14 March 2024
'Please just act: this is no time for anyone to be silent', was the message to our meeting last Saturday on ways to support Palestinian people living under siege and bombing in Gaza.
They were the words of Deena Jayousi (pictured, right), a British-Palestinian who has lived all her life in Lancaster, and is active in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Over 60 people attended the meeting.
The focus was on pressure for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, meeting humanitarian needs, and challenging the Israeli government to engage in a peace process. Priorites which emerged were more awareness of the history and culture of Palestine, and building on plans for solidarity action in Lancaster.
Green Councillors Suhir Abuhajar and Tom Fish (pictured, left) opened the meeting, expressing their own feelings about the urgency of action.
Speaker Gwenda Meredith, describing her Jewish heritage, drew the lesson that we must not allow ourselves, 'the luxury of despair'.
Cllr Abuhajar said afterwards:
"I would like to thank everyone who turned up and contributed to this important discussion. We will be circulating the ideas expressed at the meeting to encourage more action in the next few weeks. We are hugely grateful to those attending for their generous donations."
From the meeting, £867 has been raised for charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, a respected aid organisation operating in Gaza, which responds with humanitarian as well as medical aid. In addition to £500 given by North Lancashire Green Party, £367 was donated on the day.
The ideas coming out of the meeting about how to take further action have been emailed to all attendees who signed up for them and are available on our website at:
North Lancashire Green Party RSS Feed