Follow the kids visit on the 'common ground' blog - http://2013commonground.blogspot.co.uk/

and here are the kids in Wales!  Well done CADFA for finding a way for them to travel out of the West Bank and Gaza!

NEW DATE for children's visit fundraiser. Now on 22nd August! Please come along and donate!

WFPSC Annual General Meeting 2013 - All Welcome!

We look forward to welcoming you to our AGM!

Monday 08 July 2013

7.30pm - 9.30pm

Hornbeam Centre

458 Hoe Street

Walthamstow

E17 9AH

Agenda

1.  Apologies

2.  Minutes of 2012 AGM

3.  Reports from Chairman, Treasurer and other officers

4.  Elections of Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and six other officers including the BDS and friendship links/twinning focussed roles.

5.  Dates for 2013 AGM and 2013/2014 Branch Meetings

6.  Initial plans for 2013/2014

7.  AOB

We had wanted to have a speaker from the charity CADFA (Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association) to speak to us about 'Common Ground', a project taking place in late August bringing 16 Palestinian teenagers to the UK from both the West Bank and Gaza, to spend two weeks on a music and education project with 16 UK teenagers of the UK, culminating in London with day in Waltham Forest.  Our friendship links team is really looking forward to supporting this project.

However, CADFA is immersed in an over-running school children's visit from Abu Dis, having experienced extreme difficulties when the children's Headmaster was blocked from leading their school expedition to the UK by Israeli authorities, for no apparent reason.  A week was spent frantically campaigning to try to get the Israeli Authorities to let the Headmaster travel with the children.  The kids became stuck in limbo in Amman awaiting the outcome.  All pleas to the Israeli Authorities fell on deaf ears.  The children with their youth leaders managed to make it to the UK to fulfil their project commitments, but their travel plans have been thrown into disarray and they are currently having to stay in the UK for a few extra days before being able to try to get back to the West Bank, still without their Headmaster, at the end of this week.  All this means CADFA cannot offer us a speaker, and our sympathies are with Nandita and the CADFA team. 

Our AGM is open to all to attend, so please do come along!  However, do note that in order to vote, or be elected, you have to be a paid-up member of PSC.

Light refreshments will be available for a small donation.

Many thanks

WFPSC Team

Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Patrons:  Neil Gerrard, Jean Lambert MEP, Prof Nur Masalha
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/walthamforestpsc
Twitter:  @wfpsclondon
Web:  http://wfpsc.blogspot.com

Post:  WFPSC c/o Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe St, Walthamstow, E17 9AH

Email:  wfpsc@yahoo.com

Give Israeli Racism the Red Card!  
International campaign to kick Israeli Apartheid and Racism out of UEFA.
 
Tomorrow, Sunday 19th May - 1pm Kick Off - 'RED CARD ISRAELI RACISM' 6-A-SIDE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT - Mabley Green Hackney, E9 5RN - Men's Tournament - For Ages 16+, on Hackney Marshes just by the great new visitor centre. Really easy to walk to from Walthamstow Marshes.  Enjoy a day out on the marshes and support Palestinian sport at the same time!

IMPORTANT - This Friday, 24th May from 11am-4pm - 'RED CARD ISRAELI RACISM' DEMONSTRATION - outside the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, W1K 7TN.  Do make every effort to attend this important demo and support Mahmood Sarsak - http://www.foa.org.uk/events/kick-israeli-racism-out-of-uefa

On Friday 24th evening, after the big demo - 'RED CARD ISRAELI RACISM' SOCIAL NIGHT.  See this link for details - http://www.palestinecampaign.org/events/green-card-justice-social-evening/

Please try to join the protest on 24th May even if you can't do anything else!

WALTHAM FOREST Branch of PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN - http://www.palestinecampaign.org/support/join/
=======================================================

'Red Card' Israeli Racism Leafletting
Sat, 27 April 2013
2.15pm-3pm (pre-kickoff)
Leyton Orient Football Club
Meeting at the corner of Buckingham Road / High Road Leyton, E10 5NG
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=538008&Y=186460&A=Y&Z=110

As part of the international 'Red Card' Israeli Racism campaign to stop UEFA holding the 2013 European Under-21 Championships in the Apartheid state in June - http://redcardapartheid.weebly.com/ - WFPSC has organised an awareness action for Saturday afternoon at the last 'O's match of the season.  Not only will we be talking to fans and raising their awareness as they enter the ground, encouraging them to sign up to kick racism out of the beautiful game, but we'll also take the time to support our local team and watch the match!  We will be joined by local trade unionists and anti-football-racism campaign activists from around London to help get the message across.  It'll be a tremendous afternoon - really inspiring - so please come along with bags of enthusiasm and energy!  To confirm you are coming, please email wfpsc@yahoo.com, or message us on www.facebook.com/walthamforestpsc or twitter @wfpsclondon 

You can buy match tickets in advance here - http://www.leytonorient.com/fixtures-results/match-preview/index.aspx?MatchId=3520316

In addition, please sign the important related petition here - https://www.change.org/petitions/uefa-president-michel-platini-remove-uefa-2013-european-under-21-championship-from-israel - and forward the link on to your friends and colleagues to sign too!


