add this to your site

 

 

 

 

• Appeals for support
• Forthcoming events
• Records of past JfJfP activities
• Signatories
• About JFJFP
• Understanding the conflict
• News/latest
• Fact Sheets
• JfJfP in our communities
• Student JfJfP
• Related Organisations
• Protesting to government officials
• Contacting the media
  
  
• Search

Record of past JfJfP Activities

Recent actvities

In recent months Gaza has predominated. The archive page will be updated properly in due course but for now material will be found by opening links on our home page or directly on the Gaza pages, including:

a) Our advert in the Times, 14 Jan, with 570 Jewish signatories, headed End the Slaughter in Gaza. You can download an A4 PDF of the ad;
b) Our open letter to Gordon Brown immediately following the Israeli bombing on 27 Dec 08;
c) 'No Room for Racism' Press Release, 8th January 2009
On 7th January reports in newspapers speak of threats against British Jews as revenge for the brutal invasion of Gaza. We responded with an immediate press release, affirming that ' There is no place for racism of any kind in a solidarity movement' with the support of PSC, CAABU, War on Want, Arab Media Watch, Action Palestine, GMB, FBU, Jeremy Corbyn MP, the Stop the War Coalition, Interpal, the Amos Trust and JSG as well as the PLO General Delegation in the UK.
See the press release.

1. Letter published in The Independent, 24 July 2008

Israeli soldiers escape prosecution over deaths of unarmed civilians (Independent’s title)

Your report (Bound Palestinian protester shot by soldier, July 22) shows yet another instance of the violence perpetrated by the Israeli Defense Force against unarmed people who resist the occupation. B’tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation, has recorded 25 cases of beatings and/or abuse of Palestinians by the Israeli Defense Force between 2005 and 2008. Many cases involve more than one victim.

More serious are the thousands of deaths and woundings of unarmed Palestinians, and of some Israeli and international activists. According to B’tselem, 4,748 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces from the beginning of the Second Intifada (September 2000) to 30 June 2008. However, of these 2,219 (47%) were definitely not taking part in fighting, and there was doubt about whether another 871 (18%) were taking part. In the same period, 386 Palestinians were killed in “targeted killing” operations, but 154 (40%) were merely bystanders – “regrettable” casualties as the IDF would have it.

The high profile cases include the killing of the British and American students Tom Hurndall and Rachel Corrie; the British, Palestinian and Italian cameramen James Miller, Fadel Shanaa and Rafaele Ciriello; and the German doctor who was treating injured Palestinians, Harald Fischer. All were clearly identifiable as non-combatants.

The facts speak for themselves. There are far too many cases to be just the actions of a few undisciplined soldiers. At the very least, there is a culture of impunity in the IDF. At the worst, it is a culture of deliberate, intimidatory violence up to and including murder.

Arthur Goodman
Jews for Justice for Palestinians

2. Richard Kuper spoke on behalf of JfJfP at the Manchester Palestine Lives rally, Saturday 7 June 2008. Watch it on YouTube.

3. Pesach advert, Jewish Chronicle, 18th April 2008.
Download quality PDF ; view subsequent correspondence in the JC.

2. Letter published in the Jewish Chronicle, 14 March 2008

The editor
The JC

Henry Grunwald’s "If Israel enters Gaza, Anglo-Jewry will be ready" (JC, 29 February) should not be allowed to pass without comment. It simply assumes Anglo-Jewry will support Israel, right or wrong, in anything it does in Gaza. We won’t. We deplore rocket attacks on Sderot or Ashkelon, or shootings in the Jersualem yeshiva. But they are not occurring in a vacuum. A European Jews for a Just Peace delegation visit to Sderot found residents and members at Sapir College expressing very different views from Mr Grunwald. They want a truce, not vengeance - or escalation.

In Gaza 51 civilians were killed last week by Israeli bombings, 27 children and 6 women in one day alone in Jabalya. Yet Mr Grunwald’s central concern seem about ensuring that Israel doesn’t get a bad public image as a result.

