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Published by Palestine Community Foundation, 2019-05-20 10:09:03

Palestine Voice: Issue 2 Spring 2019

Palestine Voice: Issue 2 Spring 2019

Keywords: culture,community,palestine,middle east,spring

PALESTINE VOICE

ISSUE 2 SPRING 2019

IN THIS ISSUE: News l Events l Palestinians of the Global Diaspora l Colouring in

INTRODUCTION

DEAR READER,

Since launching our first edition of Palestine Voice in the winter,
our team has been very busy establishing our projects, creating
resources, planning events and conducting online advocacy.

We published an open letter to BBC presenter Graham The team has also been busy putting together Just
Norton urging him not to whitewash Israel’s crimes Cycle, a ten-day educational cycle ride through
against Palestinians by commentating on Eurovision Palestine running this October. We are extremely
from Tel Aviv, set to take place on May 18th. Our letter excited to see spaces filling up and encourage anyone
is co-signed by Roger Waters, Ken Loach and Lowkey interested in joining the ride to get in touch!
and is fast approaching 2000 signatures!
Our Bethlehem Link project which will take place this
We were also delighted to collaborate with Palestine July is also coming along. A group of dancers known
societies at King’s College London, The University of as Hakaya from the Ghirass Centre in Bethlehem
York, Aberdeen University, Lancaster University and will come to the UK and stay for a fortnight with
Bristol University during Israeli Apartheid Week 2019, host families. Along with exposure to life in Britain
bringing Palestinian speakers such as Dr. Ghada with excursions around the country, they will visit
Karmi and Yana Shabana to share their insights with secondary schools to perform dance and carry out
student audiences, as well as organising screenings of workshops.
the award-winning documentary film Naila and
the Uprising. We have more events and activities planned for the
next few months and are always open to suggestions
We have also been busy planning our panel discussion from the community.
‘The Palestinian Nakba: Past, Present and What the
Future Holds’ due to take place on May 14th at Queens You can read more about our events, projects and
Park Community School with insights from Dr Asad resource packs in the following pages. We’re a new
Abushark, Daniel Machover, Yana Shabana and Dr organisation and would love for you all to spread the
Ghada Karmi. We are also finalising details for a panel word about PCF!
discussion and Iftar on Nakba day May 15th at the Irish
Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, so keep an eye out In Solidarity,
on our social media for more information!

RAZAN SHAMALLAKH
Programme Director
Palestine Community Foundation

Front cover photograph by Nayef Hammouri. Instagram @NayefHammouri
Written and edited by Razan Shamallakh, Natasha Regan and Omar Aziz

2 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

CONTENTS

FIND IN THIS ISSUE

4 PCF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

5 PALESTINE POETRY

6 PALESTINE IN THE DIARY:
Events from February and March 2019

7 PALESTINE IN THE DIARY: 12-13 PULL THE LEVER
8-9 Upcoming Events in Spring/Summer 2019 ON A FACADE
OF GLITTER!
ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK
14
10 CHRISTIAN PALESTINIANS
THE FRIDAY OF JOY INITIATIVE
11 CARING FOR A WORLD HERITAGE SITE: Battir, Palestine
24-25
12-13 PULL THE LEVER ON A FACADE OF GLITTER!
ISRAEL’S ONE MILLION
14 THE FRIDAY OF JOY INITIATIVE CHILD PRISON

15 PCF SHOP - TATREEZ

16 PALESTINIANS: A GLOBAL DIASPORA

17 FROM CHILE TO BERLIN

18-19 PALESTINE POETRY

20-21 JUST CYCLE PALESTINE 2019

22-23 PHOTOGRAPHERS OF PALESTINE

24-25 ISRAEL’S ONE MILLION CHILD PRISON

26-27 LETTERS FROM PALESTINE

28 WORDSEARCH

29 COLOURING IN

30 POSTCARDS AGAINST APARTHEID

31 GET INVOLVED

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 3

Who are PCF and what are our aims?

WE ARE PALESTINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION (PCF),

a not-for-profit organisation aiming to promote
Palestinian culture and justice and strengthen the
community around Palestine in the UK. We are a
space for Palestinians and non-Palestinians alike to
unite, whilst discovering and sharing the cultural,
political and social life of Palestine.