'An Evening for Palestine Solidarity' Fundraising Evening
Thu, 02 May 2013
6pm-10pm
London Muslim Centre, 46-92 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1JX

Roll up!  Roll up!  We're really pleased to encourage you to purchase your tickets for this special PSC fundraiser organised by East London PSC.  Top-notch speakers will inspire you to get active and participate in pro-Palestinian campaigning and you will enjoy a gorgeous three-course dinner.  You can purchase tickets direct online for £10 per person here - http://www.palestinecampaign.org/support/donate/psc-fundraising-dinner/ - or to join the special WFPSC table at a reduced rate of £8.35 per person please email wfpsc@yahoo.com / contact us via facebook.com/walthamforestpsc or twitter @wfpsclondon

See the promotional video here - http://www.palestinecampaign.org/video-an-evening-for-palestine-solidarity-campaign/

SPEAKERS INCLUDE
His ExcellencyManuel Hassassian
Palestinian Ambassador to the UK
 
Lutfur Rahman
Mayor of Tower Hamlets
 
Jeremy Corbyn
MP for Islington North
 
Dr Anas Altikriti
Founding member, British Muslim Initiative
 
Baroness Jenny Tonge
Independent Liberal Democrat
 
Naila Ahmed
Federation of StudentsIslamic Societies
 
SPECIAL FUNDRAISING APPEAL BY
Ajmal Masroor
 
Join us for a packed evening of talks, poetry, entertainment, videos, fundraising appeal, auctions, hamper and a traditional three course Palestinian menu.  Learn more about the work of Palestine Solidarity Campaign and how you can get involved.
 
THURSDAY 2nd MAY 2013 | 6PM
LONDON MUSLIM CENTRE
46-92 WHITECHAPEL ROAD, LONDON E1 1JX
Nearest tube: Aldgate East / Whitechapel

TICKETS: £10 | £100 FOR Table of 12
book online or for more information 020 7700 6192 | 07847 223 508 |
ALL PROCEEDS TO THE WORK OF PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN



See you on Saturday and Thursday!

Best wishes
WFPSC Team

Branch meeting tonight, Mon 08 April 2013, Hornbeam Centre, Walthamstow

Do join us tonight to plan for a hectic schedule of events and campaign activities coming up:

Mon, 08 April 2013
7.30pm-9.30pm
WFPSC Branch Meeting
Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, E17 9AH

Agenda

1. Apologies

2. Feedback on actions from last meeting

3. Palestinian Christianity awareness campaign - review of our very successful event on Palm Sunday at lovely St Barnabas Church, and further awareness activities with local christian denominations.

4. Finance update - including WFPSC fundraising dinner plans, and stalls update

5. 'No to G4S' - campaign outline from local activist and key international BDS campaigner, Diana Neslen, including building for the Solidarity Protest on International Palestinian Prisoners Day on Wed 17th April, 4.30pm-7pm, at the G4S UK & Ireland Head Office, 105 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QT - http://www.palestinecampaign.org/events/solidarity-protest-on-international-palestinian-political-prisoners-day/

6. 'Red Card' Israeli Racism - http://redcardapartheid.weebly.com/ - organising local football match leafletting action on Sat 27th April, 2pm-5pm at a local football ground.  Building teams for the FOA's 'Goal4Peace' football tournament on Sun 19th May, kickoff 1pm - http://foa.org.uk/events/goal-4-peace-football-tournament - men-only 6-a-side teams aged 16+.  Demonstration 'No to UEFA U21 Finals in Israel' on Fri 24th May, 11am-4pm outside UEFA Annual Congress, Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, W1K 7TN.  Famous Gazan Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak's UK Tour on it's English leg from Thu 16th to Sun 26th May, at locations tbc. Gather signatures on The Red Card Petition - https://www.change.org/petitions/uefa-president-michel-platini-remove-uefa-2013-european-under-21-championship-from-israel

7. 2013 Leytonstone Festival - set up event during the festival from Thu 11th to Sun 21st July - http://www.leytonstonefestival.org.uk/pages/

