Jews have been granted daily access to the site.

When the military have finished with Gaza they will certainly be turning to the West Bank. Some Government Ministers have openly stated – as have many of the most zealous settlers – that they intend to have the whole land as Greater Israel. They have declared openly that Palestinians should move into neighbouring Arab states and that any who refuse to leave will have no rights as citizens but become 2^nd class residents only. This is their idea of One State. 

We are all now acutely aware of the imminent risks of escalation, with the Israeli government doing everything they can to provoke an all-out war with Iran. The surrounding Arab states like Jordan are determinedly not getting involved, leaving it to the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon to come to Palestine’s aid – at great cost to themselves as we can see clearly in Lebanon. Some countries had already signed ‘normalisation’ agreements with Israel, the ‘Abraham Accords’, others, like Saudi Arabia, are now putting a Palestinian state as a condition.

 

It is in this context that our politicians are continuing to support the Israeli government, providing the arms that are used to kill and maim Palestinians and talk weakly about the faint possibility of recognising a Palestinian state that Netanyahu himself openly declares will never happen.

 

We need to stop arming Israel. We need to shut down Israeli Arms company Elbit and others that make those nasty little drones that can be operated like a computer game but kill real people. UK supplies other vital aircraft parts of US and Israeli jets being used to flatten Gaza and now Lebanon. Tanks and armoured vehicles are being made by Rafael in Newcastle. And aircraft are taking off from UK bases in Cyprus to bomb the Houthis in Yemen as well as bombing attacks in Iraq and Syria.

 

Direct Action and protest works such as the taking over of Elbit arms factories by Palestine Action: companies are pulling out from their association with Elbit: earlier this year K&N a major logistics company who transported these lethal weapons around the country announced the end of their contract. In February Japanese firm Itochu announced it was ending its partnership with Elbit, citing the ICJ ruling(!) and the Rafael Arms company in Newcastle has been shut down several times by protestors.

Our politicians are complicit in genocide and we should be very worried about the amount of influence and involvement those with an interest in promoting Israel are having on our politicians and our institutions. Nearly half the cabinet alone has received donations from pro-Israel individuals. Asaf Kaplan – ex Israeli spy – is still working in Starmer’s office as “Social Listening and Organisation Manager”.

 

Palestinians don’t need our tears, they need our actions. So what can we do?

 

We must put pressure on our politicians:  write and petition. MPs do take note of the size of their mailbag and the last election showed the impact on the LP of its loss of support in particular in large Muslim areas. Use your vote and your voice - Oppose the use of an Israeli data company to process NHS test results – as proposed only last week by Wes Streeting!

 

We must not be silenced! The IHRA definition adopted by many universities is there to prevent free speech on Palestine and it should be resisted. Support student protest – the UoN shamefully took its own students to court to evict the encampment.

 

Be part of the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions):

• Check whether your university has research partnerships with Israeli universities – 12 UK universities have recently, during a genocide, signed new research partnership agreements with Israeli universities. (Not UoN, I checked). Campaign against such partnerships.

• Check your university’s investments – weapons companies - and campaign to disinvest from them. Check where funding is coming from, procurement policies –campaign to make them ethical.

 

• We all need to Boycott Israeli goods – check the labels – and boycott companies on the boycott list such as Starbucks and McDonalds, who supplied meals to the Israeli military following Oct 7. Check out your campus services and examine their support for Israeli goods and services. Check your own medicines and tell your doctor and pharmacy that you won’t take Teva pharmaceuticals.

 

• Local Coops are now selling Israeli hummus despite having a supposedly ‘ethical’ policy. Their policy only involves not stocking goods from illegal settlements but should also include those businesses complicit in and profiting from the occupation and apartheid system. Sabra who makes the hummus actively support the IDF. They must be challenged as well as other supermarkets and shops stocking Israeli goods. Use your consumer power. Write to the CEOs. Talk to the managers. Make a fuss. If Boycott didn’t work they wouldn’t want to ban it. Note also the double standards of boycott and sanctions being applied to Russia.

 

• If you have a Barclays account you can easily Switch banks - Barclays invest heavily in the arms trade and environmentalists like XR also campaign against their investments in fossil fuels.

 

• When you replace your IT equipment don’t buy Hewlett Packard (HP) – their technology is used extensively by the military, in the checkpoints, and for extensive identity recognition that oppresses Palestinians and restricts their movement.

 

• Continue to go to and support local and national protests, its vitally important to Palestinians that they see this support from people around the world. If your union branch holds any funds then maybe you could sponsor a local coach to the London protests?

• Become a member of PSC yourself and become active in our local group. Vote to affiliate your unionbranch to PSC.

 

• Use evidence not propaganda – read and watch reliable alternative media [Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada, Jonathan Cook and Zeteo on Substack, UN OCHA]

 

• Above all – keep up your support and speak out for Palestine and Palestinians, enable Palestinian voices to be heard, do not be silenced, keep on protesting and sharing. Make sure you are on the right side of history when this genocide is reported in the decades to come.

In February 2024 the Palestinian Ambassador said in an emotional speech to the ICJ, which subsequently called for an end to the occupation: we have 3 options – displacement, subjugation or death. These are the choices: ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide.

 

I continue to say Not in my Name and Never Again means Ever. 

Free Palestine!’