Commemorating Al Nakba

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Commemorating Al Nakba
Nakba Commemoration

Local Government Workers’ March and Rally

Security Council Resolution Not Favourable to Iraq

May 15 is the day of the annual commemoration of the Palestine Catastrophe (al Nakba) of 1948. Fifty-four years later, that crime is still in progress before the eyes of the world, 54 years of the Diaspora of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and the fight for their homeland.

Protests and marches are planned in Gaza to remember the events of May 15, 1948, as the inhabitants of the densely populated coastal strip also prepare for an attack that is anticipated to be even worse than Israeli attacks on the West Bank in recent weeks. According to UNRWA reports, population density is 4,400 persons per sq km in Gaza, while in neighbouring Israeli cities, the density is 82 persons per sq km. Residents of Gaza are stockpiling canned goods, water, medicines. And while they are preparing for the worst, they are also organising marches in almost every refugee camp. Residents of each camp are organising individual marches, and plan to gather together in one unified march in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza.

Demonstrations and rallies are also planned in the West Bank, as well as other parts of the Arab world. Rallies, demonstrations and vigils are taking place world-wide to condemn the crime which befell the Palestinians, to demand the recognition of the statehood of Palestine and to stress the right of return of the refugees.

The Jenin refugee camp will host a special memorial, chosen because of the atrocities committed there recently by Israeli forces.

In a press release issued by the Badil Resource Centre, it was stated that "The experience of the Jenin camp in 2002 illustrates in a nutshell the 54 years-old colonial process in which Palestinian peasants and farmers were evicted eastwards and turned into refugees by Israel in 1948, then denied return and international protection and made to suffer additional displacement in their places of exile until today.

"While international relief and aid efforts are currently focused on rebuilding refugee homes and repairing the damage caused by Israel in 2002, the bombed and bulldozed 'ground zero' in the centre of the Jenin camp has become yet another symbol of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba and resistance for Palestinian refugees."

Residents of Jenin Refugee camp, the camp-based Emergency Committee for Relief and Reconstruction of the Jenin Camp and UNRWA have agreed in principle that in the framework of camp rehabilitation and reconstruction, a public memorial site should be established, in order to commemorate and educate about war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people and its refugees, the Palestine Chronicle said.

Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Peter Hansen, who led a UN delegation to Jenin on April 18 to oversee UNRWA's emergency efforts in the camp and to meet with the traumatised population, said, "Jenin camp residents lived through a human catastrophe."

Today, May 15, is the 54th commemoration of Nakba (Catastrophe) Day. Under the slogan A Cry for Justice – End Israeli Occupation a Vigil is being held opposite Downing Street from Wednesday May 15 to Saturday May 18, culminating in the march and rally for Palestine on Saturday. Details are as follows:

Vigil Opposite Downing Street
Wednesday 15: 5-10 pm
Thursday 16: Midnight-8 pm
Friday 17: 4 pm-Midnight
Saturday 18: Midnight-3 pm
Organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) London

The vigil will end on Saturday May 18 at 3.00 pm when a letter will be handed in to 10 Downing Street. Some of the main speakers at the rally in Trafalgar Square will come to join the vigil and present a letter to 10 Downing Street.

March & Rally for Palestine Saturday May 18
Assemble at Hyde Park [nearest tube Marble Arch] at 12 noon, march to rally at Trafalgar Square

Speakers include

Afif Safieh [Palestinian Delegate to the UK & the Holy See]
George Galloway MP
John Austin MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Bill Spiers [Scottish TUC]
Betty Hunter [Palestine Solidarity Campaign]
Dr Ghada Karmi & Michel Abdul Massih QC [Association of the Palestinian Community UK]
Rev Garth Hewitt
Anas Al Tikrity [MAB]
Kate Hudson [CND]
Ken Cameron [TUFP]
Paul Mackney [NATFHE]
John McFadden [UNISON]
Mike Marqusee [Stop The War Coalition]
Iqbal Sakranie [Muslim Council of Britain]
Michael Rosen
Ismail Musl Batail [Friends of Al Aqsa]
Tirza Waisel [Just Peace UK]

Called by Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supported by the Association of the Palestinian Communities UK, Palestine Return Centre, Al-Awda, the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), Freedom and Justice for Samar and Jawad, General Union of Palestinian Students, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Just Peace UK, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, Trade Union CND, UCATT, UNISON, NATFHE, NUJ, NUM, FBU, BECTU, Stop the War Coalition, Freedom & Justice for Samar & Jawad, Muslim Association of Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa

Further information:
PSC, Box BM PSA, London WC1N 3XX Phone 020 7700 6192

"Jenin: An EyeWitness Account"
CAABU Film Evening
"Jenin: An EyeWitness Account"
By Haifa Hammami
29th May 2002 - 6.30 to 7.30pm
Arab-British Centre 21 Collingham Road, London SW5 0NU
Nearest underground stations: Gloucester Rd and Earls Court
Haifa Hammami visited Jenin Refugee Camp on 27th April, approximately 10 days after the Israeli Army ended its military operations, but before journalists were officially allowed back into the camp.
She will give a short talk accompanied by a 10 minute video taken whilst she was in the camp.
There will also be a display of photos.
Contact Matthew Jackson on 0207 373 8414 for further details
Please note: limited seating availability based on first come, first served basis!