8. Updates on other local and national issues

• PSC Conference 'Lessons from Gaza' with a huge number of excellent speakers on Sat 13th April, 10.30-4.30pm, at Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, WC1H 0XG - http://www.palestinecampaign.org/join-gaza-conference-2013/
• 'An Evening for Palestine Solidarity' PSC fundraiser organised by East London PSC with a slate of top-notch speakers, and gorgeous three-course dinner on Thu 2nd May, 6pm-10pm, at the London Muslim Centre, 46-92 Whitechapel Road, E1 1JX - http://www.palestinecampaign.org/events/an-evening-for-palestine-solidarity/
• 2013 London Palestine Film Festival from Fri 3rd to Sat 11th May in various locations around London, including a groundbreaking conference 'Palestine and the moving image' on Sat 11th May, 10am to 6pm at Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS - http://www.palestinefilm.org/index.asp 

9. AOB

Updated line-up for our amazing afternoon on Sunday!

Palm Sunday,  24th March 2013,  2pm-5pm
Palestinian Culture & Christianity
St Barnabas Church, St Barnabas Road, Walthamstow, London E17 8JZ

Free entry & family-friendly celebration of Palestinian diversity and hope on Palm Sunday:

+ Learn Nanor Arakelian's story, an Armenian Palestinian Christian participating in OneVoice
+ Hear Meg Wroe walk you through her art display and schools art exchange experiences
+ View insights into Palestinian life under occupation in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza through Rada Daniell's lens
+ Share Holy Week prayers with parish priest Rev Steven Saxby
+ Discover Palestinian Christian life with information from Friends of Sabeel, Amos Trust and Embraceme (Biblelands)
+ Browse beautiful artefacts from Haringey Justice For Palestinians; literature and organic/fairtrade Palestinian oils, olives and other Zaytoun goodies from Palestine Solidarity Campaign
+ Sip on delicious arabic teas & coffees
+ Enjoy freshly baked bread from Pilar Lopez and the team from Organic Lea & Hornbeam Cafe Baking Collective
+ Sample delectable fresh Palestinian falafel, humous and knafa from West London's famous Palestinian Maramia Cafe
+ Join in with infectious Palestinian music and dabka dancing from the fantastic RAAST Collective

Come along to discover what it means to be Palestinian - that Palestinians are one distinct and yet amazingly diverse people, standing together as Muslims, Christians and many other religions and none.  Learn from fascinating speakers, visual displays and literature; sample some delicious Palestinian food, music and dance; and celebrate Palestinian fortitude and humanity. 

Bring your enthusiasm and a bit of cash to enjoy all the goodies!

Do join us for a wonderful and fascinating afternoon - all welcome!

March 2013 - local WFPSC activity

Sat 9th March, at 11am - 2pm:
Street Stall at Tesco on Leyton High Road, just along from Baker's Arms.

Mon 11th March, at 7.30pm-9.30pm
Branch Meeting
Monthly catch-up at Hornbeam Centre, Walthamstow with a speaker from the anti-G4S campaign and other campaigning activities.

Sat 23rd March, at 11am - 2pm:
Street Stall at Walthamstow Arcade site corner nearest the Library, on Walthamstow High Street. 

Palm Sunday, 24th March, at 2pm-5pm
Palestinian Culture & Christianity Event
Our special cultural event at St Barnabas Church, Walthamstow.  Taking place on Palm Sunday, it's the day Catholic Palestinian christians celebrate the start of Holy Week (Orthodox christians follow on two weeks later) marking when Jesus returned to Jerusalem, riding into the city on a donkey symbolising peace and humility, passing over palm leaves symbolising victory, peace and immortality. 

Some view Jesus' dramatic gesture as an act of resistance to encourage the local population to overcome of the oppressive colonial occupation of that time by peaceful means.  This has some resonance for Palestinians in contemporary times.  For believers, Jesus was dead and immortalised by the end of that week, and nowadays that sacrifice is eerily evoked in microcosm every Friday by the largely muslim Palestinian population, in the same occupied East Jerusalem streets and surrounding occupied villages and fields all over the West Bank, by Palestinian non-violent resisters trying to overcome another colonial occupation, suffering their own imprisonment and murder this time at the hands of Israeli occupation forces, at Bil'in, Ni'lin, Nabi Saleh, Jayyous, Salfit, Al-Khader, Hebron, Qalandia, Anata, Abu Dis, Nablus...  For some you can stretch the resonance as far as the Palestinian hunger strikers, like Samer Issawi, barely clinging on to life after over 200 days without food, as gentle and steadfast as ever.

This Palm Sunday we will be exploring the reality of Palestinian diversity: approximately 20% of the diaspora/shatat worldwide is Christian but fewer than 2% are left in Palestine today.

