This page will detail some of the correspondence recieved from election candidates, including from incumbent MPs. Please send any correspondence you receive from General Election 2017 candidates to Joseph Willits ([email protected]). You can see the responses received from the General Election in 2015 here. 

The page will detail the policies and comments from political parties about the Middle East and issues that you may find of interest. It will include details from the manifestos of the politcal parties and quotes from key individuals. 

We encourage everybody to write to candidates standing in the 2017 General Election and ask them about issues concerning the Middle East and about issues concerning communities in the UK such as hate crime and racism. 

You can find out who will be standing in your Parliamentary constituency here by entering your postcode. Many candidates' emails will be listed.    

Please do pass on any correspondence you receive to Caabu by emailing Joseph Willits at [email protected].

Former MP Tom Levitt has written about refugee communities in Athens. He has written about his experiences here:

They say the camera never lies. Everything I’ve seen and heard on TV about the plight of Middle East refugees was borne out by four days working in Athens recently, with migrants in the squatter communities around the city’s historic university and anarchist quarter. 

By James Killin

Last Thursday 30th March marked the annual Land Day (youm al-ard) commemoration by Palestinians living in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza, and in the global diaspora. Demonstrations took place in towns and cities to mark 41 years since the killing of six unarmed Palestinians living in Israel – four killed by the IDF and two by the police – in response to Israeli policies of land expropriation for settlements, illegal under international law.

Fawzi al-Qawuqji and the Fight for Arab Independence 1914-1948, book launch with Laila Parsons

On 28 March 2017, a debate was held in the House of Commons on the conflict in Yemen. Led by Labour MP Keith Vaz, Conservative MP Flick Drummond and SNP MP Alison Thewliss, it focused on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and efforts to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council to end the conflict. The motion debated was:

Caabu appalled by the attack in Westminster

23 March 2017

Caabu joins with all those who have condemned the appalling attack on Westminster on 22 March.  Such extremist violence will not work and the reaction of everyone in London has shown that this will not intimidate them nor prevent them from carrying on their lives as usual. 

Our thoughts are with the families of those whom lost loved ones, and those suffering critical injuries.  We wish them well.