Last week had started well for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). Keir Starmer had finally backed calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the Prince of Wales had raised his concerns about the appalling loss of life in Gaza.
But last Saturday, as more than 200 people gathered at Conway Hall in London for the campaign's annual general meeting, optimism that the Middle East debate might be turning the PSC's way had been superseded by puzzlement - and some anger.
"It's not extremist to be against the war," said Fiona Goldie, an activist from Carlisle in Cumbria. "It's the norm to want peace."
She was referring to suggestions that pro-Palestinian activists like her had been in some way responsible for the chaotic scenes inside the House of Commons on Wednesday and Thursday last week, during a debate on the Middle East conflict.
For months MPs have reported feeling intimidated by pro-Palestinian activists in their constituencies and online. The murder in October 2021 in Essex of the Tory MP David Amess by an Islamist extremist remains fresh in their minds. But last week the accusations against pro-Palestinian campaigners widened.
The front page of Saturday's Times reported that the PSC had been trying to sabotage British democracy, no less, and force parliament into lockdown.
Goldie, and others with her, seemed anything but extreme in their methods or views as they went about their business. She told how she and friends had handed out leaflets for months in Carlisle town centre most Saturday lunchtimes. The public, she insisted, was "overwhelmingly sympathetic". "The feedback we get from somewhere as non-political as Carlisle is that people are outraged. They want our government to do something."
Denne historien er fra March 01, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra March 01, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.