 + Despite Israeli propaganda to the contrary, Palestinian Christians are treated exactly the same as all Palestinians of any faith or none - with implacable discrimination by Israeli authorities.  Particularly with their Muslim brothers and sisters, Christian Palestinians are subjected to a vicious game of destruction and humiliation by Israeli Authorities, with monasteries and churches being partitioned off, graffitied and arson-attacked, families harassed, farms destroyed, livelihoods ended. 

+ In the face of unusually outspoken UK Government intervention, currently near Bethlehem the famous Palestinian Cremisan vineyards and monastery are gradually being torn apart and the Christian community there decimated by Israeli civilian and military forces building an extension to the illegal Apartheid separation Wall - http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/02/12/265931.html - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/04/william-hague-vincent-nichols-west-bank-barrier

+ Again, in the face of international opprobrium, Recently in Gaza, Israeli authorities made no difference whom they 'carefully' bombed - Muslims and Christians alike were slaughtered - http://ocl.org/the-funeral-of-salem-paul-sweliem-in-gaza-city/ - http://www.euronews.com/2012/11/20/death-then-funerals-in-gaza/ 

Come along to discover what it means to be Palestinian - that Palestinians are one distinct and yet amazingly diverse people, standing together as Muslims, Christians and many other religions and none.  Learn from fascinating speakers, visual displays and literature; sample some delicious Palestinian food, music and dance; and celebrate Palestinian fortitude and humanity. 
Do join us for a wonderful and fascinating afternoon! All welcome!

Sat 6th April, at 11am - 2pm:  
Street Stall at Leytonstone ASDA paved way, opposite Leytonstone Tube station.

Also, take a look at this video about Israeli Apartheid - http://apartheidweek.org/ - read this latest example of Israeli secret services putting Apartheid into action against internationals - http://bit.ly/WnS1hE - and extraordinary Apartheid segregation in action in the West Bank - http://yhoo.it/WE9eOF

Many thanks
WFPSC Team

Happy New Year!  Join us tonight for:

Mon, 14 January 2013
7.30pm-9.30pm
WFPSC Branch Meeting
Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, E17 9AH

Agenda
1. Apologies
2. Feedback on actions from last meeting
3. Finance update
4. 'No to Veolia!' - postscript after campaign win
5. Twinning/friendship links - introduction to 'Palestine Trauma Centre' by David Harrold plus feedback from Twinning Network Conference
6. "Unity" church service and Palestinian Christians event at St Saviours Church, Walthamstow (Fri 25 Jan, eve)
7. Updates on other local and national issues
'4 Years on from Israel's 'Operation Cast Lead' with Andy Slaughter MP, Sarah Tether MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP and others (Tues 15 Jan, 6.30pm-8pm at House of Commons, Westminster but obligatory to email palsolcam@gmail.com to attend).  PRC Conference 'Britain's Legacy in Palestine' with Alison Weir, Mohammed Othman and others (Sat 19 Jan, 9.30am-5pm - at Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2JB).  WFPSC stall at Walthamstow Arcade Site volunteers needed (Sat 19 Jan, 11am-2pm).  PSC Annual General Meeting 2013 with Karma Nablusi, Ben White and others for PSC paid-up members only (Sat 26 Jan, 10am-5pm - at The London Irish Centre, 50-52 Camden Sq, London, NW1 9XB).  WFUAF's 'A night of music and words for the Holocaust Memorial Week' with Steve White and the Protest Family and others (Sat 26 Jan, 7.30pm, at Ye Old Rose & Crown Pub, Walthamstow).  Palestinians' Call For BDS Action Against Farming (Sat 09 Feb, all day).  Convoy to Gaza (end of Feb, for 1 month).
8. AOB

Veolia pulls out of NLWA contracts! We won!

Dear supporters

Tremendous news!  Veolia has announced it is withdrawing from the North London Waste Authority procurement process!
 
WFPSC team would like to acknowledge the huge campaign involving a vast number of groups and individuals that we drew off continually in our own local campaigning, only some of whom include No2VeoliaActionGroup, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Pinkham Way Alliance, Barnet Green Party, Veolia London Action Group, UK Dump Veolia Information Group, the Global Dump Veolia Campaign, Boycott National Committee, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of the Earth, Human Rights Watch, Who Profits (Coalition of Women for Peace), the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem and dozens of other organisations and groups.  Plus lots of local groups including Waltham Forest Council of Mosques with a large number of businesses in the borough, WF Unite, WF Unison, Waltham Forest Trades Council, members of We are Waltham Forest, Wanstead and Leyton Labour Party, WF Labour Group, WF Lib Dems, WF Green Party, plus many other groups and beautiful individuals - all of whom passed motions, signed and gathered in petitions and open letters, emailed, met and debated with Councillors, lobbied the NLWA relentlessly and kept going.