We aim to stand out by first and foremost, building a community. We want to bring people in the UK from all
walks of life together under the Palestinian flag. This is regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, culture
or gender; whether you’re a well-versed activist or an individual just wishing to find out more.

PCF hopes to become an information hub for people who wish to work together to promote the human
rights of the Palestinian people. We will promote knowledge and awareness of Palestine, from information
on human rights violations to the steps of traditional dabke dances.

PCF Aims and Objectives:

• Raising awareness of the Palestinian issue and

highlighting human rights abuses

• Acting as a point of contact and facilitator

regarding all Palestinian related activities

• Educating people on the Palestinian issue

through lectures, workshops and publications

• Promoting Palestinian culture through sharing

music, art and food

• Campaigning for the right of self-determination

and right of return of the Palestinian People

• Mobilising international condemnation of the

Israeli occupation through BDS

• Strengthening the Palestinian community in the

UK by buillding relationships across the country
and throughout the diaspora

• Empowering and supporting livelihoods of

Palestinians in Palestine and across the diaspora
through our initiatives which highlight their skills
such as photography, embroidery and Arabic

• Effectively coordinating and collaborating with

national and international organisations to
achieve these aims and objectives

4 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

PALESTINE POETRY

The March of Return A Bird from Palestine

Waving my flag The sky was once mine
Once more to the fray. Before you locked me in chains
For all men should die
In the waves of the marching day. I wonder if I’ll ever fly again
My stone and scarf tell the words of freedom For I am a prisoner in this cage
Me and my people are forbidden to say.
The hounds unleashed thirsty for blood I shouted: I still dream of flying
Thus hounds forgot a lion is no prey. Despite all the wars you wage

Seventy years of oppression
Inflamed the rebel tide in my veins

The storm of revolution must come
Push the bird to rise for change

My oppressor, do not let your ego blind you!
Be aware of my rage...Be aware of my rage

I’m a Palestinian activist and poet from the Gaza Strip - Egyptian by birth,
Palestinian by blood. For 19 years, I’ve been subjected to Israeli injustice,
inflaming the rebel tide in my veins and encouraging me to pursue my dream
of studying international law abroad and writing an autobiography.

I started writing poetry at the age of eight. I read a poem by Mahmoud Darwish
and I fell in love with poetry; this unique form of art helps me engage my
emotions and create a picture for readers of anything I want to communicate.
I believe the power of the word is stronger than tyrants’ weapons.

I once read in a book that Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you would like
to see in the world.” That’s what I aspire to do through my art.

SALAH OMAR

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 5

Palestine in the Diary:

Events from February and March 2019

Words Words Words: Medical Aid for Palestinians: In the Firing Line -
Spoken Word Night Medics Saving Lives and Limbs in Gaza
at Rich Mix 15th Feb
On 14th March, Medical Aid for
A stand out moment at Palestinians hosted an evening
this MARSM-organised with two medical doctors who
event came from theatrical have been working in Gaza
spoken-word artist Dana treating those injured on the
Dajani, who had the whole Great March of Return.
room spellbound with a
chilling performance using Dr Mahmoud Matar, a senior orthopaedic surgeon treating protestors’
extracts from the diary of complex limb injuries at Gaza’s largest hospital, described the sorts of
Rachel Corrie, accompanied complications arising from the close-range gunshot wounds inflicted by
by the sensational tones Israeli forces at the protests, such as permanent disability, amputation
of Japanese singer and gaps in the bone and tissue as wide as 10 to 15mm. He also laid
and percussionist Leo out the extreme strain on hospitals like Al Shifa where he works, still
Komazawa. A performance recovering from 2014 and not equipped to cope with such pummelling
no one in the room is likely numbers of patients.
to forget anytime soon.
Dr Tarek Loubani, a volunteer medic in Gaza, spoke poignantly
Spoken Word Night about the intimacy of the act of IDF snipers shooting Palestinians.
How despite thousands of Palestinians having been shot, each time
Palestinian Childhoods Conference: the trigger is pulled is an intensely individualised moment occurs
8th and 9th March between sniper and target.

