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Chaired by former foreign associate editor of the Guardian, Victoria Brittain, the speakers Mahmoud Zaware and Sami Abou Shehadeh talked about their lives in Israel and the West Bank respectively as they struggle against occupation and apartheid. As the meeting began, the audience and speakers stood for a minute silence, held in memory of Arafat Jaradat, who died in an Israeli jail at the weekend.

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On Thursday 18th October, the Middle East Monitor (MEMO) and the Cordoba Foundation co-hosted the book launch of The Battle for Public Opinion in Europe: Changing perceptions of the Palestine-Israel conflict. On the panel to discuss themes contained within the book were former BBC Middle East correspondent Tim Llewellyn; Al Jazeera English correspondent Jacky Rowland; and Seumas Milne of the Guardian. The event was chaired by the Independent's Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

The Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME) fringe event at the Party Conference was arguably the best attended for years. It was, perhaps, suggestive of a noticeable shift in Labour Party attitudes towards Palestine.

This was one of four events on Palestine during the week, the others being hosted by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign & Unite; Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP); and a reception by LFPME. Chaired by the Huffington Post's Mehdi Hasan (the former editor of the New Statesman), the LFPME panel included the Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Rt Hon John Denham MP, Lisa Nandy MP and Shadow Minister for Africa and the Middle East Ian Lucas MP, as well as Dr Hanan Ashrawi via Skype. They addressed an audience of more than 300 people on what the Labour Party's policy should be for Palestine under the title, 'Securing Peace and Justice in the Middle East'.

This week a sobering and highly informative closed door seminar was held on the plight of Palestinian Prisoners in the elegant surroundings of London's Westminster Central Hall, a stone's throw away from the Houses of Parliament and the 11th century Westminster Abbey, the all affirmation of stability and continuity - in starkest contrast to testimony at the proceedings of the meeting.