It is hugely inspiring that together everyone has achieved this enormously important success.  This is a win for more than just the constituents of 7 north London boroughs holding their municipalities to account over the two 30-year, £4.7 billion totalling contracts, safeguarding their hard-earned taxes and stopping a likely series of ecological disasters.  This is a win for all fighting peacefully to free Palestinians from oppression, and to make the world a more responsible, financially fair and ecologically sustainable place.

TONIGHT, FRIDAY,  campaigners are heading into central London to celebrate at a pub in Holborn from 6pm - that big pub on the left as you come out of Holborn tube station, down Kingsway!

TOMORROW, SATURDAY, we will hold the WFPSC stall from 11am in Walthamstow Town Square - please pop by to CELEBRATE and spread the news of this fantastic success - and help out at our last stall of 2012!

NEXT WEEK, THURSDAY 27 Dec 1-3pm - a national protest for GAZA outside the Israeli Embassy on Kensington High Street, London W8 5EB to mark the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead - the horrific bombardment of the Palestinian people in Gaza in 2008/2009.

AND IN THE NEW YEAR WFPSC IS CANCELLING OUR 'DUMP VEOLIA' PUBLIC MEETING!  We are reverting to our New Year 2013 WFPSC Branch Meeting open to everyone at 7.30pm, on Mon 14th Jan 2013, at Hornbeam Centre, Walthamstow, to organise Gaza support and other activities instead.

It is so encouraging that peaceful, non-violence campaigning is having a strong impact, pulling apart the international mechanisms propping up Israel's unjustifiable, unsustainable, illegal occupation of Palestine.

Free Palestine!  And very best wishes for a Very Happy Christmas and Seasons Greetings to All!
WFPSC Team

Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Patrons:  Neil Gerrard, Jean Lambert MEP, Prof Nur Masalha
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/walthamforestpsc
Twitter:  @wfpsclondon
Web:  http://wfpsc.blogspot.com
Post:  WFPSC c/o Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe St, Walthamstow, E17 9AH
Email:  wfpsc@yahoo.com

_____________________________________________________

Palestine Solidarity Campaign has issued this statement:

Veolia pulls out of bidding for multi-Billion pound contract in North London

Today (21 December) the North London Waste Authority announced that Veolia Environmental Services ‘ will not be submitting final tenders for either NLWA’s waste services or fuel use contracts’.  http://www.nlwa.gov.uk/news/2012/2012/12/21/announcement-on-nlwa-procurement

Sarah Colborne, Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said:
‘Veolia’s bid for this waste contract which covers a vast area of North London was deeply controversial, with local residents outraged that such a toxic company could potentially provide services to them. Veolia is complicit in Israeli violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Veolia operates bus services to illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, is involved with the Jerusalem Light Railway which was designed to serve the needs of Israeli settlers, and Tovlan landfill which operates in the Jordan Valley.

This decision comes after a recent report by Professor Richard Falk – the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories – in which Veolia was singled out for its activities in the Occupied Palestianin Territories and after Palestine Solidarity Campaign members in the area have been actively campaigning against Veolia’s bid.

‘Desperate measures were used in an attempt to silence those who were standing up for justice and human rights, and opposing violations of international law. A Hackney council resident, Caroline Day, who wanted to put the case that the North London Waste Authority should not work with Veolia, was prevented from speaking at a full meeting of Hackney Council in November 2012. Local media reported that an organisation called UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) were involved in drafting the motion to prevent Ms Day from speaking.’

‘But even these desperate measures don’t stop the truth from coming out about Veolia’s toxic activities.’

It seems that Veolia's complicity with occupation is causing it to be shunned across the world. In the USA, the St Louis City Board (Missouri) this week declined to approve a city contract with Veolia Water, putting off a vote on the matter until there can be a full investigation into the company's involvement in ethnic discrimination in Palestine. The decision comes after campaigning by St Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and St. Louis Jewish Voice for Peace. http://www.stl-psc.org/?p=385

Ends

Notes for the editor

Veolia loosing contracts:
http://www.dumpveolia.org.uk/2012/11/16/veolia-campaign-victories/

NLWA announcement: http://www.nlwa.gov.uk/news/2012/2012/12/21/announcement-on-nlwa-procurement

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk: http://www.bdsmovement.net/2012/boycott-businesses-that-profit-from-israeli-settlements-un-special-rapporteur-9893

More on Veolia: http://www.bigcampaign.org/veolia/

EMERGENCY DEMO - TODAY

EVERYBODY IN LONDON - time to get yourselves together. PROTEST at 2pm this afternoon, Saturday 17 November 2012, outside ISRAELI EMBASSY at 2 Palace Green London W8 4QB, on Kensington High Street.  Although it is near High Street Ken tube, note the District & Circle lines are down. So, to get there, go to Notting Hill Gate tube, and walk (no marching, mind) down Church Street to get to the demo.   See you there.  

