The Moray branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign hosted a talk in the Tolbooth, Forres
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A PUBLIC meeting of around 60 attendees was held in the centre of Forres to discuss the horrors unfolding in the Middle East.
The Moray branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) hosted the talk in the Tolbooth Courtroom entitled: ‘An Evening with the SPSC’, which was followed by discussion between the hosts and audience - the group has been holding protests in Forres every Saturday since October.
Chairwoman Rayne Gadalla was supported in the Tolbooth by Nahed Gadalla, Daphne Francis, Ali McMorran, and Mark Richards.
Retired GP Owen Dempsey was one of the guest speakers.
He explained that SPSC was started in response to the alleged genocide and ethnic cleansing by Israel on Gaza, with so far over 31,000 people killed, of which he claimed at least 70 per cent are innocent men, women and children.
He said: “The talk was arranged to increase public understanding of the slaughter, the historical context of the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the complicity of the UK government.”
He added: “Palestinian children as young as 12-years-old are forced to submit to daily intimidation at checkpoints on their way to and from school.
“They are are routinely imprisoned for throwing stones and tried, without lawyers present, in military juvenile courts in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of The Child.”
Founder members of Group Analysts for Palestine, Vivienne Harte and Farideh Dizadji, described their work developing spaces for psychotherapists and wider society for dialogue and for promoting greater understanding of the impacts of colonisation on the mental health of those under occupation across Palestine.
The main speaker was founder member of SPSC, Mick Napier.
“Mick spoke passionately about the scale of the horrors being inflicted,” said Owen. “This in the context of over 75 years of Israeli ethnic cleansing and collective punishment, and now ‘plausible’ genocide.
“We condemn the UK government for its failure to demand an immediate ceasefire and for continuing to arm Israel.”
The speakers called for urgent civil protest. Attendees were urged to support the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign; lobby politicans to take action; and participate in local protests.
The Moray branch of the SPSC has since submitted an open letter calling for a demand for a permanent ceasefire, an embargo on sales of military equipment to Israel, and to hold the apartheid Israeli government to account from the UK government to Douglas Ross MP with 148 signatures of Moray constituents.