There is enormous suffering on both sides, in this asymmetric conflict, in which Israel holds almost all the cards. What is desperately needed is a ceasefire, which Hamas has offered more than once. But trapped by the mantra that one does not talk to terrorists, Israel is sacrificing more of its citizens to the misguided policies of its rulers. In a recent poll, 64 per cent of Israeli voters said they wanted to talk to Hamas to negotiate a cease fire. Surely Anglo-Jewry can accept their lead.

Richard Kuper
Jews for Justice for Palestinians, jfjfp@jfjfp.org

3. Lobby of Parliament, 28th November 2007

 

4. Letter to The Sunday Times 7th October 2007

SHOULDERING THE BLAME:
Marie Colvin and Philip Jacobson (Gaza's deadly guardians and The battle for Gaza , Magazine, last week) paint a vivid, if depressing, picture of life there. It is a picture for which the West and Israel must share some responsibility. Both articles highlight that while there are adherents of building an Islamic state, there are also those who vocally and physically resist - the hundreds of people who flocked to the hospital to protect a popular Fatah leader attest to that. Colvin makes the crucial point that "those who have already travelled are the most angry at Hamas". Perhaps, then, isolation of a democratically elected government - however distasteful its views - is not the best solution? Perhaps,even, if Arafat and Abbas had been able to show their people that the West was serious about a viable Palestinian state, voters would not have turned to Hamas in despair and disgust?

Dan Judelson
Chairman, Jews for Justice for Palestinians , London NW6

5. Sunday 30th September, 7.30-10pm, a public meeting with ADAR GRAYEVSKY and SARIT from ANARCHISTS AGAINST THE WALL was held in London.

6.

An Open Letter to David Miliband... Organised by Jews for Justice for Palestinians Signed by well over three hundred Jews in Britain Published as a full-page advertisement in the Times on 28th September 2007 Dear David In your address to the UN today, we urge you to oppose Israel’s sanctions against the people of Gaza. Amnesty International, Israeli organisations and distinguished Israeli writers have all condemned this move, announced on September 19th, to extend sanctions. As British Jews and voters, we call on the UK government to stand against this collective punishment, a direct violation of international law. The Israeli Deputy Prime Minister described the proposal as cutting off ‘infrastructural oxygen’. In fact, the threat is to the real water and real electricity supplies to the entrapped population of Gaza.  Euphemisms cannot disguise the genuine danger to health and lives. Indiscriminate punishment of Palestinian civilians does not protect the people of Sderot but rather, as the Israeli Peace Bloc Gush Shalom says,  it unites all Palestinians ‘in bitterness and hatred’ against Israelis ‘who will bear the price eventually’. As you said in your speech to the Labour Party Conference, there may be military victories, but there is no military solution. The UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee (August 2007) has called the decision not to speak to Hamas ‘counterproductive’. This week a petition from Israeli writers including David Grossman, Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua says: ‘In the past Israel has negotiated with its worst enemies, and now the correct course of action is to negotiate with Hamas... to prevent further suffering on both sides.’ (Jerusalem Post 23.9.2007) We urge you to heed these words. Full list of signatories You can also download an A4 PDF version of the ad to see how it appeared - but the full page is larger than this reproduction, c.34 X 26 cm.

7. Letter to the Times, 8th September 2007

A pitch for Palestine

Sir, Today at Wembley, 22 Israeli and English footballers, proud to represent their countries, will engage in a sporting contest when they play their crucial qualifier for Euro 2008.

In dramatic contrast, Her Majesty's Government has denied the Palestinian Under-19 squad, equally proud, the chance to travel here to play a number of matches with British clubs. The decision to deny the team their visas is bizarre, taken with no formal reason being given.

Where the UK should have facilitated a morale-boosting tour it has instead proffered double standards. While the Government condemns boycotts and sanctions against Israel, it engages in them against the Palestinians.

It is not too late to rectify the situation; the tour can go ahead more or less as planned. It requires only that the Government treats Palestinian footballers in the same way as their Israeli counterparts. We strongly urge they do so immediately.

SIR TOM STOPPARD
HARRY COHEN MP
SIR GEOFFREY BINDMAN
PROFESSOR FRANCESCA KLUG OBE
RABBI ALEXANDRA WRIGHT
RABBI LARRY TABICK
and 303 others on behalf of Jews for Justice for Palestinians. Read the full list online.

