CHANGE THE RECORD, put on an afternoon celebrating Palestinian culture, on Saturday to launch ‘Just Walk to Jerusalem’.
Both were organised by the rights group, the Amos Trust. There was music, food and speeches to send the marchers on their way from London to Jerusalem.
Amos Trust director Chris Rose told News Line as the event at the Southbank got underway: ‘Today marks the 50th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights. 2017 also marks the centenary of the Balfour Declaration and the tenth anniversary of the blockade on Gaza.
‘To mark these three anniversaries, we are walking from London to Jerusalem in solidarity with Palestinians, who are denied freedom of movement. We are walking in solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists. We’re walking in penance for the British government’s broken promises to the Palestinian people in the hope that one day there will be full equal rights for everyone who calls the Holy Land home. Today’s event is a send off for the people who are walking to Jerusalem and who will arrive on November 2nd in celebration of Palestinian culture despite 50 years of occupation.’
Amos Trust staff member Nick Welsh said: ‘Our work is about advocacy. We work with creative grass roots organisations in telling the story of Palestine and celebrating Palestinian culture. That is what today is all about. We want the second part of the Balfour Declaration to be honoured. We want the end of the occupation of the occupied territories and to end the siege of Gaza. And we want the Palestinians’ right to return.’
Amos Trustee Robert Cohen added: ‘What’s exciting about the Just Walk to Jerusalem is that it’s a different way to commemorate the Balfour Declaration which recognises that the centenary can’t be a celebration when the outcome has been a tragedy for another people. I’m coming at this as someone who is Jewish.
‘There are many Jews in Britain who are profoundly troubled by the actions of the state of Israel. But they find it difficult for their voice to be heard. The occupation is tragic for the Palestinian people but it’s become a disaster for Israeli Jews as well.’
Charity worker Nuri Jamir, 31, said: ‘We’ve always got issues across the world – political, religious, economic. The Palestinian issue is a huge one, it’s been going on for years. The developing world causes issues in poor countries. The people of Palestine want peace, they want their rights and they want to call their home, their home.
‘There has to be an end to the occupation. The Palestinian refugees definitely need the right to return to their homeland. They didn’t leave out of choice. I was in Lebanon two years ago. We managed to get down to the border. There were a lot of Palestinian and Syrian refugees there. To see and hear their stories as to how they had to leave their homeland was absolutely heartbreaking.
‘Just the fact that they are all unaware how they are to start their new life, where they are going to get their next meal. I’ve been wearing a bracelet for five years. It was made by a family of Palestinian refugees that were in Lebanon trying to make a life for themselves. It reminds me of how privileged I am living in the UK where I have a job I’m happy in. Whereas for the refugees it’s a means to an end. Workers in Britain need to take action. People need to be made aware about such events as this and sharing experiences with those who have visited Palestine. The trade unions should take action to force the British government to apologise for Balfour. We’ve got to recognise the state of Palestine.’
Robert Cohen told the gathering: ‘Our call is for equal rights for everyone in the Holy Land. Three thousand years ago the prophet Amos made a passionate call for justice.’ Cohen added: ‘Jewish opposition to Balfour is not something you hear much about. You hear much about the “wrong kind of Jews”.
‘The man who would became the leader of the Zionist movement met Balfour in a hotel.
‘Balfour said to Weizman “you’re not like many Jews I know”. Weizman said “you’re meeting the wrong kind of Jews”. But many Jews are opposed to the occupation, who do not want to be associated with Zionism. A recent demonstration of Jews in America said “our right to exist does not mean oppressing others”.’
Ahmed Masoud told the gathering: ‘I’m a Palestinian from Gaza. I’m a British citizen. I can’t go to the West Bank and I can’t go to Gaza because it is under siege. I went to the West Bank last year with an international delegation. When I got to the Allenby Bridge, the Israeli troops stopped me. I was the only one who was stopped. They said it was because I am Palestinian. That’s what the Balfour Declaration means – a child can’t see his parents. I can’t walk to Palestine because I come from Gaza!’
Jack Rose, 18, told News Line: ‘I’m walking to Jerusalem to raise awareness of the situation in Palestine. I feel excited. I’m also anxious about the new experiences of such a walk. The Palestinian situation is terrible. We need change. I’m angry at the suffering of the Palestinians, the way the Israelis treat them. I want to see the end of the occupation – peace and justice in Palestine.’
Ben Jamal of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign told the crowd: ‘Today we are gathering here to see off on a march some of those who are refusing to be neutral and are choosing to help fight against injustice. And are doing so to bring attention to the fact that this is an injustice that has lasted for 100 years.
‘For it was 100 years ago in November that the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, a document that set the framework for the dispossession of the Palestinian people. The principles that informed the Balfour Declaration were made clear in the memo Balfour famously wrote two years later when he stated “the four great powers are committed to Zionism and Zionism be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs in future hopes of far greater import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land.”
‘Those 700,000 Arabs, the Palestinian people, made up 90% of the population! So Balfour was an act of imperialism founded on racist assumptions. Balfour assumes that political decision making could proceed without the participation of the Palestinian people and that the rights of the Palestinians could be disregarded because of “inferior” cultural or ethnic identity.
‘So those marching to Jerusalem do so in opposition to those principles, in opposition to the denial of the right to return to Palestinians, like my grandparents expelled from their home in Jerusalem 70 years ago, in opposition to the military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 50 years old today, and in opposition to the unjust and inhumane siege of Gaza now entering its tenth year.’
Announcing a march on Whitehall on November 4th, he added: ‘Israel has made it clear through its unceasing programme of settlement expansion that it has no intention of allowing the Palestinians to form a state and to enjoy equal rights in their own homeland. It is only international pressure through BDS like that which was applied to end the injustices and apartheid in South Africa that will force Israel to change direction and change policy.’
Palestinian ambassador to the UK Manuel Hassassian said: ‘This march epitomises the march for freedom and independence of the Palestinian people. It marks 50 years of occupation, ten years of the Gaza siege and a 100 years of the Balfour Declaration. We have to support the march to Jerusalem.
‘This march will break the taboo of the Balfour Declaration that Israel can impose its checkpoints on Islamic or Christian worshippers. It will make a celebration of the culture of all peoples of the Holy Land regardless of their religion.’
Comedian Mark Thomas spoke of his experiences when he walked the length of the Israeli Separation (Apartheid) Wall. He said: ‘People living in a Bedouin village don’t have a right to have a home, a water supply, an electricity supply. The settlers have a court. Palestinians are deceived.
‘An Israeli looked at me and said “how are you not aware apartheid is not racism?” This is an apartheid state,’ Thomas went on: ‘Because we were stopped before we decided to travel in different planes and go in different queues at checkpoints. I got up to the border. The colleague next to me was arrested. I said I’m writing a book – about flowers and birds. When you get to Palestine, it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. The desert blooms by itself, the Israelis do not have natural ownership of it.’
Addressing the walkers, he added: ‘You should be proud of what you doing, giving people support in the face of oppression. Get rid of Israeli occupation and its apartheid system.’
Great entertainment was provided by Oud player and singer Kareem, beatboxer Hobbit and the band 47Soul who got the crowd dancing before the walkers set off.
