1) One year after Israel's offensive in Gaza killed over 1,400 Palestinians and caused widespread damage, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. Basic medical supplies are inadequate, homes have been rebuilt from mud and straw, and Palestinians continue to suffer under the Israeli-Egyptian siege. 2) On the one year anniversary of the offensive, protests were held around the world against the ongoing siege of Gaza. In London, about 2,000 protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy to protest the siege and oppression. 3) The Palestinian Medical Relief Society reported that over 600 Palestinians became disabled due to the Israeli assault. As well as physical and social difficulties, the siege has been a major obstacle to assistance for the disabled

1. Aqsa News FOR FREE DISTRIBUTIONQUARTERLY | ISSUE 42 | JANUARY 2010
One year after the Israeli
offensive on Gaza, which
killed over 1,400 Palestinians,
injured tens of thousands and
left countless without homes;
the Gaza Strip remains a dis-
aster zone. The sick and war
disabled struggle with in-
adequate medical supplies,
homes have been rebuilt us-
ing mud and straw and Pal-
estinians continue to undergo
unimaginable suffering. The
Israeli and Egyptian-enforced
siege upon Gaza has also hin-
dered basic post-war recovery
and the humanitarian situation
continues to deteriorate.
In response to world-wide
political impotency in bring-
ing an end to the suffering,
extraordinary actions have
been witnessed at the grass-
roots level. Ordinary people
of many nationalities formed
the ‘Viva Palestina’ convoy
which vowed to take vital aid
to the Gaza Strip not only to
ease the suffering but also to
mark the one year anniver-
sary since the Israeli bomb-
ings. At the time of writing
(29 December 2009), Egypt’s
president Husni Mubarak
had refused the convoy entry
and over 500 people and 200
trucks were stranded at the
Aqaba port in Jordan, only
four hours away from the
Gaza Strip. Egypt’s complic-
ity in Israel’s siege has an-
gered many.
The one year anniversary
was also marked by sombre
vigils in many cities around
the world, and in London
about 2,000 protestors gath-
ered outside the Israeli em-
bassy in a noisy and impas-
sioned protest against the
ongoing siege and oppression
of the people of Gaza. The
memory of Israel’s 22-day at-
tack, which was preceded by
an 18 month siege, was fresh
in the protestors’ minds. 300
children were killed, medi-
cal personnel were targeted,
mosques and schools were
bombed, civilian homes
were demolished; all with
what appeared to be an ap-
parent disregard for the lives
of Palestinians. The horrific
images pictured on television
screens of mangled bodies
and bombed out buildings
were only a snapshot of the
full scale of the death and de-
struction.
The Palestinian Medical
Relief Society reported that
the Israeli assault on the Gaza
Strip caused over six hundred
Palestinians to become disa-
bled. As well as experiencing
greater difficulty with day-to-
day functioning both physi-
cally and socially, the medi-
cal society also pointed out
the Israeli siege was a major
obstacle to positive change
for the disabled. The number
of Palestinians who have died
as a result of the Israeli siege
also continues to rise, with
360 deaths reported by Pales-
tinian health ministers.
As the siege continues,
Israel refuses to allow con-
crete and other construction
materials into the Strip and
so the possibility for recov-
ery is minimal. Residents of
the Gaza Strip have resorted
to building their homes from
mud and straw and the UN
has now followed suit with its
re-building. John Ging, head
of the UN Relief and Works
Agency stated that “A mud
hut is still better than a tent.
It’s not a solution to the re-
construction of Gaza buts it
shows you how desperate the
situation is, that a year later,
people living in tents have
the hopeful prospect of get-
ting a temporary mud brick
shelter.”
In Remembrance of Gaza
In a development that an-
gered Israel, an arrest warrant
was issued by a British court
for former Israeli Foreign
Minister, Tzipi Livni, over al-
legations of war crimes com-
mitted this year in Gaza. This
unprecedented move, consid-
ered long overdue in light of
the documented violations of
international human rights by
Israel, is the first of its kind
against an Israeli minister.
The warrant was later
withdrawn after it emerged
that Livni would not be at-
tending a meeting scheduled
in the UK. Israeli officials are
facing increasingly hostile re-
actions during visits to the UK
and the US due to growing
opposition to Israel’s policies
against the Palestinians. Stu-
dent at the London School of
Economics disrupted a lecture
by the Deputy Foreign Minis-
ter of Israel, Daniel Ayalon,
during his latest visit.
Ehud Olmert was heckled
by audiences in Chicago and
San Francisco in the US and
Ehud Barak had to be granted
diplomatic immunity in an
emergency situations to avoid
arrest in the UK. Israeli min-
ister and former military chief
Moshe Yaalon also cancelled
a visit to the UK due to fear of
prosecution over war crimes
allegations made by human
rights and pro-Palestinian or-
ganisations.
Arrest Warrant Issued for Livni in the UK
Friends of Al-Aqsa
Update
Comments
from Tema Okun and
Tom Charles
Page 2 > Page 7 > Page 8 > Page 12 >
Inside...
Isreali Settlers Attack
West Bank Mosque
Page 3
Goldstone Report
Endorsed by General
Assembly
Page 4
Obama Scraps Tariff
on Israeli Goods
Page 5
Book Reviews
Page 11
Why Boycott
Matters
Page 14
Special Feature:
Unequal, Unsustainable: Water, Palestine and
Israeli Apartheid
Israel Targets Group Exposing IOF
Crimes in Gaza

2. According to statis-
tics compiled by the Pal-
estinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR), Palestinian
women have faced increasing
violence over the last year
due to the Israeli offensive on
Gaza and also the long-stand-
ing Israeli blockade.
Between November 2008
and November 2009, 116 Pal-
estinian women were killed
by Israeli forces operating in
the Gaza Strip alone. Another
four died due to the Israeli
enforced siege on the tiny
enclave during this period.
The PCHR reported that dur-
ing this conflict, “hundreds
of women experienced hor-
rific tragedies that included
witnessing their sons or hus-
bands being killed by Israeli
forces, and others were forced
to leave homes that were sub-
sequently demolished.”
This information was
released to coincide with
the anniversary of the Inter-
national Day for the Elimi-
nation of Violence Against
Women in November 2009,
which urged countries to take
the necessary action to pro-
tect women’s rights.
Palestinian women con-
tinue to suffer from the
effects of the war on Gaza,
as Israeli forces destroyed
civilian infrastructure such
as homes, schools and power
stations which affect living
conditions. Recovery and re-
construction after the conflict
has also been slow due to the
continuing blockade.
Under the siege, Pales-
tinian women have been de-
prived of their basic needs
such as adequate medical
services, the right to educa-
tion as well as clean drinking
water and electricity.
Israel has also deprived
women in the West Bank of
their rights, subjecting them
to house raids and demoli-
tions, arbitrary arrests and
humiliating treatment at the
checkpoints. Since Novem-
ber 2008, Israeli forces killed
21 Palestinian civilians in the
West Bank, including 9 chil-
dren. Research by Save the
Children has also found that
92% of Palestinian families
living in rural West Bank or
‘high risk areas’ had no ac-
cess to healthcare.
‘Breaking the Silence’
is the latest organisation to
be targeted by Israel over its
condemnation of the 22-day
assault on Gaza in 2008-9.
The group is made up of
Israeli soldiers who have giv-
en anonymous testimonies of
their experience during the
conflict. They revealed that
during the attack on Gaza it
was ‘accepted practice’ for
Israeli soldiers to destroy
homes and mosques with-
out military necessity; to fire
white phosphorous in popu-
lated areas and to kill inno-
cent victims with small arms.
Haaretz reported that the
organisation’s funders have
been under Israeli diplomatic
pressure to withdraw their
support. The Israeli ambas-
sador to the Netherlands,
Harry Knei-Tal, met with the
director-general of the Dutch
Foreign Ministry and com-
plained about the Dutch em-
bassy’s funding of Breaking
the Silence.
Israeli diplomatic pres-
sure has also been placed on
Britain over its financial con-
tribution to the organisation.
The deputy director-general
of the Foreign Ministry, Rafi
Barak, requested clarifica-
tions as to whether the money
donated by Britain was used
to fund the report on Opera-
tion Cast Lead.
Breaking the Silence has
accused the Israeli Foreign
Ministry of “endangering de-
mocracy” by engaging in a
witch hunt against the organ-
isation. These actions reflect
the increasing desperation
of the Israeli government to
silence critics of the Israeli
army, even when those critics
are from within. The number
of Israelis opposing the Oc-
cupation is rising and the
Israeli government is em-
ploying increasingly repres-
sive measures to quell them.
The Suffering of
Palestinian Women
Israel Targets Group
Exposing IOF Crimes in Gaza
AQSA NEWS
02 Inside Palestine
Growing Support for
Boycott Amongst Israelis
The call to boycott, divest
from, and impose sanctions
on Israel has found new sup-
port amongst Israeli citizens
who have launched a ‘Boy-
cott from Within’ campaign.
Inspired by the success of
the BDS movement, which
recently led Norway to divest
from Israeli companies in-
volved in illegal settlements
and the wall, the campaign
has also received support
from Naomi Klein of ‘No
Logo’who was visiting Israel.
Michel Warschawski a
veteran activist against the
Israeli occupation high-
lighted the aims of the cam-
paign as: basic individual
and collective rights, end
of domination and oppres-
sion. He also noted that their
campaign would help “dis-
arm the infamous accusation
of Anti-Semitism raised by
the Israeli propaganda ma-
chine against everyone who
dare to criticize the colonial
policies of the Jewish State.”
Palestinians Break
Israel’s Wall
In a demonstration to
mark the 20th anniversary
of the fall of the Berlin Wall,
Palestinians and international
activists tore down segments
of Israel’s Apartheid Wall
in the town of Qalandiya. A
group of masked activists
used a lorry to pull down
the two-metre cement blocks
which make up the wall, be-
fore Israeli security forces
confronted them with tear gas
canisters.
Several crossed the Sepa-
ration wall and Palestinian
flags were hoisted. The wall
has been denounced as illegal
by the International Court of
Justice as it appropriates land
from the West Bank. Once
completed, the Israeli wall
will be more than four times
the length of the Berlin wall.
1,000 Palestinian Prisoners
for Shalit
Israelhasofficiallyagreed
to swap 1,000 Palestinian
prisoners; 450 requested by
Hamas and another 550 cho-
sen by Israel, in exchange for
the captured Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit who is being
held in Gaza. Shalit was cap-
tured near Gaza in June 2006
and indirect negotiations be-
tween Israel and Hamas have
been mediated by German
intelligence officers.
The terms of the agree-
ment have not yet been fi-
nalised and there is reported
disagreement on some of the
names Hamas has put for-
ward. Marwan Barghouti,
the popular Palestinian Fatah
leader is believed to be on the
top of Hamas’ list. If success-
ful, this would be the biggest
prisoner swap for twenty
years.
14,000 Palestinian Olive
Trees Destroyed in 2009
A report by the Land Re-
search Centre in Jerusalem
which works to protect Pal-
estinian land and agriculture
revealed that in 2009 alone,
Israel destroyed 14,000 Pal-
estinian olives trees. During
this years olive harvest, Is-
raeli forces burned and up-
rooted 1,455 olive trees and
a further 7,000 trees were
uprooted specifically to allow
settlement expansion. Israeli
settlers, who are living il-
legally in settlements within
the West Bank and East Jeru-
salem, also damaged another
5,500 trees.
Palestinian farmers also
faced physical abuse from Is-
raeli forces and settlers when
they attempted to harvest the
The ceasefire agreement
arranged by Hamas at the
end of November has come
under question after numer-
ous groups in Gaza, includ-
ing the al-Qassam Brigades,
categorically denied they had
agreed to a ceasefire. They
reiterated their right to legiti-
mate resistance as granted by
international conventions to a
people under occupation.
Hamas was hoping that
the ceasefire would give
Gazans a chance to rebuild
their homes after the war on
Gaza, which killed over 1,400
Palestinian during December
2008 and January 2009. Al-
though both sides declared
unilateral ceasefires follow-
ing the end of the conflict, a
much reduced number of Is-
raeli air raids and Palestinian
rocket attacks continue. The
Gaza Strip is still struggling
under Israel’s siege which
denies the devastated region
basic construction materials
needed for recovery.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Gaza Ceasefire Compromised

