A Hastings PSC protest from October last year (Picture: @HRyepsc Twitter)

Since the Israeli assault on Gaza the small fishing village of Al-Mawasi has been transformed into a massive tent city on scrubland with extremely limited facilities.

Three years ago, Hastings Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) developed a twinning link with a community centre in Al-Mawasi, running, for example, English classes online.

Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi has raised thousands of pounds and helped to buy solar panels when the electricity got cut off in Gaza. We raised money for community cooking facilities and tents.

I took part in an online Zoom call last week with community activists in Al-Mawasi. Their main priority is trying to feed people.

They run a bakery, producing enough bread to feed 5,000 people every day—but it’s nowhere near enough. On Saturday 13 July they had just finished baking for the day when Israeli bombs exploded 150 metres away in a massive and deliberate attack.

The Israeli forces killed and severely injured many people. The Palestinians said they are extremely tired and heartbroken at the suffering, but knowing that there is international solidarity keeps them going.

They know that ordinary people in Britain are with them even if the government backs Israel. They described Israel’s psychological warfare, with Israeli helicopters flying low every night.

They broadcast the sound of women and children screaming and loud warnings of more bombs. The economy in Gaza has collapsed. Finding meat, fresh fruit and vegetables is rare.

A packet of biscuits, which used to cost half a shekel, now costs ten. Wages have not been paid and even relatively well-off people like lawyers and doctors have to queue up for the basic necessities of life.

They are trying to set up projects for the children, teaching in tents. They want to organise a fun festival for the children. But it’s expensive and they worry about getting all the children together in one place in case of more bombing.

The solar panels have been damaged by shrapnel, but more panels and storage batteries are impossible to get. They are focusing on trying to dig a new well to increase the water supply.

Their priority is to stop the war. They thanked people in Britain for their solidarity and support. And they urged us to redouble our efforts to change government policy, especially ending the arms sales to Israel.

Their steadfastness in the face of impossible odds is an inspiration. The struggle continues. 

Go to hastingspalestinecampaign.org/hastings-friends-al-mawasi.html for more info. 

Simon Hester 

Hastings

Labour and India’s fight 

John Newsinger’s column on Indian independence underestimates the impact the protests against the Simon Commission in 1928 had on Labour’s Clement Atlee (Socialist Worker, 23 July).

When Labour formed a government in 1929, it broke with Britain’s previous imperialist policy. It proposed to negotiate on future change by calling the Round Table Conference.

By manipulating who participated, Labour aimed to get the most conservative outcome possible.

But the fact that it was compelled to start negotiating at all is a testament to the impact of the demonstrations—in which, incidentally, Mahatma Gandhi played no part at all.

The Indian National Congress then completely messed up its response. It allowed itself to be manipulated by the British when Gandhi eventually got to the Second Round Table Conference in 1932.

When a new Government of India Act passed in 1935, Congress ended up with less than what was on offer from Labour in 1930. What is clear, is that a militant campaign can have an impact even on right wing Labour leaders. 

Barry Pavier 

Bradford

Guardians of the system 

Here is a good example of the media’s underlying pro-capitalist bias.

The Guardian newspaper reports that “annual pay growth eased from 5.9 percent in the three months to April to 5.7 percent in the three months to May”.

“Eased”? Why not the following instead? “Disappointingly for workers, annual pay growth fell.” 

Phil Webster 

Lancashire 

Greens back genocide Joe 

I was livid to see the Green Party falling over itself to praise Joe Biden when he was forced to resign.

Bristol MP Carla Denyer said, “I wish president Biden well and thank him for his many years of public service.”

I voted Green to back Palestine, but now the Greens are behaving like any other mainstream party. How thoroughly disappointing. 

Nina Fenwick 

North London 

British state conspiracy 

A judge imprisoned five Just Stop Oil supporters to prison for “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance”.

There’s a long history of this in Britain—for example, the case of the Shrewsbury 24 and the 1972 national builders’ strike.

They were a group of strikers fitted up for offences including unlawful assembly, conspiracy to intimidate and affray. 

Julia Ryder 

Worcestershire 

Aristocracy of Labour 

Meet henry Tufnell. His father and mother own a country mansion and a 2,000 acre farm in the Costwolds.

He’s a public school boy who hails from an aristocratic family that gave its name to Tufnell Park in north London.

No, he’s not a Tory. He is the new Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire in West Wales. 

Jennifer Evans 

Pembrokeshire

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