Palestine Follow

In a fantastic victory today, charges of violent disorder were dropped against 24 year old Gaza protester Jake Smith.

I travelled to Palestine over the weekend. At Tel Aviv airport I was one of thousands of happy tourists arriving for Easter. Like them, I was waived through customs without much hassle – an easy entry into the country.

Protests have broken out in the West Bank in the last few weeks, which have seen thousands of Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers and "security" police in the cities of Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus, and East Jerusalem.

Al-Haq is a Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based in the West Bank.

The villagers of Bil’in in the West Bank, Palestine, and their supporters protested last week to mark the fifth anniversary of Israel’s seizure of their land.

The Nakba, or "catastrophe", of 1948 saw the creation of the state of Israel by the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes.

Two young women who took part in protests in solidarity with Gaza in January last year have been sentenced to 15 months in prison for "vandalising a branch of Starbucks".

One year on from Israel’s assault on Gaza, its aggression against the Palestinian people continues.

The video (in French) shows Gaza Freedom March in Cairo at the end of December

Around 2,000 Egyptian riot police have attacked members of the Viva Palestina aid convoy at the port of al-Arish – on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza – after the convoy was refused entry to the crossing.

There were protests around the world last month on the anniversary of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.