Events: MEP Caroline Lucas Addresses 'Free Palestine' Meeting In

Events: MEP Caroline Lucas addresses 'Free Palestine' meeting in

Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton May 17th 2007

MEP ADDRESSES BRIGHTON 'FREE PALESTINE' RALLY

- UK FAILURE TO RECOGNISE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT IS EXACERBATING POVERTY AND CONFLICT, LUCAS WARNS

Event: Green Party MEP addresses 'Free Palestine!' meeting

Place: Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton

Time: Thursday, May 17th, 7.30pm

Green Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas called on the Government to recognise fully the Palestinian Government of National Unity - and impose South

Africa-style sanctions on Israel. Dr Lucas, who had just returned from a visit to Gaza as a member of the European Parliament's official delegation to the occupied Palestinian territories, made her comments at a ‘Free Palestine’ meeting held at the Brighthelm Centre in Brighton on Thursday May 17th. and called jointly by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the ENOUGH! Coalition.

She said: "I saw at first hand how the poverty and suffering of the Palestinian people has actually increased in recent months. Many of us thought that it couldn't get any worse, after the policy of expanding the settlements, increasing the number of checkpoints, extending the barbaric apartheid wall - and yet the shocking fact is that it has. Even more shocking is the fact that official British government policy is actually exacerbating that suffering. Palestinian poverty, desperation and, in recent days, violence, have spiralled since the quartet of the EU, US, UN and Russia decided to pull out of all direct contact with the Palestinian Authority following the overwhelming victory by Hamas in an election declared free and fair by international observers a little over a year ago.

In the last year alone, the number of Palestinians living in poverty has increased by 30%, essential services are devastated, and there is growing violence on the streets.

A joint report by the UN food agencies highlights the fact that 46% of Palestinians, nearly half of the population, don't have enough food to meet their needs. The number of people in deep poverty, defined as those living on less than 50 cents a day, nearly doubled in 2006 to over 1 million. Meanwhile, Israel continues to hold more than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners, over 2000 of them without charge, including 41members of the Palestinian Legislative Council".

Dr Lucas reported that: "Against the advice of the European Commission, we met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and he made it abundantly clear that the Government of National Unity has done everything the international community has asked of it: renounced violence, recognised previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and accepted the continued existence of the state of Israel. The EU has stopped dealing with the Palestinian Authority anyway; instead channelling aid for the most needy through a Temporary International Mechanism (TIM), which effectively undermines the democratic institutions of Palestine and strips the EU of its ability to put political pressure on Israel to transfer tax and customs revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinians, and end the occupation."

She concluded: "If we are to reverse the terrible humanitarian disaster unfolding in Palestine, and promote peace in the region, the UK and the EU must immediately recognise the new government, restore direct financial payments, and urge the rest of the international community to do the same. The EU must suspend the EU-Israel Association agreement - the deal which governs relations between Israel and the EU and which requires that both sides fully respect all international human rights obligations – and impose sanctions on Israel, like those which helped end apartheid in South Africa, until it ends the occupation of Palestinian territories and pulls down both illegal Israeli settlements and the 'apartheid wall' separating Palestine and Israel."

Other speakers at the meeting included Tariq Jung (Brighton Muslim Forum), Andy Richards (UNISON), Ann Hallam (Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group), Irving Weinman (Jews for Justice for Palestinians) and Tom Hickey (University of Brighton).