Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
26 October
HILTON LOCKED DOWN BY PROTESTS AT WAR CRIMINAL AT JNF EVENT On this day in 2002, hundreds of angry demonstrators protested General Shaul Mofaz, the Butcher of Jenin, who was speaking for the racist Jewish National Fund at the Glasgow Hilton. The entrance was blocked for hours by demonstrators who ignored the police steel fencing set up to kettle them. Catering staff declined to enter the hotel because of the protest. MSPs Margo MacDonald and Tommy Sheridan, MP George Galloway and STUC General Secretary Bill Spiers joined the demonstration.
تم إغلاق هيلتون بسبب الاحتجاجات ضد مجرمي الحرب في منظمة ج ن ف
26 أكتوبر
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2002، احتج المئات من المتظاهرين الغاضبين على الجنرال شاؤول موفاز، جزار جنين، الذي كان يتحدث باسم الصندوق القومي اليهودي العنصري (JNF) في فندق هيلتون جلاسكو. تم اغلاق المدخل لـساعات من قبل المتظاهرين الذين تجاهلوا حواجز الشرطة الحديدية التي أقيمت لحصرهم. ورفض موظفو المطاعم دخول الفندق بسبب الاحتجاج. وانضم إلى المظاهرة كل من أعضاء البرلمان الأسكتلندي مارجو ماجدونالد، تومي شيريدان، والنائب جورج جالوي، والأمين العام لمؤتمر النقابات الأسكتلندية (STUC) بيل سبايرز.
The Lord Provost of Glasgow described Mofaz's visit as a 'shameful stain on the city's reputation [because] General Mofaz was in charge during some of the most horrendous military attacks on Palestinian civilians; men, women, and children'. Alex Mosson denied that Glasgow City Council had any involvement in arranging the event and argued that the sole organisers had been the UJIA.
“Israeli staff officers had no compunction utilising the lessons of the Wehrmacht’s attack on the Warsaw Ghetto, during the onslaught on Jenin”. Israeli minister Bin Azri said, the objective is to ‘convert the life of Palestinians into hell’.
Mofaz, former Israeli Chief of Staff -, former Israeli Chief of Staff. His specialty was orchestrating the butchery at Jenin Mofaz was on the first leg of a UK fund-raising tour which aimed to present him as a significant future Israeli political figure. The SPSC planned for maximum disruption of the Glasgow visit, beginning with a 'decoy' crowd of some seventy chanting demonstrators, penned behind police barriers some fifty metres from a line of police occupying the Hilton's main entrance.
Suddenly, a huge roar erupted as five hundred 'illegal' banner and placard-waving activists rapidly approached from the north, chanting, blowing whistles and heading straight for the hotel's front doors. The 'decoys' hauled aside the barriers, the two groups swelled into one, then surged up to the hotel entrance for a boisterous and firm confrontation with the flustered police line.
Glasgow Hilton experienced its first recorded instance of lockdown and closure. No guests could enter or leave the front or side doors, cars were turned away by bewildered hotel staff, and for over two hours, the demonstrators held an 'Occupation' there chanting, "Free, Free Palestine", "Victory to the Intifada", "No Peace without Justice" etc...
The demonstration paused only to be addressed by leading advocates of Palestinian and Arab human rights, MP George Galloway, the SSP's Tommy Sheridan, and SPSC organiser Mick Napier who announced - "The Glasgow Hilton is currently closed for business. This hotel will think twice before hosting war criminals and their supporters here again" - to huge roars of approval.
The arrival of a police helicopter hovering overhead in the night sky did nothing to dampen the crowd's enthusiasm as the high costs of policing the demo would have to be met by Mofaz's UJIF supporters. Uncanny comparisons with what Palestinian towns, cities and refugee camps experience on a nightly basis were also there to be made.
The final climactic moments were the flames leaping from a burning effigy of Generalissimo Moffaz, held aloft on a noose for the benefit of press photographers. The 'Occupation' ended, the demonstrators then moved off on a slow traffic-stopping procession to a rally in Glasgow's Moir Hall.
According to Israeli daily, Yediot Ahranot five days later (31 October 2002)
"The Israeli Embassy informed Mofaz on Monday that an Islamic organization has filed for the arrest of Mofaz accusing him of committing war crimes, and urged him to leave Britain before any action is taken. Mofaz leaves Britain for Germany and then Israel.
"The Ex-Chief Commander of the Israeli Defence Forces, Shaul Mofaz was forced to cut short his visit to Britain and return to Israel, following the filing of a complaint by a Muslim solicitor, accusing him of committing war crimes. The Israeli Embassy in London was quick to advise Mofaz to quickly leave Britain, in case a warrant for his arrest was issued.
Mofaz had ended a tour of the United States and arrived in Britain upon the invitation of a fundraising Jewish organization. He spoke in Glasgow and on the following day in London. He arrived in Liverpool on Monday and spoke in Leeds on Tuesday. These events were accompanied with mass demonstrations organized by pro-Palestinian and left-wing British organizations, who followed Mofaz around from one city to the next.
Imran Khan submitted a 14-page file to the Chief Prosecutor, outlining three main charges leveled against Mofaz: Killing individuals suspected of being Palestinian terrorists, demolishing Palestinian houses and his responsibility for the massacre of innocent women and children. The Muslim Association of Britain announced that it was behind this action...
"It is worth noting that Britain is one of the European countries which have adopted within its legislation, the principles of the International Court of Justice, which deals fundamentally with War Crime cases. Therefore, charges may be brought against any individual in Britain who is accused of committing war crimes, and the Chief Prosecutor may issue a writ against the said individual.
"Israeli Embassy advises Mofaz to leave immediately
The Israeli Embassy in London, upon learning of this action, and following a lengthy series of unofficial consultations, decided to issue a recommendation to Mofaz to leave Britain and return to Israel. The Embassy briefed Mofaz on the situation on Tuesday morning, and submitted a detailed report concerning the possible measures which may be taken against him.
"Embassy officials informed Mofaz that since his visit to Britain is on unofficial duty, the possible developments in this case become unpredictable. Mofaz was thus advised to leave Britain immediately in order to save himself and the British government a very difficult situation. However, he refused to leave before attending the Leeds function.
"Mofaz arrived in Israel yesterday and commented that ‘it seems that this matter will accompany us during the coming phase and I have to learn to deal with it”.
By 2015 Mofaz was sufficiently protected by the UK Government that he was able to speak in the UK parliament despite calls from Palestinians and their allies for his immediate arrest due to alleged responsibility for war crimes.
Mofaz commanded the 2002 Battle of Jenin. “Israeli staff officers had no compunction utilising the lessons of the Wehrmacht’s attack on the Warsaw Ghetto, during the onslaught on Jenin”. Israeli minister Bin Azri said, the objective is to ‘convert the life of Palestinians into hell’.