This week the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, voted to impose the death sentence (which would be by hanging) on Palestinian prisoners.

Israel runs an Apartheid system. When most people think of Apartheid, the history of South Africa comes to mind where people were segregated according to the colour of their skin, with White people having many more rights than Black South Africans, or those of mixed race.

In the 21st century Israel runs an Apartheid system where Israeli Jews have more rights than Muslim or Christian Palestinians. Even if they are citizens of Israel, equality they do not have. This inequality extends into the legal system.

This vote in Israel’s Parliament means that the many thousands of imprisoned Palestinians , some of whom have been tortured, will be hanged.

In 2024, Dr Adnan al-Bursh, the head of orthopaedics at Al Shifa Hospital, died in April of that year whilst in an Israeli prison, having been tortured.

It is State Execution based on ethnicity. Students of history will realise that the world has been here before – in the Germany of the 1930s and 40s.

The finest generation we have ever known in this country stood against the Nazis, and some paid the ultimate price for that, in the only way possible for them, through military service. Today, we can use our individual power in a different way to defeat the Apartheid regime in Israel through peaceful but ultimately effective means.

What can we do ?

We have the Irish to thank for the term boycott and the actions associated with it in the 19th century. In the 20th century boycotting products and events was effective against Apartheid South Africa, and it can be effective against Apartheid Israel. Simply put, when out shopping you choose not to buy a product from Israel – The Boycott List.

There are always alternatives on the shelves. (N.B. The Israeli barcode starts with the numbers 729. However, it doesn’t necessarily appear on all Israeli products so be sure to always check the label or ask your supplier for country of origin.) – Boycott Israeli Goods & Services

What you can also do is buy Palestinian products. Zaytoun is a social enterprise and it supports farmers in Palestine.

If you are concerned about the children who are traumatised at what they have seen in Gaza, The West Bank, and Lebanon – there are several organisations you could support:

• Hope and Play
• Save the Children
• UNICEF UK

Another organisation doing incredible work is Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Some islanders in Orkney attend a weekly vigil on the Kirk Green, Broad Street, Kirkwall every Saturday between 1 and 2pm. They have been doing so since the end of October 2023. Photographs and films are made which are seen by Palestinians in refugee camps, and those who have been displaced. It gives them hope when they find that even as far away from them as Orkney is, that there are people who know of their suffering, and who care.

“ When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.”
― Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

Fiona Grahame

The Casual Barbarity of Israel’s Settlement Project in The West Bank