Members of the Palestinian Solidarity Group organised a mock checkpoint outside the Union on Tuesday. The demonstration was part of the ‘internationally recognised Israeli Apartheid week.

The checkpoint was constructed to raise awareness of the restriction of movement for Palestinians caused by the Israeli occupation.

Students acted as Israeli Defence Force officers by holding cardboard guns, whilst others posed as Palestinians being restricted entry.

Chung Gilliland, a PhD student in Education told The Gryphon, ‘Israeli Apartheid week has been a great success so far with the mock checkpoint attracting a lot of attention from students and staff’

In addition to the checkpoint, the Week included a film showing, photo exhibition and talk on Wednesday from US journalist, Max Blumenthal, who visited Gaza during the recent attacks.

When asked about the talk, Chung said ‘the huge turnout was another great success. The Q&A session after the talk ran over time due to the audience’s impressive enthusiasm in interacting with our speaker to gain further understanding of the situations depicted in the talk’.

According to Amnesty International, the recent attacks on Gaza saw over ‘2,000 Palestinian deaths (including more than 500 children) and more than 10,000 people injured’.

Chung further explained the similarities between South African apartheid with Israeli occupation of Palestine, ‘there are a few things that could be drawn parallel from the two scenarios. The Palestinians are also deprived and disadvantaged by separate roads system, economic and political siege and military operations on a daily basis.’

Abla Klaa