8. Jewish Human Rights Network
Bringing Jewish people together to speak out for Human Rights

Jews for Justice for Palestinians welcomes the establishment of the Jewish Human Rights Network.
We have added our name as an organisation in support of it.

The declaration states that:

"The Jewish people know from their history the consequences of communities standing by silently, whilst others suffer. We must all learn from history if we are not to repeat its mistakes. Having suffered racism, discrimination, collective punishment, torture and genocide, we have a moral duty to speak out whenever we witness such violations."

See the full text of The Declaration on Judaism and Human Rights
and consider adding your name to it.

9. Enough demonstration 9th June 2007

JfJfP poster

 

Some pictures from the Enough! rally on 9th June. For reports of the speeches and more pix.

 

10. Hebron Appeal/Crisis Call, Posted 2 April 2007

On Monday 19th March 2007 hundreds of fundamentalist Jewish settlers, many of them armed, seized a building in Hebron.  There they remain, protected by the Israeli army who allow them continually to augment their numbers and equipment...

Full report and appeal

11. JfJfP helps found The Enough! Coalition to press for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territory and further the cause of a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike. Read the Enough! mission statement and JfJfP's statement

12. 7 February 2007. JfJfP welcomes the launch of Independent Jewish Voices which includes a number of JfJfP signatories amongst its initial supporters. This new organisation will complement our work by directly addressing the issue of who speaks for British Jews.

For more information see the IJV website and the discussion of Brian Klug's annoucement of IJV on the Guardian 'Comment is Free' site

13. Advert in the Jewish Chronicle on Friday 15th December 2006

Advert in the Jewish Chronicle on Friday 15th December 2006 Chanukah greetings from ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER - www.alternativenews.org ANARCHISTS AGAINST THE WALL - www.awalls.org ASSOCIATION FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN ISRAEL - www.acri.org.il BAT SHALOM - www.batshalom.org BREAKING THE SILENCE- www.breakingthesilence.org.il COALITION OF WOMEN FOR PEACE - www.coalitionofwomen.org COMBATANTS FOR PEACE - www.combatantsforpeace.org GUSH SHALOM (PEACE BLOC) - www.gush-shalom.org ISRAELI COMMITTEE AGAISNT HOUSE DEMOLITIONS- www.icahd.org MACHSOM(CHECKPOINT) WATCH- www.machsomwatch.org NEW PROFILE - www.newprofile.org OCCUPATION MAGAZINE - www.kibush.co.il THE OTHER ISRAEL - toibillboard.info - otherisrael.home.igc.org PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS-ISRAEL- www.phr.org.il PUBLIC COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE IN ISRAEL - www.stoptorture.org.il TA'AYUSH (PARTNERSHIP) - www.taayush.org YESH GVUL (THERE IS A LIMIT) - www.yeshgvul.org ZOCHROT (REMEMBRANCE) - www.zochrot.org Advert placed on behalf of the organisations above and paid for by JEWS FOR JUSTICE FOR PALESTINIANS - www.jfjfp.org

14. International Advertisement in Ha’aretz, Hebrew edition, on December 15, 2006

International Advertisement in Ha’aretz, Hebrew edition, on December 15, 2006 The time to negotiate is now Israel said it would never negotiate a prisoner exchange, but now it is. Gilad, Ehud and Eldad will be free when Marwan, Hamdi, Emad and others held for years are also free. A ceasefire was again offered by the Palestinians. This time Israel listened and accepted. The logic is stark: five months of military action brought Sderot less security than a single negotiation. We, Jews of the USA, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Canada, South Africa and Australia call on you to follow this path to its logical conclusion. Lieberman's way endangers the security of Israel and Jews worldwide. Instead, we need to apply the universal values of Jewish tradition: justice, integrity, mutual respect and equal rights. A search for peace cannot be based on force or fundamentalism but only on meaningful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, on the basis of international law. After the ceasefire, end the siege of Gaza. End the Occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Jewish Voice for Peace (USA) Grandparents (Bubbes & Zaydes) for Peace in the Middle East (USA) Jews for Justice for Palestinians (UK) European Jews for a Just Peace (Europe) L’Union Juive Francaise pour la Paix (France) EJJP (Germany) Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (Sweden) Network of Jews Against the Occupation/Rete ECO (Italy) Union Progressiste Juive Belgique (Belgium) Een Ander Joods Geluid (Netherlands) Europæiske Jøder for Retfærdig Fred (Denmark) Jews for Peace (Greece) Jewish Voice for a Just Peace (Austria) Jewish Voice for a Just Peace (Switzerland) Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver (Canada) Not in My Name (South Africa) Jews Against the Occupation, Sydney (Australia) Ha’aretz December 15, 2006

15. Participation in the parliamentary Lobby Day on Gaza, 29th November 2006 - see the Council for Arab-British Understanding press release.