Under a joint initiative between CREHR (Centre for Researching He then took the audience through his experience of being shot whilst
and Embedding Human Rights), Birkbeck, University of London working as a volunteer medic at the march in May last year. Shot
and the UK/Palestine Mental Health Network, the conference while clearly marked in the field standing around in his high-visibility
brought together mental health experts and Palestine paramedic jacket, a bullet tore through both his legs. A colleague and
advocates alike in two days of panel discussions, workshops friend, Dr. Mousa Jaber Abu Hassanein, rescued him and carried him
and film screenings. The conference addressed the mental from the scene. Later that day, Dr Mousa was shot and died soon after.
health of children and families in occupied Palestine, the Dr Loubani was visibly distressed recounting this experience.
psychological impacts of the denial of human rights through
children’s experiences as well as modes of resistance. As part of MAP’s advocacy work, the two doctors spent the following
week taking their testimony to the UK Parliament, the UK media
Journalist and activist Victoria Brittain brought home the (including Radio 4’s Today Programme) and the United Nations in
urgency in supporting child mental health in Palestine, telling Geneva.
the room “today’s children will be the generation that will bring
Palestine out of the very bleak place it’s in today. Safeguarding Palestine Rally: 30th March
their mental health and their education is essential for their
ability to create the future that they deserve.” On 30th March, Palestinian “Land Day”, protestors gathered outside
the Israeli embassy in London, as well as other cities across the UK,
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian explored the concept in international solidarity on the one year anniversary of the Great
of “unchilding”, how Palestinian children are constructed as March of Return. Organised by a coalition of organisations: Palestine
dangerous and non-childlike, which in turn authorises and Solidarity Campaign; Friends of Al Aqsa; Stop the War Coalition;
rationalises the violence inflicted against them. In her keynote Muslim Association of Britain Community and Palestinian Forum in
talk, entitled “gun to body,” she argued that this gun is also Britain (PFB). The crowd were treated to a live debut in the sunshine of
held “to will”, “to mind”, “to psyche” and “to future”. She read Lowkey’s Long Live Palestine 3. Organisers were keen to encourage
words directly from children in Gaza themselves, reading out protestors to bring family and friends to the National Demonstration
conversations where mothers asked their children about their for Palestine marching to Whitehall on 11th May.
feelings about the right to return and protesting on the Great
March of Return. Palestinian protestors outside the Israeli embassy in London

In the keynote address from the Chair of Mental Health at
the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Dr Samah Jabr spoke on
the lack of mental health provision in Palestine vis-a-vis the
urgent need for it. There are just 22 psychiatrists in the West
Bank and only ten in Gaza. While a quarter of those requiring
mental health support in Palestine are children, there are no
specialised paediatric psychiatrists available whatsoever.

6 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

Palestine in the Diary:

Upcoming Events in Spring/Summer 2019

5 April - 18 May 2 May 11 May

Heart/Homeless the Art of Manal Edward Said Lecture at National Demo for Palestine
Deeb Exhibition at P21 Gallery The Mosaic Rooms Assemble 12 noon at BBC Headquarters on
Portland Place before marching to Whitehall.
The Palestinian American artist explores Is Justice Still Possible? Palestine, “No new Nakba! – End the Siege! – Defend
exile and identity often using her face International Law, and Public Discourse.
as a model to express a powerful Wadie Said will chair a discussion with Susan the Right of Return!”
emotional spectrum. M. Akram, Hassan Jabareen and Philippe Broadcasting House, Portland Pl,
Sands addressing the question of Palestine
21 Chalton St, Kings Cross, from an international legal perspective and Marylebone, London W1A 1AA
London NW1 1JD discussing the role of political discourse in
the struggle for justice in Israel-Palestine.

Tower House, 226 Cromwell Rd,
Kensington, London SW5 0SW

14 May 18 May 9 JUNE (From 1pm)

Palestine Community Foundation Not the Eurovision: PCF Party for Eid:
Panel Discussion collaboration Party for Palestine
Celebrate Eid Palestine style with us at West
with Kensal & Kilburn Better organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign London’s Twyford Rugby Club. Expect food,
Palestinian Nakba: Past, Present & Artists for Palestine UK. An evening of
and what the Future Holds entertainment from prominent artists and face paint, frolics and more!
Twyford Avenue Sports Ground,
With physician, distinguished author and performers, raising the roof for Palestine in
academic, Dr Ghada Karmi; eminent British protest of Eurovision taking place Twyford Avenue, Acton,
in Tel Aviv, Israel. London W3 9QA
human rights lawyer and co-founder of Favela London,
Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights,
Daniel Machover; Palestinian PhD student 65 Crowndale Road, Camden, NW1 1TN
who grew up in the West Bank and taught at
Al Najah University, Yana Shabana and retired
lecturer and international spokesperson
for the Great March of Return, Dr Asad Abu
Shark. Register for tickets on Eventbrite.

