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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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Embargoed until
00:01 May 4, 2008

PRESS RELEASE: International Conference to Condemn 60 years of Human Rights Abuses by Israel

This conference looks at both projects in a critical and contemporary light.

Speakers at the conference, include some of the most notable names in peace and justice activism.

Michael Warschawski, from the Alternative Information Center, Jerusalem starts the conference with the strong critique:

“To speak about “sixty years of Israel” without mentioning “sixty years of Palestinian dispossession and expulsion” is not only a historical lie, but also a kind of revisionism, a denial of the suffering of millions of human beings.”

Meir Margalit of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions criticises the way issues with regard to Palestinians are discussed in Israeli policy circles:

“Where a problem is perceived in terms of a national threat, there can be no compromise; the range of solutions is limited and thinking moves on a track of aggression… Where parameters are political, solutions will invariably be aggressive. And wrong.”

Speaking on witnessing the aftermath of extrajudicial killings, Jennifer Loewenstein from the University of Wisconsin, challenges the conference by explaining, ‘How Gaza offends us all’.

Yehudit Keshet from Checkpoint Watch, sums up the conference’s purpose in her paper, thus:

“In the current climate of international indifference to Palestinian suffering, and Israel’s ongoing colonisation project, the value of speaking out, of untwisting the discourse, is not to be underestimated.”

Daud Abdullah of the Palestinian Return Centre looks at refugees in Lebanon and Richard Stanforth from Oxfam looks at access to water.

Event Details

Title: Human Rights and Israel at 60: A look at two conflicting projects
Organisers: Islamic Human Rights Commission (https://www.ihrc.org.uk)
Venue: Islamic Centre of England, 140 Maida Vale, London, W9 1QB (nearest tube, Kilburn Park, nearest train, Kilburn High Road, on street parking available)
Date: 4th May 2008
Timings: 11am to 6pm

Interviews available in English, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Hebrew and Farsi.

For more information, pre-conference interviews or to register please contact the Press Officer, Seyfeddin Kara on (+44) 20 8904 4222 or (+44) 7912423970. [END]

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The Islamic Human Rights Commission is an NGO in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom

Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org

IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations