Islam Times - “UK govt. must help stop systematic abuse of Palestinians”

Islam Times - Palestine campaigners in the UK are calling on Britons to put pressure on the coalition government to hold Israeli regime to account for the systematic abuse of Palestinians.

In a conference on Saturday, chairman of Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Hugh Lanning said the Israeli regime is violating international law with “impunity”, and this is something the people of Britain must urge their government to help stop.

"The policy of governments including our own not to talk to the legitimate representatives of Palestinians is wrong and short sighted," he said.

Lanning, who is also the deputy general secretary of Civil Service union PCS, added that you cannot separate the issues affecting the besieged Gaza Strip and the wider Palestinian struggle.

"Palestinians living in Gaza consistently send a clear message that their struggle is not just about the situation of the 1.6 million Palestinians besieged in Gaza but is an integral part of the struggle of all Palestinians for freedom, justice, equality and self-determination.

"And this must include the right of return", noted Lanning.

Former Labour MP Phyllis Starkey said that the UK government must be forced to consider Palestinian security in the same way they consider Israeli's.

MP Phyllis pressed for products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to be labelled as such in 2009.

PSC student officer Azeem Sayani, who organises weekly Skype conversations between students in London and Gaza, told the conference that students there have to study by candlelight as there is only six hours of power a day.

And Palestine Centre for Human Rights founder Raji Sourani warned: "There is no hope for peace with this Israeli regime.

"There is only one free person in the West Bank - the settler, the occupier the one with gun."