Queens Park Community School,
Aylestone Avenue, London, NW6 7BQ

28 JUNE - 14 JULY 6 JULY - 7 JULY 1 JULY - 15 JULY

Shubbak Festival 2019 Palestine Expo Bethlehem Link
celebrating Arab culture with Friends Of Al Aqsa Palestine Community Foundation is excited
Featuring over 50 leading speakers, to bring a group of dancers known as Hakaya
Shubbak (meaning ‘window’ in Arabic) musicians, authors, campaigners, scholars from the Ghirass Centre in Bethlehem to the
is London’s largest biennial festival of and political figures and a shopping quarter UK for a fortnight. Along with exposure to life in
contemporary Arab culture. Shubbak has featuring 50 hand-picked stalls ranging from Britain with excursions around the country, they
become a key moment in the arts calendar pro-Palestinian merchandise, Palestinian will visit secondary schools to perform Dabke
of the UK and the Arab World, bringing new fashion, art and beauty products. Not to be and carry out workshops. A concert will also be
and unexpected voices alongside established missed. London venue yet to be announced. held open to the British public. Details to come.
artists to audiences every two years.

For details visit www.shubbak.co.uk

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 7

Israeli Apartheid Week

Officially the 15th annual Israeli Apartheid Week took place Dr Ghada Karmi speaking to students
between March 18th and April 8th 2019 under the theme at King’s College London
“Stop Arming Colonialism”, with over 30 student Palestine
societies putting on events up and down the UK. Our staff We were delighted to support the students of KCL
have been busy supporting students by producing resources, Action Palestine Society in hosting Dr. Ghada Karmi.
reaching out to speakers and collaborating on events. The acclaimed author, medical doctor and academic
gave a rousing talk on resistance through the ages
Despite pressure on universities to monitor and ‘manage’ telling students, “You are the heirs to a decades-long
the events, as exposed by MP Jo Johnson’s letter to Nicola story of resistance” before giving a decade by decade
Dandridge (head of Universities UK) which warned IAW account of Palestine’s history of resistance.
must be, “properly handled by higher education institutions She ended her talk with four tips for effective
to ensure that our values, expectations and laws are resistance today:
not violated” students proved unphased by a political 1. Work locally – use the apparatus of power around
environment on and off campus growing increasingly you to push the cause, whether in your local mosque
hostile to tolerating the Palestinian cause. or church, political group or place of education
2. Support BDS – it hits Israel in the all the right places
Such unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause was and it’s working!
demonstrated none more so than King’s College London 3. Use social media effectively – share stories and
Action Palestine Society who interrupted their University’s inspire others
council meeting to demand they cut all ties with Israel’s 4. Go there! Visit Palestine, see it and make your
apartheid, in particular their partnership with Technion, presence felt
Israel’s leading research and development institution for its After the talk the students enjoyed a meal with Dr
arms trade. From putting up mock apartheid walls, hosting Ghada where she shared stories late into the evening
speakers, spoken word artists and celebrating Palestinian from her experience of the Nakba to debating at the
cuisine, Israeli Apartheid Week 2019 in the UK has yet again Oxford Union.
been successful because of the dedication and enthusiasm
students show in their commitment to challenging Israel’s KCL students enjoy Palestinian meal with
oppression of the Palestinian people through its regime of Dr Ghada Karmi
apartheid, settler-colonialism and occupation.

Kicking off proceedings

early before their

term ended, we were

thrilled to collaborate

with BRICUP (British

Committee for

Universities in Palestine)

in linking up Yana

Shabana to speak at

The University of York

about the psychological

trauma of living

under apartheid, in

Yana Shabana talking to students particular the effects

at the University of York on children. Born to a

Palestinian father and

Russian mother growing up in Al-Khalil (Hebron) and

later teaching at Al Najah University in Nablus , Yana’s

sometimes unique and sometimes typical experiences

of childhood life under occupation proved a captivating

listen. Yana is currently working towards a doctoral

project at The University of Birmingham, researching

the role of translation in the elimination of indigenous

people in settler-colonial contexts.

