PN Staff

Yemen continues to be one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, on the edge of famine, with something close to a frozen war and a feeble peace process which is not getting much international support – but which has just produced a helpful prisoner release.

Britain could be ending arms sales to both Saudi Arabia and Israel for their war crimes. Those would be the most useful ways of supporting the peace process in Yemen and pressing for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, which is…

Scottish artist Jane Frere, with dozens of volunteers, many from Highlands Palestine, has created two banners with hundreds of hand-written name tags carrying the names of Palestinians who’ve died in Gaza since 7 October. The second SewTheirNames memorial banner (above), which has nearly 2,500 names on it, is on display in Venice as part of an exhibition dedicated to Palestinians.

After right-wing Israeli activists stopped an aid convoy to Gaza, destroyed food supplies, set two trucks on fire and beat up a Palestinian driver, a Jewish-Arab peace group called ‘Standing Together’ mobilised hundreds of supporters on 19 May to protect the aid trucks, which all got through. Standing Together believe their ‘Humanitarian Guard’, which included a convoy of cars, forced the police to take stronger action.

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition has two missions on. The main ‘Break the Siege’ effort involves one large cargo ship, the Anadolu (Anatolia), and a ferry, the Akdeniz (the Mediterranean).

The Anadolu is trying to break the illegal Israeli siege on Gaza by delivering 5,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Akdeniz is said to be carrying hundreds of participants from over a dozen countries including Australia, Indonesia, Ireland,…

On 25 April, Chris Cole and Virginia Moffat went on trial at City of London magistrates court as a result of their action on 29 December at Downing Street protesting against the UK government for being ‘complicit with this slaughter’ in Gaza (PN 2670). They had poured red poster paint on the gates and made bloody handprints, and read the names of children killed by Israel and Hamas.

The two Christian peace activists were found guilty of criminal damage despite making legal as…

Student activism on Gaza has transformed the debate in the US and has grown enormously in the UK.

The first ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’, or tent occupation, was at Columbia university in New York City on 17 April.

It lasted until 4 May, when police cleared tents off the campus lawn for the second time, arresting dozens of people.

The protest was organised by a coalition of 116 student groups: ‘Columbia University Apartheid Divest’. Their main demand was that the…

Owain Parry, Thomas Bell and Mark Redfern carried out a 14-hour rooftop occupation of the Solvay factory in Wrexham, Wales, in November 2021 (the action was co-ordinated by Palestine Action). They accused Solvay of manufacturing components for the Israeli military.

This was admitted by the company at the recent five-day trial of the Solvay Three at Caernarfon crown court. The firm said that it supplied components for Israeli F-35 fighter jets.

The three members of the Welsh…

PN has raised £13,400 for Medical Aid for Palestinians, by giving away badges for a donation, mostly at the national Gaza marches in London – including on 30 March, 27 April and 18 May.

We’ve added two more designs, ‘Stop Arming Israel’ and ‘Stop Starving Gaza’, available along with the original ‘Ceasefire Now’ badge on the PN website.

…

International peace group World Beyond War rented eight bus stop advert slots around the White House in Washington DC (6 May – 5 June), to present this message. It took a lot of fundraising and a lot of pressure on companies to allow ‘political’ advertising.

From 13 – 25 July, there will be an international peace camp at USAF Lakenheath to protest against the plan to bring US nuclear weapons there. The camp is being organised by over a dozen groups in the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace (LAP).

LAP was launched on 26 March when eight women including Angie Zelter ‘crossed the line’ onto base territory at USAF Lakenheath, insisting on delivering a letter to the base commanders.

After almost an hour, the RAF commander of the base,…

Julian Assange has won another chance to appeal against extradition to the US on espionage charges, but he is not out of danger.

The high court in London gave Assange his legal victory on 20 May, after finding that the US government had not given strong enough guarantees or ‘assurances’ that Assange would not be mistreated.

Assange’s lawyers accepted one assurance, that he will not be subjected to the death penalty if convicted in the US.

However, the US government did…

Despite claims to the contrary, there is no evidence that Hamas used rape as a weapon of war on 7 October. 

That is the conclusion of months of investigation by Electronic Intifada, the Grayzone, Mondoweiss, YES! and other independent investigators, who have carefully assembled evidence undermining the credibility of key witnesses. They’ve also shown the ‘evidence’ supplied to be very weak. 

An article that persuaded many people that there…

Every poll since the beginning of the massacre in Gaza has found that a majority of people in Britain want in an immediate end to Israel’s assault. 

Even if we subtract those who only support a ‘pause’ in the war, we still find that a majority of British people who have an opinion back an immediate, unconditional, permanent ceasefire, as called for by UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs.

The latest poll, conducted on 12 and 13 February, found that two-thirds of British people (66…

Israel’s brutal war and starvation campaign in Gaza has continued to spark protest across the UK, with large marches and blockades and property damage at arms companies.

In the last two months, the major Gaza-related protests in the UK have been the national ‘Stop the Genocide – Ceasefire Now’ demonstrations in London, involving tens of thousands. The march went to Downing Street on 3 February, to the Israeli embassy in West London on 17 February, and to the US embassy in South London…

On 13 March, Dr Ray Towey of Catholic Peace Action once again used blessed charcoal to mark the ministry of defence (MoD) in Central London.

He wrote: ‘Trident is Genocide’ and ‘Choose Life Not Terror’ and also drew a cross. Ray was arrested and then de-arrested. ‘Go away and come back to write another day,’ said one of the police officers.

Catholic Peace Action has carried out this ‘Lenten witness’ almost every year since 7 March 1984.

A month earlier, on Ash Wednesday…