Israel and the Environment 2010: The Zionist Federation tries to ‘green wash the Occupation’

The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) has condemned an environmental exhibition and lecture series being hosted by the Zionist Federation on Tuesday 9th February, An evening event for the general public, "Israel Blue White and Green", features a special guest appearance from botanist David Bellamy. This is at Logan Hall, Institute of Education, Bedford Way, Bloomsbury, London  http://www.ioe.ac.uk/services/1017.html <http://www.ioe.ac.uk/services/1017.html> ) and starts at 7pm.

A picket, organized by BRICUP  will be in place from 6 to 7.30pm. Please circulate this message to your London contacts and join us if you can. Flyers and some banners will be available.

In addition to protest outside the event, we also need questions put to speakers inside.
Tickets are FREE for students [and ZF members], cost £5 in advance on the ZF website:
http://www.zionist.org.uk/index.php?id=57 <http://www.zionist.org.uk/index.php?id=57>  [select event: ISRAEL BLUE WHITE & GREEN] or else £10 on the door. Anyone booking online should receive an email confirmation that your name will be on the list at the door. But that does not always happen, so a phone call may be necessary to confirm the booking."

Apparently the organisers have not checked bookings against any list of individuals who publicly criticise Israel.
 
Details  

 The ZF promises "a series of lectures by top [Israeli] scientists" for school students, entitled "Israel and the Environment 2010", along with an exhibition on "solar energy, water management and desert agricultural development".  

BRICUP has written to Bellamy urging him to pull out ( see letter at:
 http://www.bricup.org.uk/news/bellamy.pdf

listing Israel’s numerous environmental  including dumping untreated sewage and waste water from West Bank settlements on to Palestinian agricultural land; uprooting over 1½ million olive trees, and creating sewage lakes by destroying Gaza’s waste treatment system.
 
The letter has 97 signatories, predominantly UK academics but also including Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, Clare Short MP, two peers and three prominent Israeli academics. The 83 British academics include 41 full Professors.
 
Last year BRICUP, which campaigns for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, made front-page news when it staged a protest outside the ZF’s event for schoolchildren at the London Science Museum, drawing attention to the domination of Israeli science by the military. The group is planning a similar non-violent protest at this year’s event.