In These New Times

ISRAELI TERROR UNLEASHED ON GAZA

Since the start of “Operation Cast Lead”, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and wounded over 4,580 others — 40% of whom are women and children. If any other country in the world, “democracy” or not, had unleashed an onslaught of such devastating ferocity against 1.5 million defenceless people caged in the most densely populated area on earth, the British government, along with governments across the world, would be expelling its ambassador (as Venezuela and Bolivia have done), stopping arms sales to that country (as Greece has done) and making plans for a wider embargo if the carnage did not stop.

We must continue to oppose the slaughter in Gaza and pressurise our politicians to call for a ceasefire now, and to expel the Israeli ambassador from the UK to express our disgust at the treatment of the people of Gaza. On Saturday Britain saw its biggest ever solidarity demonstrations for Palestine with over 100,000 marching to the Israeli embassy in London, over 10,000 to the US consulate in Edinburgh, and hundreds more on other protests in Aberdeen, Inverness and Sheffield.

ISRAEL BROKE THE CEASEFIRE

For 18 days the Israeli Government has justified to the world that their decision to unleash a massive military campaign against the people of Gaza was as a direct result of Hamas‘ breach of the ceasefire brokered by the Egyptian Government. Hamas has always stated that between June 2008 and November 2008 they did not fire a single rocket into Israel. In a recent interview given to Channel 4 News, the Israeli Government’s official spokesman Mark Regev finally admitted that Hamas did not break the ceasefire.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SILJxPTqjAM

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PROTEST BIASED BBC COVERAGE OF GAZA

In the interests of “balance”, which apparently is the reason that the BBC’s coverage of Israel’s terrorism has been so one-sided in favour of mass murderers, we note that 13 Israelis have died since the attack on Gaza began: four of whom were civilians and four of whom were Israeli soldiers killed by their own army. The Israeli army’s declared intention is to be “very violent” to ensure minimal casualties for its forces. It is clearly working, at a rate of 90 Palestinians killed for every Israeli death. There haven’t been enough injuries reported among Israelis to “balance” against the thousands suffered by the Palestinians, and there has been no damage to Israel’s infrastructure to “balance” against the schools, medical centres, mosques, universities, residential homes and refugee facilities destroyed by Israel’s bombs.

Join the protest against the biased reporting of the BBC tonight by the river Clyde.

END THE NEWS BLACKOUT

TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT GAZA

THURSDAY 15 JANUARY

4.30-6.30PM

BBC HEADQUARTERS

PACIFIC QUAY (opposite SECC)

bring along:

• friends, flags, banners, and placards
• words from the people of Gaza
• facts about the history of Palestine & what is happening on the ground today
• pictures of Saturday’s demo in Edinburgh (the BBC wasn’t there!)
• questions for BBC presenters to ask government ministers to get at the truth

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STUDENT’S SOLIDARITY OCCUPATION FOR GAZA WINS DEMANDS

Students at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) occupying the Brunei Gallery in solidarity with Gaza have declared victory after winning significant demands from the university management.

These include an agreement that there will be no military on campus without prior consultation with the student union. A motion passed yesterday by the student union opposes all military presence on campus. It stands for the next five years.

The occupying students will also have exclusive use of the gallery space until end of day Friday. This time will be used to hold meetings on issues related to Israel’s assault on Gaza, such as boycotting Israeli goods and Israeli war crimes. Tariq Ali is already confirmed to speak at the space tomorrow.

University authorities have also agreed that students will be able use the lecture theatre and gallery for their own use throughout the year. Previously the rooms cost £1,000 to hire for a day – though the Ministry of Defence got it for free.

There will be no repercussions for the students involved in the occupation of the gallery. The mood here remains defiant and ready to ramp up the campaign for solidarity with Palestinians.

http://soassolidarity4gaza.blogspot.com/

Send messages of support to the SOAS students

SOAS.occupation@googlemail.com

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VIDEO: RAPPER LOWKEY AT THE HYDE PARK RALLY

A star in the making? Lots of people attending last Saturday’s London demonstration have contacted Stop the War asking who the rapper was who performed Long Live Palestine at the Hyde Park rally and rightly received a tremendous response from the tens of thousands watching. His name is Lowkey and you can watch his performance at the rally on YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/87k84p

If you click the “more info” button when watching the video, the lyrics of Long Live Palestine are displayed. Here are some of them:

Palestine

Ramallah

West Bank

Gaza

This is for the child who is searching for an answer

I wish I could take your tears and replace them with laughter

Long Live Palestine

Long Live Gaza

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Glasgow Stop the War Coalition
WEB: www.stopwar.org.uk
EMAIL: glasgowstopwar@gmail.com
POSTAL ADDRESS: C/o Dave Sherry, Branch Secretary, TGWU Scottish Housing Branch, TGWU Offices, 290 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4LD.

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