Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Come and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine on Saturday 17th October

Aberdeen Trades Union Council is calling on all delegates, affiliates and community activists to come along to the Aberdeen Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign protest this Saturday  17th October at 12.30pm, in St Nicholas Square, Aberdeen to join people of conscience around the world taking action in solidarity with Palestine.

 
Dave Black of SPSC said, "In the last 2 weeks, Israel has killed 27 Palestinians in the West Bank, several of them minors, and wounded hundreds. Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed a pregnant woman and 2 children.
 
"Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has also vowed to increase and speed up demolitions of Palestinian homes, and to make broader use of detention without trial for Palestinian suspects.

"World governments are calling this a “cycle of violence”, in which both sides are to blame. This ignores the inhumane Zionist occupation as the root cause and their own complicity in enabling Israel to maintain it and to violate international law with impunity."

“This current round of violence may seem shocking but it is no anomaly: it is a direct result of government policy determined to normalise Israel’s occupation, now nearly 50 years old. The Israeli State continues to entrench a reality in which Palestinians and Israelis who live side by side are subject to different laws and courts, use separate roads and have unequal access to basic necessities such as water and housing; where settler violence goes unchecked and discrimination is increasingly institutionalised; and where not only is there no recognition of the Palestinian right to statehood, but next to no recognition of Palestinian rights, period. Palestinians are under constant daily threat of losing their lives, homes, income, lands and dignity. Yet this reality is barely mentioned in the current Israeli rhetoric about a “wave of terror”. Mairav Zonszein – Israeli journalist and blogger

In the absence of international action to end Israeli occupation and hold it to account or even provide protection, what are Palestinians supposed to do? Stand by and wait for the next Palestinian family to be burned, for the next Palestinian child to be killed or arrested, for the next Israeli settlement to be built?

Take action!

Come along to the protest and join the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.  A UN study confirms that foreign direct investment in Israel dropped by 46% in 2014, as compared to 2013. More needs to be done, however, to shatter Israel’s still strong impunity. Join the BDS campaign against Israel!

• Build awareness about Palestinian rights under international law and support for BDS through media outreach, including social media;
• Pressure MPs to impose a military embargo on Israel;
• Campaign against Israeli military companies such as Elbit Systems;
• Support boycott and divestment campaigns against complicit companies, such as G4S and HP, that are most blatantly complicit in Israel’s infrastructure of oppression;
• Pass effective and strategic, not just symbolic, BDS resolutions in unions, academic associations, student governments and social movements that can lead to concrete measures, and enhance the cultural boycott of Israel;

Join our protest this Saturday and let Israel know that no amount of airstrikes or collective punishment will ever stop the Palestinians’ fight for freedom, justice and human rights.

“No people on the globe would accept to coexist with oppression. By nature, humans yearn for freedom, struggle for freedom, sacrifice for freedom, and the freedom of the Palestinian people is long overdue.” Marwan Barghouti – Palestinian political prisoner