Talk at the Exeter conference

March 2026

This was the title of one of the talks at the Exeter conference organised by the local Amnesty group. Answer: no. The talk was given by Abdullah al Anjari (pictured) who is a doctoral researcher in Palestine studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, and a member of the European Centre for Palestine Studies. His talk focused on three key elements of the problem: Jerusalem, the refusal to allow Palestinians to return and the actions of the West Bank. Together they meant the prospects for a Palestinian state near impossible. He might have added a general lack of support by other countries for this cause and the unqualified support by the US of Israel.

The removal of large numbers of Palestinians from Jerusalem began in 1948 and has continued sporadically since. It was important to realise that it was Christians who were expelled not just Arabs and Palestinians. Only two weeks previously the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed. This is a rarity in the 1,700 year history of the building.

Palestinians do not have the right to return to the lands they previously lived in. It is often forgotten that a significant number of those living in Gaza are themselves refugees.

Thirdly he said, there is the West Bank where around 700,000 Jewish people are now living. A further nineteen new settlements are currently being established. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who proposed the move alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, said the decision was about blocking the establishment of a Palestinian state. Alongside the settlement push has been a steady increase in violence against Palestinians and Arabs living there with no protection offered by the army or police. Abdullah called this ‘settler colonialism’.

Apartheid state

There have been many UN resolutions on this matter which have been ignored. What can we do? He focused on the Apartheid state operated by Israel. There have been a number of detailed reports setting out the mechanics of the state and how Palestinians are second class citizens in their own land. The Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have all produced extensive reports on the system. These have been variously dismissed by Israel and anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. The world took comprehensive action against Apartheid in South Africa and eventually the system was unsustainable. So far there is no move to apply those principles to Israel.

South Africa became a pariah state and its sports teams were boycotted and foreign companies were eventually persuaded to disinvest or stop trading. Writing to MPs was suggested. However a significant number of MPs are members of the Friends or Israel groups so are unlikely to support any action to boycott Israeli goods for example. Pressure could be applied to local government pension schemes not to invest in arms companies dealing with the country. The powerful Zionist influence in both the US and UK was noted.

Keeping up the momentum of vigils and campaigning was important in raising awareness and not allowing the injustice to continue. The prospects for a Palestinian state are almost nil was the gloomy conclusion. The seeming endless violence against its neighbours, the uncritical support of the US and other countries and a supine media landscape were all facts acting against some kind of peaceful solution for the region.

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