3. The Palestinian Authority
(PA) has supported pleas that
Arab countries severe busi-
ness ties with Veolia and Al-
stom- two French companies
involvedintheJerusalemlight
rail project which connects
occupied Jerusalem with il-
legal settlements in the West
Bank.
At a press conference
organized by the Palestin-
ian Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions National Com-
mittee (BNC), which is a
coalition of 170 Palestinian
organisations, the commit-
tee called for “Arab govern-
ments to practically translate
their consistent verbal sup-
port for Palestinian rights in
Jerusalem into action, at least
by refusing to deal on a busi-
ness-as-usual basis with com-
panies implicated in violation
of international law and Pal-
estinian rights.”
Thisnewcampaigncomes
after news of Saudi Arabia’s
multi-million dollar contract
with Veolia to construct a
railway link between Mecca
and Medinah as well as other
deals for power stations.
The boycott committee
has had significant success in
the West, leading to the ter-
mination of various contracts
with the two companies in
Sweden, Britain and Aus-
tralia. Alstom’s work on the
Jerusalem rail is illegal ac-
cording to international law
as it will built on stolen Pal-
estinian land and many critics
state that it hinder the possi-
bility of East Jerusalem be-
coming the capital of a future
Palestinian state. Forthcom-
ing Gulf rail projects with
Alstom are believed to worth
an estimated $25 billion. The
committee is yet to receive
any responses from the Gulf
states implicated with the two
companies.
PA Calls for Arab States to
Boycott Firms with Israeli Link
For many Muslims across
the world, Eid Al-Adha is a
time for celebration and the
ritual slaughter of a sheep to
mark Prophet Ibrahim’s dedi-
cation to Allah (SWT). For
the people of Gaza, however,
the situation this year left lit-
tle to celebrate.
Struggling under the
siege imposed in 2006, which
was not even lifted during the
war to allow victims to seek
medical attention, many are
unable to pay for meat or pur-
chase new clothes for their
children. Many are choosing
to simply repair their clothes
and cannot afford to pay for
the slaughter of an animal.
Due to widespread pov-
erty many were unable to buy
a goat or sheep. One resident
of Khan Younis in the south
of the Gaza Strip, Kamel Abu
Jazzar, had been struggled to
buy a sheep for his 20 mem-
ber family since the siege be-
gan. He explained:
“Can you imagine, even if I
want to buy some meat for my
children in the ‘Eid, I need at
least 10 kilos, which costs a
lot of money, yet I cannot af-
ford that, as the meat prices
are so high.”
Although it was widely
reported that Israel would
ease the blockade to allow
cows in for Eid, the quanti-
ties allowed in fell far short
of the actual needs of the
population.
The UN humanitarian co-
ordinator for the Palestinian
Territories, Maxwell Gay-
lard, reported during a tour
of Gaza in November that
the border restrictions were
also limiting Gaza’s ability to
rebuild homes destroyed dur-
ing Israel’s 22-day offensive.
Around 20,000 Gaza res-
idents were made homeless
during the conflict accord-
ing to the UN and hundreds
of families face the coming
winter in tents.
Eid Under Siege
House Demolitions in
Jerusalem Stepped Up
UN Chief, Ban Ki-Moon,
has issued a statement call-
ing on Israel to end its ‘pro-
vocative’ actions after an-
other Palestinian family was
evicted from its home in the
Jerusalem neighbourhood of
Sheikh Jarrah. This comes as
an investigation by the Pal-
estinian Centre for Human
Rights revealed that Israel
has issued 60 demolition or-
ders for homes, apartments
and other civilian structures
in Area C which includes
the West Bank and Occupied
East Jerusalem.
Orders include plans to
demolish an apartment build-
ing containing 25 flats in oc-
cupied East Jerusalem. Ac-
cording to PCHR, since the
beginning of 2009 Israel has
issued approximately 2,300
demolition orders.
Israel has faced huge in-
ternational criticism for its
tactical use of demolitions
against the Palestinians.
AQSA NEWS
03
olives. The Land Research
Centre remarked that Israeli
violations against Palestin-
ian land and trees is part of
an ethnic-cleansing policy
which seeks to eradicate Pal-
estinians and their cultural
heritage.
Abbas to Resign
Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas’ announce-
ment that he would not be
standing for re-election in the
January 2010 elections has
meant that the elections will
now be delayed until June
2010. Abbas ascribed his de-
cision to the stalemate in the
peace process and observ-
ers also believe that Hilary
Clinton’s remarks that talks
should continue without
demands to halt settlements
(which were later withdrawn)
were the last straw.
Abbas was elected in
January 2005 but remained in
power after his term as presi-
dent ended in January 2009.
Many Palestinians remain
dubious about whether Abbas
will actually resign although
Marwan Barghouti has been
hailed as a firm favourite to
replace him if released from
prison.
If elections do go ahead,
it is still unclear whether HA-
MAS will participate, and
a boycott by them and their
supporters will render any
election results unrepresenta-
tive of the real wishes of the
Palestinian people.
For the time being, anAb-
bas led Palestinian Authority
is the only leadership that Is-
rael is willing to recognise.
Israeli Museum Opens
Outside Al-Aqsa
The Al Aqsa Foundation
for Waqf and Heritage in Je-
rusalem has revealed that Is-
rael will soon open the ‘Third
Temple Museum’ to Jewish
visitors. Located just a few
metres from Masjid Al Aqsa,
which is Islam’s third holiest
shrine, the Museum is seen
as another move by Israel to
undermine the sanctity of the
al-Aqsa Sanctuary.
Tensions around Jerusa-
lem increased towards the
end of September and dur-
ing the first week of October
2009 following clashes be-
tween Palestinians defending
the sacred Masjid al-Aqsa
and Israeli security forces.
The battle for the al-Aqsa
Sanctuary has been particu-
larly pronounced, as Israel is
allowing extremist hard-line
Jewish settlers to occupy Pal-
estinian homes from which
Palestinian residents have
been evicted. There are also
concerns about the tunnel-
ling that Israel has carried
out under the al-Aqsa Sanc-
tuary which have weakened
its foundations in parts lead-
ing to fears of collapse in the
event of earth tremors.
Israeli settlers attacked
a mosque in the West Bank,
torching its library which
contained the Qur’an and Ha-
dith collections, and spraying
it with threatening Hebrew
graffiti. The attack on the
Mosque in the northern vil-
lage of Yasuf, near Nablus,
is believed to have been a re-
action to plans by the Israeli
government to halt illegal
settlement expansion in the
Occupied Palestinian Terri-
tories for ten months. Graf-
fiti sprayed on the floor read
“Price tag- greetings from
Effi” in reference to hardline
Jewish settlers’ policy of at-
tacking Palestinians and their
property in revenge for any
curbs on settlement expan-
sion. Other graffiti read “We
will burn you all.”
Clashes later erupted as
Palestinians threw stones at
Israeli soldiers who arrived
at the scene and attacked the
crowd with tear gas. Despite
reassurances by the Israeli
government that they will
spare no effort to catch the
guilty party, the culprits are
yet to be arrested.
Israeli Settlers Attack West Bank Mosque

4. Despite pressure from
the US and the UK to halt
settlement expansion, Israel
recently announced plans to
construct 900 housing units
in the Gilo settlement in oc-
cupied East Jerusalem.
The plan has faced a
backlash from officials in the
US with a White House state-
ment expressing ‘dismay’
at the decision. It was also
noted that “at a time when
we are working to re-launch
negotiations, these actions
make it more difficult for our
efforts to succeed.”
A statement issued by the
British consulate added that
“the Foreign Secretary has
been very clear that a cred-
ible deal involves Jerusalem
as a shared capital. Expand-
ing settlements on occupied
land in East Jerusalem makes
that deal much harder. So this
decision on Gilo is wrong and
we oppose it.”
Gilo, which is home to
40,000 Israeli settlers, is il-
legal under international law
as it is built on occupied land.
The constant expansion of
Israeli settlements on Pales-
tinian land is seen as a major
obstacle to achieving peace.
Palestinians are demanding
a complete freeze before re-
suming peace talks.
In response to this dip-
lomatic pressure, the Israeli
cabinet approved a ‘restric-
tion’ of West Bank settlement
construction for ten months.
Israeli Prime Minister Ben-
jamin Netanyahu claimed that
this move showed the world
that Israeli wants peace with
its Palestinian neighbours.
However, this statement has
been received with scepti-
cism as the agreement failed
to make any commitments to
halting settlement expansion
in occupied East Jerusalem
which is where the most ex-
pansion is taking place, re-
vealing the ‘restriction’ to be
nothing more than a smoke
screen. The agreement also
only applies to new construc-
tion permits and so would not
halt the 3,000 homes already
approved for construction.
Around 300,000 Israeli
settlers live in the West Bank
with a further 180,000 Is-
raeli’s occupying East Jeru-
salem. There are also plans
for a new settlements in East
Jerusalem given the name
Givat Yael, to be located on
land of the Palestinian village
al-Walajah, which will house
45,000 Israeli settlers.
In January 2009, an offi-
cial UN inquiry into the war
in Gaza was setup by the UN
Human Rights Council head-
ed by SouthAfrican judge and
war crimes prosecutor Rich-
ard Goldstone. Israel refused
to cooperate with the inquiry,
denying them access to Isra-
el’s military sources and also
entry into Gaza via the Israeli
border. Goldstone’s team fi-
nally entered Gaza via Egypt
in June 2009 for a week-long
fact finding mission. The UN
collected evidence on the 22-
day conflict named Operation
Cast Lead from witnesses,
victims and other human
rights organisations.
The report findings con-
firmed that Israel was in vio-
lation of international human-
itarian laws as it had applied
excessive and indiscriminate
use of force against the peo-
ple of the Gaza Strip. The
report also drew attention to
the ongoing Israeli blockade
of Gaza which had not only
exacerbated the conflict but
has also hindered post-war
reconstruction and recovery.
The siege was also deemed
an act of collective punish-
ment and illegal under the
Geneva Conventions.
Israel was dismissive of
the report stating that it was
inaccurate, unfairly critical
of Israel and ignored Hamas’
complicity. However, the in-
ternational community has
shown overwhelming support
for Judge Goldstone’s report
which specifies breaches of
international law by both
sides.
The report also brought
controversy to the Palestin-
ian Authority (PA) after Ab-
bas withdrew PA support for
a Goldstone resolution at the
UN Human Rights Council
in Geneva. Under Israeli and
US direction, Abbas had ef-
fectively attempted to damp-
en support for the report and
also delay the UN vote to
March 2010. Palestinians in
the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip demonstrated to show
their widespread anger at this
move. This was coupled with
an international outcry which
resulted in the PA to make a
U-turn in its policy.
In November 2009, the
report was backed by the
UN Human Rights Coun-
cil when 114 of the member
states voted in favour of it
in a 192-member General
Assembly. The US, Aus-
tralia, Canada, Germany, the
Netherlands, Italy and Israel
all voted against the report
whilst Britain abstained on
the Resolution.
The report was heavily
condemned by America and
the US House of Representa-
tives rejected the UN report
as “irredeemably biased.”
The US House voted 334 to
36 in favour of a resolution
calling on President Obama
to maintain his opposition to
the report.
Goldstone’s report has
faced significant US opposi-
tion as it recommends that
an independent investiga-
tion takes place into Israel
and Hamas’ conduct during
the war and that the cases be
referred to the International
Criminal Court in The Hague.
For Israeli leaders to be put
on trial at the ICC, a Resolu-
tion would need to be passed
at the UN Security Council
where the US holds a veto
power, making it unlikely.
It has been revealed that
Saudi Arabia has awarded a
multi-million dollar contract
to French company Alstom
for the construction of the
Haramain Express Railway,
to link the holy cities of
Makkah and Madina.
Alstom is currently in-
volved in building a rail serv-
ice in the occupied Palestini-
an territories to make it easier
for illegal Israeli settlers to
travel. The ‘Jerusalem Light
Rail’ project will link illegal
settlements in the West Bank
to East Jerusalem and so is in
breach of international law as
it will be built on stolen Pal-
estinian land.Alstom will also
be building the railway line
along the Apartheid wall and
Palestinians will be restricted
from using the services.
Palestinian supporters
have denounced the Saudi
government for awarding the
contract toAlstom as not only
does it send a signal of ap-
proval of Alstom’s actions in
Jerusalem, but it also means
that the company would prof-
it from Muslim pilgrims dur-
ing hajj.
The Arab League, of
which Saudi Arabia is a
member, has also previously
barred member states from
dealing with companies in-
volved in the construction
of the Jerusalem Light Rail
project. Boycott action has
also been launched by soli-
darity groups targeting Al-
stom.
A similar divestment
campaign has targeted Al-
stom’s partner company, Ve-
olia, which is also involved
in building Jerusalem’s light
rail. To date, the company is
believed to have lost an esti-
mated 7 billion dollars with
boycott successes including
the loss of a 4.5 billion dol-
lar contract in Stockholm, di-
vestment from a Dutch bank
as well as exclusion from
bidding for key contracts in
Tehran’s transportation serv-
ices.
Alstom and Veolia are
currently facing a lawsuit in
France for their involvement
in the Occupied Jerusalem
project brought by France-
Palestine Solidarité. Groups
are calling on supporters to
write to the Saudi Railway
Organisation, in opposition
to the contract with Alstom.
Protests have been organ-
ised in Berlin after it emerged
that Israel is seeking to obtain
two new warships, free of
charge or at least part-funded,
from Germany.AGerman de-
fence delegation is planned to
arrive in Israel by the end of
the year to finalize the details
of warships which each cost
over $300 million.
Germany previously sup-
plied three submarines dur-
ing 1999-2000 to Israel and
is currently building two sub-
marines which will be ready
in 2012. Palestinian support-
ers have argued that since the
German chancellor Angela
Merkel argued in front of the
US congress that “whoever
threatens Israel, threatens
us”, the country seems ready
to financially and militarily
support Israel despite the
long-standing accusations for
War Crimes.
AQSA NEWS
04 Global News
Israel Announces Settlement
Expansion Around Jerusalem
Goldstone Report Endorsed by
General Assembly
Action Against Saudi Deal
with Alstom
Germany to Supply Warships
to Israel
In a damning documenta-
ry for Channel 4’s Dispatch-
es, Peter Oborne exposed
questionable relationships
between Britain’s pro-Israel
lobby and both the Conserva-
tive and Labour parties.
According to the pro-
gramme, the Conservative
party has received £10m
over the last eight years from
Conservative Friends of Is-
rael (CFI) members and busi-
nesses and the CFI claimed
that 80% of Tory MPs are
members. Conservative
leader David Cameron was
the keynote speaker at the an-
nual CFI lunch in June 2009
where he failed to make any
mention of the recent attacks
on Gaza. It was also believed
that the CFI strengthened
Tory opposition to the Gold-
stone report.
It was revealed that La-
bour Friends of Israel took
more MPs on free trips to
Israel than any other group
and was also described as
“less unquestioning in its sup-
port of the Israeli government
than CFI.” The programme
also highlighted the pressure
put on various media organi-
sation by the pro-Israel lobby
such as the BBC’s Middle
East editor Jeremy Bowen
and Alan Rusbridger, editor
of the Guardian.
Jewish organisations
reacted angrily to the pro-
gramme, stating that it
had resulted in rising anti-
semitism and “an onslaught
of hateful comments on
the Internet.” The Board of
Deputies of British Jews also
issued a statement legitimat-
ing the role of the pro-Israel
lobby: “The link between the
UK Jewish community and
the State of Israel sits at the
core of our identity as British
Jews. Our support of institu-
tions that promote UK/Israel
relations is a consequence of
that.” Despite these rebuttals,
MPs have received many let-
ters of complaint.
Britain’s Pro-Israel Lobby
Exposed