8 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

We obtained the rights from Just Vision to display their award winning film Naila and the Uprising
around universities in the UK with live Q&A from one of the producers, Emma Alpert. Celebrating
often overlooked courageous women’s resistance and activists from Palestine, the film has
recently been shown in some very special locations: The Rehabilitation Centre for Women in
Bethlehem, the United Cultural and Social Society in Rafah City Gaza, Harvard University, and the
United Nations Headquarters.

For Israeli Apartheid Week we brought the film to King’s College London Action Palestine Society,
Aberdeen University Palestine Society, Lancaster University Friends of Palestine Society and
Bristol University Friends of Palestine Society. Please get in touch if your society would like to
screen the film too.

Our team have been busy designing resource packs for students to facilitate their PCF student resource pack
activism. We have produced a range of informative and eye-catching material
including a booklet titled ’The Palestinian People: Occupied Colonised Apartheid
— An Introduction to Israel’s Regime of Apartheid and Settler-Colonialism’,
a range of ‘Postcards Against Apartheid’, drinks coasters featuring Israel’s
breaches of international law, stickers, factsheets, posters and more. We were
delighted to send these off to university PalSocs up and down the country and
see them in use during Israeli Apartheid Week. Get in touch to receive yours!

If you are interested in setting up your own Palestine advocacy group, or would like tailored assistance for your society
just get in touch. Email our Student Advocates for Palestine Programme Officer, Omar Aziz, who will be happy to help:

[email protected]

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 9

Christian Palestinians

‘When one part of the Body suffers, we all suffer.’
1 Corinthians 12:26

Palestinian Christians are often called the In 2009, the Patriarchs and Heads of the statement follows a “Pilgrimage Group Visit” to
‘living stones’ of Christianity as they can trace churches in Jerusalem produced the Kairos Israel-Palestine in February 2019 by a delegation
their history in this land to the birth of Jesus Document – described as a Moment of Truth of American and African church leaders, who
Christ 2,000 years ago. and a “word of faith, hope and love from the describe witnessing a situation of injustice and
heart of Palestinian suffering”. The document abuse of Palestinians and calls for us to “work
Some families have lived in the Holy Land ever calls for “the international community to stand alongside the oppressed Palestinian people”.
since; Palestinian Christians are indigenous by the Palestinian people who have faced Their statement continues… “We recognize that
to the Holy Land and are the oldest Christian oppression, displacement, suffering and clear many of us have been uninformed, and others of
population on earth, and yet there are many apartheid for more than six decades. The us been quite aware of the grim situation in this
who do not even realise that Palestinian suffering continues while the international land, and we have been silent and turned a blind
Christians exist. Worse still, their existence community silently looks on. We ask our eye. We admit that silence in the face of injustice
is sometimes denied, even by their Christian sister Churches not to offer a theological is complicity... we shall not and cannot be silent.”
brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. cover-up for the injustice we suffer, for the
sin of the occupation imposed upon us. Our Ten years ago Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote to
The Christian population of Palestine, once a question to our brothers and sisters in the the Palestinian Christians, saying, “Our God
major part of the community, has now dwindled Churches today is: Are you able to help us get who neither slumbers nor sleeps will hear your
to less than 2% and is still declining, and yet our freedom back, for this is the only way you cry and will be your Emmanuel.” A decade on,
many hold respected roles in Palestinian can help the two peoples attain justice, peace, for the sake of justice and peace, the worldwide
society, in business, education and culture, and security and love?” Christian community must wake from its
many Palestinian Christians hold influential slumber and act to defend and support its
positions within government. They bear witness Now, ten years later, American and African brothers and sisters in the land of Christ’s birth.
to their faith in the Holy Land, and are faithful Christian leaders who represent more than 50
stewards of the holiest Christian sites. million church members have issued a joint This year, I will be working with a few people to
statement comparing the present situation of respond to those calls for help. I am working on
Palestinian Christians and Muslims have Palestinians under Israeli occupation to that a new initiative to ‘twin’ churches in Palestine
lived together peacefully for generations, of black South Africans under Apartheid. The with churches in the UK, encouraging a
and today they suffer together under an relationship of understanding and support.
occupation that is condemned by 77 UN I hope this will lead to a commitment to pray
Resolutions. Their daily lives are impacted by for one another, to visit one another, to hear
land confiscations, home demolitions, extra- each other’s stories and to share in each
judicial killings, imprisonment of children, other’s lives. I believe that building close ties
legal and infrastructural discrimination, and relationships between church
checkpoints, travel restrictions, and limitations communities in the UK and Palestine will
on their freedom to worship. While pilgrims be of mutual benefit and will enrich both
and international visitors can freely visit faith communities, and at the same time,
the Christian holy sites, some Palestinian increase awareness and understanding of the
Christians whose families have lived in the Palestinian cause in general.
land for centuries have to apply for a permit to
worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
even at Easter.