WALTHAM FOREST PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN - For latest news, join PSC - http://bit.ly/ieoJf8
============================================================================================

Nearly the second Monday of the month again!  Join us next week for:

Mon, 08 October 2012
7.30pm-9.30pm
WFPSC Branch Meeting
Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, E17 9AH

Agenda

1. Apologies

2. Feedback on actions from last meeting

3. 'No to Veolia!' - further updates on this vital local issue, planning the next steps and local campaign activities

Due to this campaign's importance in this borough, a number of visitors may attend this branch meeting from national PSC Exec, Friends of the Earth, PInkham Way Alliance, NO2VAG, Council of Mosques, WF Councillors and others.  Please come along too, to help out with this cross-community campaign to dump Veolia.

4. Updates on other local and national issues

PSC Branch Forum (13 Oct, for PSC paid-up members only); We Are Waltham Forest protest against the EDL (27 Oct); Palestine Lobby of Parliament and protest against Bathsheva (end of Nov); WFPSC churches event (Christmas).

5. AOB

Please note - meeting on 18 June has been postponed.

Sat 23 June @ 12pm noon

Please take action on Saturday against Veolia

Walthamstow Town Square, gathering initially under big TV Screen

Alongside our colleagues from London BDS, please join us to gather urgent petition signatures for the anti-Veolia campaign.  Stop criminally-liable international conglomerate Veolia, a financially-discredited company thoroughly complicit in Israeli Occupation malpractice and countless human rights violations against Palestinians, from spending your hard-earned taxes on questionable processes turning our homes' recycling into fuel.  Kick international criminality out of Waltham Forest: don't let Veolia get our taxes.  See our "Say No to Veolia!" page on this site for the legal and moral submission sent to North London Waste Authority in preparation for their Board meeting happening at the end of this week on Friday 22 June.  If you get a chance, join the protest outside that meeting at Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, just opposite the British Library near Kings Cross, from 9am on Fri 22 June.

Mon 16 July @ 7.30pm

Rescheduled - WFPSC AGM

Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, E17 9AH

- Reports on WFPSC activity over the last year

- Elections for officer roles

- Social gathering, a chance to catch up

Other vital campaigns

Please also check the PSC website (http://www.palestinecampaign.org) for all the latest campaigns that need your urgent support, including petitions and ways to lobby your MP on Hunger-Strikers including renowned footballer Sarsak, Child Prisoners and much more.  Your support and simple contribution of time and thought to help Palestinians at this particular juncture is vital.  Please also note WFPSC is supporting an important Waltham Forest community campaign to remove racism, anti-semitism and fascism from our borough, "We Are Waltham Forest", and would urge you to participate as well.

Many thanks

WFPSC team

Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Patrons: Neil Gerrard, Jean Lambert MEP, Prof Nur Masalha
Facebook: www.facebook.com/walthamforestpsc
Twitter: @wfpsclondon
Web: http://wfpsc.blogspot.com
Post: WFPSC c/o Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe St, Walthamstow, E17 9AH
Email: wfpsc@yahoo.com

London events: update  Solidarity with Khader Adnan & Palestinian prisoners Special emergency meeting to hear from Adameer prisoner rights organisation this Monday, 27th February 2012 - 6.30pm - 8pm   ULU Malet Street, London, Room 3E     Murad Jadallah from Adameer, Palestinian prisoner human rights group, is coming to the UK.  Adameer has been leading on the campaign to free Khader Adnan. They work on issues of Palestinian prisoner rights. They campaign to end imprisonment without charge or trial. Currently there are at least there were at least 309 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons. This number included 24 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.  Murad is also a member of the Herak Shebabi, the emerging independent Palestinian youth movementhttp://stopthewall.org/youth This meeting is organised jointly by PSC and Israel Apartheid Week UK  Chair Hugh Lanning, Chair, Palestine Soldarity Campaign Speakers Murad Jadallah, Adameer, Prisoner Rights and Human Rights Association  Kiri Tunks, Action for Palestinian Children and Palestine Solidarity Campaign  Rafeef Zadiah, Secretariat Member of the the Palestinian BDS National Committee  Support PSC today            If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to our PSC updates please click here>>  Beats Against Apartheid  Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 Social Event – Friday 24 Feb at SOAS, London 8pm - late   https://www.facebook.com/events/345729655457317/ A night of music, dance, food and poetry.  Featuring Lowkey and hip hop artists: Awate, Sekina, Nkez, Melissa Melodee, and spoken word: Rafeef Ziadah and Jody McIntyre, Sanasino, singer Emily Churchill, Soufian - Oud virtuoso and much more…