Some previous activities or actions

1. Letter of protest re attacks on Pilger film
2. Campaigning information on the EU-Israel Association Agreement
3. Letter of support to Kibbutz Metzer and their response to us
4. Amazon supporting Israel?
5. Statement presented at visits to embassies Nov-Dec 2002
6. Photos from, and report of, the April 2003 solidarity tour of the West Bank
7. Leaflet handed out at PSC rally on 17 May 2003
8. Richard Kuper's address on behalf of JfJfP to the PSC rally on 17 May 2003
9. Press release from European Jews for Just Peace (EJJP) on delegation about EU trade rules.
10. Message of thanks for support from the parents of Matan Kaminer
11. Press release from European Jews for Just Peace on Israeli government actions. 15 June 2003.
12. Manchester citizens memorial to all people killed in Israel/Palestine
13. Photos of protests against Sharon's visit to London, 13th-16th July 2003
14. Peace needs bridges not walls. Leaflet handed out at 14th July demonstration against Sharon.
15. Photos and Report of Manchest Apartheid Wall event, 12th July 2003
16. Photos of JfJfP Garden Party, London 21st July 2003
17. Two JfJfP supporters took part in sponsored cylcle rides and raised money to support Israeli refuseniks. Paul Bragman and Mike Cushman raised over £500 between them.
18. Following two good articles on the Manchester Apartheid Wall Demo and JfJfP, Hymie and Ruth wrote a brilliant letter to the Jewish Telegraph. However, the regional Jewish newspaper chose to silence JfJfP and printed a page long letter denouncing the rally "Anti-Israel demo just like Nazis" . Read the letter.
19. Palestinian and Israeli women's peace tour of the UK. September 2003.
    Report of the tour
    Photograph from the Jewish Chronicle;
    Guardian article
20. Text of advert appearing in the Jewish Chronicle on 3 October 2003, promoted by European Jews for a Just Peace, calling for an honest Israeli commitment to peace. The advertisement had 424 signatures.
21. JfJfP statement in memory of Edward Said
    

    To all family, friends of Edward,

    We are extremely sad to learn of the death of Edward Said. Aware of his invaluable work for Palestinian justice, we grieve his death as a tragic loss to the fight for justice in the world. It is as much a cause of sorrow for Jews as for Palestinians, and for the world at large. His critical voice, his learning, his compassion, will remain a source of inspiration for us.

    Irene Bruegel
    Richard Kuper
    Lynne Segal
    Benita Parry.
    On behalf of Jews for Justice for Palestinians

22. 9 November Wall must Fall Day of action
• London leaflet
• Photos from London activities
• Photos from Manchester activities
• Report on world-wide action
  
23. Leaflet handed out at the Zionist Federation Fair, 14th December, 2003 Islington, London.
24. Photos of Just Peace UK Alternative Carol Concert: Trafalgar Square, 22 December 2003
    This concert prompted a wave of hate mail to JfJfP and JPUK members from right wing pro-zionist US groups. This is covered in an aljazeera.net article and in the Guardian on-line
    
25. On 31 December 2003 in Bethlehem six members of JfJfP and European Jews for a Just Peace planted 300 Olive Trees at Daher’s Vineyard. The trees were donated by Jews from all over the UK - from Glasgow to Bristol, Newcastle to Totnes – in the names of their children and grandchildren or in memory of their parents and grandparents, including victims of the holocaust. Six of the trees were dedicated to the memory of Ruth Cohen a peace activist in South Africa, Israel and Britain who died in London on Christmas Day 2003. She is remembered with great affection as co-founder of Women in Black and the Israeli women’s peace organization, Bat Shalom.

