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Flight from aggression
• AT Islington Trades Union Council meeting last week we had as guest speaker Rob Langlands, secretary of Islington Friends of Yibna. He reported on the consistent military air and ground bombardments by Israeli forces of the refugee camp in Gaza, near the border with Egypt.
After three weeks of military aggression from Israeli forces, a ceasefire has been called. The Israeli Prime Minister has proclaimed: “We have achieved our objectives, and more.” Do the objectives of which he talks about amount to the 1,300 and more lives lost, 350 of whom were children. There are 12,000 seriously injured.
The UN and human rights organisations have revealed that 200,000 Palestinians have been driven from their homes by the war in Gaza. Islington Friends of Yibna reports that in the region of Rafah homeless and destitute Palestinians are taking refuge across the border in Egypt, displaced by Israeli aggression.
The Israeli government has given a shallow justification for a military invasion that has seen the bombing of homes, hospitals, mosques and schools, including UN schools, with one UN official accusing Israel of war crimes.
Suspicion will remain about the ceasefire until the international community, notably the UN, has the backbone to put pressure on Israel. This must include an arms embargo, lifting of border controls and the supply of much-needed medical and human aid. The demolition of the apartheid wall that keeps Palestinians captive in their own homelands would be just a first step.
Islington trade unionists will continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza for peace and justice.
MICK GULGUNN
Secretary, Islington Trades Union Council Gary Heather
President
• FLIGHT from aggression Many are outraged at Mark Thompson’s decision to refuse to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee aid appeal for Gaza. The BBC is preventing millions from viewing the short video prepared by www.dec.org.uk.
Like more than 20,000 others I lodged complaints via www.bbc.co.uk/
complaints. I also demonstrated outside the BBC. But I felt that was not enough, so I joined others in the first step of legal action against the BBC. Anyone wishing to join our legal action should contact Equal Justice at www.equal
justice.co.uk
YAEL KAHN
Chair, Islington Friends of Yibna
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