On the 15th of September 2014, Federation of
Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) has organised Palestine Conference 2014 that
was held at the University of Nottingham, UK. The whole day conference was
filled with talks by international speakers, panel discussions, and also
workshops on issues related to the current situation in Palestine and how the
participants can get involved. The speakers who attended the conference are
Norman Finkelstein, Wadah Khanfar, and Dr Daud Abdullah to name a few.
The day started off with a brief introduction on ‘Palestine:
Past and Present’ by Sarah Colborne. The introduction gave a clear view on the
history of the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and how the Palestinians
have been oppressed and displaced since the foundation of Israel. Further
keynote speech is by Wadah Khanfar on the topic ‘Palestine amidst an uncertain
Arab Spring’. With his experience as a former Director General of Al-Jazeera
network and also co-founder of the Sharq forum, he engages with the participants
on his views regarding Palestinian issues and the significance of political
movements in Middle East.
The conference continued with a panel discussion on
‘Settlements and the Right of Return’ that was given by Tim Llewellyn, a
journalist specialising in the Middle East; Dr Daud Abdullah, the Director of
Middle East Monitor an independent UK based media research institution; and
also Sarah Colborne, the Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The
discussion touches on the issue of media bias by the western media, the
critical situation of Palestinian refugees, and also an introduction into
several international campaigns for example boycotts and sanctions.
Other than talks, participants are also given the
opportunity to choose two out of five workshop sessions that mainly promotes
different types of campaigns for the Palestinians throughout the day. The
workshops are Press and Palestine, Political Campaigning, Careers Campaigning,
Organised Campaigning and also Dabka. These workshop sessions gave the
participants a chance to interact with the speakers in a smaller group so they
can gain a lot more insight on each session.
The last session of the conference was a keynote speech by
Norman Finkelstein who is well known for his research on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. On the basis of human rights, he condemned the actions and demands of
Israel that has clearly violated the human rights of the Palestinian especially
their right of return. He also presented the consequences of the Kerry
Initiative to the Palestine-Israeli conflict based on his research and studies.
Alhamdulillah, three of our Israa Volunteers were able to
attend the conference and it has been an eye opener and a good experience for
all of us since Israa Institution itself is also a body to campaign on the
issue of Palestinians. We hope with the information that we have gained, we are
able to create more awareness among people about the issue of Palestinians.
On
the authority of Abu Hamzah Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) the
servant of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), the Prophet (pbuh) said: "None of you will believe until you love for your brother what you
love for yourself."
[Bukhari & Muslim]