Palestine Solidarity Campaign

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is an activist organisation in England and Wales. It was incorporated in the UK in 2004 as Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd.[1]

Palestine Solidarity Campaign logo

Structure

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is an activist organisation in England and Wales, based in London. It is politically unaligned.[2] There are also the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The latter is a separate organisation set up in late 2001 by established Irish human rights and community activists.[3] Jeremy Corbyn, Hugh Lanning and Tony Greenstein have all been involved with the group.[4][5][6] In 2017, Jewish News reported that Lanning (then chair of PSC) was barred from entering Israel; the Israeli embassy in the UK said this was in part due to his connections with Hamas, which the EU had declared a terrorist organisation.[5]

Boycott Israeli goods campaign

In 2010, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) agreed to boycott produce grown on Israeli settlements.[7] The PSC organised disruptions of a performance by the Israel Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall in February 2011. BBC Radio 3, which was broadcasting the concert live, was forced to suspend the broadcast several times due to the protesters' shouting and heckling.[8]

On 28 May 2012, when Israel's Habima theatre company performed at the London Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the PSC and other BDS groups organised a protest outside the building. On 29 May 2012, BBC Radio 4 reported that Habima was "being criticised for performing to Jewish audiences in the Occupied Territories." A PSC press release corrected the report, saying that it was criticising Habima "for performing in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank." After six months of pressure by PSC, the BBC Trust upheld the PSC's complaint.[9] The Trust report stated "the complaint was upheld with regard to Accuracy, not upheld with regard to Impartiality and Fairness."[10] The PSC waged a two-year campaign to block an EU trade agreement, the ACAA, that recognised Israeli pharmaceutical standards as equal to those in Europe. The agreement was passed in October 2012.[11]

Other activism

Sarah Colborne (then director of the PSC) was on board the Mavi Marmara during the 2010 flotilla raid.[12] The PSC arranged a 30 March 2012 "Land Day" protest outside the Israeli Embassy in London.[13]

Launching a campaign against what it termed Israeli apartheid in 2019, the PSC announced that universities in the UK were investing almost £450 million in companies which were aiding in Israeli breaches of international law. It produced a database of these investments.[14] Also in 2019 the PSC signed a letter alongside over 200 other groups calling on the International Criminal Court to begin investigating war crimes committed by Israeli in the Palestinian territories.[15]

In 2021, the PSC organised a march in support of Palestine in London which was attended by over 180,000 people. Other events took place in Bristol, Nottingham and Peterborough. The group was protesting against an Israeli bombing offensive which had killed over 230 people in eleven days.[16] Black Lives Matter supported the march.[17]

In October 2023, Apsana Begum posed with the PSC at their stand at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.[18][19]

See also

References
  1. Duedil. "Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd". Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  2. "About". Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  3. IPSC. "History of the IPSC". Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  4. "Lauren Booth's attack points up new split in PSC". Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  5. "Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign barred by Israel days after boycott law". 12 March 2017. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  6. Unit, Al Jazeera Investigative. "Unprecedented leak exposes inner workings of UK Labour Party". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  7. Reut Institute (2010). "The BDS Movement Promotes Delegitimization of the State of Israel". ReViews. Reut Institute. 16.
  8. Ynet (2 September 2011). "Anti-Israel protest disrupts Philharmonic show in UK". Ynetnews. Yedioth Ahronoth. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  9. PNN. "BBC Trust Admits Failings in Accuracy in News Reports on Pro-Palestinian Protests". Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  10. Editorial Standards Findings Appeals to the Trust and other editorial issues considered by the Editorial Standards Committee (PDF) (Report). BBC Trust. October 2012. pp. 6–7, 24–30. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  11. The Jewish Press. "Israeli Pharmaceutical Sales Certified in Europe". Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  12. Reuters (4 June 2010). "Cameraman: 4 commandos were captured during flotilla raid". Ynetnews. Israel News. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2013. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  13. "Redirecting". www.lexis.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  14. Boxstein, Delilah (19 January 2020). "British universities invest £450m in companies complicit in Israeli crimes: Report". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  15. "The Rights Forum calls for broad protest against passive ICC". The Rights Forum (in Dutch). 27 November 2019. Archived from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  16. Slawson, Nicola (22 May 2021). "Thousands gather in London for Palestine solidarity march". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  17. "Why BLM has thrown its weight behind Palestinian solidarity". The Week UK. 2 June 2021. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  18. "Labour calls for police to investigate UK Hamas supporters – as own MP poses with Palestinian activists". The Independent. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  19. "Keir Starmer refuses to suspend Labour MP who backed Palestine campaign group". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 October 2023.(subscription required)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.