Ban this event

We are writing to express our concern at the planned exhibition of Israeli medicine, science and technology to be held at the Scottish Parliament at the end of this month. Calls for its cancellation have already been made by doctors (as reported in this paper), by an e-petition to parliament signed by more than 1,000 people, by a parliamentary motion put forward by Patrick Harvie MSP and by a unanimous emergency motion at the STUC, but we feel it is important to add an identifiably Jewis

By The Newsroom

Published 23rd Apr 2010, 21:12 BST

Updated 24th Apr 2010, 00:07 BST

The parliament is not a private venue and this is not an exhibition of science that just happens to have been carried out by Israelis. The exhibits are defined by their Israeli nationality and are being displayed in a building symbolic of the Scottish nation.

Israeli science has produced advances in many areas, but it has been used as an important tool in the subjugation of the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli scientists developed the weapons that killed and maimed thousands in Gaza a year ago, and which have devastated Palestinian hospitals and universities. Israeli science and technology has constructed Israel's apartheid wall and diverted Palestinian water into Israeli settlements. Meanwhile, Israeli controls restrict vital supplies necessary for a basic healthy life from entering Gaza, and ensure that few Palestinians can benefit from the advances of Israeli medicine.

We call on MSPs to withdraw permission for this PR exercise.

SARAH GLYNN (and ten other signatories)

Scottish Jews for a Just Peace

Glasgow