A LONDONER back from a month in Ramallah and a former Israeli reservist jailed in 1983 for refusing to serve in Lebanon were among speakers at a meeting held on Monday by Jews for Justice for Palestine.

Adah Kay, honorary visiting Fellow at City University, told an audience of 120 she had gone to Ramallah “to see if I could make some contribution. What I witnessed was not an equal contest — it was one of the best equipped armies in the world attacking a mainly civilian population.

“I feel shame as a Jew with Sharon’s short-minded, expansionist and draconian policies. All Palestinians I spoke to wanted to get on with life and are willing to, indeed positively want to, live in peace with Israel.”

Now living in London, the ex-reservist, Ronnie Cohen, told the JC after the meeting: “I am very pessimistic about the current government. The only way there will be peace is if Israel gets out of the occupied territories.”

The meeting was also addressed by former Finchley Reform minister Rabbi Jeffrey Newman, who declared: “The Bible says Jews have the right to be in Israel only if we behave justly.” His call for practical support was followed by a collection, which raised £2,000 for medical aid and for Israeli reservists refusing to serve on the West Bank.