5. By Shafik Mandhai
Mahmoud Abbas’ de-
cision not to stand for
re-election in January’s
Palestinian presidential poll
can be explained by one of
two possible motives. In one
scenario, the beleaguered
leader, unconvinced of
the Israeli and American
commitment to the peace
process throws in his towel
and acknowledges the futil-
ity of attempting to reach
the two-state solution. In the
other, the leader of the Fatah
old guard lays all his cards on
the table in one last gamble to
force the Israelis into starting
meaningful negotiations.
Abbas’ announcement
came days after Mrs. Clin-
ton’s generous outpouring of
praise for hardliner Binyamin
Netanyahu. She described
his offer of restraint in the
expansion of settlements as
“unprecedented” whilst at the
same time demanding that
the Palestinians drop their
demands for preconditions to
be fulfilled before commenc-
ing talks. Specifically, the
condition relating to a freeze
on settlement building.
Both the Israeli and Arab
press described her com-
ments as the straw that broke
the camels back where the
Fatahleadershipisconcerned.
However, to fully understand
Abbas’ move, we must look
beyond the sound bites and
look to the facts.
Fatah’s first general
assembly in twenty years was
held in August 2009. The
assembly highlighted the
divisions within Fatah
between the “leaders of the
Palestinian street” and the
“Oslo leadership with a
Zionist-American plan,” as
described by one attendee.
Members voiced frustration
at the organisations inabil-
ity to establish a Palestinian
state and reaffirmed its use
of “armed resistance” against
Israel.
It was clear Abbas’s
failure to bring significant
concessions for the Pales-
tinian people was causing
impatience and dissent
within his own camp. His
position was further strained
by his cataclysmic response
to the Goldstone report in
October, which led to the
resignation of senior PLO
official NabilAmr, the former
Palestinian ambassador to
Egypt.
The name of Fatah leader,
Marwan Barghouti, echoed
off the walls of the assembly
and will be more frequently
heard in light of Abbas’s
statement. The charismatic
leader of Fatah’s armed fac-
tion is currently imprisoned
in Israel but his popularity
grows stronger and the pros-
pect of him becoming the
next Fatah leader could hold
the key to explaining Abbas’
decision. The possibility of
a President Barghouti is one
the Israelis are not willing to
entertain.
Abbas’s message thus
becomes clear; he is the only
man Israel and the Ameri-
cans can talk to and to con-
tinue talking they will have to
give him at least a bite of the
proverbial carrot. The
Americans and French have
already voiced their con-
cerns about his resignation,
though none have so far of-
fered to match their worries
with significant concessions.
It even appears that there
are plenty in the Israeli ad-
ministration willing to call
Abbas’sbluff. Israel’sForeign
Minister, ultranationalist Av-
igdor Lieberman, described
Abbas’s decision as a “threat”
and advised others not to get
“excited about it”.
Either way Abbas has
placed the ball firmly in the
Israeli court and with the
Israelis unwilling to make any
compromises and the Ameri-
cans reluctant to put pressure
on the Israelis, it seems likely
that Obama’s grand ambi-
tions for peace in the region
will die before talks even
begin.
Britain’s Secretary of
State for International Devel-
opment, Douglas Alexander
MP, stated that access to Gaza
could be granted without
compromising Israel’s secu-
rity and that the government
would continue to “press
hard for improved access at
the highest levels.”
This view was expressed
at the annual reception of the
Britain-Palestine All-Party
Parliamentary Group, an or-
ganisation which works with
three main political parties to
foster better understanding
between Palestine and Brit-
ain as well as promoting a
just and durable peace in the
Middle East.
Mr Alexander, who vis-
ited the Gaza Strip in March
2009 and was truly horrified
by the scale of destruction,
expressed hope for a Pales-
tinian state which is “pros-
perous, peaceful and demo-
cratic”. He also emphasised
Britain’s commitment to sup-
port Palestinians through £30
million assistance this year in
direct budget support across
the occupied Palestinian ter-
ritories, as well $100 million
over 5 years to the United
Nations Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA).
The Liberal Democrat
Shadow Foreign Secretary,
Ed Davey MP, also recalled
his visit to Gaza in Febru-
ary, commenting that to say it
was “one of the most harrow-
ing visits” he had ever made
would be an understatement.
David Lidington MP, stated
that the Conservative party
remained “utterly committed
to seeing the dream of Pales-
tinian statehood fulfilled.”
On the issue of the Gold-
stone report, Richard Burden
MP, the Chair of the Britain-
Palestine All Party Parlia-
mentary Group called for
accountability on both sides,
but said that Israel was wrong
“first of all, to refuse to coop-
erate and then to rubbish the
report as one-sided.”
Commentingontheevent,
the director of the Council for
Arab British Understanding
Chris Doyle, said that “the
presence of so many senior
politicians from all parties
was a strong show of support
and solidarity with the plight
of the Palestinian people,
and that there remained at
the heart of British politics a
strong commitment to find a
solution to this conflict.”
The Dutch Foreign Min-
ister has agreed to launch an
enquiry into cosmetic prod-
ucts from Israeli firm Ahava,
after concerns were raised
that products were falsely
labelled as ‘Made in Israel’
although the company has
laboratories in the Mitzpe
Shalem settlement in the
West Bank.
This would mean that
Ahava products were being
produced in contravention
of the Geneva Convention
which forbids an Occupy-
ing Power from making use
of the Occupied Territory’s
natural resources. Van Bom-
mel- who put the issue on the
parliamentary agenda- said
that beyond denying Ahava
products a tax exemption,
these products should be alto-
gether banned from the Dutch
market and that of other Eu-
ropean countries.
In an unprecedented
move, the British govern-
ment has issued new guide-
lines for food labelling to
enable consumers to distin-
guish between produce from
the Palestinian occupied ter-
ritories and those from Israeli
settlements in the West Bank.
This move is seen as part of
increasing diplomatic pres-
sure on Israel with regards to
its illegal settlements in the
Palestinian territories.
The guidelines issued by
the Department for the En-
vironment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Defra) are voluntary.
Previously, food labelling
only specified Israel or the
West Bank as its source but
under new recommendations
this should change to ‘Pales-
tinian produce’or ‘Israeli set-
tlement produce’.
The policy change comes
after wide campaigning un-
der the banner of the boycott,
divestment and sanctions
movement (BDS) targeting
those selling products from
the Israeli settlements. These
are either labelled as pro-
duce of Israel and exported
using preferential EU trade
tariffs; or as produce of the
West Bank misleading many
people who presume they are
from a Palestinian source.
Defra reminded traders
that labelling products from
the occupied Palestinian terri-
tories as a ‘produce of Israel’
would be committing an of-
fence. Various supermarkets,
such as Waitrose and Tesco,
have been targeted by Pales-
tinian supporters as they sell
herbs labelled as produce of
the West Bank although they
are grown in the Israeli settle-
ments.
Israeli officials said they
were “extremely disappoint-
ed” with the new guidelines,
adding that it simply played
into the hands of those who
sought a boycott of Israeli
goods. Although the British
government insisted that the
guidelines opposed a boy-
cott of Israeli goods, they did
acknowledge that the settle-
ments remained a major ob-
stacle to peace.
TUC and Oxfam have
demonstrated their support
stating that consumers have
the right to know the origins
of products so that they can
make an informed decision on
whether to buy it or not. Bar-
bara Stocking, Oxfam’s chief
executive was quoted in The
Guardian as saying “Trade
with Israeli settlements –
which are illegal under inter-
national law – contributes to
their economic viability and
serves to legitimise them. It
is also clear from our devel-
opment work in West Bank
communities that settlements
have led to the denial of
rights and create poverty for
many Palestinians.”
Many organisations
working in solidarity with the
Palestinians have welcomed
the news, however, they also
want to see greater steps
taken by the government in-
cluding a complete ban on
products from illegal Israeli
settlements and prosecution
of Israeli companies who are
falsely labelling their prod-
ucts.
AQSA NEWS
05
Mahmoud Abbas and the Illusion
of Peace Talks
Alexander Douglas: ‘Access for
Gaza without Compromising
Israeli Security Possible’
Holland to Investigate Origins of
Ahava Products
Despite the growing boy-
cott movement and effort to
bring Israel in line with trade
laws, US president Obama
has reportedly eliminated a
tariff on Israeli dairy products
making it easier and cheaper
for them to enter the US. The
policy change has been re-
ceived with anger as it failed
to protect the local produc-
tion of dairy in the US which
is already at crisis point due
to the recession.
It was reported by a US
based campaign group ‘If
Americans Knew’ that the
Council for the National
Interest President, Eugene
Bird, said: “Once again we
see Israel receiving special
treatment, at a cost to Ameri-
cans...” and he also pointed
out that for decades Israeli
policies have prevented Pal-
estinian exports, creating fi-
nancial hardship for millions
of Palestinians.
Obama Scraps Tariff on
Israeli goods
The Palestine Return
Centre, an independent or-
ganization which focuses on
the right of return of Palestin-
ian refugees, met with Ivan
Lewis, the Minister of State
at the Foreign and Common-
wealth office for Middle East
and North Africa, on Thurs-
day 12 November 2009.
The Palestinian delega-
tion spoke to Mr Lewis for
over two hours, discussing
the bleak situation in Pales-
tine and the right of return,
especially in light of the
plight of Palestinian refugees
from Iraq who are stranded
on the borders between Iraq
and Syria and are living in
terrible conditions. Several
practical initiatives were of-
fered by the delegation and
Mr Lewis spoke of his desire
to maintain a strong rela-
tionship with the Palestinian
community.
Palestine Return Centre meets
British Minister of State
UK to Label Food as
Israeli Settlement Produce

