Action Palestine

From ManUniOccupation

Support Gaza
Support the Student occupations

National student protest – Manchester
Wednesday 4th March – 2pm
University of Manchester Students Union

Support us by:
- Mobilise people for the protest on Wednesday.
- Publicise this demo, via mailing lists, blogs, websites, etc.
- Email the Vice Chancellor (president@manchester.ac.uk) demanding him to negotiate with us.

A national demonstration has been called in support of the student occupations. It’s crucial that we have as much representation from different Universities, Colleges and Schools as possible.

We in Manchester have been in occupation for almost four weeks now, yet the University has so far refused to negotiate with us. The University still invests in the arms trade, leading to some students having to disrupt a DSTL stall (an agency of the MoD) at an official graduate recruitment fair.

The Vice Chancellor Alan Gilbert has threatened expulsion for students who are involved.

Our demands are in line with current Union policy having received an overwhelming majority at an Emergency General Meeting, attended by over 1,100 students.

Being the biggest university in the UK, all eyes are on Manchester, and the success of the occupation here is critical to the success of the national movement.

A full list of our demands can be found at our website.

The website for the occupation is http://manunioccupation.wordpress.com/.

For more information please email us at, manuni@actionpalestine.org

From BBC

A group of students have occupied part of Newcastle University in a protest at the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
About 25 members of Newhttp://www.actionpalestine.org/wp/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=595&message=6#edit_timestampcastle University Gaza Solidarity Campaign entered the fine arts department lecture theatre on Tuesday night.
A university spokesman said student demands would be discussed but only when the sit-in ended.
The students want the university to publicly condemn recent Israeli attacks in the region.
University security staff are dealing with the situation with a local community police officer offering advice.

Medical aid
A spokesman for the demonstrators said: “We believe that our institution should speak out in support of Palestine and issue a public statement condemning Israel’s recent attack on Gaza and the continuing illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.”
The group also wants the university to create a scholarship programme for Palestinian students and contribute cash to medical aid.
A university spokesman said: “The students have submitted a petition which we will discuss, but only once the demonstration ends.
“The protest is peaceful at the moment, but the police are aware of the situation.
“The business of the university is not being affected and other students are attending lectures as normal.”
More than 18,300 students attend at the university, of which 4,300 are classed as overseas.
More than 1,300 Palestinians, including 400 children, have been killed since Israel began its land, sea and air operations against Hamas militants on 27 December. More than a dozen Israelis have died.
The DEC, which represents more than a dozen aid agencies, is appealing for money to buy food, medicine and blankets after both sides announced a ceasefire.

From Amnesty International
16 March 2009

A group of 16 of the world’s leading war crimes investigators and judges – backed by Amnesty International – has urged the United Nations to launch a full inquiry into alleged gross violations of the laws of war committed by both sides during the recent conflict in Gaza and southern Israel.

An open letter – entitled ‘Find the truth about Gaza war’ – was sent to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday. The letter’s signatories include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and judge Richard Goldstone, formerly Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.

A UN inquiry is currently investigating attacks which were carried out against UN facilities and personnel in Gaza during the three-week conflict.

“The UN investigation is not sufficient as a response to the grave violations that were committed during the conflict. Hundreds of civilians were killed or injured, and it is vital that the circumstances in which they were attacked are fully investigated,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“Those responsible for war crimes or other serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses must be held to account.”

“What is needed is a comprehensive international investigation that looks at all alleged violations of international law – by Israel, by Hamas and by other Palestinian armed groups involved in the conflict.”

The letter’s signatories – who have led investigations of crimes committed in former Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Darfur, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, East Timor, Lebanon and Peru – say that they have been “shocked to the core” by events in Gaza.

They have urged world leaders “to send an unfaltering signal that the targeting of civilians during conflict is unacceptable by any party on any count.”

The letter calls for the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry into the Gaza conflict that:

· Has a mandate to carry out a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation of all allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the conflict

· Acts in accordance with the strictest international standards governing such investigations

· Can provide recommendations as to the appropriate prosecution of those responsible for gross violations of the law by the relevant authorities

Prof. William A. Schabas, former member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said: “The international community must apply the same standard to Gaza as it does to other conflicts and investigate all abuses of the laws of war and human rights.”

The number of Palestinian children being arrested and detained by Israeli authorities continued to rise in February. According to the latest figures compiled by DCI-Palestine from sources including the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), the number of Palestinian children (12-17 years) detained in Israeli facilities at the end of February was 423. This represents a 37.8% increase over the corresponding period in 2008.

Child appearing in Ofer Military Court, West Bank

DCI-Palestine cannot be sure why the Israeli army is now arresting more children, some as young as 12, but suspects that it is related to the increase in number of public demonstrations in the West Bank against the recent war in Gaza.

Table 1 Number of Palestinian children in Israeli detention Year/Month

Among these children in detention are seven girls, and a further six children held in administrative detention under Israeli Military Order 1591, which provides for detention without charge or trial.
On 6 March 2009, the President of Defence for Children International (DCI) wrote a letter to the Israeli Minister of Justice, Mr. Daniel Friedmann, seeking an official explanation as to why the Israeli army is arresting so many Palestinian children. At the date of issue of this bulletin, Mr. Friedmann has not replied to DCI’s request.
DCI has also notified the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of these developments, as Israel is party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child which stipulates: ‘[T]he arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.’ Art. 37b