{"id":5689,"date":"2026-09-26T08:51:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T08:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=5689"},"modified":"2026-09-26T08:51:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T08:51:42","slug":"pro-palestine-action-group-to-rally-at-labour-conference-led-by-burnham-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=5689","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestine Action group to rally at Labour conference led by Burnham | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>4 Minute, 13 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n

London, United Kingdom \u2013<\/strong> Protesters are planning to gather in support of Palestine Action at the first Labour Party conference Prime Minister Andy Burnham will preside over.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s \u201cmass, silent sign-holding vigil\u201d in Liverpool, close to the conference centre, is in response to the proscription of Palestine Action as a \u201cterrorist\u201d<\/a> group, said Defend Our Juries, a rights group that organises rallies calling for the government to drop the ban.<\/p>\n

\n

Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n

list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n

Since it was outlawed in July 2025, a civil disobedience campaign has seen more than 3,600 people arrested for showing their support for the group, often while holding signs reading, \u201cI oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action\u201d.<\/p>\n

Organisers at Defend Our Juries expect further arrests, saying several hundred people are likely to attend.<\/p>\n

The protest is designed as an \u201cintegrity test of the new leadership\u2019s commitment to ending Britain\u2019s complicity in Israel\u2019s ethnic cleansing and war crimes\u201d, they said.<\/p>\n

Burnham faced further scrutiny on Friday as Declassified UK, an investigative outlet focused on foreign policy, reported that it had been denied media passes to cover the Labour conference, which runs from Sunday to Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Where does Labour stand on Palestine?<\/h2>\n

Compared with his predecessors, Burnham has taken a stronger stance against illegal Israeli settlements and settler violence in the occupied West Bank, announcing<\/a> sanctions earlier this month.<\/p>\n

But rights groups and activists have called on Labour to suspend all arms sales to Israel in order to stop the bloodshed in Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n

They also want the UK to reverse the ban on Palestine Action, whose main target is Israel\u2019s largest weapons maker, Elbit Systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf [prime minister] Burnham means what he says, that he plans to end Britain\u2019s complicity in Israel\u2019s horrific crimes, then he would stop the arrests of people peacefully demonstrating against the genocide and the authoritarian attempts to crush its opponents,\u201d Defend Our Juries said. \u201cWe urge PM Burnham to do the only sensible thing and lift the ban on Palestine Action, the very people in the UK actually trying to prevent British complicity in Israel\u2019s war crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s past positions on Palestine<\/h2>\n

In recent years, the Labour Party has faced waves of criticism over its positions on Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the interests of a Labour leader who wants to keep the Labour Party together, and keep a broad electoral bloc together too in a first-past-the-post system, is to try and defang this issue as much as possible,\u201d Colm Murphy, a senior lecturer in British politics at Queen Mary University, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

He explained that \u201cwe\u2019ve seen a series of gradual steps\u201d on Palestine by party leaders, but the shift has been a \u201cslow, painful evolution\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecognition of the Palestinian state by [former Prime Minister Keir] Starmer was the culmination of a process really begun by Ed Miliband,\u201d he said, referring to the current Foreign Secretary who was Labour\u2019s leader from 2010 until 2015.<\/p>\n

Starmer was prime minister when the UK proscribed Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act.<\/p>\n

Days after Israel attacked Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 2023, then-PM Starmer said Israel had the \u201cright\u201d to cut off the strip\u2019s water supply, adding, \u201cObviously, everything should be done within international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he later walked back his statement, for many, the damage was done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legacy of Starmer is actually worsened by the fact that Burnham and Miliband were able to act, because it shows that they could act and they had the political will, they had the personal and public will, and they actually did do something,\u201d said\u00a0Joseph Willits, head of Parliamentary Affairs at the Council for Arab-British Understanding.<\/p>\n

The new sanctions announced under Burnham\u2019s Labour highlight the \u201cinadequacies and the lack of will from the previous government\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Before Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn, a leftist and lifelong supporter of Palestinian rights, led Labour.<\/p>\n

But his era was marred by allegations of anti-Semitism and in late 2019, he announced his resignation as the party\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Under Miliband\u2019s tenure, Labour\u2019s stance on Palestine was supportive of a two-state solution and Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n

He has since reflected on how his Jewish mother, a Holocaust survivor, shaped the principles that have guided him.<\/p>\n

The question remains whether Burnham\u2019s Labour could reverse the ban on Palestine Action, especially after United States President Donald Trump<\/a> recently outlawed the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s too early to say,\u201d Willits said. \u201cIf this is also a battle line with Trump and the Trump administration, do they pick that battle line or the others? Has he already picked other battle lines when it comes to Palestine and therefore does he just leave this one?\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy said Burnham\u2019s Labour may address issues around Palestine Action if they become \u201csalient in British politics again\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not so sure it will, but we shall see. A protest might raise the profile a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London, United Kingdom \u2013 Protesters are planning to gather in support of Palestine Action at the first Labour Party conference Prime Minister Andy Burnham will preside over. Sunday\u2019s \u201cmass, silent sign-holding vigil\u201d in Liverpool, close to the conference centre, is in response to the proscription of Palestine Action as a \u201cterrorist\u201d group, said Defend Our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t