Lock closure delays 'Handala', Freedom Flotilla undeterred in mission
Friday June 23
After crossing Loch Ness and reaching partway through the Caledonian Canal, the Freedom Flotilla boat Handala is currently delayed in the Laggan Lock area due to a broken swing bridge. Saturday's ralliies at the Yorkhill Quay will go ahead as planned (see below) with members of the Handala crew
The Scottish Trade Union Congress has issued the following statement:
"The STUC stands in solidarity with the people of Gaza who are subject to the illegal blockade imposed upon it by the Israeli State. As well as causing untold misery, the policy is a barrier to any meaningful progress towards the negotiation of an effective peace.
"We have long opposed the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and the policy of fragmentation which effectively denies the Palestinian people their right to self-determination. The Israeli State continues to blatantly ignore UN resolution UN 2334, which calls on it to stop building new settlements on Palestinian land.
"We warmly welcome the Freedom Flotilla in its mission to highlight the suffering of the Children of Gaza, bringing its message to northern Europe and to here in Scotland. Ensuring that the illegal blockade continues to be highlighted across the world and that the people of Gaza know that they are not forgotten, is a noble mission and we send our best wishes to the Freedom Flotilla crew."
Saturday June 24 at the 'Handala' at Yorkhill Pontoon Quay - beside the Glasgow Riverside Museum
11am Challenging the Siege of Gaza - Again
Journalist Yvonne Ridley Was on the 2008 boat to Gaza.
Swee Ang was resident doctor on the 'Awda' in an earlier challenge to the siege of Gaza. She also witnessed Israel’s 1982 massacre in Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp in Beirut while she was working as a surgeon in that city.
Two survivors of the Mavi Marmara massacre
Two Glasgow-based survivors of 2010 Israeli massacre of nine people on board the Mavi Marmara (a tenth later died of his wounds) in international waters. The Mavi Marmara was sailing to Gaza with a humanitarian cargo including medicines and baby incubators.
2pm Scottish victories against the Apartheid State
Mike Arnott STUC President on the power of trade union boycotts
Mahmoud Sarsak 
on sports boycott. Mahmoud is a former member of the Palestinian national football team who was three months on hunger strike against detention without trial
Mick Napier on fighting and winning against the JNF. Mick is a founder member of Stop the JNF, the racist Jewish National Fund (UK Patron Tony Blair). The JNF is a pillar of Israeli apartheid.
Palestine Action speaker on taking on the arms companies suppying Israel.
3pm BBQ for a donation
Sunday June 25 3pm
Visit by a delegation from the Iona Community, an ecumenical organisation, supporters of BDS.
Many of us are raging at:
- the diabolical cruelty of the Gaza siege
- the UK government backing for that siege
- the reticence of the Scottish Government to live up to its 2014 call for an arms embargo against Israel
Come and find out how you can help to challenge this open wound on the body of the planet.
