East Bristol MP Kerry McCarthy MP speaks out at Palestinian Conference

bristol | peace | news report

Sunday April 27, 2008 10:40

by Truth Monkey - General Public

Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East and member of the All-Party Britain-Palestine Group, was one of the speakers at the Palestinian Nakba Conference at the Malcolm X Centre in Bristol on Saturday 26th April 2008.

Kerry McCarthy (centre), and Professor Ilan Pappe speak at the Nakba Conference on Palestine at the Malcolm X Centre, Bristol

Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East and member of the All-Party Britain-Palestine Group, was one of the speakers at the Palestinian Nakba Conference at the Malcolm X Centre in Bristol on Saturday 26th April 2008.

2008 is the sixtieth anniversary of the Nakba (Arabic for "The Catastrophe"), the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948. Zionist forces expelled approximately 750,000 Palestinians - almost 2/3 of the populations - from their homes. The Nakba continues today.

The guest of honour at the conference was political science Professor Ilan Pappe, who recently fled to Britain after receiving daily death threats in his native Israel for his views. He was a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa until his outspoken call for a boycott of Israeli universities until Israel recognises the rights of the Palestinians, led to his receiving death threats. He now teaches at the University of Exeter

Strong debate and strong and strong feelings characterised the conference, with an articulate and persuasive Professor Ilan Pappe urging the conference to focus on ideology not on policies when protesting about the Palestinian issue. Kerry McCarthy illustrated her commitment to the Palestinian cause as a member of the All-Party Britain-Palestine Group, and also took the flak from a few audience members who used her presence to focus their anger about the general Labour Party stance on Middle East issues.

Several workshops took place to coordinate action for the forthcoming National Demonstration for Palestine on Saturday 10th May 2008. To find out more contact info@palestinecampaign.org

Other groups attending the Bristol event included

www.bethlehemlink.org.uk

http://bristol.amnesty.org.uk/

bristolstopwar@hotmail.com

For more information on the Nakba visit www.palestinecampaign.org/?sel=81

Prof Ilan Pappe, Exeter University www.ilanpappe.org/

Local highly informative site http://israel-palestine.janineroberts.com/

Evidence of lost Palestine www.palestineremembered.com