A Presteigne resident is planning a sit-in protest this Saturday, outside the police station in Presteigne, in support of Palestine.

Mark Levene, 72, from New Radnor, will be defying the government ban on the group Palestine Action by holding a sign which will read : ‘I Oppose Genocide, I Support Palestine Action'.

Dr Levene’s action will be in solidarity with the many thousands of people who either are taking peaceful action in London, Cardiff, and around the country this Saturday, or who have already done so in the last few months in support of Palestine Action.

Palestine Action is proscribed as a terrorist organisation, even though its aims are to bring attention to, or non-violently halt British government complicity in the genocide in Gaza which continues in spite of the 9th October Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The aim of the current wave of peaceful protests, organised by the group Defend Our Juries, is in support of a Judicial Review to have the proscription on Palestine Action lifted. Even so, more than 2000 people have been, or continue to be, arrested under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

Mark is one of the people who have been arrested, along with several other Radnorshire campaigners, who were among the nearly 900 peaceful protesters arrested in Parliament Square, London, on September 6th.

Some of the group from Radnor Palestine Links have also been arrested on previous, or subsequent occasions.

Mark is also bringing attention to the ongoing role of the company, Teledyne, which has a factory in Presteigne and has been granted export licences for components for Israeli F-35 fighter jets . He has consequently written to the chief constable of Dyfed-Powys police to inform him of the protest, explaining his reasons for his action but also to assure him of its peaceful intent and lack of threat either to the police, or members of the public.

Mark cites in the letter the following reasons for his action. “As an internationally recognised genocide scholar, I concur with the assessment of the International Court of Justice that the Israel state is guilty of genocide in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, on 7 October 2023. Its acts, thus, are in contravention of the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide and are liable to prosecution as such.

“As a Jew, I seek to uphold the most fundamental Jewish principle that life is precious and saving life is the most important thing any person can do. This stands in complete contrast to the atrocities committed by the Netanyahu government, even while it claims to speak on behalf of all Jewish people, myself included.

“As a British citizen, I protest against a British government which is providing support to British companies, or those operating in British soil which are making military components used by the Israeli Defence Forces in their genocidal war on Gaza. As a signatory to the UN Genocide Convention, HMG is duty-bound to stop the genocide in Gaza.

“As a resident of this patch of Radnorshire, I specifically protest the British government granting of extensive export licences to the US-owned, Teledyne Labtech, Presteigne, a military aerospace manufacturer which is known to have supplied a large and wide array of components to the Israeli Defence Forces, including components for F-35 fighter jets and has been crucially implicated in efforts to influence HMG in its Palestine Action proscription.

“For these reasons I feel I have no choice but to peacefully join with the thousands of others who believe that the proscription against Palestine Action is unlawful.”

Defend Our Juries, a UK-based activist group, will be leading a UK-wide wave of actions around the Judicial Review of the government’s proscription of Palestine Action as “a terrorist organisation”. Protests are planned in 18 towns and cities across every nation in the UK from 18–29 November, in what the group describes as “the most widespread civil disobedience campaign in modern British history.”

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, who are organising the Lift The Ban protests, said: “The chorus of condemnation against the ban continues to grow as does the number of principled people standing up against the government’s authoritarian overreach.

“These historic mobilisations will honour those already imprisoned for risking everything to disrupt the flow of arms to Israel. The Filton 24 and Brize Norton 5 must be granted immediate bail and full access to the evidence they need to defend themselves.

“These actions will also, once again, be in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the West Bank. Both Conservative and Labour governments have been shamefully complicit in the horrors continuing to unfold in Palestine and the use of counter-terrorism legislation to silence their critics must end now.”