US solidarity group renames to emphasise Palestinian rights

The leading US-based umbrella organisation for Palestine solidarity has changed its name, and is now known as the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

Until now, the 15-year-old coalition was called the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

The change in name, as well as a new website and logo, was announced following the body’s annual conference on 15 October.

In a statement explaining the decision, the US Campaign – which represents hundreds of different groups – said that while “we of course continue to demand an end to Israeli Occupation, we wanted our name to encapsulate what we stand for, not just what we stand against.”

The US Campaign continued: “Additionally, we have long stood in support of the rights of Palestinians living under formal Israeli military occupation but also of course the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian refugees.”

In addition, the name change is intended to compliment “a burgeoning and necessary shift in the discourse on this issue away from a security-based framing and toward a rights-based one.”

Highlighting “Palestinian” was deemed of further importance, “because it is often this very identity that is the calculated target of Israeli policy.”

The new logo meanwhile, is that “of a poppy surrounded by a traditional Palestinian embroidery pattern”, a flower “that, like Palestinians themselves, is native to Palestine and has roots throughout the country.”