6. AQSA NEWS
06 Campaigns Update
Sussex University Boycott Israeli Goods
Students at the University
of Sussex have become the
first in the UK to implement
a comprehensive boycott of
Israeli goods.
In a campus-wide refer-
endum held by the University
of Sussex Students’ Union
(USSU), 56% of students
voted in favour of the boy-
cott. The campaign follows
the Palestinian call for Boy-
cott, Divestment and Sanc-
tions against Israel, until the
Israeli state respects interna-
tional law and ends the occu-
pation of Palestine.
Tom Wills, USSU Presi-
dent, said: “Israel has broken
more UN resolutions than any
other state. No other Western-
backed democracy has com-
mitted such egregious viola-
tions of international law, but
the international community
has failed to hold Israel to ac-
count.
“Sussex was one of the
first universities to boycott
South Africa during apart-
heid, and we hope that this
will help kickstart an interna-
tional movement on a similar
scale to put pressure on Israel
to end its oppression of the
Palestinian people.”
Wills added: “We call on
students at other universities
to table boycott motions in
their own unions.”
The December ‘2008-
January ‘2009 Israeli attack
on Gaza triggered a resur-
gence in student activism in
the UK, with a wave of sit-
in protests at universities in-
cluding Sussex. The student
boycott also echoes a grow-
ing boycott movement with
the Trade Union Congress
(TUC) backing a boycott of
Israeli settlement goods in
September 2009.
Image courtesy of photogra-
phywithoutborders.org
By Zainab Rahim
Students at King’s Col-
lege London (KCL) have
reached the end of their
ground-breaking project to
send their university’s surplus
equipment to Gaza. Over 50
students took part in the col-
lecting, packing and bubble-
wrapping of books and lab
equipment to be sent to the
University of Gaza with the
Viva Palestina convoy in De-
cember 2009.
The project follows a
widespread university cam-
paign that began in January
2009 to protest against the
illegal war in Gaza and raise
awareness of the Palestin-
ian situation. President of the
newly-established student so-
ciety KCL Action Palestine,
Nour Sacranie, said “We are
delighted to have come so far,
and have shown that the stand
for justice has to be proactive.
We hope students all across
the UK will work together to
speak out when human rights
have been violated all over
the world.”
Also amongst the agreed
demands were the provision
of five fully-funded scholar-
ships to Palestinian students
and the establishment of
formal links between King’s
College London and educa-
tional institutions affected by
the crisis in Gaza. Due to the
ongoing siege, the greatest
challenge now being faced is
transportation, but students
are determined to carry the
project through right to the
very end.
With thanks to the School of
Biomedical & Health Sci-
ences for their extraordinary
efforts. And thanks to Fisher
Scientific UK and VWR In-
ternational Limited for the
donations of packaging ma-
terials.
London Students Support Gaza Boycott Against Volvo
The Volvo car manufac-
turing group has come under
threat of boycott from Pal-
estine solidarity activists for
supplying armoured buses
to Israel for use by settlers in
the Occupied Palestinian Ter-
ritories.
Volvo Buses, a branch of
Volvo Group, are co-owners
of Mervakim Ltd, an Israeli
company specialising in
transport technology. Mer-
vakim Ltd have designed and
constructed the Mars Defend-
er armoured bus which mobi-
lise Israeli settlers throughout
the occupied territories. Pro-
motional videos by Mervakin
Ltd show the Mars Defender
driven through the West Bank
and other occupied territories,
as well as showing Israeli de-
fence soldiers boarding these
buses.
Providing this vehicle,
with knowledge of its pur-
pose, violates Article 49 of
the Fourth Geneva Conven-
tion, which clearly states that
an Occupying Power is not
allowed to deport or trans-
fer parts of its own civilian
population into the territory
it occupies. It also breaches
the Volvo Code of Conduct,
which claims to endorse hu-
man rights.
Volvo has previously been
targeted by pro-Palestinian
campaigners due to their
involvement in supplying
equipment used to demolish
Palestinian homes and also
constructing Israel’s Apart-
heid Wall, which has been
declared illegal by the Inter-
national Court of Justice.
Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) activists
from 12 different organiza-
tions in the UK, Ireland, Nor-
way and France gathered in
Northumberland in October
2009 to develop a more ef-
fective European BDS pro-
gramme against Israel. The
‘Boycott Israel Network’
(BIN) was established to
bring together the groups and
enable their work to continue
and expand.
Discussions covered boy-
cott activities at supermar-
kets, collaborative projects,
beginning with a nationwide
week of action that would fo-
cus on specific retail stores as
well as complicit firms such
as Veolia, Eden Springs, Aha-
va and Agrexco. It was also
highlighted that further atten-
tion and action was needed
against the arms trade sup-
plying Israel.
Scottish PSC reported
on the Jewish national Fund
(JNF), a registered charity in
the UK, and its role in the es-
tablishment and maintenance
of the racist state of Israel.
The meeting demon-
strated the intention of a
wide range of active and ac-
complished groups to work
together to end the military
occupation and apartheid in
Palestine.
A full report of the meet-
ing by David Pegg and Mon-
ica Wusteman is available at
www.bricup.org.uk.
Boycott Israel Network Established
Campaign Against Military
Manufacturer Linked to Israel
Activists in Manchester
have launched a campaign
against local military com-
ponent manufacturer Brimar,
due to concerns that it pro-
duces vital components for
weapons used to commit war
crimes in conflict zones such
as Gaza, Iraq and Afghani-
stan.
The company special-
izes in display screens and
viewing equipment found in
military aircraft such as the
AH-64 Apache Helicopter,
battle tanks and other ar-
moured vehicles. Anna Free-
man, a spokesperson for the
‘Target Brimar’ campaign
said: “Brimar isn’t making
generic nuts or bolts. This
viewing equipment is what
allows tank gunners and heli-
copter personnel to actually
aim and fire their equipment.
RAF recruitment advertise-
ments may talk about preci-
sion strikes which don’t kill
any civilians, but how many
times have we heard about
wedding parties and fleeing
villagers being wiped out?
“There are reports that an
Apache helicopter was used
by the Israelis during the in-
vasion of Gaza earlier this
year to kill three paramedics
and a twelve-year-old boy,
who was showing them where
wounded people were.”
During the 2006 war in
Lebanon, Brimar directors
admitted that the company
supplied components used
in Apache attack helicopters
sold to the Israeli military.
Local activists are continuing
with their campaigns.

7. AQSA NEWS
Comments 07
I am an anti-Zionist Jew.
I’ve been a Jew all my life
although I was not raised
with a Jewish education.
In my late 40s, I began to
study. I read, I joined a syn-
agogue, I helped start a Tal-
mud study group. I was and
am drawn to the essential
command, attributed to the
great Rabbi Hillel, that our
task as Jews is essentially to
“not do to others that which
is hateful to you.”
I did not know much
about Israel until I became
more engaged as a religious
Jew. The organized Jewish
community teaches us that
the Israeli narrative is the
Jewish narrative. Support
for Israel, the story goes, is
synonymous with being a
good Jew.
Now, some ten years
and four trips to Israel/Pal-
estine later, I invite you, to
hear why I care more about
Hillel’s commandment than
I do about a state.
With my partner who
is also Jewish, I have just
returned from 15 days in
Palestine. We frequently
walked the streets of Ram-
allah, stopping for home-
made ice cream at Balad-
na’s, shopping for shoes
and handmade embroidery.
We travelled north to Na-
blus and Tulkarem to visit
family members and share
succulent meals that left us
bursting.
We were privileged to
see again what we have
seen before — how rich
and full and engaging life
in Palestine can be, how
the people here are like
people everywhere, at-
tempting to live with some
degree of happiness.
We also bore witness, as
we do on each trip, to en-
croaching apartheid.
As we drove deep in the
West Bank along the road
snaking north to Nablus
from Ramallah, we could
look up and see virtually
every hillside topped by a
Jewish settlement. The om-
nipresence of these smaller
settlements on the road to
Nablus is new since our last
trip in 2005; a look at the
latest UN map shows the
Palestinian landscape dot-
ted with them like an x-ray
showing a virulent, spread-
ing cancer.
The massively large
ones, housing hundreds of
thousands of Jewish set-
tlers, are designed to pen-
etrate deep into the West
Bank. Each functions to di-
vide Palestine into separate
cantons making a contigu-
ous state impossible. The
newer smaller ones, act like
beachheads, strategically
positioned to continue the
slow but sure process of Is-
raeli land grab.
I think about the ubiqui-
tous story told in the Jewish
community, crafted careful-
ly by the ideology makers,
painting Israel victim to a
hostile Arab population that
wants nothing more than to
drive us into the sea. I don’t
know whether to laugh or
cry at the irony of such a
story, for it’s not us, the
Jews, who are being driven
out. It’s us, the Jews, it’s Is-
rael, the state designed for
us the Jews, that is driving
Palestinian people off their
land and into exile.
Iwanttoinvitethem,and
any of you who have never
been, to come and live, as I
did, for two weeks in Oc-
cupied Palestine. Come
with me to the checkpoints,
where you will be herded
into metal troughs so nar-
row you can’t turn around,
through turnstiles designed
specifically to be too small
for the average human
body, yelled at by young
18, 19, 20 year olds whose
contempt and disregard for
those they control reeks off
their skin like sweat.
Come and hear the sto-
ries, told at every gathering
of Palestinians, of the lat-
est injustice endured by a
family member, a friend, at
the hands of an Israeli sol-
dier or settler. Come with
me and talk to the family
whose home, built on their
own land, was demolished
for lack of a permit that
Israel will not give. Come
meet the grieving father
and mother whose young
boy was killed when Israeli
tanks parading through the
town sprayed bullets send-
ing one through their gate
and into their son’s back.
These people, and mil-
lions like them, are not a se-
curity risk of any kind; their
crime is to be Palestinian.
What I’m saying to
you, although I’m not
supposed to say it, is that
Zionism is indeed racism
– the supremacy of one
race over another for the
benefit of the first.
The Jewish community
is not in danger from Pal-
estinians or Arab nations.
We are in danger because
we interpret “never again”
to mean never again for us
when we should mean for
anyone and everyone. Our
survival does not depend on
a state that violates our fun-
damental values; our sur-
vival depends on honouring
those values, the ones that
instruct us “not to do to oth-
ers that which is hateful to
you.”
Tema Okun is active in Mid-
dle East peace and justice,
and works with the Israeli
Committee Against House
Demolitions-USA.
Britain’s decision to
abstain at the UN Gen-
eral Assembly vote on the
Goldstone Report came as
no surprise to anyone. Un-
der Tony Blair, the British
government had shifted to
an explicitly pro-Israel po-
sition and this has contin-
ued under Gordon Brown,
seemingly undeterred by
the horrors of Israel’s mas-
sacre in the Gaza Strip last
winter.
But there is a lesser
known example that high-
lights the depth of the La-
bour government’s complic-
ity in Palestinians’ plight
and its commitment to the
US-Israeli vision of a Pal-
estinian state: Britain has
been funding the Palestin-
ian Authority’s (PA) West
Bank security forces, an
anti-government paramili-
tary force.
According to an arti-
cle in the Daily Mail, £20
million a year of tax pay-
ers’ money goes to forces
who torture Palestinians
under an authority that
routinely ignores judges’
orders to release political
detainees. Anyone that is
seen as a political rival to
Fatah could be targeted.
Political Science profes-
sor Raid Neuerat of Nablus
University was handcuffed
at gunpoint in front of his
wife and four children. A
hood was put over his head
and he was beaten for four
hours. After this, unable
to see or move his legs, he
was then tortured by the
forces for almost a week.
His crime was to describe
the Hamas takeover of Gaza
as a takeover rather than a
‘coup’. Luckily for him he
survived to tell the tale, but
others have been less fortu-
nate and have been killed by
the security forces.
Another example ex-
posed in the Daily Mail arti-
cle is that of Amar al-Masri,
who was detained by the PA
forces along with his wife,
for winning a seat on the
Nablus Council represent-
ing a ‘Citizens coalition’.
He was repeatedly tortured.
Al-Masri asked: “Britain is
a democratic country. Why
are you supporting these
things?”
These PA paramilitary
forces, trained in Jordan
and under the control of US
General Keith Dayton, were
initially deployed as a re-
sponse to the Hamas takeo-
ver of the Gaza Strip. After
winning the 2006 elections,
Hamas offered to form a
coalition government with
Fatah who rejected the deal,
preferring to collaborate
with the occupation forces
in the hope of overturning
the result.
Backed by the EU,
the US-Israeli plan was
to punish the Palestinians
by blocking economic aid,
militarily overthrowing
Hamas and then use the
forces to control Gaza.
When Hamas pre-empted
the coup and took over, the
US simply transferred the
plan to the West Bank.
The PA security forces
follow a long-standing im-
perial tradition of hiring lo-
cal mercenaries to suppress
the population, thus reduc-
ing the chances of a unified
and vengeful response that
would be likely if it were Is-
raeli forces carrying out the
repression. Note the lack of
protest in the West Bank as
Israel carried out its mur-
derous assault on Gaza – it
was not that the West Bank
Palestinians chose not to
protest; they were violently
prevented from doing so by
the PA forces as reported
in the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz.
The PA forces under-
mine Palestine’s democracy
and prop up the quisling
leadership of the unelected
Mahmoud Abbas and Salam
Fayyad. And this is paid for
by the British taxpayers. At
the Labour party conference
Foreign Secretary David
Miliband eluded to the fact
that Britain was sponsoring
these forces.
The colonial project
carries on in Palestine una-
bated. Here in the UK, the
hundreds of thousands of
outraged citizens who were
on the streets last winter
demanding an end to the
killing, are being led by a
government that refuses to
listen to these voices of de-
cency.
Tom Charles is a London-
based activist for justice in
Palestine.
Britain’s War on Palestinian Democracy
Tom Charles
A Jewish State, or Jewish Values?
Tema Okun
“A look at the latest UN map shows the Palestinian landscape dotted with settlements like an x-ray
showing a virulent, spreading cancer”
“The PA forces undermine Palestine’s democracy and prop up the quisling leadership of the unelected
Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad. And this is paid for by the British taxpayers. At the Labour party
conference Foreign Secretary David Miliband eluded to the fact that Britain was sponsoring these forces.”

