PSC Press Release
Friday 8th February 2008 -
For immediate release
For immediate release
Over 40 Human Rights organisations from around the world
who campaign for peace and justice for the Palestinian
people are today sending an open letter to the surviving
Beatles, Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney, and to the
families of George Harrison and John Lennon, asking them not
to accept any invitation to join in this year’s 60th Anniversary
celebration of the birth of the state of Israel. An invitation was
delivered last week by the Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron
Prosor, during a visit to the Beatles Museum in Liverpool.
who campaign for peace and justice for the Palestinian
people are today sending an open letter to the surviving
Beatles, Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney, and to the
families of George Harrison and John Lennon, asking them not
to accept any invitation to join in this year’s 60th Anniversary
celebration of the birth of the state of Israel. An invitation was
delivered last week by the Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron
Prosor, during a visit to the Beatles Museum in Liverpool.
The letter describes what happened in 1948. This was not a
peaceful legally conducted creation of a safe haven for Jews
escaping Europe but a brutal ethnic cleansing and massacre
of Palestinians and theft of their land. The Zionist movement
had set out to claim the whole of Palestine for the creation of
a Jewish state long before the Nazi atrocities had occurred.
In 1948 they took 78% of the land and brutally exiled or killed
750,000 Palestinians and destroyed over 400 villages- policies
and actions that would never have had the support of the Beatles
while they were together singing ‘all you need is Love’ and
‘give peace a chance’ .
Professor Steven and Hilary Rose, founder members
of Bricup (The British Committee for Universities in Palestine)
say ‘We are asking the Beatles to boycott these events
because they are a celebration of the denial of the
human rights of the Palestinian people- inalienable
rights established in the 1948 UN Declaration.
These were enacted on the wave of revulsion at the Nazi
Holocaust and the other atrocities of the Second World War.
It is to our shame that the West does not insist that the
Declaration really is universal and is enforced in The
Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel. Human rights
apply to all governments, and not only to those that lack
the powerful friends that Israel has. This cuts in to the heart
of International Law which underpins all our rights and freedoms.’
of Bricup (The British Committee for Universities in Palestine)
say ‘We are asking the Beatles to boycott these events
because they are a celebration of the denial of the
human rights of the Palestinian people- inalienable
rights established in the 1948 UN Declaration.
These were enacted on the wave of revulsion at the Nazi
Holocaust and the other atrocities of the Second World War.
It is to our shame that the West does not insist that the
Declaration really is universal and is enforced in The
Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel. Human rights
apply to all governments, and not only to those that lack
the powerful friends that Israel has. This cuts in to the heart
of International Law which underpins all our rights and freedoms.’
For more information please contact:
Prof Steven and Hilary Rose: s.p.r.rose@open.ac.uk
PSC 02077006313 or
email: info@palestinecampaign.org
email: info@palestinecampaign.org
Further Information
1. Copy of the letter
Open Letter to the Beatles To Paul, Ringo and the families of John and George
Dear all
We are writing to you to ask you to decline the invitation to
join the celebrations marking the birth of the state of Israel in 1948.
join the celebrations marking the birth of the state of Israel in 1948.
What happened was not the peaceful creation of a safe haven
for Jews escaping from Europe; it was the brutal ethnic cleansing
and massacre of the Palestinians and the theft of their land. The
United Nations decision in 1947 to partition Palestine allocated 55% of
the Palestinian land for a Jewish state and 45 % for a Palestinian state.
But even that gross settlement was not good enough for the Zionists
who had targeted the whole of Palestine for the creation of
a Jewish State - long before the Nazi atrocities. So, the
Zionists took 78% of the land, brutally exiled or killed over
750,000 Arab Palestinians and destroyed over 400 of their
villages in an ethnic cleansing operation that was driven
by brutal terrorism.
Palestine/Israel is about the size of Wales. Can you imagine
what the Welsh would have felt and done if the UN had
decided to partition Wales and incomers had ethnically
cleansed and massacred Welsh villages? It is not only
the Palestinians who remember these days of horror as the
Nakba; Israeli historians themselves have documented
these events in all their bloody detail. And little has changed
since in 1967 Israel seized the remaining Palestinian territory
(the West Bank and Gaza) and the brutal occupation continues.
The Beatles sang “All you need is love” but Israel believes that
all it needs is racism and an army. Is this a policy that would
have commanded their support when they were singing together?
We don’t think so. The prospect of the surviving Beatles
celebrating the Zionist theft of Palestinian land in 1948 is
obscene, both for the suffering Palestinian
people and for the growing number of British people who
support their call for justice. As John put it, it is time to give
peace a chance, not to celebrate oppression.
for Jews escaping from Europe; it was the brutal ethnic cleansing
and massacre of the Palestinians and the theft of their land. The
United Nations decision in 1947 to partition Palestine allocated 55% of
the Palestinian land for a Jewish state and 45 % for a Palestinian state.