The real tragedy is that the Christians of
Palestine, who can teach us so much about
grace, humility and forgiveness, feel that
they are forgotten by the outside world and
abandoned by their brothers and sisters in
faith. Despite calling for help, alongside their
Muslim neighbours, they continue to suffer and
struggle for their freedom.

If you would like to find out more about Laura’s Church
Twinning programme, please contact LAURA ABRAHAM
at [email protected] for further information

10 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

Caring for a World Heritage Site:
Battir, Palestine

The Palestinian village of Battir was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014 and
immediately put on the World Heritage in Danger list.

Battir, described by UNESCO as the land of olives and Residents of Battir celebrate festivals – in the autumn,
vines, is on the world heritage list for its terraced farming the festival of aubergines, in the spring, the celebration
and irrigation channels. The inhabitants of Battir have walk between Battir and Jerusalem (Battir used to be
preserved a traditional agriculture of growing fruit trees called the vegetable basket of Jerusalem). Together with
and vegetables on the terraces, built centuries ago on the the authorities, the villagers have encouraged tourism,
slopes of the hillsides. The water is carried by a system offering accommodation locally, and establishing an eco-
of channels from the ancient springs at the centre of the museum. The British Council funded the restoration of
village and there is a communal system of sharing water the Roman spring and Bath in the centre of the village. A
by channelling the water to different plots management and conservation plan is being prepared.
at different times.
However, all this changed in December 2018 when, in the
middle of the night, Israeli armed settlers turned up to
establish a road and flatten land for a caravan which is the
forerunner of a settlement. Israeli bulldozers razed and
levelled 15 dunams of Palestinian agricultural lands (about
4 acres), uprooting about 60 olive trees. The farmers
resisted this but Battir is clearly a WHS in danger.

Water channels used communally by the farmers in Battir Terraced landscape which the farmers in Battir cultivate
Photo taken by Pam Penkman Photo taken by Pam Penkman

The (approximately 5000) residents and the municipality Despite all this, the message from the mayor is one of
worked hard to get the WHS recognition from UNESCO peace. The people of Battir just want to be able to
because “we hoped that it would help save our village farm their lands in peace and enjoy the beautiful
from having the same fate as our neighbours,” Muamer, place they care for.
one of the residents, is reported as saying. This refers
to the separation wall that is being built in Palestine to MARY SABINA STACEY, local historian based in Bath, who
restrict Palestinians from areas where Israeli settlers are visited Palestine last year. Photos taken by P Penckman.
building settlements on Palestinian lands. A wall would
separate famers from their fields.

One year after the UNESCO inscription, Israel’s High
Court ruled to freeze state plans to build a part of Israel’s
separation wall through the centre of Battir – a victory for
the locals who protect and celebrate their very special
landscape. Battir is the only village in Palestine that has
been able to resist the wall, largely due to the WHS status
and protection under international law.

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 11

Pull the Lever on a Facade of Glitter!

Back in February, PCF wrote to popular television host Graham Norton urging him not
to carry out his annual role as Eurovision commentator for the BBC this year, with it
being hosted in Israel and used as a cultural propaganda event attempting to erase
the continuous human rights abuses being committed against Palestinians.

We received encouragement and co-signatures to the letter from the and healthcare is restricted, even pregnant women fear having to wait; 60
likes of Roger Waters, Ken Loach, Lowkey and many Palestinian student women had to give birth in unsanitary conditions at checkpoints from 2000
societies and organisations. After no response from Graham or his team to 2005, 36 babies and 5 women died as a result. Israel pretends it wants
we published our letter publicly on change.org. Within three days, the peace but continues to build settlements, demolish Palestinian homes
petition had over 100 shares on Facebook and received over 500 signatures. and evict families in East Jerusalem. This is settler-colonialism. This is an
At time of print it is now approaching 2000. apartheid.