8. AQSA NEWS
“Truly, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they
change what is in themselves.” (Quran 13:11)
One year after the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip which killed over 1,400 people, the situa-
tion in the besieged enclave remains dire. Tens of thousands of Gazans are now living through a
freezing winter in tents or partially destroyed homes. Images of the devastation that was visited
on Gaza by Israel last winter remain fresh in our minds, and as the siege continues, the popula-
tion is unable to recover.
The misery that Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people has not been forgotten and through-
out the world, we marked the one year anniversary of the war with silent vigils in solidarity with
the people of Gaza.
While many may feel a sense of hopelessness from the political impotency of our governments
where Israel is concerned, there is a lot that we can do to assist the Palestinians. Friends of Al
Aqsa has been encouraging many campaigns which draw attention to the ongoing suffering and
is also working hard to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement which tackles
the Israeli occupation.
Various Friends of Al Aqsa branches campaigned against supermarkets selling produce from
Israel and particularly those from settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Echoing
the South African boycott to end apartheid, this is intended to send a clear message not only
to Israel but also to the international community that Israel’s very own apartheid against the
Palestinians will not be tolerated.
The future looks bleak for the Palestinians. Israel’s willingness to breach provisions of interna-
tional law that are intended to protect occupied people leaves little hope for peace. Our job as
part of the international solidarity movement remains crucial in order to ensure the Palestinian
people and their struggle for freedom and security is not forgotten. It is up to us to make Israel
culpable for the crimes it commits.
Ismail Patel
Support for Friends of Al Aqsa is increasing
across the UK. In recent months branches in
Glasgow, Bristol, Cardiff, Bradford and Lon-
don have been set up or expanded. Many are
active in raising awareness of the situation in
Palestine through campaigns, distributing fly-
ers, lobbying and fundraising events.
Anyone interested in joining any of these
branches or even setting up a branch in their
area should contact head office.
Glasgow
The Glasgow branch has been working hard
to raise the profile of the Palestinian issue,
and they have even taken their message to
the highest peak in Britain! A fundraising
expedition took them to the top of Ben Ne-
vis. The climb was a gruelling task and they
carried up a “Free Palestine” banner in order
to make their mission clear. One participant
commented:
“Climbing the mountain was very difficult
and challenging. On the mountain we faced
gale force winds, -10 degrees Celsius temper-
atures, zero visibility due to low cloud cover
and snow. However with the blessing and help
of Allah (SWT) we made it and came back
alive and in one piece.”
Money raised through this fundraising event
has gone towards printing leaflets to support
the boycott of Israeli products in supermar-
kets.
The Friends of Al-Aqsa Glasgow Branch
(seen here) organised a successful exhibition
titled ‘GAZA NOW’ which was displayed in
Glasgow Central Mosque for a week com-
mencing 11 December 2009.
Gaza Now Exhibition
In December, Friends of Al Aqsa’s Glasgow
branch helped organise the successful launch
of an exhibition commemorating the anniver-
sary of the war and siege on Gaza. Speaking at
the event the chair and founder of FoA, Ismail
Patel, remarked that it was well received and
would hopefully encourage more supporters
to join the movement for peace in Palestine.
Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister for
Scotland, who was at the event to show her
solidarity with the people of Gaza remarked
that “There are still too few voices in the inter-
national community that are prepared to stand
up and speak out for the people of Gaza and
that is why it’s so important that people like
us, not just in Scotland but all over the world,
continue to speak up and speak out.”
Walsall
The Friends of Al Aqsa football team known
as ‘Aqsa United’ entered the 5-a-side Football
Tournament at Walsall in aid of the charity
campaign ‘Everyman- Stamp out Male Can-
cer’. Although they did not win the competi-
tion, it was the first time ‘Aqsa United’ had
entered a tournament and they hope to enter
many more in future.
If you are based in Walsall and would like to
join the ‘Aqsa United’ football team, please
contact walsall@aqsa.org.uk for more details.
Dewsbury and Batley
The Dewsbury and Batley branch is one of
the newest groups to join Friends of Al Aqsa.
The branch is focussing on distributing the
Friends of Al-Aqsa quarterly newspaper and
leaflets.
The members successfully co-ordinated a
youth awareness programme in Ramadan to
educated the youth on the current plight of the
Palestinians and the significance and impor-
tance of Masjid Al-Aqsa for Muslims.
The branch has attracted hard working and
committed individuals including one member
called Imran who joined the Viva Palestina
convoy for Gaza. He is taking with him an
ambulance, which he purchased, repaired and
restored.
Update from Friends of
Al-Aqsa Branches
Boycott Campaign in the North
Targets Morrisons
The Friends of Al Aqsa
Bradford Branch and United-
4Palestine joined with mem-
bers of Halifax Friends of
Palestine, York Student Pal-
estine Society, the Bradford,
Leeds and York branches of
PSC and Viva Palestina to
mount a 2 hour vigil opposite
Morrison’s headquarters dur-
ing the Boycott Israel Net-
work week of action against
supermarkets.
A small delegation of the
protesters met with the Head
of Corporate Social Respon-
sibility, Steve Butts who
had previously resisted all
requests for a meeting with
PSC activists. The protest-
ers informed them that trade
with the settlements was il-
legal and called for them to
follow the example of com-
petitors like the Cooperative,
who had stopped selling set-
tlement goods. Mr Butts was
also informed that they were
in breach of their own ethi-
cal trading policy by dealing
with suppliers who use child
labour and also racially dis-
criminate against Palestinian
workers.
Morrison’s stated that
its position was to provide
customer choice with goods
sourced from a wide variety
of countries, and it is guided
by government regulation
on labelling and other issues
related to the trade. They did
however show interest in the
issue of the mistreatment
of Palestinian workers and
agreed, in principle, to meet
with the protesters to discuss
this matter further. A major
demonstration was also held
outside Morrisons’ head of-
fice in Bradford in the same
week.
08 Message from Friends of Al-Aqsa
‘Israeli Apartheid’ Book Launch
Friends of Al Aqsa host-
ed an event in October with
writer and journalist Ben
White, to promote his first
book ‘Israeli Apartheid: A
Beginner’s Guide’. The book
was well received by those
who attended the event and
Shamiul Joarder of Friends
of Al Aqsa added: “I think the
book is an important tool to
give people the information
they need to go into the com-
munity and talk about what
crimes are being committed
in Palestine by Israel.” The
book has also been endorsed
by the likes of Desmond Tutu
and Ilan Pappe. Ben has been
visiting Palestine/Israel since
2003 and his articles ap-
pear in publications like the
Guardian Online’s ‘Comment
is free’, the New Statesman,
and Electronic Intifada.
Boycott Israeli Dates Success
During Ramadan 2009,
Friends of Al-Aqsa launched
a national Boycott Israeli
Dates campaign which was
a tremendous success. Dur-
ing previous years, the Eu-
ropean markets were flooded
with Israeli dates during Ra-
madan and many consumers
unknowingly purchased them
in order to break their fasts
with at Iftar time. Friends of
Al-Aqsa extended its boycott
campaign to include dates in
order to tackle this.
The campaign was a suc-
cess and across the country
thousands of people boy-
cotted Israeli dates, which
also led to an increase in the
number of Palestinian pro-
duced dates which were sold
by the fair trade organisa-
tion Zaytoun. The campaign
included adverts on the TV,
radio and on the internet.
The success of the boycott
campaign reflects growing
awareness in Europe about
the situation in Palestine and
an unwillingness of people to
support the Israeli state finan-
cially while the occupation
continues. Boycotting Israeli
produce such as dates ensures
that the consumers’ money
does not end up propping up
the occupation of Palestinian
lands.
Members of the Glasgow Branch at the summit of Mount Ben Nevis.

9. AQSA NEWS
09
MERCHANDISE
In 1993, the U.S. Congress Office of
Technology Assessment WMD prolifera-
tion assessment recorded Israel as a
country generally reported as having an unde-
clared offensive biological warfare program.Israel’s repeated use of highly toxic
unknown chemicals against Palestinian
civilians has never come under intense
scrutiny. These attacks will no doubt
continue until international pressure and
condemnation force Israel to stop this torture.
hyperventilation, irritation and sweating.”It was concluded that the protestors had
most likely been attacked using a nerve gas.Israeli Peace movement Gush Shalom
reported following the incident:
“What the army used here yesterday was not
tear gas. We know what tear gas is, what
it feels like. That was something totally
different... Black smoke came out.
Anyone who breathed it lost consciousness
immediately, more than a hundred people
fell. They remained unconscious for nearly 24
hours... They had high fever and their mus-
cles became rigid. Some needed urgent blood
transfusion. Now, is this a way of dispersing
a demonstration, or is it chemical warfare?”There have been at least 10 separate
incidences since 2001 where Israel
used suspicious gas against Palestinian
civilians, causing horrific suffering. Experts
who have reviewed witness testimonies
have concluded that Israel used nerve gas.Biological Weapons
Israel is not a signatory to the Biological
Weapons Convention. However, it is assumed
that the Israel Institute for Biological Re-
search in Ness Ziona develops vaccines and
antidotes for chemical and biological warfare.
Published by Friends Of Al-Aqsa
PO BOX 5127, Leicester, LE2 OWU
Tel: 0116 212 5441 / 07711 823 524
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..............................................................................................Postcode:..................................
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I enclose a cheque for £...............
(make all cheques payable to ‘Friends of Al-Aqsa’)
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Please add 10% of the total cost to cover postage expenses
Leaflets
A set of 20 information leaflets including the following:
Books
Free Qty:.......
Complete set of information leaflets on Palestine Issues
Forty Ahadith
Concerning Masjid Al-Aqsa Free Qty:.......
Dome of the Rock Free Qty:.......
Palestine Beginner’s Guide £9.95 Qty:.......
Madina to Jerusalem £5.95 Qty:.......
A History of Palestinian Resistance £5.95 Qty:.......
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OFFER: All 4 books for £20.00 Qty:.......
The USA
& ISRAELSustaining an Illegal Occupation
should suspend all aid until Israel ends itsoccupation of Arab land Israel seized in1967.”
In 2005, Israel unashamedly asked theU.S. for $2.2 billion in special aid for itsdisengagement plan. Most of this moneywould go towards compensation forextremist settlers who have caused havoc inthe Gaza Strip. Ironically, no such paymentwas ever offered to the Palestinians whosehomes were demolished to create thesettlements initially.
U.S. aid to Israel is funding the creation of ahostile environment for the U.S. in the MiddleEast, perpetuating tensions, maintainingan illegal occupation, and helping Israelto defy all U.N. resolutions, create terroristsand threaten U.S. oil supplies.Israel’s GNP is higher than the combinedGNP of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, theWest Bank and Gaza. With a per capitaincome of about $14,000, Israel ranks asthe sixteenth wealthiest country in theworld; Israelis enjoy a higher per capitaincome than oil-rich Saudi Arabia and areonly slightly less well-off than most WesternEuropean countries.
Most Americans are not aware of howtheir taxes are being used to support Israel,and they have a moral responsibility to beaware.
An additional fact is that most of this aidviolates American laws. The Arms ExportControl Act stipulates that US-suppliedweapons be used only for “legitimate self-defense.” Israeli self-defence argumentsare preposterous given the lack of aPalestinian military.
Israel is now probably the most militarizedsociety in the world.
The West Bank and Gaza have becomegiant concentration camps. None of thiscould have occurred without U.S. support.Republican Congressman Paul Findleyonce said: “For 35 years, not a word hasbeen expressed …in either chamberof Congress that deserves to be calleddebate on Middle East policy… On CapitolHill, criticism of Israel, even in privateconversation, is all but forbidden, treated asdownright unpatriotic, if not anti-Semitic…Israel is a scofflaw nation and should betreated as such. Instead of helping Sharonintensify Palestinian misery, our president
Published by Friends Of Al-AqsaPO BOX 5127, Leicester, LE2 OWUTel: 0116 212 5441 / 07711 823 524Web: www.aqsa.org.uk - Email: info@aqsa.org
Many minors have reported abuse while in
custody, including being forced to stand in
extremely difficult positions with their hands
cuffed, their eyes blindfolded and with out
being allowed to use bathrooms, nor eat or
drink for long hours.
As Israel is spinning a fabricated story of peace
in the Occupied Territories, Palestinians are
in need now more than ever of international
protection and the implementation of the Third
and Fourth Geneva Conventions.
Israel has also used its illegal settlements
as detention centres in clear violation of
International Law which demands that
detention centres be marked, known and well
reported.
Another method employed during the intifada
was the arrest and detention of political
leaders, where they were lucky enough not
to be assassinated. This method was intended
to break down the structure of the Palestinian
resistance movement.
Israel has managed to avoid international
pressure for its lack of compliance with
international laws intended to protect
prisoners by accusing them of being
“terrorists”, which following the events
of 9/11 ensures few questions are raised
about applying international human rights
conventions. This has made the Palestinian
struggle for freedom confused in the minds
of many who have little knowledge of the
conflict.
Children
According to Israeli military regulations, a child
16 or above is considered an adult, contrary
to the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s
defined age of 18. Thus, many minors face
harsh adult prisons. Moreover, Palestinian
children may be charged and sentenced in
military courts when they are as young as age
12, due to the non-existence of juvenile courts.
Over 2,000 children were arrested during the
Al-Aqsa Intifada, of whom some 400 still remain
imprisoned. The crime of most of these children
was throwing stones at Israeli armoured
personnel carriers, which carries a sentence of
between 6 months and a year.
Published by Friends Of Al-Aqsa
PO BOX 5127, Leicester, LE2 OWU
Tel: 0116 212 5441 / 07711 823 524
Web: www.aqsa.org.uk - Email: info@aqsa.org
Destruction/Appropriation
of Property
Since 1967, Israel has continued to commit a
momentous crime against the Palestinians by
stealingmuchoftheirterritoryandbuildingset-
tlementsonit.Thisisillegalunderinternational
law, and to facilitate the settlements, all Pales-
tinianhomesontheseizedlandaredemolished.
Hundreds of other Palestinian homes
have also been demolished by
Israel leaving many thousands homeless.
Settlement building on occupied land and
the transfer of occupier civilians to the
occupied territories is illegal, yet Israel
has about 500,000 of its civilians living in
the occupied Palestinian territories. The
number of settlers continues to grow
unabated despite international condemnation.
Israel’s Apartheid wall continues to be built
within the West Bank annexing large chunks
of it to Israel. This is widely thought to
be a deliberate policy by Israel to create
new facts on the ground and preclude the
establishment of a Palestinian state on these
lands. Thus, Palestinians will be permanently
deprivedofyetmoreoftheirhistorichomeland.
These checkpoints make day to day life a
misery for Palestinians, and are also a form
of collective punishment which is unlawful
under article 33 of the Geneva Convention IV.
Unlawful Deportation/Transfer
Israel has transferred some Palestinian
civilians between Gaza and the West Bank as a
formofpunishment.Thesecivilianshavenoway
to get back to their homes as the two territo-
ries are completely separated from each other.
Unlawful Confinement
Israel uses a policy of ‘Administrative Arrests’
whereby it arrests and imprisons Palestinian
civilians with no evidence and on no charge.
These prisoners are denied the right to a fair
trial, as there is no crime, and face terms
of 6 months imprisonment which are often
renewedresultinginlongtermsofconfinement.
Israel also confines children in adult
prisons in breach of internation-
al law. These children face abuse and
torture at the hands of criminal prisoners.
Depravation of Fair Trial
Those prisoners who do receive trials are given
inadequate access to legal representation, and
are often unaware of what is going on at their
trial as they are conducted in Hebrew. Many
meet their legal counsel only once before trial.
Published by Friends Of Al-Aqsa
PO BOX 5127, Leicester, LE2 OWU
Tel: 0116 212 5441 / 07711 823 524
Web: www.aqsa.org.uk - Email: info@aqsa.org
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shoot-to-kill curfews literally force families to
stay in their homes for days at a time. Over half
the population is unemployed, resulting in 62%
of Palestinians attempting to survive on less
than $2/day. Many that can find work have
jobs within Israel, but they spend hours each
day at military checkpoints. This economic
hardship, deliberately imposed, has led to
mass emigration with tens of thousands leaving
the West Bank for Jordan and other countries.
Thus, Palestinians are being forced out of their
homeland for the expansion of Israel.
The contrast with South Africa is blindingly
obvious: “Yesterday’s South African township
dwellers can tell you about today’s life in the
Occupied Territories. To travel only blocks in
his own homeland, a grandfather waits on
the whim of a teenage soldier. More than an
emergency is needed to get to a hospital; less
than a crime earns a trip to jail.”
[‘Against Israeli Apartheid’, Comment by Desmond
Tutu and Ian Urbina, The Nation, July 2002]
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Published by Friends Of Al-Aqsa
PO BOX 5127, Leicester, LE2 OWU
Tel: 0116 212 5441 / 07711 823 524
Web: www.aqsa.org.uk - Email: info@aqsa.org
s
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FLAG LAPEL BADGE
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MASJID AL-AQSA DOME OF THE ROCK