    The vineyard has been in the possession of the Nassar family since 1924. In 1991 the Israeli government sought to declare it ‘State Land’ under a provision from the Ottoman era that enables the state to take over land untilled for ten years. The family disputed this and in 2003 the Israeli High Court judge declared that the Israeli government had provide insufficient evident to back up their seizure and postponed the final hearing. Technically the ownership of the land is still in dispute.In the year 2000 the Nassar family offered a part of their land for a campsite for the Tent of Nations project – People Building Bridges - which seeks to bring youth of various cultures together to build bridges of understanding, reconciliation, and peace.

    There is a long tradition of Jews collecting money to plant trees in Israel. With so many thousands of olive trees having been uprooted by the Israeli State, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and the European Jews for a Just Peace feels that it is particularly appropriate to make this small gesture of reconciliation by planting trees in Palestine

    Report of JfJfP study tour to Palestine/Israel, December 2003-Janaury 2004
    
    Photos from the JfJfP study tour
26. Letter from Irene Bruegel in the Guardian on 24th January 2004 in support of Jenny Tonge
27. Alexi Sayle (a JfJfP signatory) refers to JfJfP interview in January 2004
    Question about being political
    Alexi,' I always think celebrities should only do charities that harm their careers, because if it helps your career you could have just written a cheque. So I do a lot of stuff for Palestine - I'm in Jews for Justice for Palestinians.'

    Question 'You're Jewish yourself, are you not?
    Alexi 'My mother was Jewish - I always say if it was good enough for the Gestapo, then I'm Jewish.'

28. Video of talk given by Refuseniks Peretz Kidron and Eilat Maoz in Manchester, March 2004
29. Photos from Just Peace UK third Seder, London, 8th April 2004
30. Windows Tour: Photos of Fahmi speaking during the Easter Sunday Service at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Milton Keynes
31. 2004 AGM. 9th May 2004. Papers from discussion on "Antisemitism, racism, the left and conflict in the Middle East"
• Brian Klug - Peace, Power and Prejudice
32. Photos of JfJfP and JustPeaceUK at the Wall Must Fall Rally, Trafalgar Square, 15th May 2004
33. Letter from Irene Bruegel re Rafah in the Guardian 20 May 2004
    The diehard Israeli camp now wants to twist the Geneva conventions to go beyond direct and immediate threats to allow pre-emptive action against civilians. The logic of both Shuli Davidovitch and Dr Landy's defence (Letters, May 19) of current actions in Rafah is the wholesale destruction of Palestinian homes, since they might always "conceal criminal or terrorist activity". Or will the Israeli supreme court now arraign as war criminals those who destroy Palestinian houses which turn out not to have been taken over by terrorists?
34. The following appeal was launched by the Briitsh Shalom-Salaam Trust early in June 2004:

Urgent Rafah Appeal New grant-giving charity, the British Shalom-Salaam Trust, is seeking to organise urgent assistance for the people of Rafah. Patrons Linda Grant, Rabbi Jeffrey Newman, Rabbi Elizabeth Sarah and Professor Avi Shlaim together with Irene Bruegel, Chair of the Trust, have issued the following statement: For the world at large the tragedy in Rafah is already sliding off the front pages. But as Chris McGreal’s devastating interviews (Guardian 4 June) underlined, the nightmare has only just begun for the thousands of Palestinians whose homes have been bulldozed around them. They have nowhere to live, no work, often no possessions other than the clothes they were wearing at the time. For women - whose homes were their lives - the trauma of losing everything, but somehow having to hold their families together, is unimaginable. If there is to be any possibility of psychological and inter-communal healing, the people of Rafah must be helped to rebuild their lives. The Women’s Empowerment Project of the widely respected Gaza Community Mental Health Programme is trying to establish a Post Trauma Intervention Service as urgently as possible. This will deliver very practical help targeted to women in Rafah - counselling, psychological referrals, training in dealing with fire, helping the injured, making cheap candles, and coping with scarce food and water resources. Please help by sending contributions for this Service to: BSST, PO Box 39378, London SE13 5WH If you are tax payer, BSST can secure additional income if you fill in a Gift Aid declaration For more information about BSST, email bsst2004@yahoo.co.uk Amnesty International Report Executive Summary Daily reports from Rafah European Jews for a Just Peace Statement on House Demolitions in Rafah Article by Jeff Halper, Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Palestine Solidarity Campaign leaflet More information

35. In July 2004 347 Jews from Britain, including Israeli citizens living in the UK, have signed an open letter to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, demanding that it acknowledges and represents the opinions of the many British Jews critical of Israeli government actions.