Student Conference on Palestine [London]

Saturday 15th June 2002 - 11.00am to 4.30pm
Upper Hall University of London Union Malet Street London WC1
Speakers:
Afif Safieh - Palestinian General Delegate to the UK
Nur Marsalha - Academic and writer
Dr. Ghada Karmi - Deputy Chair of CAABU
Workshops:
Boycott of Israeli Goods Campaign
Arms Embargo Campaign
Active Observers in Palestine - International Solidarity Movement
Plenary:
Lina Jamoul - NUS Exec
Husam Zomlot - GUPS
Cost:
£3.00
Apply for tickets to the PSC. Make Cheques payable to PSC.
A: PSC - Box BM PSA - London - WC1N 3XX
E: info@palestinecampaign.org Web: http://www.palestinecampaign.org
Organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and General Union of Palestinian Students

8,000 local government workers marched yesterday from Temple Tube Station in the Strand to the TUC’s Congress House in Holborn joining an estimated 60,000 of their colleagues striking in each of the capital’s 32 borough’s in support of a decent wage level in London. Public sector workers union UNISON’s action in support of the workers’ claim for £4,000 London weighting was militant, confident and lively. With banners from UNISON’s Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Tower Hamlets were placards demanding decent pay for London’s public sector workers, an end to low pay and condemning second-class treatment of local government workers. The workers shouted slogans and carried placards declaring Tired of the weighting game -- £4,000 now! and 4K for decent pay.

UNISON’s General Secretary Dave Prentis and London Chair Dave Eggmore, Northern Region representative Veronica Dunn, NEC Scotland representative Jane Carolan, Northern Regional Convenor Yunis Bahksh and London counterpart Geoff Martin were joined by Alex Kennie representing London NUT, UNISON sponsored MP Jeremy Corbyn and NUJ President Jeremy Dear at a rally held at Congress House after the march. All congratulated the success of the strike, praised local government workers in defending their jobs and services, and sent a confident message to the employers – the workers’ cause is just and they are prepared to take action to defend it!

The local government workers are to take further strike action on June 12 and 13 unless the employers meet their demands.

The United Nations Security Council on May 14 adopted a resolution revamping the "oil-for-food" programme for Iraq.

Acting unanimously, the Council extended the programme – which allows Baghdad to purchase relief supplies with a portion of its oil revenues – for six months, while setting up a new system which it claims will accelerate the approval of humanitarian contracts.

Under the new system, it is claimed that states can more quickly process contracts on all goods that are not directly subject to the sanctions, and are not referenced on the document which has been adopted, known as the Goods Review List.

After May 30, instead of being subject to review by the Security Council committee set up to monitor the sanctions against Iraq, these contracts will be processed directly through the UN Office of the Iraq Programme, which runs the oil-for-food scheme. Previously, the bulk of all contracts were processed through the sanctions committee.

The resolution sets up a timetable and system for processing contracts. Applications will first go to the Office, which will forward them to experts from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to determine whether the contract in question contains any item covered by the sanctions or included on the List. All applications containing any military goods will be rejected, while experts will pay particular attention to so-called "dual-use" items, namely those which might have both civilian and military applications.

Items on the 300-page list of goods including computers, vehicles, chemical compounds and telecommunications equipment may be imported, provided that the UN arms inspectorate and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) express themselves satisfied that the goods will not be diverted to military purposes.

If the application in question has an item on the List, the UNMOVIC and IAEA experts will provide the sanctions committee with an assessment of the humanitarian, economic and security implications of the approval or denial of the good in question, including the risk of diversion for military purposes.

What Iraq is demanding, however, is a lifting of the blocking of imports in general and humanitarian products in particular. The goods review list appears to perpetuate the "dual-use" list which has meant that a wide range of commodities which the US and Britain have deemed could conceivably have a "military" use have been blocked.

Iraq’s UN ambassador, Mohammad al-Duri, said that Resolution 1409 would complicate rather than ease the delivery of goods to Iraq under the "oil-for-food" programme. "The way in which the plan has been presented is a US way," Mohammad al-Duri told Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite television channel. "What they call a goods review list is a long list prejudicial to the Iraqi economy and directly to the Iraqi people," he said. "The procedures are numerous and complicated. They aim only at blocking the entry of humanitarian products in particular and other goods in general."

The arrival of goods under the GRL will be "more delayed than in the past and will be costly for the Iraqi people," Iraq’s UN ambassador said, adding that "the Iraqi government will study (the resolution) closely before taking a decision" on it. But, he said, "we consider all Security Council resolutions that do not lead to a lifting of the embargo imposed on Iraq open to question. The Iraqi people demand the lifting of 12 years of suffering." He added, "The United Nations has not fulfilled its commitments toward Iraq, which has applied all (relevant) resolutions."

Iraqi officials have repeatedly accused the US administration, which is openly threatening to unseat Saddam, of twisting arms at the Security Council to ensure that it perpetuates the sanctions on Iraq.