While we know for Graham it may feel like a big ask to reconsider his In Israel itself, Palestinians are second-class citizens. Laws prevent them
role in this year’s Eurovision, we know the impact it may have could be from returning to their homes making them the world’s largest refugee
phenomenal. We believe in people power. Read the open letter for population; one in three refugees worldwide are Palestinian. Yet Jews from
yourself below and find a link to sign the petition through our website. all over the world are invited to Israel to buy property and are immediately
granted superior status as ‘Jewish Nationals’ whereas Palestinians are
Dear Graham, merely ‘Israeli citizens’ and subjected to over 60 racist laws. Even schools
for Jewish-Israeli children receive almost six times more funding than
We are big fans of yours. You make us laugh a lot on your talk show as Palestinian schools, despite them all being Israeli citizens. This is an
you invite us to experience highs and lows from other people’s lives. You apartheid.
come across on the telly as a very decent bloke, maybe that’s why you’re so
successful. When you put on your sad face in response to someone else’s Why Eurovision?
misfortune it rings true, you make it real for us, because it is self-evidently
real for you. It tells us that you have a reservoir of concern for others, that For Israel, cultural events are always political events. Hosting Eurovision
you have empathy. That is why your Palestinian friends and advocates are is the ultimate victory in Israel’s mission to improve its public image by
reaching out to you. We gather you are about to be handed a hot potato, a ‘artwashing’ its crimes. Here it can theatrically display itself as a diverse,
very hot potato; commentating Eurovision 2019 in Israel. welcoming and liberal society to an international audience of 180 million
people, using this charade to strengthen its regime of oppression and
Here’s Why: ethnic cleansing.

Palestinians request an international picket line to boycott Israel, including From its ‘Brand Israel’ campaign launched in 2005 to improve its public
cultural events there, as a desperate attempt to draw attention to their image against a backdrop of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, to tweeting
suffering. In 2015 some 1,000 British artists signed up. about Alicia Keys no less than eight times after she performed in Tel Aviv,
to drafting messages for fans to send Lana Del Rey encouraging her to
We all condemn violence in the comfort of our living rooms but non-violent perform, the Israeli government shows time and time again it desperately
resistance is only meaningful if powerful people like you choose to join relies on cultural events to maintain its system of oppression. Netanyahu let
their struggle. The boycott is supported by the likes of Elvis Costello, Annie his guard slip when he lauded Netta for her ‘exceptional foreign relations
Lennox, Nigel Kennedy, Wolf Alice, Brian Eno, Roger Waters, the late work’!
Stephen Hawking… and many more have chosen to cancel performances
in Israel such as Lauryn Hill, Vanessa Paradis and Snoop Dogg, a selection Pull the Lever:
which could easily resemble your sofa on a Friday night!
We all know of Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu’s profound quote, “If
By projecting your voice to millions from Israel, in the state which forcibly you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the
silences Palestinians, you will help to mask their suffering, sustain their oppressor,” but we also know it is not always easy to live by it.
pain and help to whitewash the crimes committed against them. Although
Eurovision prides itself on the values of ‘inclusion, diversity and unity’, Palestinians call for your support in this, their hour of need. For this non-
which we all of course welcome, there is nothing more contradictory to this violent resistance may be all that we have left in this pursuit of justice.
than Israel’s occupation, apartheid and colonialism.
You were the presenter of Children in Need. Do not allow your voice,
Now some facts: laughter and wit be used to drown out the crying of children, the buzzing of
drones overhead and the international calls for justice. Eurovision asks us
In Gaza one million children are under Israel’s siege. Their access to food, this year to ‘dare to dream’. What about Palestinian children’s dreams just
water, electricity, healthcare and education is made deliberately gruelling to sleep, study or play free from Israel’s violent occupation? They deserve to
or nigh on impossible. Israeli official Dov Weisglass’s plan in 2006 was, dream too and not be terrorised in the night.
“to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not make them die of hunger”. He’s
succeeded, creating widespread malnutrition. There were massacres Let’s act collectively to realise the dream, which must surely come, when
against Gaza in 2008, 2012, 2014 and one continues now. When Israel Israel subscribes to the idea of equal human rights under international law
rained down terror there in 2014 it killed 547 children whilst ‘battle proving’ for our Palestinian brothers and sisters.
weapons for export. This is a massacre. This is an apartheid.
Rather than have your voice speak to millions in their living rooms from
There’s more: in the West Bank millions of Palestinians live under Israeli Israel on May 18th, instead, why not choose to speak for the suffering by not
military rule. Their freedom of movement, freedom to build, work, tend speaking at all?
crops, transport goods and even dig for water is restricted by over 5000
military laws and edicts. Forced to wait at checkpoints, their access to jobs Go on, pull the lever and dump Israel’s Eurovision cultural whitewash!

