Bashir Abu-Manneh is Reader in Postcolonial Literature at the University of Kent. He is author of The Palestinian Novel: From 1948 to the Present (2016). He is also a regular contributor to Jacobin magazine.
Chris Khamis is a long-time anti-racist campaigner including through the Labour Party's Black Sections. He has written about the hostile environment towards him and other Palestinians in the Party.
The Palestinian people are being denied their national rights. The definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and the way this definition has been applied, has suppressed the fight for Palestinian rights.
Despite some international criticism and the ongoing boycott campaign, the Israeli government continues to press ahead with its gross violations of international law and Palestinian human rights, accelerating the ongoing colonisation of yet more Palestinian land. These include plans to proceed with formal annexation of Palestinian land into Israel. In October 2020 the Israeli government approved 5,400 new settlement units on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank and has continued to demolish Palestinian homes and buildings, while Gaza is an open air prison camp. The TUC has recently affirmed that Israel’s current actions are the next “significant step in the creation of a system of apartheid”.
While vigourously fighting against antisemitism, we should not let the Israeli government and its supporters delegitimise the Palestinian cause and silence defenders of Palestinian rights.
Join the ACR meeting to find out more and help organise solidarity with the Palestinian people.