WFPSC Branch Meeting - Mon 16 Jan, 7.30pm at Hornbeam

WFPSC Branch Meeting

Monday 16 January, at 7.30pm

Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17 9AH

Two special presentations followed by open floor discussions on:

1) "West Bank Update" - with Rada Daniell

Rada has just returned from three months in the West Bank with International Women's Peace Service, supporting Palestinians under occupation.  WFPSC is delighted to get an exclusive look at her short presentation on her recent findings and open a discussion on the dreadful situation for occupied Palestinians in the West Bank at present.  In December, during a memorial protest to Mustafa Tammimi (murdered by the Israeli military) Rada, along with several Palestinians and other international demonstrators, were arrested.  Alarming pictures of her violent removal into military custody were distributed around the world.

2) "A debate about Zionism" - with Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi

Naomi will lead a discussion on this issue, preceding a national debate on the subject at PSC AGM on 21 Jan (see Motion 9, submitted by various PSC individual members, below).  

PSC AGM Motion 9 - BUILDING AN ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-COLONIALIST, PALESTINE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT - ANTISEMITISM AND HOLOCAUST DENIAL

 

One of the most potent weapons of Zionism is the accusation that those who support the Palestinians and oppose Israel’s settler-colonial practices are antisemites who want to see a new Holocaust against Jews.

 

The Zionist movement deliberately blurs the distinction between the ‘Jewish state’ and Jewish people, in order to discredit Israel's critics and cause confusion among the growing number of people whose humanitarian and anti-racist instincts make them eager to support the Palestinian cause.

 

Both racism and antisemitism are features of Zionism. Virtually all far-right and neo-Nazi parties today in Europe are Islamophobic and support Zionism (while often remaining antisemitic).

 

The Palestine solidarity movement, by its very nature, is anti-racist. To allow antisemitism or any other form of racism to gain a foothold would be to undermine the very cause that we support.

 

PSC AGM therefore:

1. Welcomes the statement on the PSC website explicitly asserting its commitment to building a mass solidarity movement, in which expressions of racism or intolerance, or attempts to deny or minimise the Holocaust, have no place.

 

2. Confirms that support for the Palestinians and opposition to Israel's policies is an anti-racist campaign

 

3. Calls on the EC to reinforce these principles by:

a) organising a series of forums to build understanding of Israel as a settler-colonial, apartheid state.

b) publishing educational material to develop understanding of:  

         - Israel’s status as a client state of US imperialism; 

         - aspects of Zionist history, including the non-Jewish origins and Jewish opposition to Zionism, and Zionism's collusion with antisemitism

         - the growing alignment between the Israeli state and openly racist and fascist groups in Europe, including the English Defence League (EDL) and the British National Party (BNP)."

 

SOCIAL GATHERING - MONDAY 19 DECEMBER 7-10PM

You are warmly invited to enjoy our social night, getting in gear for the festive holiday season!

A time to catch up and relax properly over wonderful halal food and drink with your campaigning friends:

MONDAY 19 DECEMBER, 7pm-10pm

Dinner at D'Gaf Restaurant! - http://www.d-gaf.co.uk/

11 Leytonstone Road, Stratford, E15 1JA

£20 for a delicious three-course meal including soft drink

PLEASE RSVP - LET US KNOW YOU ARE COMING ON MONDAY!

EMAIL wfpsc@yahoo.com with your name and number of guests.

We really look forward to seeing you!

URGENT ACTION - TELL OUR COUNCILLORS: 'NO' TO VEOLIA!

TOMORROW on Tuesday 13 December at 9am, councillors from seven North London boroughs (Camden, Barnet, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest) will gather at Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, WC1H 9JE opposite St Pancras Station to hold a North London Waste Authority Board meeting (NWLA), making crucial decisions about whether or not to award contracts worth more than £4 billion to crisis-hit international services conglomerate VEOLIA.

PLEASE URGENTLY CONTACT Waltham Forest's representatives on the NWLA Board:

- CLLR CLYDE LOAKES - cllr.clyde.loakes@walthamforest.gov.uk

Mobile 07812 160124

- CLLR AFZAL AKRAM - cllr.afzal.akram@walthamforest.gov.uk

Mobile 07799 417418

TELL THEM "NO" TO VEOLIA!

