Issue: 2486

The greatest danger to the peo ples of the Middle East, including the people of Israel, comes from Israel's determination to retain control of the land it conquered 40 years ago, and its willingness to use nuclear weapons to maintain its dominance

Some years ago, the BAE AGM was an annual free-for-all, with dozens of token shareholders shouting, standing on chairs, trying to stop the meeting and generally causing mayhem.

b>From 28 April to 6 May, the LaUnf (nonviolence) network of Iraqi peace activists organised a second “Week of Nonviolence”, this time at 13 locations, reaching 7300 people all over Iraq.

Questions about corruption dominated the questions to directors at the recent annual shareholders' meeting of Britain's biggest weapons merchants, BAE Systems.

Members of a new group “Wrexham Women for Peace” and their supporters held a “funeral procession”, carrying coffins and a peace flag through the town centre on 19 May in memory of those whose lives have been lost in conflict worldwide.

Background

The archipelago Britain calls the Falkland Islands lies 300 miles off Argentina in the South Atlantic.
The islands are known in Argentina as the Malvinas.

After the Falklands/Malvinas war, Tam Dalyell (Labour MP for West Lothian/Linlithgow, 1962--2005) mounted a long campaign to expose government lies about the sinking of Argentinian warship the General Belgrano.

Diana Gould was a geography teacher from Gloucestershire who came to public attention in 1983 when she was picked to ask a question of Margaret Thatcher on BBC's Nationwide. She tackled the Prime Minister on her decision to sink the Argentinian warship General Belgrano on 2 May with the loss of 323 lives. Here she pinions the Iron Lady.

During the war, the Peace Pledge Union embarked upon negotiations of its own, with the object of obtaining a joint statement from British and Argentinian pacifists condemning the war.

As pressure mounts for military intervention in Darfur, Alex de Waal, an Africa expert, tells PN why war won't work and how tantalisingly close Darfur came to peace. When peace diplomacy happens, our movements need to know about it, and support it at every level.

On 19 May, the public sector union Unison sponsored a day conference in London taking forward the campaign against Britain's Trident nuclear arsenal.

Twenty-five years ago the Falklands/Malvinas War was controversial in Britain for three main reasons.

One wonderful thing about Jill Gough is her passion for peace.

I have a friend who's daughter became a peace activist. She was sending emails back from Palestine, and this focused my mind on what was happening there.

The Arab League Peace Plan of 2002 is what was called the “Saudi Plan” in the US. It has just been renewed.