Launch Rally
Tuesday 30 January 2007, 19.00-21.00
Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
In a tremendous show of unity, over 500 people packed Friends House to hear Palestinian, Israeli and British speakers welcome the Enough! coalition, a new initiative campaigning to end Israel's occupation and to bring justice to the Palestinian people.
This broad-based coalition brings together charities, trade unions, faith and other campaign groups working for peace and freedom for all the people of the region based on justice and equality.
Two speakers from Gaza, Dr. Mona el-Farra and Zakaria Abu Harbid, were unable to attend the launch because of border closures imposed by the Israeli army. However, Mr. Harbid’s prize-winning film of the slaughter of a family on the beach in Gaza was shown.
Jeremy Corbyn MP, chairing the launch, said: "You don't get peace from F-16 jets and walls and watchtowers and listening devices and security services. You gain peace through respect and justice."
Sharif Omar, a farmer from Jayyous in the West Bank, spoke of how the land is being expropriated by the Israeli separation wall, and how Israeli restrictions at all levels, from farming to harvesting and selling the produce, were destroying the agricultural economy in Palestine. He urged the meeting "to support the resistance in both sides, in Israel and Palestine, against occupation".
He was supported in this by Yonatan Shapira, an Israeli ex-pilot and member of Combatants for Peace, who called for action from the international community: "Without pressure, without sanctions, without isolating the government in my country, we have no chance for peace. We have no chance to end occupation, we have no chance to end the apartheid, end the mutual suffering of all the people there. After many years, I eventually learned how to say no. I think now it’s about time that civil society and the leaders of this country and Europe and the rest of the world learned how to say no."
He explained that he felt compelled to come to the launch after hearing that his Palestinian friend’s daughter had recently been shot dead by Israeli border police outside her school.
Professor Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, said: "What we want is our right to self-determination because we are a world nation fighting for our existence. We don’t want charity. That’s why it is ludicrous to see the international community imposing collective punishment on the Palestinians because they are practising their right to democracy."
Tony Benn welcomed the launch of Enough, saying: "The Palestine question is the central, long-term question in the Middle East and there will be no peace in the Middle East until the Palestinians have their rights."
The meeting was told of the future events planned by the coalition:
- A month of local activities in April to highlight the plight of Jerusalem
- A national demonstration on 9 June
- A lobby of parliament on 28 November
See the links on the right hand page of this website for more details on all these and other future events.