Leamington discusses Pathways to Peace in Palestine
On the evening of Wednesday October 2nd, Justice for Palestinians (Leamington Spa), JFP, is holding a public meeting, the second in a series called Pathways to Peace.
The speakers are:
- Richard Burden, former MP and Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians, and Trustee of The Balfour Project
- Louise Regan, Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Chair of International Committee of National Education Union
- Marwan Yaghi, a human rights lawyer, Political Officer at the UK Palestinian Mission
The meeting will take place in person at St Peters Church Hall in Dormer Place, Leamington Spa from 7pm to 9pm on October 2nd. Tickets to attend in person and online are available via: buytickets.at/justiceforpalestiniansleamingtonspa/1377712
JFP was founded in 2008, and brings together Jews, Christians, Muslims and people with no religious belief. Unbeknownst to most, over the last two years it has been extending its reach through a series of online talks with speakers and audiences from all over the world. Speakers have included Daniel Machover - human rights lawyer, London; Sahar Vardi - peace activist, Israel; Danielle Bett - Yachad, Jerusalem; Hugh Lovett - Israel/Palestine coordinator for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Brussels, and Aisha Mansour, West Bank Director for Medical Aid for Palestine. The previous meeting in the Pathways to Peace series featured Michael Mansfield KC, the renowned Human Rights lawyer and Warwickshire resident, Professor Nick Maynard, an Oxford-based surgeon who spent several months in Gaza during the Israeli bombardment, and Tayab Ali, a Palestinian lawyer based in London. The audiences of the talks have been similarly drawn from far and wide.
JFP's other activities include weekly vigils, alternating between Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth, to draw attention to the loss of life in the conflict. The vigils have drawn together people from many different walks of life, on some occasions numbering nearly one hundred, and have been attended by various candidates in the July 4th elections, and by the local MP Matt Western.
During the vigils, the names of children killed in the conflict have been read out -- Palestinian and Israeli alike. On October 7th, 36 Israeli children were killed in the Hamas attack. Since then, 17,000 Palestinian children in Gaza are believed to have died in Israeli attacks, and according to UNICEF, already by July this year a further 143 children had died on the Occupied West Bank at the hands of settlers and the Israeli Defence Forces.