    Signatories range far and wide in the Jewish community and include a member of the Board itself, as well as the director of Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) and many other notable names including Harry Cohen MP, Rabbi John Rayner, Alexei Sayle, Janet Suzman, Dr Jonathan Miller, Harold Pinter, Susie Orbach, Francesca Klug OBE, and Professors Eric J Hobsbawm and Mary Kaldor.

36. Annual Meeting 2005

    Papers for the meeting can be consulted and/or downloaded as follows

    Annual Report 2005 view or download
    Agenda view or download
    The final list of proposals is included as part of the agenda

    Relaunch proposal view or download

    Minutes of 2004 Annual Meeting view or download
    Being more effective, paper by Arthur Goodman - revised version - view or download
    Finance Report view or download

    Henri Picciotto The Case for Selective Sanctions A JVP discussion paper

37. Photos from The Skies are Weeping Concert - Hackney Empire 1 November 2005
    
38. Press release on the General Synod and its divestment decision, 12th February 2006
     
    Jews for Justice for Palestinians welcomes the decision of the General Synod of the Church of England to 'disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar Inc, until they change their policies'.
     
    We are dismayed by Lord Carey’s condemnation of the resolution on the grounds that it 'ignores the predicament of the Jewish people'. Jewish people have nothing to gain from the wanton destruction of Palestinian homes and bulldozing of olive groves and agricultural land, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
     
    We urge the Church of England to stand firm in its resolution and to recognize the diversity of views amongst British Jews. For most, human-rights abuses are unacceptable whoever perpetrates them. 
    
39. Address to the PSC Rally, Saturday 20th May 2006 on behalf of JfJfP. Plus some photos of the march
    
40. Statement on the Lebanon War, 14th August 2006

    We have opposed the war in the Lebanon from the outset, as an unjustified and disproportionate response to Hizbullahís capture of two IDF soldiers and the killing of several others. We have also recognised that the conflict did not begin with an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah on the IDF. There has been a cycle of mutual border provocations ever since the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from the Lebanon in the year 2000. We recognise, too, that Israel is overwhelmingly the more powerful force in this unequal conflict.

    We have participated in a number of demonstrations and events to protest against the war and to call for an immediate unconditional ceasefire and an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Lebanon. The basis of our participation in the demonstrations and calls for a ceasefire have been precise and clear: support for these demands. It is not in any sense an endorsement of Hizbullah's policy or programme or terroristic actions undertaken by it. Our participation has stemmed from our outrage at Israel's acts of war and war crimes. We have marched in solidarity with the people of Lebanon and have grieved on the streets of London for the lives of Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese brutally cut short by the conflict. We have opened a condolence book to allow people to convey their own thoughts to all the mourners at this terrible time.

    We deplore the attacks on civilians perpetrated by both sides in this conflict. While some of Hizbullahís rocket attacks on Israeli towns amount to war crimes they have been in no sense a threat to Israel's existence. Israel's sustained bombardment amounts to state terrorism, and seems designed to break the very fabric of Lebanese society.

    Hizbullah was born in the eighties as an Islamic organization to fight the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. It is responsible for strongly antisemitic documents and statements that we deplore. But we have to see it [i.e. Hizbullah]*in context. As with many groups it has changed somewhat over the years. In particular it has been evolving into a political party with seats in the Lebanese legislature, and support beyond a fundamentalist base. We hope that it continues to evolve into a more pragmatic force, able and willing to work with others in a pluralistic Lebanese society. Israelís actions may well have the effect of undermining the chances of such a development.

    Support for Hizbullah in Lebanon and the wider Arab world has been vastly increased and it is now seen by many as a popular resistance movement. When people from the leader of the Maronite Christians in Lebanon, to demonstrators on the streets of London say “We are all Hizbullah” they are overwhelmingly not endorsing an Islamic fundamentalist programme but what they perceive as a movement of resistance.

