Pro-Palestinian "subvertisements" on the London Undergound and Palestine solidarity

London Palestine Action is a solidarity group that has come to increasing prominence since they plastered the London tube with subversive advertisements -- subvertisments -- attacking media coverage of the Palestine conflict.

Yet this group is also attempting to make an impact within the Palestine solidarity movement itself, in terms of diversifying actions away from simple protests, amplifying Palestinian voices and extending their solidarity to Syrians.

"We are a direct action group, not a lobby group. We don't send emails round signing petitions...its about making impact and making big statements," said "Abu Mahmoud", one of the figures behind the poster campaign.

"The Palestinian voice was one of the most important things we wanted to reflect in LPA. Palestinian people don't play the victim...they are strong and resist in many different ways. It is not just about protesting on the corner near the Israeli embassy and shouting slogans," he added.

"One of the things I realised early on, as soon as we started doing action, we'd get feedback from Palestine on the effect that that solidarity had, instead of something that went under the radar and had less effect on the cause."

It is not just about protesting on the corner near the Israeli embassy and shouting slogans

Subvertisments and a diplomatic row.

It was the urge to show solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank led to the idea to cover the tube in advertisements.

"It was challenging the narrative we hear in Western and world media - including some Arabic media. If we listen to one aspect of Palestinian solidarity, you will hear the voice of the occupier coming from all directions, and the only argument you will hear comes from the Palestine Authority. We try to amplify the voice of the people," said Abu Mahmoud.

"There was an urgency, a need and a want to change the narrative of what the BBC and the media outlets were saying about the so-called stabbings of Israeli occupation soldiers throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem."

More than 200 Palestinians have now been killed since the uprising began in October. Just on Thursday, an Israeli rights group released a video showing an injured Palestinian being shot in the head.

"The fact Israel were carrying out extrajudicial executions of Palestinians for allegedly attempting to attack occupation soldiers was never brought up by any media outlet..." said Abu Mahmoud.

"An extremist settler could run through a gay pride march in Tel Aviv and stab three people but was wrestled and taken away in a car and had a court case...but we know the Israeli occupation imprisons Palestinians without court cases.  The extrajudicial murder is something we felt we had to target."

"The easiest way we thought we could do that is some kind of subvertisment...the tube became the obvious way to carry that out," he said.

Members of LPA attached over 100 posters to trains in the course of a day

Members of LPA attached over 100 posters to trains in the course of a day, an action that could have led the group into trouble for vandalism.

"It was done with a lot of team work, a lot of listening and brain storming and a lot of patience...” he said.

It happened with the start of the killings, so by the time they came out we are talking three months...so it was a lot of patience and use of contacts and economising and persistence with some real great work by dedicated members".

Israeli officials consequently sought credit over who pressured London to take-down the anti-apartheid ads, while Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was criticised by political rival Yair Lapid for taking "no action" at all.

Lapid claimed he telephoned London Mayor Boris Johnson to complain about the posters, while the London Transport were forced to issue a denial that they had permitted the campaign.

The Israeli prime minister said he had called upon senior Israeli diplomat Dore Gold, currently holding meetings in London, to request the UK government to remove the posters.

"We thought it would get coverage as it coincided with the beginning of Israeli Apartheid week, and we thought we'd get some Zionist abuse...but I don't think that we had anticipated that level of reaction," said Abu Mahmoud.

"They escalated this solidarity action into a diplomatic row," he added.

"The Israeli government and its supporters belittle BDS and support for Palestinians, yet at the same time they employ ten people in each embassy to counter BDS...you do an action and they talk about it and this is why it has to continue," said Abu Mahmoud.

"We put the posters up for download...no one owns the cause, no one owns the solidarity movement...the reaction from Palestinians made it more worthwhile than any diplomatic row...its not a clever stunt, but what it is showing is there is another narrative which is not what the rest of world is hearing." He concluded.

Many who sympthathise with the cause, as well as Palestinians, are growing continually wary and cynical of solidarity,

Disillusionment with the solidarity movement

Despite these actions and a growing movement, many who sympthathise with the cause, as well as Palestinians, are growing continually wary and cynical of solidarity, feeling the situation is hopeless.

"Hopelessness is natural [considering] abuses...there are people being murdered everyday and its understandable that people feel that way, and we have no choice but to keep going, and we are seeing the movement grow," Abu Mahmoud insisted.

"BDS is a tactic, and can't work alone, but it is having an effect and making companies and supermarkets and councils and people look at where their money goes," he said, citing the examples of security firm G4S selling off their Israeli arm and soda stream pulling out of the territories.

"Being cynical and feeling sad about the cause and it becoming our problem is a sign of privilege, and its not up to us to feel defeatist...everything we do is for the movement for Palestine. We are not the ones living under occupation and living in refugee camps," he said.

"Some of us are Palestinian refugees, and Palestinians from 48 or the West Bank, but as a group here we are not from that area. We are showing solidarity from what we see from Palestinians and to reflect what is happening on the ground."

What we do is beyond factions and Hamas, Fatah, and two-state, one state solution

The Palestinian political sphere is filled with division, with the split between Fatah and Hamas, although the recent movement has been independent from factions.

