Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) Press Release
Record numbers attend the Parliamentary Lobby Day on Palestine
Over 300 people took part in a lobby on the British Parliament on Wednesday 29th November to mark the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. Initial estimates also indicate that over 100 MPs were approached.
The lobby was called for by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and was also supported by one of the greatest range of organisations in recent years. These included: AMICUS, Amos Trust, Anglican Pacifist Fellowship', Arab Media Watch, British Muslim Initiative, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, CWU, Friends of Al Aqsa, Friends of Lebanon, ICAHD UK, Jewish Socialist Group, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Midland Palestinian Community Association, PCS, Pax Christi, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Palestine Return Centre, RMT, Stop the War Coalition, UNISON and War on Want.
Members of the public were asked to arrange a meeting with their MP to raise their concerns over the continuing suffering of the Palestinian people caused by the Israeli occupation and the violations of international law associated with this. The lobby called on the UK Government to restore aid to the Palestinian Authority; to work to end the Israeli blockade against the entire Palestinian population; to act on the decision of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to release the Palestinian parliamentarians held by Israel; and to end the UK arms trade with Israel.
People travelled great distances across the UK to take part in the lobby - with participants from Preston to Penzance and from Scotland and Wales. CAABU has been informed of others who will see their MPs in constituency surgeries over the next few weeks.
CAABU's Parliamentary Officer, Gillian Watt, said that "The terrible events over the summer, with the Israeli attacks on both Lebanon and Gaza have spurred many people into action, some of whom had never considered lobbying their MP on the issue before".
A number of Parliamentary Early Day Motions were tabled before the lobby and MPs were asked to sign them:
It is hoped support for these will continue to grow over the coming weeks.
CAABU expresses its thanks to all those who took part.
For further information contact the CAABU office on Tel: 0044 (0)207 832 1310 wattg@caabu.org