But even that gross settlement was not good enough for the Zionists
who had targeted the whole of Palestine for the creation of
a Jewish State - long before the Nazi atrocities. So, the
Zionists took 78% of the land, brutally exiled or killed over
750,000 Arab Palestinians and destroyed over 400 of their
villages in an ethnic cleansing operation that was driven
by brutal terrorism.
Palestine/Israel is about the size of Wales. Can you imagine
what the Welsh would have felt and done if the UN had
decided to partition Wales and incomers had ethnically
cleansed and massacred Welsh villages? It is not only
the Palestinians who remember these days of horror as the
Nakba; Israeli historians themselves have documented
these events in all their bloody detail. And little has changed
since in 1967 Israel seized the remaining Palestinian territory
(the West Bank and Gaza) and the brutal occupation continues.
The Beatles sang “All you need is love” but Israel believes that
all it needs is racism and an army. Is this a policy that would
have commanded their support when they were singing together?
We don’t think so. The prospect of the surviving Beatles
celebrating the Zionist theft of Palestinian land in 1948 is
obscene, both for the suffering Palestinian
people and for the growing number of British people who
support their call for justice. As John put it, it is time to give
peace a chance, not to celebrate oppression.
Signed by:
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian
Residency and Refugee Rights
Residency and Refugee Rights
Ittijah - Union of Arab Community Based Associations
The Palestinian Grassroots
Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
Alternative Information Center - Palestine/Israel
Rima AWAD – Arab Counseling Centre for Education – Palestine
Yehya Hijazi – Al Mirsat Organization –– Palestine
Sana Shehadeh – Palestinian Counseling Centre – Palestine
Caritas Jerusalem
Palestine Solidarity Campaign UK (PSC)
British Committee for Universities of Palestine (BRICUP)
British Muslim Initiative (BMI)
Friends of Al-Aqsa UK
The Peace Cycle
Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine
Raymond Deane -Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Comité de Soutien au Peuple Palestinien - Belgique
Association Belgo-Palestinienne - Belgique
Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient – Luxembourg
Sonja Zimmermann- Netherlands Palestine Committee NPK
Aktionsbuendnis fuer einen gerechten Frieden in Palaestina, Germany
Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost - Austria
Fritz Edlinger, Secretary General - Society for Austro-Arab Relations SAAR
Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS)
Women in Black – Strasbourg,
Collectif Judeo-Arabe et Citoyen pour la Paix Strasbourg – France
Handicap Solidarité - France
Association Farrah-France
Association Farrah-France
Association Internationale de Préservation
du Patrimoine Palestinien AIPPP
du Patrimoine Palestinien AIPPP
Civimed Initiatives - France
Amis du Monde Diplomatique 67
Magda Zenon – Hands Across the Divide (Cyprus)
CADTM - Commité pour l'Annulation de la Dette du Tiers Monde
Solidaridad para el Desarrollo y la Paz – SODEPAZ Spain
Palestine Solidarity Committee of South Africa
Women in Solidarity with Palestine, Toronto
NION (Not In Our Name) Toronto
Creative Response, Toronto
New York City Labor Against the War – USA
Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
Women in Black Los Angeles
Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights – USA
--
2. Palestine Solidarity campaign
www.palestinecampaign.org
www.palestinecampaign.org
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is the largest and most
active campaigning organization on the issue of Palestine
in the UK. It is an independent non governmental political
organization. Its members come from a wide range of
religious, social and political backgrounds.
They are united by the following aims:
active campaigning organization on the issue of Palestine
in the UK. It is an independent non governmental political
organization. Its members come from a wide range of
religious, social and political backgrounds.
They are united by the following aims:
To provide a source of accurate and reliable information
on the Palestine-Israeli conflict and on the social and
political conditions in Palestine in order to raise public
awareness of the human rights abuses that occur there
on a daily basis.
on the Palestine-Israeli conflict and on the social and
political conditions in Palestine in order to raise public
awareness of the human rights abuses that occur there
on a daily basis.
To build real contacts between the Palestinian
people and those who support them
people and those who support them
To build an effective mass campaign of demonstrations,
protests, political lobbying and public meetings, together
with other organizations whenever possible.
protests, political lobbying and public meetings, together
with other organizations whenever possible.
To support the Palestinian right of return
as stipulated in UN Resolution 194
as stipulated in UN Resolution 194
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Box BM PSA
London
WC1N 3XX
Box BM PSA
London
WC1N 3XX
Tel: 020 7700 6192
Fax: 020 7609 7779
Fax: 020 7609 7779
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