Three women representing Palestine spoke at the Council House in Birmingham (11/3/2008) of the situation they continue to face daily at the hands of an occupying force. No one had come from Gaza because of the impossible restrictions placed on its people. There the Israelis say its is because of rockets being fired that such force is necessary, but as one speaker pointed out no rockets come from places like Nablus but it makes no difference to continuing attacks on them by the Israeli army.
I was concerned to learn that there was now no British Consulate in the Palestinian territories. Since the office had closed in Ramallah it was necessary for people to travel to Jerusalem to get visas, a near impossible task. This was true of the United States, but some European states maintain a presence. This seems to me to mark the British approach which is all the time to support the criminal Israeli administration. Many Jewish people are ashamed of what is being done to Palestinian people in their name.

People coming from all parts of the world as settlers on land taken from Palestinians get unlimited support and are virtually free to harass and attack Palestinians. People born in Palestine may be refused the right of return should they venture out of Palestine. Women in labour are still unable to pass through check points to give birth and a number have died as a result. Like apartheid South Africa Israel is a pariah state and should be treated accordingly until they can even begin to respect the human rights of their fellow citizens in and around their territory.