ISM UK is offering a day of pre-training for prospective volunteers who are interested in joining the International Solidarity Movement on the ground in Palestine.
Attending the training session in north London will give you a chance to get a first impression of ISM and the kind of work we do, receive training, connect with former volunteers and have your questions answered. You will also be filled in on how Palestinians are resisting the occupation and how we as internationals can work in solidarity with them using non-violent, direct action methods.
There is no obligation to join ISM after the training.
Lunch will be provided however we ask participants to pay a fee of £5 to cover training costs.
Date: November 30, 2019
Time: 10:30-16:00
Location: North London
To sign up for the training, please contact training.ismlondon@riseup.net
Yesterday, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) announced the “postponement” of a talk by extremist pro-settler group Regavim in London due to opposition from British, Israeli, and Palestinian activists.
Regavim, which receives funding from the Israeli government, is not only anti-Palestinian and openly racist, but also lobbies for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank and destruction of their homes and schools, in clear violation of international law. A range of voices have been raised in opposition to Regavims visit including the International Solidarity Movement, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Stop the Demolitions, with criticism also coming from Yachad UK and New Israel Fund. In the words of Regavim General Director Meir Deutsch, the protests planned against Regavim’s London lecture “represent a whole new level of cooperation between…organizations operating in Israel and abroad with Palestinian organizations”
We strongly reject UKLFI’s claim that most of the objections to the proposed talk related to irrelevant statements by a co-founder of Regavim who has since stopped working with the group. Regavim’s racism has been clear since the beginning, and it continues to do so, spreading discriminatory and hate filled messages.
While UKLFI claims it “is not aligned with any particular political viewpoint or party in the UK or Israel”, their actions show they are anything but a neutral or objective group. In March this year, an UKLFI document describes itself as an “association of lawyers” who “invok[e] laws in support of Israel and against Israel’s enemies”, “combat” the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, and “work[s] closely with other pro-Israel organisations in the UK and around the world”. They devote most of its energy to lobbying public bodies in order to suppress activism for Palestinian rights, and target organisations promoting the Palestinian-led BDS movement, lodging complaints with regulatory bodies and sending letters threatening legal action. UKLFI seeks to frame groups advocating for Palestinian rights as extremists, but happily invites to the UK an organisation that has promoted violent racist narratives, and the violation of international law. UKLFI itself refuses to accept the illegality of Israeli settlements under international law.
While Regavim’s propaganda lecture has been postponed, it is still planned to take place at a later date, while on the ground in Palestine Regavim continues to lobby for the demolition of Palestinian communities and eviction of UNESCO from Jerusalem. We call on those committed to human rights, international law, and justice in the Middle East to continue to oppose both Regavim’s attempts to propagate its extremist views and discriminatory organizations like UKLFI that play in supporting role in Regavim’s destructive actions.
– International Solidarity Movement
– Stop the Demolitions
– Palestine Solidarity Campaign
ISM London is offering a day of pre-training for prospective volunteers who are interested in joining the International Solidarity Movement on the ground in Palestine.
Any volunteer is required to participate in training before joining activities in Palestine. Attending the training session in London will give you a chance to get a first impression of ISM and the kind of work you would be doing, receive training, connect with former volunteers and have your questions answered.
The training will take place on October 6, 2018:
Time: 10:30-16 Venue: LARC (London Action Resource Center)
62 Fieldgate St
Whitechapel
London
E1 1ES
28 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement and Corporate Watch, London, Complicit Britain
Two British peace activists have been detained in recent weeks after arriving home from the West Bank, occupied Palestine. They have been detained and taken in for questioning, over suspected links with the International Solidarity Movement.
“We are concerned about the British police using anti-terrorist legislation to target non-violent pro-Palestinian activists. We are a transparent group, trying to uphold the principles of international law; even inside Israel the International Solidarity Movement is not considered illegal. We would encourage the British Police to ask any questions they wish to do so, directly, and not by detaining affiliated activists at the airport”
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which the two activists have been held on, allows the police, under certain specified circumstances, to arrest individuals without a warrant who are reasonably suspected of being terrorists. These laws are draconian measures which give the British police powers to detain suspects for up to 28 days without charge.
Schedule 7 is clearly being used as a tool to find out more about activists involved in a wide variety of types of political dissent and to provide profiles of activists for the police to use in trying to undermine political movements. None of the questions about movements in the UK were designed to root out terrorism or uncover the preparation for terrorism. In fact, the movements concerned have never even been accused of terrorism (with the exception of completely false accusations made against the ISM, see here).
Britain abstained at the last vote at the United Nations deciding whether Palestine should be accepted as a non-member observer state. But in the last two weeks the double standards of the British government in relation to Palestine and Israel have again been laid bare; Saeed Amireh, has been refused a visa to visit the UK. Amireh is a peaceful campaigner against Israel’s occupation and the theft of Nilin’s land. He was told he hadn’t provided “enough supporting documents”, even though he had supplied everything that was asked for, including a letter of invitation and guarantee from the UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign of his costs being paid.
