Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Report on the Week of Solidarity Against the Apartheid Walls in Palestine and the Siege of Gaza (9th – 16th November 2009)

By Kevin Squires & Freda Hughes

Adri Nieuwhof [Electronic Intifada] 24 November 2009 - Despite mounting pressure to withdraw from the light rail project in Jerusalem designed to serve the needs of Israel's illegal settlements, the French transportation giant Veolia is set to be highly involved in the project for the next five years.

The company needs to support its new Israeli partner, the Dan Bus Company, which lacks the experience to operate the light rail.

Achmad Cassiem is a veteran of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He joined the armed struggle for justice at age 15, and at the age of 17 he became one of the youngest people to be imprisoned on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, where he served a total of 11 years.

He is a teacher by profession, a founder of the Islamic Unity Convention and an adviser to the Islamic Human Rights Commission. He says that Israeli apartheid is worse than South Africa ever was (and he would know).

Rachel Shabi [Foreign Policy] 12 November 2009 - Query Jerusalem residents about their new railway and the most common response is: Don't ask. Then locals will proceed to tell you all about it anyway: a long litany of complaints over the snarled-up roads, broken promises, and urban disasters involved in the ongoing construction of a light railway track through the city.