Part 6: Israeli-Palestinian conflict

[AndHarry]

Sorry, lost the end of the thread there!

Thread 5

am saving the talk for later when the house is settled for the night Qn. thank you. well done on marching again. at least the police didn't use tear gas on you - let's hope we don't see that in our lifetime.

I thought the crucible was about Miller's thoughts on Mccarthyism.

Has anyone heard of a website/fb page called Jews News? Dear god it's offensive. This is the page I keep seeing as a friend keeps commenting on things one of his other friends posts.

alemci it is, but many of the ideas and words resonated- religious fundamentalism, self righteousness, terror, hysteria etc. the way a character cynically uses the terror to grab farmland from his neighbours etc etc

I wish Hamas would stop referring to dead civilians as 'martyrs'. It implies that they had some choice in the matter.

HoneyBadger your post about London being fenced in reminded me of a book I read as a child about a girl who time-travels into exactly that situation, to find her brother the dictator of a dystopian UK where the cities are fenced in and strictly patrolled. I'll see if I can find the title.

It's this one: Thief! by Malorie Blackman.

People feeling disheartened, please don't. I'm really pleased that these threads have helped prompt people into action. Off the top of my head, these are some things we can be proud of:

• a poster determining to re-start her Arabic studies;
• multiple posters getting engaged in the political process by writing to their MPs and government ministers;
• many other posters engaging through participating in demonstrations and boycotts;
• talking through the issues for everyone to see and think about;
• being a small part of the public pressure that resulted in Western governments re-evaluating their unequivocal support of the Israeli campaign;
• posters immediately reporting and jumping on posts containing racism and anti-Semitism.

There are more that I'm not free to list but I can say that people here have made a positive difference not just for now but towards lasting progress.

That is a brilliant summary andharry and it's cheered me up no end!

Article in the guardian today saying that there is a legal challenge to the govt's sale of components and arms to Israel!

Desmond Tutu writing in Haaretz - well worth a read - see www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.610687

heartening news. thanks. please god it does all make a difference.

i'll look up that novel andharry.

Malorie Blackman is a really good writer for kids- the Noughts and Crosses books are v good too (really dark though in places)

I liked what Desmond Tutu said about a 'mind set shift'

yes i see, good points about crucible, it is such an interesting play if somewhat grim.

I am going to distribute a few hundred. leaflets in my local area asking the community to boycott Israeli goods. I havent seen the leaflets yet as my friend is having them printed at the moment. I think they mention the fruit and veg, things like medjool dates etc. waiting to see the leaflet but am looking forward to distributing as i am sick of feeling useless.

It was heartening to read your summary andharry. Kind of feels like we are making a small difference.

Just marking my place and thank you for the explanation about the boycott and yellow stickers on the last thread as this wasn't something i'd previously known about.

Yruapita I'm sure more people would boycott if they were fed the information through a leaflet. As so many people aren't aware what power they have through their pockets. And having a visual can really help in these situations.

It's a shame that it's the holidays because sixth form and uni students are brilliant at promoting/getting behind a cause and networking.

I miss school for this reason you had a group of people on tap. Maintaining friendships and being present in peoples lives was so much easier. Also having conversations about world issues isn't so odd if you see someone everyday. But when you only see someone every now and then it's a bit of a heavy handed subject to open with.

Just found this poet www.rafeefziadah.net/pages/rafeef_ziadahvideo-page/ because I didn't know where the 'we teach life, sir' quote was from- look at the first poem top of the page.

yruapita boycott leaflets sound great. Buycott keeps telling me I don't have a personal conflict with coke- do I or don't I? The response from Tesco, but particularly Sainsburies, when I emailed them was really crap. I don't want to shop at either again though if I have to, I think I'll take some stickers (not yellow ones!!!) and ask to speak to the store manager.

palestinecampaign I don't know if this link works, but red, green, white and black stickers here...

goldvelvet I miss University days for this reason, straight away there'd have been a group of us, a union motion (for what it was worth) and a little action or two.

At work, it's a bit tricky... With friends it's ok (except the one who says Gazans have small houses and that I'm a holocaust denier, etc)... It's a bit much for ds, though he did write a letter to the mp... I miss that easy group thing.

However, I think even though it's the holidays, NUS London have passed some kind of BDS motion.

Like goldvelvet's observations about networking and students. Locally our union's going to team up with the university's student friends of Palestine to keep the process rolling from next month - planning fresher fair activities etc.

Also really like Yruapita's idea of leaflets. Praps you could upload them so we can print some out too? It's the ignorance we have to counter probably more than the apathy.

Thx to AndHarry for keeping things in perspective. V supportive posts today :)

They're marching for peace in Israel.

The march in Tel Aviv tonight is very heartening.

I'm delighted. I thought it was blanket refusal to consider any other options like dh's family believe,here in the uk.

Will try to upload the leaflets once I receive them. I didnt know about the significance of yellow stickers either.

So happy to hear about a big march for peace in Israel.

Pleasantly surprised to hear some EU leaders talking about not going back to the previous status quo.

Sringheeled, is this the [http://www.palestinecampaign.org/products-page/shop/bdsstickers100uk/ boycott stickers link]] you were referring to?

The BBC has run an article about a dutchman who was given a medal by Israel for saving a jewish child from the Nazis. He has returned the medal after the Israeli airstrikes killed 6 of his relatives in Gaza.

He is twice a hero

We are all Palestinians.

We are all Palestinians?!?

What a load of guff.

Why aren't we all Yazidis?