ICAHD UK 2015 Conference Salma Karmi Ayyoub

The On-Going Nakba

British-Palestinian human rights lawyer talks out: Hastings Palestine Solidarity Campaign are delighted that Salma Karmi-Ayyoub will be giving a talk during ‘Nakba’ week. Gill Knight writes.

Nakba translates as ‘catastrophe’, but in reality it was more than that: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948

This is especially relevant as 2017 marks the 100 year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, an extraordinary document issued by the British cabinet giving away a land that that the UK, in 1917, had no jurisdiction over.

Salma will be talking about the fundamental incompatibility of Israel as it is currently constituted (as a so-called Jewish state) and the rights of Palestinians as enshrined in international law. She will cover how Israel was established and how its basic laws and policies ensure the perpetuation of an on-going Nakba against the Palestinians.

Salma is a criminal barrister and external consultant for the Palestinian human rights organisation, Al Haq. She acquired a post-graduate degree in law and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2007, after which she practised criminal law at Tooks Chambers, where she was awarded tenancy. From 2009 until 2012, Ms Karmy-Ayyoub headed an international litigation project at Al Haq and worked on cases in various jurisdictions concerning persons and companies involved in human rights abuses.

Ms Karmy-Ayyoub continues to work with human rights organisations and solicitors’ firms on legal projects concerning Palestine – and has a particular interest in the question of Palestine and the International Criminal Court. She is also co-chair of the British legal charity, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights. Her articles have appeared in  the London Review of Books, The Huffington Post and The Nation, among other publications and often speaks in Al Jazeera debates.

Talk by Ms Salma Karmy-Ayyoub: White Rock Hotel, Saturday 13 May, 2 – 4pm. 

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