US and Israeli bomb flights chased away from Prestwick airport
Court case launched against the bomb flights
Edinburgh International Film Festival return Israeli embassy sponsorship money
Israel cricket match cancelled
It is a hectic period for campaigners for justice and peace in the Middle East.
For one, we've had this issue of US bombs for Israel to all-the-better-to-kill-the-Lebanese-with, flying via Prestwick Airport. Things were set to get worse with more flights, and visits from the Israel Air Force itself (click on picture above from Sunday Express). Protests were held and outrage abounded amongst opposition parties and the media.
The point was quite rightly made that Ireland had refused these flights, so why were they now coming to Scotland? Fearing the nationalist reaction, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander apparently intervened, and now Margaret Beckett, who launched a fake protest about the issue last week, has them going to military airports in England.
We've not heard the last of it in Scotland though. Aamer Anwar is launching a court case against the guilty parties. I'll be speaking at the press conference tomorrow.
But for now, over to you England. Will you do the same as Scotland and Ireland and drive this outrage from your country?
It needs to be noted that the government has said that these bomb flights will not now be using civilian airports - just military ones. This is significant. With the UK's military resources at the disposal of Israel, does this mean that the UK is effectively also at war with Lebanon?
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign has meanwhile managed to get the Edinburgh International Film Festival to return sponsorship money from the Israeli embassy. They threatened to picket all their events unless the money was returned.
Amongst all this, we also have the visit of the Israeli cricket team to Glasgow this week for a tournament. The European Cricket Council has refused to cancel the match, and it looks all set for mass protests this Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Following meetings, the police earlier today decided to relocate the match to another venue in Glasgow which could hold more people. However at 9pm tonight we've been told again that the venue has changed. Except no decision will be taken to where that will be till the morning.
Intriguing. I shall keep you posted.
UDPATE 02/08/06: Victory! Tomorrow's Israel cricket match has been cancelled. The police say they could not find a venue large enough to hold the protest.
However, they're saying the matches on Saturday and Sunday are still on. I'm having difficulty in seeing how they're going to build an even bigger venue by then. We shall see.
UPDATE: 04/08/06: Make sure you're at the cricket matches this weekend. More info