10. AQSA NEWS
Crossword Competition (for 13-18 year olds)
To enter this competition, you will need to use the 10 clues to fill the crossword
below. Once you have done this, re-arrange the letters in the grey boxes to spell
out a word.
Across
4. West Bank city believed to be one of the oldest contineously
inhabited cities in the world
6. Palestine’s ‘catastrophe’ in 1948 (Arabic)
8. Illegal construction by Israel which separates Palestinians from
Jerusalem and their land
9. Political movement with the aim of establishing a Jewish state
in Palestine
10. Traditional Palestinian dance
Down
1. UN agency providing care for Palestinian refugees
2. Military control posts across the West Bank, Jerusalem and the
Gaza Strip
3. Third holiest city in Islam
5. Israeli Jews who live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
7. Arabic word for Palestinian ‘uprising’ against Israel in the late
1980’s and 2000
We have to show our ID cards to the sol-
diers to get through.
The soldiers only let some people through and the rest of us have to go back home. It is
very sad when we get turned away as the Masjid is ours and we should be allowed to
pray in it.
Sometimes we wait at the checkpoints for
so long that salaah time starts so we have
to pray right where we are.
Getting Access to Masjid Al-Aqsa.
Every Friday, we try to go to Masjid Al-
Aqsa to pray Jummah salaah.
It is a long journey from the West Bank
to Masjid Al-Aqsa, as we are stopped at
so many Israeli checkpoints.
By Ghazala Caratella
10 Fun & Games
COMPETITION
WIN!£20ARGOSVOUCHER!
Friends of Al-Aqsa Competition 2010 Design Write Produce
Key Stage 2
Aged 7-11
Design a Poster
Prize: £150 for the entrant and £300 for their school
Key Stage 3
Aged 11-14
Write an Article
Prize: £200 for the entrant and £300 for their school
Key Stage 4
Aged 14-16
Produce a Leaflet
Prize: £250 for the entrant and £300 for their school
Get Creative
Deadline: 30 April
For more info on the
competition:
www.aqsa.org.uk
The Ant and the Tortoise
Prophet Sulayman (pbuh) was granted by Allah (SWT) many powers including the
ability to talk to animals. Prophet Sulayman (pbuh) was once sitting near a lake
when he saw an ant creeping towards the water, carrying a grain of wheat. As it
reached near the water, a tortoise came out, opened its mouth and the ant crept
in. The tortoise closed its mouth and disappeared under the water. After a while,
the tortoise sprung out of the water, opened its mouth and the ant came out
without the grain of wheat.
Prophet Sulayman (pbuh) wanted to know what had happened under water and
asked the ant. It explained that at the bottom of the lake, was a stone and
underneath it lived a blind ant and so Allah (SWT) had appointed the ant and the
tortoise to provide it with food.
Allah (SWT) provides for all his creature, even a blind ant at the bottom of the
sea, and so we should always have faith in Him and trust Him in everything we
do.
Quiz Competition (for under 12 year olds)
Answer the following questions and send us your entries. Circle your answers.
Where was the Prophet Muhammed (saw) born?
Jerusalem Makkah Medina Damascus
What are companions of the Prophet called in Arabic?
Ansar Khalifa Sahaba Friends
What language was the Qur’an revealed in?
Greek Urdu Bengali Arabic
What is the first month of the Islamic calendar?
Muharram Rabi-ul-Awal Shawwal Ramadhan
Name of the Prophet’s (saw) mother?
Zainab Aaminah Sumaiya Sheyma
Send your answers with your name, age and address to: Friends of Al-Aqsa, PO Box 5127, Leicester, LE2 0WU.
You can also email us your answers on info@aqsa.org.uk but please put ‘competition’ as the subject heading.
Deadline for both competitions is 1st of March 2010. Good luck inshallah!
Storytime

11. AQSA NEWS
Book Reviews 11
Israeli Apartheid,
A Beginner’s Guide
BY BEN WHITE
Pluto Press, 2009
ISBN 978-0745328874
pp 172, £9.99
The state of Israel has
been criticised by many aca-
demics and activists for the
violation of Palestinian hu-
man rights and International
Law. Yet, very rarely is the
concept of ‘apartheid’ associ-
ated with Israel. In this indis-
pensable introductory piece,
White courageously dis-
cusses this issue and explores
the definition of apartheid in
light of UN resolutions. The
book is split into three main
parts. The first part explores
the history of the Zionist set-
tlement and the subsequent
consequences for the Pales-
tinian, beginning with the
1887 meeting which founded
the World Zionist Organisa-
tion. The second part of the
book constitutes the core
controversial subject of Is-
raeli apartheid.
White is quick to high-
light that associating apart-
heid with Israel does not
mean equating it with apart-
heid South Africa, rather,
there are certain similarities
and certain differences. A key
difference is that “Israel has
not practiced so called petty
apartheid – in other words
there are no toilets marked
‘Jews’ and ‘Non-Jews’”. In
South Africa, the settlers
exploited the labour power
of the dispossessed natives,
while in the case of Israel, the
native population was to be
eliminated and expelled.
White summarises the
three main tools of the apart-
heid affected Israeli Arabs
and Palestinians under Oc-
cupation; physical dispos-
sessions, the system for the
ownership and administra-
tion of public land and the
bureaucratic arrangements
regulating land development
and land use-planning. He
also provides a brief over-
view of the separation wall,
the detention and torture, the
demolitions, the military bru-
tality, the checkpoints, and
the systematic discrimination
when accessing and using the
water resources of their own
land. These are not merely
isolated cases of human rights
abuses, rather they form part
of the ‘systematic policy to
consolidate Israeli apartheid’
in the territories.
The final section outlines
the organisations working to
combat this apartheid both
regionally and internation-
ally. White dismisses the sug-
gestion that a compromise
should be reached with Is-
raeli apartheid and concludes
that even if it seems unrealis-
tic, apartheid must be elimi-
nated to achieve peace in the
region. The only drawback
is White does not elaborate
on the process of eliminat-
ing apartheid and a more
prescriptive solution would
have helped to conclude the
discussion.
Overall, the book deals
with the issue rationally and
uses graphs, charts, maps, ta-
bles and relevant introductory
quotes to make the read easy
and enjoyable. As John Dug-
ard suggests in the Foreword,
South African apartheid was
discussed significantly more
than the Israeli apartheid is
discussed today in academia
and the media, and ‘herein
lies the value of the present
work’.
Reviewed by Yusuf Shabir,
University of Manchester.
Disappearing Palestine:
Israel’s Experiments in
Human Despair
BY JONATHAN COOK
Zed Books, 2008
ISBN 978-1848130319
pp 294, £14.99
Jonathan Cook’s book on
the ‘disappearing of Pales-
tine’- as it currently seems to
be getting subsumed by the
present state of Israel- is phe-
nomenally packed with infor-
mation on the Israel-Palestine
conflict and makes a highly
interesting read. Part one is
made up of four chapters that
lay the stage for the later part
of the book that consists of a
collection of articles.
Part one deal with the way
in which the Palestinian peo-
ple were dispossessed from
their land by the Zionist colo-
nists and Cook tries to make
it clear that the main preoc-
cupation of the Zionists with
the Palestinian people was to
get rid of as many of them as
possible from the land. He
describes in detail how the
nascent Israeli state took all
possible steps to ensure that
they widened and broadened
the new state’s borders at the
expense of the Palestinians
and the neighbouring Arab
states. In particular, he raises
the issue of settler collusion
with the judicial process in
Israel to rid the Palestinian
people of their land. Jonath-
an Cook is very concerned
about the slow annexation of
the West Bank to the state of
Israel, ‘dunam by dunam,’ to
quote from the terminology
that he employs.
Part II of the book in-
cludes a selection of essays
prepared by the author over
the last couple of years. One
section is devoted to the vet-
eran Palestinian-Israeli hu-
man rights campaigner and
long-term member of the
Israeli Knesset-parliament,
Azmi Bishara. Bishara along
with other so-called ‘radi-
cal’ Palestinians within the
state of Israel has been ei-
ther hounded into exile or
imprisonment by the Zionist
authorities on the pretext of
state security. Another chap-
ter deals with the complic-
ity of the Western and Israeli
Human Rights groups in the
refusal to adequately ques-
tion the state of Israel. Cook
also describes how Israel
has managed to stifle almost
all forms of critical report-
ing from the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip by aggressive
controlling policies aimed at
just eliminating the Palestin-
ian viewpoint from the media
picture altogether. .
‘Disappearing Palestine’
ends with an impassioned
call to all concerned that the
main enemy is Zionism and
not the state of Israel per se,
and therefore by discrediting
Zionism, one could lay the
foundation for the eventual
solution of the Israel-Pales-
tine conflict.
Reviewed by
Dr. Samuel J. Kuruvilla,
University of Exeter