"Its not up to us to get involved in divisive factional politics, but thats not what we want to do. What we do is beyond factions and Hamas, Fatah, and two-state, one state solution," said Abu Mahmoud.

	LPA is trying to diversify solidarity actions [LPA]

"Our end goal is stop arming Israel, and general BDS work is what we are aiming towards and we respond to what is happens on the ground."

Abu Mahmoud also feels that creative direct action works better than protests.

"Personally, I feel that protests do very little and allow for groups who don't educate people correctly and that compete for attention, but direct action and using what you have has made" more gains.

Following the announcement that boycotting companies for ethical reasons could be made illegal for various companies, LPA blockaded the street.

"We can work quickly [with direct action], for example the BDS being outlawed action, and we made a presence within a week."

Despite a growing community of politically active Palestinians in London, many feel they have been left out of the solidarity movement

Representation in the Movement

Despite a growing community of politically active Palestinians in London, many feel they have been left out of the solidarity movement. This is something that LPA is trying to change, although there are obstacles to Palestinians.

"Many of them feel they don't relate to the politics of this country and the way that it works, and nothing can be done unless you are on the ground and against the occupation in Palestine," he said.

"The idea of protest and BDS here, they feel, doesn't make a difference. A lot of people are weary," Abu Mahmoud said.

Although the group has members from the Palestinian diaspora, as well as from the country, they are clear that their context is London, and the aims of stopping arment to Israel and BDS focus on UK policy.

Politically active students and Palestinians in London do not like to jeopardise their applications to study or to stay in the country...we should recognize our privilege when it comes to these things

There are other practical reasons that Abu Mahmoud feels hinders involvement.

"Politically active students and Palestinians in London do not like to jeopardise their applications to study or to stay in the country...we should recognize our privilege when it comes to these things,” he said.

"Palestinians are involved in the planning, but no so much the actions. We also face racism from authorities - brown people and Palestinians are more of a target."

"There is the survival element of the diaspora, where the number one goal is to feed your family and make a living, perhaps they have also been through occupation and siege...they want to have a break."

The British Muslim community are another demographic who tend to care deeply about the Palestinian cause. Although they are represented strongly in groups such as Friends of al-Aqsa, there has been less of a represention in more leftist orientated solidarity groups.

"Young British Muslims feel condescended to by the white British left, and the issue of tokenism where they are...we can get more British Muslims to support us because of this girl in hijab, rather than what the girl in hijab has to say," he said.

"And there is a failure of the leaders of certain leftist groups to confront the real nature of occupation."

"British Muslims don't have faith in these groups. They feel alienated, but are are sometimes duped into believing that this is a purely religious conflict, which reflects the ideas of the right-wing. British Muslims have been alienated by everyone in every aspect of British society," he concluded.

The pro-Palestine solidairty groups are coming under criticism for not talking about Syria

Solidarity from Palestine to Syria

As the war in Syria enters its fifth year, another aspect that has been alientating many from the predominant Palestine solidarity movements is their line on the Syrian revolution, which has often been ambigous.

"The pro-Palestine solidairty groups are coming under criticism for not talking about Syria...personally I feel they haven't come under enough criticism, and this is one of the problems the Syrian people have faced," Abu Mahmoud said.

"We did an action for Yarmouk and the turn-out was remarkably less because of the internal weirdness the Palestine solidarity - especially the "anti-imperialist" left - have on Syria," said Abu Mahmoud, referring to the Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus. 

"Whether they agreed with the group's stance or not, alot of people have a problem coming out with saying it. There's a lot of sitting on the fence or blind support for a regime that was killing Palestinian people, and groups weren't coming out in support of those people."

Many pro-Palestine activists were perceived as being apologists for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad

Many pro-Palestine activists were perceived as being apologists for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad due to a perceived anti-imperialist bent to the regime, and their allies of Iran, Hizballah and Russia. 

"Yarmouk was under siege for two years when we did our actions and no group came out in support with us. I think we knew at that point where we stood with Syria. A lot of us worked with refugees, a lot of us worked in the camps, a lot of us have friends and family from Syria," said Abu Mahmoud. 

"A lot of the problems Syrians face is what Palestinians face...in terms of the narrative, in terms of victimisation, in terms of the white left deciding what is best for people over there."

"If you listen to the left you aren't going to hear a Syrian voice, and i think that was very important, that any action we do for Syria or in tandem with refugees in Syria comes from them and is in solidarity and respect. That's the level we work on."

"…Our friends have been assassinated by everyone in Yarmouk…We are in solidarity with them and what they hope for the future." ​

A recent action carried out by women from London Palestine Action and Syria Solidarity UK involved planting shrubs around London in memory of Syrian women who are detained or had lost their lives in the conflict. 

"That action was so tastefully put together and brilliantly executed...a great symbolic solidarity," said Abu Mahmoud.  "Food has been used as a weapon and out friends and families have been forced to eat the most basic food stuffs" and starve.

"You can link it to Palestine, because they think that killing people will stop an uprising...'they thought they could bury us but they forgot we are seeds'..." he said, quoting a maxim they put on the banner for the action. 

"Sums up the Syrian revolution and Palestine"