The use of these powers as a way to clamp down on non violent activists from Palestine and Britain is not acceptable, what is the British government afraid of? Maybe the fact the activists, returning home from Palestine, work with Corporate Watch and have helped reveal the continued supply of weaponry from Britain to the Israeli army has made them a target. This is despite the current British arms export policy stating it won’t deliver weapons to any countries breaking UN treaties. British companies are still complicit in Israeli war crimes in Gaza, as was proved in the EDO Decommisioners case of 2010.
Vociferous local campaign by the No2 Veolia Action Group leads Occupation profiteer Veolia to withdraw from colossal waste management contracts. No 2 Veolia Action Group (No2VAG) are celebrating a huge victory with the withdrawal of Veolia, a multinational company complicit in Israeli violations of international law, from the final stage of the North London procurement process.
In a statement on 21st December the North London Waste Authority, which represents the seven London boroughs covered by the £4.7bn contracts, made the dramatic announcement that it had “received notification from Veolia Environmental Services that they will not be submitting final tenders for either NLWA’s waste services or fuel use contracts.” For two years the No2VAG has vigorously campaigned for Veolia to be removed from the list of bidders due to its grave misconduct in providing infrastructure to illegal Israeli settlements. Despite this involvement, Veolia was shortlisted for the final bids in February 2012.
This extraordinary withdrawal of Veolia comes after an intensification of the campaign against the company. The No2VAG staged twelve protests over the last two months at each council contributing £600m to the £4.7bn contracts.
The procurement process was shrouded in secrecy and campaigners faced a wall of denial when it came to Veolia’s unethical practices, environmental and technical shortcomings and financial instability. Engineer Rob Langlands and secretary of No2VAG said, “North London residents want an environmentally responsible and cost effective solution to waste disposal. The Veolia technical proposals were not on track to provide this. I am especially delighted because of the ongoing Veolia involvement in the illegal Israeli settlements that the Veolia bids have now been consigned to the rubbish bin.”
Yael Kahn, chair of No2VAG said, “Our strategy to force councillors to seriously consider and publicly debate the issues at stake and the further actions planned No2VAG played a critical role in achieving our aim of eliminating Veolia from the NLWA procurement process.”
On 21st November, No2VAG spokeswoman Caroline Day was surprised to discover that her deputation regarding Veolia to Hackney Council, which had been approved by the council lawyers, was prevented by a procedural motion supported by the Mayor of Hackney.
It was reported in the Jewish Chronicle that the motion had been drafted by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). David Lewis from UKLFI then told the Hackney Gazette newspaper that an “instrumental” role had been played by Hackney Councillor Luke Akehurst, the director of campaigns at ‘We Believe in Israel’, an advocacy network created by the Britain Israel Communications Research Centre (BICOM). On hearing the news that Veolia had withdrawn Caroline said, “This is a huge victory for local democracy. Powerful lobbies representing unethical interests in the illegal settlements may have won a short-term victory in silencing me, but in standing up for their right to see their money invested ethically, local people have achieved a victory for justice.”
On 13th December the arbitrary nature of Hackney Council’s political censorship was exposed and a symbolic victory was achieved when Irfan Akhtar of Waltham Forest Council of Mosques and the No2VAG gave a powerful speech at a Waltham Forest Council meeting detailing why Veolia was an unsuitable choice for an important public service. Irfan was delighted with the news and said, “This massive victory is the result of serious campaigning by people who possess the common and moral sense to stand up against injustice. No2VAG working tirelessly across all seven boroughs over nearly two years has paid dividends. The WF Council of Mosques is proud to be part of this campaign and we know all victory is from God and we dedicate this victory to the people of Palestine.”
Following the NLWA announcement, Israeli-born Yael Kahn responded by saying, “I was determined to block Veolia and the only question was how to achieve that. The NLWA appeared equally determined to select Veolia in spite of the evidence against the company. It was the toughest campaign of my life but I was haunted by the thought of Veolia which has been instrumental in Palestinians being driven out of their homes in occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank, getting a £4.7bn handout from us in north London.”
Multinational companies like Veolia are finding that around the world complicity with Israeli war crimes is increasingly bad business. Just yesterday, on 20th December, the St Louis City Board shelved a Veolia contract pending an investigation into the company’s association with human rights abuses, corruption and violations of law. This is the latest setback for the beleaguered multinational occupation profiteer, which has been denied contracts in several European cities in the wake of campaigns by human rights activists.
The No2VAG would like to thank all the people who actively contributed to the intensive lobbying of our elected representatives, collected many thousands of signatures against Veolia and made their voices heard at protests and in the local media and special thanks to the WF Council of Mosques for their pivotal role in this campaign.