12. Water, how it is accessed,
who controls it, and how it
is cleaned, is a question of
enormous significance for
the future of Israel/Palestine.
Currently, Israel’s insistence
on maintaining an unequal
arrangement regarding the
control and use of water prej-
udices both political process
and environmental wellbe-
ing.
Israel’s approach to water
resources is just one part of
a bigger whole, an apartheid
system designed to ensure
the dominance of one group
over another. As such, there
are some similarities with the
water regime in Apartheid
South Africa, and the meas-
ures employed by successive
white governments intended
to maintain control over pre-
cious water resources.
Control and Consumption
Shortly after occupying
Palestinianterritoriesin1967,
Israel used a military order to
make all the territories’ water
resources public property.
One step taken by the Israeli
occupation authorities was
to declare land alongside the
Jordan River ‘closed military
zones’, thus preventing ac-
cess by Palestinian farmers.
These kinds of measures also
included the expropriation of
wells, the denial of permits to
drill new wells, and imposing
rigorous water quotas.
The restrictions on wells
were implemented with mili-
tary orders that meant Pales-
tinians seeking to drill a well
had to pass through arduous
bureaucratic hurdles in order
to seek permission that in
most cases was denied. Ac-
cording to B’Tselem, in 1998
there were 350 wells in the
West Bank, and only 6.5 per
cent of them had been drilled
since 1967. A large number
of West Bank Palestinians
live in communities that are
unconnected to a water net-
work – around 220,000, or
about 10 per cent of the popu-
lation.
Since 1967, Israel’s mili-
tary regime in the OPT has
been used to implement and
maintain a highly imbalanced
system, whereby Palestinians
receive proportionally much
less of the water than Israeli
citizens, including Jewish set-
tlers living in illegal colonies
inside the OPT. The World
Health Organisation recom-
mends a minimum of 100
litres of water per person per
day: according to B’Tselem
Israel’s per capita water con-
sumption is 280 litres a day
– for West Bank Palestinians
it is 60 litres a day.
In research carried out
in the summer of 1997 by
the Foundation for Middle
East Peace, it was reported
that despite being about one
twentieth the size of the city’s
Palestinian population, Jew-
ish settlers in Hebron used an
average of 547 litres of water
a day per person, compared
to just 58 litres daily for the
Palestinians. As Palestinian
hydrologist Amjad Aleiwi
put it in a story from The
Guardian in 2004, “How can
it be that Jewish settlers get
unlimited amounts of pure
water and that just across a
fence children have to drink
polluted water?”
Stolen Land, Stolen Water
One of the bitter ironies
for Palestinians in the West
Bank is that after Israel has
taken the vast bulk of the
territory’s water resources,
it then sells the water back
through the Israeli company
Mekorot. Effectively, Pales-
tinians are paying for their
own stolen water. Mekorot is
responsible for about half of
the Palestinians’ water needs,
though in summer months,
the company reduces the
amount of available water
by up to 25 per cent in order
to compensate for higher de-
mand in Israel and the Jewish
settlements in the OPT.
It is worth saying some-
thing about the arrangements
that emerged during the
1990s between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority (PA)
regarding water in the OPT.
The Joint Water Commit-
tee (JWC), set up ostensibly
to facilitate cooperation on
water issues between Israel
and the PA, became one more
way for Israel to ensure an in-
equitable arrangement.
Apart from the fact that
Israel overdraws without
JWC approval “up to 1.8
times its share under Oslo”,
the Foundation for Middle
East Peace also found that
“Israel retained a ‘virtual
veto power’ in the [Joint Wa-
ter] Committee and was un-
willing to fulfill agreed obli-
gations”.
Furthermore,ifaproposed
Palestinian water project lies
inside ‘Area C’ (60 per cent
of the West Bank), then it
requires authorisation by the
Civil Administration (the
name Israel gives to the oc-
cupation authority). In July
2001, the Civil Administra-
tion was still ‘considering’
17 requests submitted from
1997 to 2000.
Israeli Colonisation and
Water Appropriation
Israel’s occupation of the
West Bank since 1967 has
been characterised by land
appropriation and colonisa-
tion, whereby huge swathes
of private and public Pales-
tinian land is transferred to
Jewish ownership. Choosing
where to build the settle-
ments was influenced by a
number of factors – including
the location of water resourc-
es. According to an estimate
by the PLO’s Negotiations
Affairs Department, there
are 115 settlements built over
crucial water areas.
This reflects the priori-
ties of the Israeli state as the
settlements were established
and expanded. As Marwan
Bishara put it in his book, Pal-
estine/Israel: Peace or Apart-
heid, “the map of the settle-
ments looked like a hydraulic
map of the territories”.
When it came to build-
ing the Separation Wall, Is-
rael made sure that the route
would be designed to loop
around the principal colony
blocs in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem, placing the
majority of the illegal settler
population on the ‘Israeli’
side. This also meant that the
Wall became a means of con-
solidating Israeli control over
the water resources, particu-
larly the Western Aquifer, a
large proportion of which is
now covered by the Wall.
Even the initial impact of
the construction of the Wall
was devastating for affected
Palestinian communities in
the West Bank. By August
2005, almost 40 “agricul-
tural production wells” had
been separated from farming
communities in the Qalqilya,
Tulkarem and Jenin areas.
Farmers were forced to seek
Israeli military ‘permission’
to access the land and wells.
A later survey by the Pal-
estinian Hydrology Group on
the Wall’s first phase listed
50 wells as being either iso-
lated by the Wall, or located
“in the Wall’s 30-100 meter
buffer zone” and thus “under
threat of demolition or con-
fiscation”.
Sustainability and Equality
Israel’s occupation of the
WIn 2003, an article in Mid-
dle East Report noted how
the previous year, 22 per-
cent of surveyed Palestinian
communities had suffered
“extensive shooting of roof
tanks” by the Israeli army.
The World Bank’s report
this year recorded that 370
agricultural wells had been
destroyed by the IDF during
the Second Intifada. Acts of
wanton destruction such as
these, or the kind of damage
to infrastructure experienced
during Israel’s assault on the
Gaza Strip in ‘Operation Cast
Lead’, may cause immediate
humanitarian problems, but
the core issues behind the
water crisis in Israel/Pales-
tine are much more funda-
mental and structural.
As B’Tselem Notes
Israel’s policy regard-
ing water supply in the West
Bank is illegal and discrimi-
nates on racial grounds. It
flagrantly breaches interna-
tional law which requires
Israel to ensure proper liv-
ing conditions for the local
population and to respect the
Palestinians’ human rights,
including the right to receive
a sufficient quantity of water
to meet their basic needs.
The key values that will
have to shape a solution for
the water resources of Israel/
Palestine are sustainability
and equality. There is much
creative thinking about how
to provide solutions for a
thirsty region, but harness-
ing technological innovation
for the benefit of the people
of Israel/Palestine will be se-
verely hampered should there
be no change in Israel’s un-
equal control and distribution
of water resources.
Water and the Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip is experi-
encing a genuine infrastruc-
ture crisis, brought on by the
siege enforced by Israel and
Egypt,aswellasduetothede-
struction wrought by Israel’s
AQSA NEWS
Unequal, Unsustainable: Water, Palestine, and Israeli Apartheid
By Ben White
12 Special Feature

13. military assault in December
2008-January 2009. A report
by the World Bank found that
in November 2008 (before
‘Operation Cast Lead’) most
water wells were working at
half capacity or had stopped
altogether because of a short-
age of spares.
Despite the insufficient
water resources, Israel does
not allow the transfer of water
from the West Bank. Limited
electricity, and few resources,
meant that over half of house-
holds at that time did not
have access to the water net-
work.In June 2009, the Red
Cross described the water in-
frastructure as “overloaded”
and “subject to breakdown”:
“thousands of homes only
have access to running water
on certain days”.
Sewage is also a substan-
tial problem in the Gaza Strip,
where the system is in desper-
ate need of investment and
expansion. The Red Cross’
report in June 2009, ‘Gaza:
1.5 million people trapped
in despair’, documented
how every day, “69 million
litres of partially treated or
completely untreated sew-
age – the equivalent of 28 Ol-
ympic-size swimming pools
– are pumped directly into
the Mediterranean because
they cannot be treated”.
A report released by Am-
nesty International in Novem-
ber 2009, titled “Troubled
Waters: Palestinians Denied
Fair Access to Water”, found
that the availability and qual-
ity of water supplies in the
Gaza Strip had reached ‘cri-
sis point’. It also reported that
the main source of water in
the Gaza Strip- the southern
end of the Coastal Aquifer-
had been depleted and con-
taminated with only 90-95%
of its water unfit for human
consumption.
Ben White is a freelance
journalist and writer special-
ising in Palestine/Israel. His
first book, ‘Israeli Apartheid:
A Beginner’s Guide’, has
recently been published by
Pluto Press.
This article is an edited
version of Ben White’s es-
say which can be found in
its complete form in the Aqsa
Journal, Volume 12 (Issue 1).
See www.aqsa.org.uk.
Water is available from two main sources: surface and groundwater. The main •
surface-water resource is the Jordan River, which only supplies Israel after confiscation
from Palestinians.
Groundwater resources- which is the most important source- is made up of the West•
Bank aquifer (which has three basins: Western, Eastern and North-Eastern) and the
Coastal aquifer (which supplies the Gaza Strip).
According to the World Bank, Palestinians have access to only a fifth (20%) of the•
‘estimated potential’ of West Bank aquifer, with Israel withdrawing the rest.
Israel also withdraws more than 50% its share as agreed under the Oslo Accords.•
By regional standards Palestinians have among the lowest access to fresh water, •
forcing Palestinian communities to engage in unlicensed drilling simply to obtain
drinking water.
Overall, Palestinians spend around eight percent of household expenditure on water,•
which is twice the globally-accepted standard.
The poorest Palestinian families spend up to one-sixth of their household budget •
providing clean water for their family.
Palestinian per capita water budget for agriculture is one-fifth that of Israel, even though•
Palestinian agriculture accounts for a bigger share of economic output and overall
employment.
The cost to the economy of foregone opportunity in irrigated agriculture due to limited•
water supplies is significant. The World Bank estimated that it could be as high as 10
percent of GDP and 110,000 jobs.
Testimony 1:
“Water is life; without water we can’t live; not us, not the animals, or the plants. Before we had some water, but after the army destroyed everything we have to bring water from far away;
it’s very difficult and expensive. They make our life very difficult, to make us leave. The soldiers first destroyed our homes and the shelters with our flocks, uprooted all our trees, and then they
wrecked our water cisterns. These were old water cisterns, from the time of our ancestors. Isn’t this a crime? Water is precious. We struggle every day because we don’t have water.”
Fatima al-Nawajah, a resident of Susya, a Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills•
Amnesty International Report, Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water, October 2009.•
Testimony 2:
“The deterioration and breakdown of water and sanitation facilitates in Gaza is compounding an already severe and protracted denial of human dignity in the Gaza Strip. At the heart of this
crisis is a steep decline in standards of living for the people of Gaza, characterised by erosion of livelihoods, destruction and degradation of basic infrastructure, and a marked downturn in the
delivery and quality of vital services in health, water and sanitation.”
Maxwell Gaylard, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 3 September 2009•
Testimony 3:
“They try to force us out of the area by all means, taking our land is one way and limiting our access to water is another way.”
Hafez Hereni, a community activist from Tuwani, in the Southern Hebron Hills, West Bank•
Amnesty International Report, Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water, October 2009.•
Facts and Figures
AQSA NEWS
13

