Date/Time
Date(s) - 6 Sep 2016
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
BHPSC Public Meeting
Tuesday 6th September, 7.30 pm
Friends Meeting House, Prince Albert Street, Brighton BN1 1AF
Two recently returned BHPSC members will report on this devastating destruction process – this year Israel has demolished at least 188 Palestinian homes in the West Bank, leaving some 800 people homeless. They found that, despite this, there is a Palestinian determination to stay, resist and rebuild – and new, strong communities are evolving even amongst these unbearable conditions.
From Jan to August 2016 Israel demolished at least 188 Palestinian homes in the West Bank, leaving some 800 people homeless [B’Tselem, an Israeli Info. Centre]. This is a weapon of war Israel is ramping up to terrorise the Palestinian people and destroy their existence as a viable society. It is central to the policy of ethnically cleansing historic Palestine, creating a racist apartheid state, where full rights are accorded exclusively to Jewish people.
From the destruction in Gaza to the demolition of farming communities in the Jordan Valley, from the planned ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem to the collective punishment of the whole family of any Palestinian resisting the occupation, the intention is the same – Israel did not achieve ‘a land without a people’ in 1948, but fully intends to achieve that now.
Two members of BHPSC, recently returned from Palestine, will report on this devastation. They met with many Palestinians working in diverse projects to resist this destruction. They spoke to women and men from very varied backgrounds, whose homes, schools and businesses had been destroyed. They found a common determination to stay, to resist and to re-build. Through this process resilient and strong communities are evolving – working in circumstances that most of us would find impossible to bear.