by Jack
British activist and independent journalist, Jody McIntyre, addressed a rapt audience of around 70 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on Wednesday 17th March.
Jody, recently returned to the UK after eight months in the West Bank and Gaza, told of his experiences living side-by-side with Palestinians struggling against the illegal occupation of their land. The talk was a moving and personal account of Jody’s journey in Palestine; giving a vivid and, at times, humorous description of his stay in Palestine and ending with an impassioned call for action.
Jody’s account began with what he called “the worst morning of my life” – the eviction of the Hannoun family by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem in August 2009. It ended with a rare eyewitness account of life in the besieged Gaza Strip, where Palestinians face daily power shortages and regular Israeli air-strikes that go unreported in the British media.
In the intervening period, Jody spent six months as the guest of a local photographer in the West Bank village of Bil’in, where weekly demonstrations have been held since 2005 when the construction of the illegal separation barrier cut residents off from over 50% of its land. Jody described how, since becoming involved with the nonviolent demonstrations, his host has been forbidden from taking his son to receive treatment for leukemia.
He also addressed the recent ban imposed by occupation forces on Israelis and internationals from attending the Friday demonstrations in Bil’in. “What the Israeli forces fear most is Palestinians and Israelis standing side by side” said Jody. “Every few months a new commander takes over the area, and every time they say ‘I will stop the demonstrations’ and every time they have failed. And every time they will fail. The demonstrations will continue”
Throughout his journey, Jody wrote for the online magazine Ctrl.Alt.Shift, a forum funded by the charity Christian Aid. In his talk, Jody described having his articles ‘pulled’ by Chrsitian Aid after they were attacked by a member of a right-wing Israeli lobby group on the website of The Guardian. ”They deleted every article I had ever written on the site and every article containing the word ‘Palestine’.” The attempt to silence Jody provides a troubling insight into the influence wielded by the Israel lobby in framing public discussion of Israel-Palestine in the UK.
The evening ended on a more inspiring note. Jody reiterated the call-out issued by his friend, Iyad Burnat, the head of the Popular Committee in Bil’in, for regular demonstrations to be carried out around the world in support of their cause. He spoke with optimism about the regular Saturday demonstrations that began last Saturday outside Ahava, Covent Garden – a retailer which sells products from illegal settlements in the West Bank. “There were fifty people at the first regular demonstration I went to in Sheikh Jarrah [East Jerusalem]. Now there are three hundred people every Friday. I hope this momentum can spread to Britain.”
You can read a week-by-week account of Jody’s experiences on his website here.
Jody still has several dates left of his speaking tour in Edinburgh, Manchester and Exeter. See his website for more details.