14. Adie Mormech is a cam-
paigner for Palestinian rights
and helped organise various
events in Manchester during
the week of action against
supermarkets selling Israeli
products. Adie was also cap-
tured and imprisoned by Isra-
el for six days when he tried
to break the siege in Gaza on
board the boat ‘Spirit of Hu-
manity’. Here, he answers
some questions about the role
of the boycott, divestment
and sanction movement in the
struggle for a free Palestine.
Q: Why is it important for us
to boycott Israeli products?
Israel has had a monopo-
ly in the region that we need
to challenge, to make them
think and realise that the rest
of the world community is
not going to stand for this.
This has gone on for sixty
years and the occupation of
the West Bank and Gaza has
gone on for forty years so it
really is time for mobilisa-
tion. So many corporations
and institutions, such as Tes-
co are selling produce like
herbs from the illegal West
Bank settlements. They need
to be held to account.
We need to detach our-
selves from people who are
investing in Israel, who are
also supplying goods from
Israel particularly those from
the West Bank illegal Settle-
ments. Whilst the US con-
tinues to supply billions of
dollars of aid to Israel and
the EU is making more trade
links, Israel is committing
more crimes against human-
ity. We can make a stand as
we did for South Africa.
Q: Is the boycott able to
change anything for the Pal-
estinians?
The boycott is having an
effect, just as it had an effect
in South Africa and Israeli
farmers are saying that it is
impacting on them and they
are worried. These calls for
boycott, divestment and sanc-
tions are coming from Pales-
tinians, the trade unions and
grassroots movements. The
Palestinians were the ones
recommending the boycotts
and we should respond in
solidarity with the oppressed
people.
The Palestinians have
contacted all these organisa-
tions around the world to say
“Look, we are still under oc-
cupation, what has happened
so far is not enough. We have
tried avenues like putting
pressure on the government
and international institutions;
pressure through lobbying
and writing articles, leaflet-
ing. It’s not enough. We have
to take it a step further. We
are still under occupation and
there are Israeli soldiers eve-
rywhere.”
Boycott is a response to
that. Also seeing the Israeli
response, with ordinary Is-
raelis now questioning them-
selves about the occupation
lends it value.
Q:What kind of response has
the boycott calls received?
It feels that since the Gaza
bombings, the violence that
many people saw through
the news and TV, has made
people’s reaction different.
I really do believe that there
is much more mainstream
consensus now that Palestin-
ians are the main victims in
the conflict. The more you
know about the history, the
expanding settlements, the
house demolitions and who is
occupying who, the harder it
is to ignore the fact that the
Palestinians are the ones who
are being totally oppressed.
Q: How should we respond
if the reaction is hostile?
Remember the people
who were lynched during
the civil rights movement for
trying to stand up for their
rights. Look at the Palestin-
ians who are demonstrating
who often get shot at or ar-
rested for peaceful demon-
strations. Look at the South
African Apartheid and how
Nelson Mandela was one of
the world’s most notorious
terrorists according to Mar-
garet Thatcher until the very
end of apartheid.
Just remember who is be-
ing oppressed and then you
will know that even if you
are being confronted, we are
doing our duty.
Palestinian refugees are
the indigenous inhabitants of
Palestine who were dispos-
sessed or expelled when the
state of Israel was formed
in 1948 and also during the
1967 war between Israel and
its Arab neighbours.
It is estimated that around
half of all Palestinian villages
were destroyed in 1948 with
numerous cities such as Hai-
fa, Akka and Yaffa cleared
of their Arab, Palestinian in-
habitants. During the Nakba
of 1948, Israeli forces killed
approximately 13,000 Pales-
tinians and forcibly evicted
737,166 Palestinians (around
75% of the Arab population
of Palestine).
Since the formation of
Israel, Palestinians have been
refused the right to return
to their villages, homes and
country. This is in violation
of International law which
stipulates that refugees have
the right to return to their
homes of origin and receive
compensation of losses and
damages.
Today, Palestinians are
the largest and longest suffer-
ing group of refugees in the
world with around 6.5 million
Palestinian refugees world-
wide. One in three refugees
worldwide is Palestinian.
Source: Al-awda, The
Palestine Right to Return
Coalition.
By Yvonne Ridley
26 December 2009
The activities of the rent
boys who parade up and
down Al-Shawarby Street in
Cairo provide a good meta-
phor for the relationship the
Egyptian Government has
with Israel and the US.
Both are quite shameless
and ruthless; prepared to do
whatever it takes to please ...
in order to secure a fistful of
dollars. But at least the man
whores of Al Shawarby are
honest about their trade as
they eagerly hustle potential
customers.
Yes, they are shameless
but so is the Egyptian Gov-
ernment as it continues to
enforce the brutal siege in
Gaza for Israel’s pleasure and
America’s dollars. The tears
it sheds for the besieged peo-
ple of Gaza are crocodilian.
And today the govern-
ment stands before its people
completely naked, without
honour as the last fig leaf of
decency floats despairingly
to the ground.
I am making this rather
crude analogy as I sit in my
hotel room over-looking
the River Nile. The view is
breath-taking and just 50
yards away is the Egyptian
Museum which reveals a rich
history of a once great coun-
try. The buildings around are
decrepit, rundown like much
of the country.
But I haven’t sat down to
give you a travel report. I am
one of 1400 peace activists
from across the world that
are trapped in Cairo unable
to move forward to take part
in the Gaza Freedom March
planned for New Year’s Day.
Most of us answered the ral-
lying call of the US peace ac-
tivist group Code Pink.
Meanwhile another
shameful drama is unfolding
just a few hundred miles away
as life-long Palestinian sup-
porter George Galloway sits
trapped in the port of Aqaba
as his latest Viva Palestina
convoy has been stopped
from moving forward.
The British MP’s convoy
of 250 vehicles and hundreds
more supporters has been
prevented from leaving Jor-
dan with its much needed
aid. Why? Because America
and Israel have told Egypt
not to let a single vehicle or
peace activist pass through
its country to the Rafah bor-
der and in to Gaza where an
entire population is suffering
beyond belief and, it seems,
beyond humanitarian relief.
So why doesn’t Egypt tell
Washington and Tel Aviv to
get stuffed? For exactly the
same reason a rent boy will
do as his master tells him ...
hard cash. Proof? Exactly two
years ago under the Bush Ad-
ministration, both houses of
US Congress agreed to with-
hold 100 million dollars in
financial assistance to Egypt
following Israeli claims that
Egyptian authorities were
failing to prevent weapons
smuggling to the Gaza Strip.
And now the Middle
East’s most active rent boy
has a new master pimp,
Barack Obama; although his
White House enforcers have
made sure the same house
rules apply.
Now while the Egyptian
Government might bend over
backwards, or just bend over,
the real enforcers will find
Viva Palestina and the Gaza
Freedom Marchers far less
compliant. We have travelled
from more than 40 different
countries to Cairo while oth-
ers have driven thousands of
miles to Aqaba to show our
solidarity to the people of
Gaza. We represent the larg-
est gathering of international
solidarity activists in the his-
tory of the Middle East.
Using the pretext of esca-
lating tensions on the Gaza-
Egypt border, the Egyptian
Foreign Ministry said that the
Rafah border will be closed
over the coming weeks. Our
message to the politicians is
crystal clear: “Let us enter
Gaza and let the Gaza Free-
dom March proceed.”
Quite simply, you cannot
buy us. Integrity, freedom
and our love for Gaza is not
for sale at any price. Egyptian
Security goons have already
used fear and intimidation
on the management of the
venues the Gaza Freedom
Marchers have booked, as
well as transport companies
who contracted buses to carry
us from Cairo to Gaza, with
the result that these deals
have been cancelled.
Egyptian Security even
tried to pressurise the man-
agement of the Groppi coffee
shop on Midan Talaat Harb
to shut down while we were
organising meetings. Despite
warning us that more than
six people can not gather in
public places our meeting
continued.
We will not bow to fear
and intimidation but what we
will do is increase the pres-
sure on the Rent Boy Gov-
ernment and where injustice
is the law resistance is our
duty.
British journalist Yvonne
Ridley is travelling with Indy
film-maker Warren Biggs
making a documentary about
the Gaza Freedom March.
AQSA NEWS
14
Why Boycott Matters
Palestinian Refugees Facts and Figures
Shame on Egypt for
Preventing Gaza
Freedom March

15. Academics Critical of Israel Face Witch-Hunt
Right-wing watchdog
groups have been accused
of creating a climate of fear
amongst scholars at Israeli
universities who criticize the
Israeli occupation or other
Israeli policies. Watchdog
groups such as IsraCam-
pus and the Israel Academia
Monitor have been inform-
ing the universities’ external
donors of what they describe
as “subversive” professors to
put pressure on them.
Emulating the US aca-
demic group Campus Watch,
the campaign has also been
likened to ‘McCarthyite’ tac-
tics in the United States. Is-
raCampus even placed a full-
page ad in the official diary
issued to students in Haifa.
It read: “Warning! Academic
Fifth Column!”
Studentswerealsowarned
of the allegedly subversive
activities of professors and
lecturers in Israeli universi-
ties and colleges who, the ad
alleges, “openly support ter-
rorist attacks against Jews,
initiate an international boy-
cott of Israel, make use of
their status in the classroom
for anti-Israeli incitement and
anti-Zionist brainwashing...”
The open witch-hunt
against any academic critical
of Israeli policies was stepped
up after Neve Gordon, at
Ben-Gurion University in
Beersheba wrote an article in
the Los Angeles Times call-
ing for a boycott of Israel. In
it he wrote, “I am convinced
that outside pressure is the
only answer...I consequently
have decided to support the
Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement that
was launched by Palestinian
activists in July 2005 and has
since garnered widespread
support around the globe...”
The support of this Israeli
academic, as well as the back-
lash he faced, illustrates the
real power and importance
of the boycott movement.
Friends of Al Aqsa have long
supportedtheBDSmovement
as well as the academic boy-
cott of Israeli universities as a
means to highlight the denial
of Palestinian academic free-
dom and to support Palestin-
ian educational rights. The
need to boycott Israel is real
and pressing and anyone who
fails to do so is essentially
supporting the state of Israel
and its oppression of the Pal-
estinians.
Sponsored WalkSponsored Walk
30th May 2010
Friends of Al Aqsa
Chatsworth Hall
The Peak District National Park, Derbyshire
A 15 km Sponsored Walk(Estimated time to complete - 4 hours)
Or
An 8km Sponsored Walk for families(Estimated time to complete - 2 hours)
To help raise funds for Friends of Al-Aqsa
To register your interest contact us now
E: info@aqsa.org.uk
T: 0116 2125441
For more details please visit www.aqsa.org.uk
REGISTRATION FORM
Name:______________________________________________________________________________________________
Address:____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________Postcode:_________________
Email Address (essential):_____________________________________Telephone Number:__________________Age:___
If under 18, please state the name of the accompanying adult:__________________________________________________
Please return this form to: Friends of Al-Aqsa, PO Box 5127, Leicester, LE2 0WU. Tel: 0116 212 5441
Alternatively, email these details to us at info@aqsa.org.uk and we will send out your pack
Sponsored Walk
Rules and Instructions:
1. Only registered participants
can take part in the Fundraiser.
2. Please register as early as pos-
sible. All participants must regis-
ter by 1st May 2010.
3.All registered participants must
raise a minimum of £100 in spon-
sorship.
4. Sponsorship forms are avail-
able from Friends of Al-Aqsa and
will be sent out to all participants
upon registration.
5. All sponsorship money must
be sent to FoA no later than Fri-
day 21 May 2010. We suggest
that sponsorship money is
collected at the time of pledge.
6. The walk will take an estimat-
ed 4 hours to complete. Please
ensure that you train adequately
for this. (See guidelines on our
web-site). A Shorter walk of 8km
will also be available, taking an
estimated 2 hours to complete.
7. For a list of suggested equip-
ment/supplies, see the guidelines
on our web-site.
8. Transporation may be provided
from London, Bradford, Preston
and Walsall for participants in the
surrounding areas. A fee may be
payable for the transport.
9. Participants under the age to
18 must be accompanied by an
adult. Under 8’s are not eligible
to participate.
10. All money raised will go to
Friends of Al-Aqsa, in order to
help us continue with our cam-
paigns.
Full instructions, rules and condi-
tions can be found on our website
www.aqsa.org.uk. Please refer
to this before registering for the
event.
AQSA NEWS
15

16. Remembering Gaza One Year On...
Every Gazan has a tale of profound grief to tell. There is rage
against the attackers for often failing to distinguish between
military targets and civilians and there is also resentment against
the international community for having allowed first the siege
and then the war to go on for so long.
Yet, my interaction with Palestinians in Gaza has also evinced
their fortitude, their determination to overcome the pain of
loss and their belief in the possibilities of rebuilding their lives.
I hope the international community will respond with urgency
and resolve, to take advantage of the opportunities to generate
recovery and renewal in Gaza.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Abu-Zayd
Addressing the UN Security Council in New York on 27 January 2009
The first Commissioner-General to be given the privilege
“
“
Interpal responded to the crisis within 24 hours of the first attack on 27 December 2008, has been there
ever since and will continue to provide aid for the besieged people of Gaza as long as it is needed. We are
working to provide financial assistance, shelter, food, medical supplies and equipment as well as what is
needed to help rebuild and re-equip mosques, schools and institutions of higher learning. Join us in this
noble effort today.
Ring Our Donation Hotline 020-8961 9993
or Visit Our Website www.interpal.org
to Make a Difference
Interpal is the working name of the Palestinians Relief & Development Fund
Registered UK Charity No: 1040094
Head Office:
P O Box 53389,
London, NW10 6WT
Tel: 020-8961 9993
Fax: 020-8965 6065
Email: info@interpal.org
Birmingham Branch:
Unit 5, The Bordesley Centre,
Stratford Road, Camp Hill,
Birmingham, B11 1AR
Tel: 0121 772 7148
Mobile: 07980 142 509
or 07958 100 153
Bradford Branch:
922-924 Leeds Road,
Bradford, BD3 8EZ
Tel: 01274 656 985
Mobile: 07944 708 572
Manchester Branch:
284 Claremont Road, Mosside,
Manchester, M14 4EP
Tel: 0161-227-9922
Fax: 0161-227-9933
Mobile: 07958 100 143
AQSA NEWS
Visit our website: www.aqsa.org.uk
Action Alert
Contact your MP today
and ask them to support
Freedom for Palestinians.
End the siege on Gaza•
Bring suspected Is-•
raeli War criminals to
justice
Be fair and impartial•
in dealing with both
sides
Everyday across the West
Bank, raw untreated sewage
pumped out of Israeli settle-
ments is being dumped on
Palestinian land. The Pales-
tinian town of Salfit has for
years been dealing with waste
water produced from the
Ariel settlement which flows
down into their land where
it can poison water reserves
and contaminate agricultural
crops.
As waste-water treatment
systems in the West Bank, in-
cluding the illegal settlement,
are underdeveloped, Israeli
human rights group B’Tselem
estimates that 91 million cu-
bic meters of waste water
flows freely every year. The
Israeli human rights organisa-
tion also found that although
the situation is well known to
the Ministry of Environmental
Protection, it has failed to en-
force the law against polluting
in the settlements. Thus, these
settlements continue to allow
raw sewage to be pumped out
towards Palestinian populated
areas with no accountability.
Settlement Polluting
Palestinian Town
On 08 December 2009,
the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA) for
Palestine Refugees in the Near
East marked its sixtieth anni-
versary. So, what has changed
for Palestinians refugees?
Well, it emerged that the or-
ganisation was facing a fund-
ing shortfall which risked the
suspension of essential serv-
ices before the year was out.
It also raised concerns for
refugees living under siege
in Gaza as the blockade had
“limited humanitarian access,
restricted the import of virtu-
ally all construction materials
needed to re-build a shattered
infrastructure, and had effec-
tively shut down the Gazan
private sector.” It also found
that the number of refugees
in Gaza classified as ‘abject
poor’ had tripled in the last
year, to 300,000 Palestinians.
Clearly, the plight of Pal-
estinian refugees remains an
important issue so why not
write in and tell us how you
feel about the issue and the
importance of the right of re-
turn. Letters and emails will
be printed in the next edition.
Please send your emails to:
info@aqsa.org.uk
Readers Corner
Cartoons by Latuff