DON'T TRASH OUR BOROUGH:

BIN VEOLIA INSTEAD!

As No2VAG campaign puts it: "Join hundreds of residents from across the 7 boroughs who have already communicated their concern about Veolia's appalling practice history, for example guilty of explosions in 2007 that put residents in other parts of the UK in considerable danger, closing the M6 & M55; to Veolia's grave misconduct in aiding and abetting the Israeli violation of international law and human rights of the Palestinians.  No one must be able to say that the NLWA awarded these contracts in ignorance of the complicity of one of the bidders with flagrant and ongoing war crimes."

Tell Clyde and Afzal you want Waltham Forest to have nothing to do with Veolia because:

- Local government regulations allow councils to exclude companies from public contracts if they are guilty of 'grave misconduct'.  Veolia operates the Jerusalem Light Rail, the purpose of which is to consolidate the link between the illegal Israeli settlements with Israel. The Jerusalem Light Rail has been criticised as illegal under international law by the UN Human Rights Council.

- When Veolia advertised for drivers for the Jerusalem Light Rail, it stipulated that applicants must have served in the Israeli military and be able to speak Hebrew to mother tongue standard.  This blatant form of discrimination, which excluded Palestinians, including those who are citizens of Israel, from applying for the jobs, is not compatible with the anti-discrimination policies of UK local authorities. 

- Veolia operates the Tovlan landfill for rubbish from inside Israel in an illegal Israeli settlement in Occupied Palestinian Territory.  Interviews with the Palestinians working at the landfill have revealed terrible working conditions - below minimum wages and a lack of safety equipment and procedures (more info available on request). 

- Veolia subsidiary YARV Sherutei Noy 1985 was recently awarded a contract to collect waste from Israeli military bases in occupied Palestinian territory.  Veolia has now partnered with the Israeli military - which stands accused of committing gross violations of international humanitarian law - and is assisting it to continue its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. 

- Veolia operates bus services along settler-only roads in occupied Palestinian territory. When the Palestinian Freedom Riders boarded a settler-only bus earlier this year, they were dragged off and arrested, simply because they were Palestinians.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED YOU COME ALONG!

MONDAY 21 Nov @ 7.30pm

Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17 9AH

We are incredibly privileged to have two fantastic guest speakers joining us to focus on Jerusalem - Al-Quds al-Sharif, the capital of Palestine

ARTHUR NESLEN

Acclaimed author of Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche and columnist for the Guardian, Aljazeera, Haaretz and others, Art is flying in especially to revisit his local London borough roots and speak exclusively to WFPSC about his latest book of compelling interviews with Palestinians — In Your Eyes A Sandstorm: Ways of Being Palestinian — http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520264274

As the publisher says: "Neslen reaches beyond journalistic clichés to let a wide variety of Palestinians answer the question for themselves.  Beginning in the present with Bisan and Abud, two traumatized children from Jenin's refugee camp, the book's narrative arcs backwards through the generations to come full circle with two elderly refugees from villages that the children were named after.  Along the way, Neslen recounts a history of land, resistance, exile and trauma that begins to explain Abud's wish to become a martyr and Bisan's dream of a Palestine empty of Jews.  Senior Fatah and Hamas figures relate key events of the Palestinian experience — the Second Intifada, Oslo Process, First Intifada, Thawra, 1967 War, the Naqba, and the Great Arab Revolt of 1936 — in their own words. The extraordinary voices of women, children, farmers, fighters, drug dealers, policeman, doctors, and others, spanning the political divide from Salafi Jihadists to Israeli soldiers, bring the Palestinian story to life even as their words sow seeds of hope in the scorched Palestinian earth."

“In this wonderful collection, one can hear the Palestinians speaking for themselves and not through others who may distort or dim their messages. Very few collections have brought home to us so vividly and authentically what it means to be a Palestinian today.” — Ilan Pappe, author of The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian Dynasty

"This highly original work is an important contribution to Palestine literature, especially in the way that personal narrative interacts with and enriches collective-national and public memory." — Nur Masalha, author of Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of "Transfer" in Zionist Political Thought

ANDY SIMONS

Indefatigable local human rights activist and fine jazz musician, Andy curates jazz recording collections and writes extensively for many leading journals and specialist publications, as well as writing his own book Black British Swing.  He will be presenting his personal experiences of and reflections on the West Bank, following his visit there in the summer.

Please bring family, friends and colleagues to support this exclusive event.

Free entry.  Donations for halal/kosher refreshments, Palestinian Zaytoun produce and PSC merchandise.  Wheelchair access.  ALL WELCOME!