London stands with Palestine!

By Theo Russell

Thousands of supporters of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality protested outside the Israeli embassy in London last Saturday, one of more than 25 actions marking one year since the start of the Great Return March to the border with Israel. They were responding to the call of the Palestinian Forum in Britain and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), supported by the Stop the War movement and the Muslim Association of Britain, to show solidarity with the victims of Zionist terror in the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

Israel’s armed forces have killed more than 200 unarmed demonstrators, and injured and maimed more than 27,000 other civilians, since the beginning of the border protests –  more than during the war on Gaza in 2014.

On 22nd March the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to adopt a report condemning Israel’s “intentional use of unlawful lethal and other excessive force” against civilian protesters in Gaza in 2018. The resolution passed with 23 countries voting in favour, 8 voting against and 15 abstaining. The PSC has condemned the UK government’s decision to abstain in the vote, shortly after the UK supported resolutions promoting accountability for human rights violations in Sri Lanka and Nicaragua yesterday. The UK government also voted against four further resolutions relating to human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan, the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israeli settlements in occupied territories, all of which passed. The resolution relating to the Palestinian right to self-determination had 41 votes in favour and only three against, putting the UK at odds with the vast majority of the UN Human Rights Council.