    Hizbullah's soaring support and credibility is a direct result of Israelís own actions in this war, actions that have made Israelis less not more secure. We believe that the future of the citizens of Israel, Palestine and Lebanon can only be guaranteed  by a commitment to a just and lasting negotiated settlement of all outstanding issues and a disavowal of the tools of war and destruction.

    *Addendum

    One formulation in this statement has given rise to misunderstanding and we wish to remove any ambiguity. In the third last paragraph where it says: ‘But we have to see it in context’ it is clearly referring to Hizbullah as an organisation. Some people have read it otherwise, as if we were suggesting that antisemitism is justifiable by circumstance. It is not. In no sense whatsoever does JfJfP condone the shocking and gratuitous antisemitism found in Hizbullah statements.

    posted 17th August 2006

41. Scottish Jews for a Just Peace

    This letter, signed by 20 SJJP supporters, appeared in The Herald on August 17th:

    There has been considerable debate and comment in your paper about the conflict in Lebanon and the attitude of British Jews to the war. If reading the letters page was the only way of gauging non-Israeli Jews’attitude to the war, it would seem that there is and was unanimous support for recent Israeli action. We would however, beg to differ.

    It is a point worth making that not all Jews support the actions of the Israeli state in Lebanon and the Occupied Territories, and the level of debate and opposition in Israel itself would suggest we are not alone in this view.

    A group of us marched at the Stop the War demonstration in Edinburgh on Saturday past under the banner of Scottish Jews for a Just Peace, calling for an immediate ceasefire, and were proud to do so. The response we had from others on the march was both moving and affirming; our presence triggering sympathetic discussion and mutual understanding with Lebanese, Syrian and Muslim groups and individuals; a dialogue that opens up real potential towards tackling preconceived ideas and views.

    Whilst we welcome the current ceasefire, we now want to see the fundamental changes that will turn it into a lasting peace. Israel's use of overwhelming force against its neighbours represents collective punishment on civilian populations, which produces not victory but the hatred that will fuel future conflicts. To say this is not to defend Hizbollah's attacks on civilians; we care very much about the security of the people of Israel. But we recognise that their true security will not be achieved by force; in resolving the conflict, peace cannot be separated from justice - above all, justice for the Palestinian people. Without that, there will be no peace.

    We may represent a minority current of Jewish opinion, but believe there are many other Jews living in the UK who feel the same way we do. We would call on them to join us and engage in a meaningful debate about the way forward to peace and justice.

42. 
    

    JfJfP members handing in a letter demanding an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel at 10 Downing Street on 24 July 2006. Later in the morning we handed in copies of the statement and left commemerative flowers at the Lebanese embassy and the Palestinian delegation. However the Israeli embassy barred us from presenting the statement or laying flowers to mark the dead in Israel.

43. Senseless in Gaza: JfJfP statement, posted 6th September 2006

    The invasion of Lebanon has hidden the invasion of Gaza. The Israeli Army is reducing the buildings to rubble, the population to homelessness and penury. There is hardly any water or power, few supplies of food or clothing. Crossings - nominally EU controlled - are closed by Israel. Where fishing was restricted before, now it is banned altogether.

    Having reoccupied Gaza, the IDF is blind to its own failures. They continue to destroy while claiming to be searching for Corporal Shalit, who remains a prisoner. There is no ceasefire here, immediate or sustainable, just state sanctioned violence and murder. Over 220 people were killed in Gaza in August.

    Meanwhile, faced with a failure of ‘unilateralism’ the Israeli government chooses to ignore the obvious lesson. Rather than negotiate they prefer to prolong the crisis by instigating their own abductions of democratically elected legislators and ministers. In the words of Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling, this is ‘politicide’.

    Israel and its armed forces are wasting time and lives. Only negotiations can see Shalit and thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons released to their families. Only genuine freedom for Palestinians will stop Qassam rockets. Israel knows this, and so does the rest of the world. The situation will not be resolved while Israel and international actors behave as though they were deaf, dumb and blind.

44. Hizbullah and the July 2006 War in Lebanon. Text of talk given by Maria Holt to JfJfP AGM, 22 October 2006

Current campaigns

back to top

Page last updated 27 January, 2009