The "lobby" tried its dirty work, but the truth still got through, affirms Dyab Abou Jahjah Last December the International Union of Parliamentarians for Palestine (IUPFP), an organisation bringing together some 300 MPs from 30 countries, of which I am the international director, organised a lecture at the Belgian parliament on the issue of the Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails. What was special at that meeting was the presence of a Hizbullah MP, Hussein Al-Haj Hassan, who addressed the audience in impeccable French and made a very positive impression, next to the eloquent Palestinian MP Hassan Khraishe who is the deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and ex-MP and IUPFP Secretary Abdullah Kassir. The Zionist lobby tried to ensure that the meeting was boycotted and lobbied Belgian political parties to cancel it, but in vain. The next morning the media had one headline: "Abou Jahjah introduces Hizbullah to the Belgian parliament". With the exception of a very few articles that addressed the real topic, the focus was on the fact that the Lebanese resistance was given a venue in the house of democracy. This was considered to be a serious defeat for the Zionist lobby and a step towards normalising attitudes in Europe towards the resistance against the Zionist occupation. A campaign was launched against me in Belgium, and some MPs who supported the activity were clearly shaken by the intense pressure they were exposed to. However, in Belgium I am a citizen, and everything has already been tried against me in the past including political imprisonment without much success, so the Zionist lobby conceded defeat, but vowed revenge. At the meeting we decided the IUPFP's next stop would be London and the House of Commons. We were of course aware that this is ambitious since Britain is after all the country that helped create the Zionist entity and no one can forget the Balfour declaration and the Sykes-Picot agreement that constituted the political arsenal of Zionism. Britain also has one of the most powerful Zionist lobbies in the world. All this made the step challenging but motivated us greatly to have our message heard there. Since I took over my responsibility in the IUPFP my goal and vision have pivoted around one formula: creating a link between the resistance, the activists and free politicians and MPs. By doing this I believe we can keep the resistance legitimate, keep the activists sharp and focussed, and keep the politicians connected to reality and to the struggles of simple people. The Palestinian cause represents the most symbolic and just cause of liberation in our time and is therefore the best focus to build an alliance to help these suffering people everywhere. Supported by the brave Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and the revolutionary Respect MP George Galloway, we succeeded in booking the prestigious grand committee room at the British house of parliaments and all was set for our activity on 31 March. We soon discovered that the Zionist authorities had issued a travel ban against Khraishe so he couldn't join us in London. He told me that it is because of the earlier event in Brussels and that this shows how anxious the Israelis are about this kind of work. The visit coincided with increasing rumours on an opening of relations between the UK and Hizbullah. The media was full of reports that talks were already taking place between the two. This is why when MP Haj Hassan obtained his visa and arrived to London everybody linked his trip to the so- called talks. The Zionist lobby immediately began a campaign against our planned activity and focussed their attack on my person. The Jewish Chronicle which is the main Jewish paper in the UK ran two defamatory articles against me reproducing allegations that were already used against me in Belgium during the long political witch-hunt there against me and other leaders of the Arab European League, without mentioning of course that we were acquitted of all charges by Belgian courts and that we are now suing Belgium for compensation. The two meetings in London took place, and the voice of MP Haj Hassan was heard at parliament where he was received with full honours. Even the voice of Khraishe was heard by a video message that was projected in the parliamentary meeting, and the fact that he was prevented from attending only increased the sympathy of the audience with his message and illustrated the nature of the Zionist colonial project in Palestine. The London activity was a painful defeat for the Zionist PR machine. This pushed them to increase the pressure on UK Home Secretary Jaqui Smith who is already under immense pressure because of various scandals. As a result, while trying to return to the UK from Brussels, where I had some meetings this Friday, the UK Home Office denied me entry to the UK after detaining me for six hours. This is an illegal act that I will be challenging both politically and judicially. But regardless of how successful I am in lifting this unlawful ban, nobody can undo the fact that I came to the UK and did what I had to do and established a branch of the IUPFP there so that the work now can continue without me. The IUPFP and its volunteers -- all the comrades and friends I've met and worked with in the UK including MP Geremy Corbyn, the Stop the War coalition, and many representatives of Arab, Asian and British youth -- are all in the UK to stay and the Zionists cannot do anything about that. They are on the losing end in this historic battle for justice in the UK as in Palestine itself.
