'Shared Histories'

The SNP has always given staunch support to Palestine and the Palestinians, particularly under Alex Salmond. The jury is still out on Nicola Sturgeon who, as well as condemning the occupation, speaks of ‘Israel’s right to defend itself’, a dubious way of having your cake and eating it. But in early November, Tommy Sheppard SNP was host at a meeting in the House of Commons on ‘Scotland in Palestine’, at which calls for action were made, particularly in the area of the arms trade which Britain engages in with Israel. One speaker pointed out that trading in some items was stopped at the time of the last Gaza assault but then resumed afterwards, just at a time when Israel would need to replenish its supplies of anti-personnel weaponry.

One speaker, Andy Murray (not the tennis player), told of how he was detained at Ben Gurion airport on a recent trip, and while being interrogated he realised that he must have been under surveillance in the UK for his pro-Palestinian activities. Clearly, “the only democracy in the Middle East” stops short of the democratic right of free speech, and Murray was sent on the next plane home.

Karl Sabbagh spoke on 'Shared Histories: Dispossession in Scotland and Palestine' and drew parallels between the plight of Scottish highlanders who were expelled from their land in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the Palestinians who were expelled at the time of the Nakba. He pointed out that the family of Arthur Balfour was one of the Scottish families which expelled highlanders from their land to make way for sheep and shooting. His full speech is in the Resources section of the website.