10 years after modest launch, Israeli Apartheid Week spans the globe

posted on: Mar 11, 2015

In March 2005, the Arab Students’ Collective, a campus organisation at the University of Toronto, held a series of local events to support Palestinians and protest Israeli policies. Hoping to broaden debate at the end of the second Intifada and on the eve of Israel’s redeployment of ground forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip, originally called “the separation plan,” they called their proceedings Israeli Apartheid Week.

A decade on, their creation has become an annual and globally-recognised event. This year, it will feature cultural and educational events, as well as public protests in more than 200 cities on six continents.

Activists say the campaign’s growth indicates the rising appeal of its message.

“In the wake of Israel’s massacre of Palestinians in Gaza, this year’s IAW takes on even greater significance,” Michael Deas, a London-based member of the IAW international coordination committee, told Middle East Eye.

Source: www.middleeasteye.net