PRO-PALESTINIAN activists are trying to raise support in Swindon for an anti-Israel demonstration.

Members of Swindon Coalition to Stop the War will hold a public meeting and hand out leaflets to people in the town centre tomorrow.

The move is a bid to recruit people for a larger anti-Israel demonstration in London on the following Saturday.

The Swindon group, initially formed by people opposed to Western military action in Afghanistan, is calling for Israel to pull its troops and people out of disputed lands.

The coalition's spokesman is Andy Newman, a 40-year-old telecommunications worker who lives in Avenue Road.

He said: "There is a tremendous bias in the media in favour of Israel. For example, the 100,000-strong demonstration in London last month, attended by many people from Swindon, was virtually ignored by the press.

"We want to get the message across to explain that Israel is a terrorist state that is committing war crimes against innocent civilians."

Israel insists that its military action is merely a response to Palestinian terrorist atrocities, such as suicide bombings, which have in turn claimed scores of Israeli civilians' lives.

Israel was formed as a Jewish homeland in the wake of the Holocaust, which saw some six million European Jews murdered by Hitler's forces.

Mr Newman said tomorrow's gathering would involve people with a broad range of opinions about possible solutions to the current crisis, ranging from power sharing to the complete dismantling of Israel.

He added: "We are calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and a just solution for the Palestinian people. I want to see victory to the Palestinians, and the existence of the state of Israel is an obstacle to the shared way forward."

The Swindon group will be handing out leaflets for 90 minutes from 11am on Saturday, by the stone lion at the junction of Regent Street and Canal Walk.

It has organised a coach to take demonstrators to London for the bigger gathering the following Saturday.