[Palsem09] Paragraph on Palestine for IIRE Newsletter

[Bertil Videt]

Dear comrades,

See below our text on the Palestine Seminar for the March issue of the IIRE
monthly newsletter. Kindly let us know asap if there are any problems or
objections.

If you do not already receive the newsltter, you can sign up at the front
page of www.iire.org
*
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IIRE Palestine Seminar*

>From 14-17 February, IIRE held a timely Seminar on Palestine, gathering 29
participants from Lebanon, Israel, Morocco, The Philippines, Canada, France,
Italy, Britain, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. The Seminar, conducted
with simultaneous translation in English, French and Arabic, was a unique
congregation of radical activists working in solidarity with the people of
Palestine. Topics such as the imperialist strategy of USA and EU in the
Middle East, the impact of the Zionist project in the region and current
Israeli policies laid out the background for an in-depth discussion and
assessment of the Palestinian national movement. Furthermore, the debates
carried forward to the more long-term perspectives for Palestine.

Despite differing approaches, the participants agreed on condemning the
recent attacks against Gaza and unconditionally supporting the Palestinian
people and their struggles: the right to self-determination without any
external interference; the right of return for refugees or compensation for
those who demand it; equal rights for the Palestinians, whatever their
condition since 1948. Furthermore, seminar participants reaffirmed their
solidarity with the struggle to dismantle the Zionist state -that represents
a racist and colonialist project at the service of imperialism, and in
favour of a political solution in which all the peoples of Palestine (Arab
and Jew) can live together in full equality. Finally, a brief discussion
concerning the Palestinian majority in Jordan and the need to dismantle that
absolute monarchy was elaborated throughout the four days.

The seminar ended with a commitment to produce a Notebook on the basis of
the talks at the seminar and to gather a broader seminar next year. One of
the most practical outcomes at the end of this IIRE session was the call for
supporting the Boycott-Divestment-Sanction (BDS) campaign, initiated in 2003
by more than 170 NGOs, associations and Palestinian parties.

For more background on radical views on the conflict, we recommend the
reader prepared for the IIRE Palestine Seminar.

http://gate.iire.org/readers/en_palsem09reader.pdf  (English)
http://gate.iire.org/readers/fr_palsem09reader.pdf    (French)

*Public Meeting: Palestine, Solidarity and the Left
*
Taking advantage of the high-level profile of those participating in the
Palestine Seminar, IIRE -together with the Dutch bimonthly Grenzeloos,
organised a public forum on Palestine. The evening started with clips from
the documentary movies 'Generation Intifada' and 'Aloha Palestine' by
radical filmmakers Chris Den Hond and Mireille Court. After this, Gilbert
Achcar, IIRE fellow and Middle East expert, spoke about the international
context of the latest war in Gaza. Sergio Yahni, of the Alternative
Information Centre, offered a general summary of the political situation
inside Israel and spoke specifically on the anti-war movement and the
usefulness of boycotts and sanctions against the Israeli state. The final
speaker was Lot van Baaren, a trade union and Palestine solidarity activist
from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She spoke about the prospects for the Dutch
labour movement stepping up its solidarity with Palestine. The entire
evening placed emphasis upon the important role that grassroots solidarity
can play in the search for alternatives. The audience was a mixed group of
over sixty people consisting of mostly activists, students and local
political figures of the Dutch left.

The three talks can be downloaded as mp3 files here
http://www.iire.org/content/view/160/1
-- 
Bertil Videt
-------------------
Executive co-Director
International Institute for Research and Education

www.iire.org
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