The seventh annual conference of the very active SOAS Palestine Society attracted some 300 people over the weekend of 5-6 March 2011 (SOAS is the School of Oriental and African Studies in Bloomsbury and the event was hosted by its London Middle East Institute). These conferences have become something of an institution, bringing together every year the current crop of activists, interested members of the public and academics (faculty staff, researchers, students) to explore aspects of Palestine. Those aspects considered in the past have included: the life and work of Edward Said; Palestine and international law; the economy of Palestine and the Occupation; the Nakba and Palestinian resistance; and (last year) the Left in Palestine. This year’s topic was Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine. It was the first of these conferences I have attended. As in previous years, speakers came from far afield: in this case, from Australia, USA, Canada, Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and the UK.

What follows is a personal and selective view of the presentations and discussions where I was present. I didn’t attend every session, but the whole event was a rich mix of information and ideas and a signal service to the Palestinian cause. This article has benefited from the advice of several activist friends who saw an earlier draft, but responsibility for the final version is mine alone.

read the rest, at the Palestine Chronicle, here.