ln hopeful solidarity,

Your Palestinian friends and advocates:

12 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

Palestine Community Foundation By projecting his voice to millions from Israel, in the state which forcibly
Roger Waters silences Palestinians, Graham would help to mask their suffering,
Lowkey sustain their pain and help to whitewash the crimes committed against
Ken Loach them. Although Eurovision prides itself on the values of ‘inclusion,
Friends of Al-Aqsa diversity and unity’, which we all of course welcome, there is nothing
King’s College London Action Palestine Society more contradictory to this than Israel’s occupation, apartheid and
University of Leeds Palestine Solidarity Group colonialism.” – University of York Palestinian Solidarity Society
Newcastle University Friends of Palestine Society
Goldsmiths’ Student Union Palestine Society “This is about people and everyone deserves compassion. The apartheid
University of Bristol Friends of Palestine era was partly brought to an end by international boycotts and this could
University of Leicester Palestine Society have a similar effect.” – Carolyn Regan, London
Aberdeen University Palestine Society
University of York Palestinian Solidarity Society “I’m signing because I support the cultural and academic boycott of
City University of London Palestinian Society Israel. A big name like Graham Norton should also be big-hearted.
University of Wolverhampton Friends of Palestine Society Refusing to host the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel would send a
University of Westminster Friends of Palestine Society message to the Israeli government that they are held responsible for
University of Westminster LGBTI+ Society oppressing, starving and killing Palestinians, including many children.” –
University of Sheffield Palestine Society Pauline Fraser, Worthing
Brunel Palestine Society
University of Birmingham Students for Justice in Palestine “I have great respect for Mr Norton and I hope he stands up for the
University of Portsmouth Palestine Solidarity Society oppressed people of Palestine. Thank you” – Rick Clarke, Wooburn Green
University of Lancaster Friends of Palestine Society
Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK) “This is a peaceful way to bring pressure to bear to change the plight of
Portsmouth/South Downs Palestine Solidarity Campaign the few who suffer the most.” – Glen Macklin, Much Wenlock
Bradford Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign “Israel is an apartheid state and fails to meet Eurovision’s values on so
Three Peaks for Palestine many counts. Time to stand up for international law and morality!” –
Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign Mayonne Coldicott, Frensham
Slough and East Berkshire Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Southampton Palestine Solidarity Campaign “Israel is running a violently apartheid state. The world must stop looking
Edinburgh Action Palestine the other way.” – Miriam O’Donovan, Ireland
St George’s University London Palestinian Society
Abergavenny And District Palestine Solidarity Campaign “By appearing on this show, Graham, you are helping to enable
propaganda for the Israeli apartheid state of illegal Occupation. Please
We were galvanised by the support we received from members of the need the words of Mandela and Tutu and think again.” – Dorothy Rimmer,
British public who agreed with us. Here were some of their comments: Manchester

“Hosting Eurovision is the ultimate victory in Israel’s mission to improve “Israel must not be allowed to hide its disgraceful treatment of
its public image by ‘artwashing’ its crimes. Here it can theatrically display Palestinians behind a facade of glitter” – Paddy O’Keeffe, Brighton
itself as a diverse, welcoming and liberal society to an international
audience of 180 million people, using this charade to strengthen its regime “Graham is great! It’s not right for him to be the voice distracting from the
of oppression and ethnic cleansing. destruction of a people and annexation of land, by murderous means.” –
Kevin Johnstone, Northampton

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 13

THE FRIDAY OF JOY INITIATIVE

Changing the Meaning of the Streets

On Friday, after prayers, children and many
parents drift onto a street in Gaza. They
are sullen, but expectant. Everyone living
there has experienced trauma. Few get any
relief from ongoing despair living under
siege. Then a battered Mercedes arrives,
blocking the street at one end as its doors
open. Out come clowns, animal-costumed
performers, a storyteller (Hakawati) and
psycho-social specialists who set up an
entertainment space in the middle of
the road. The children hang back, but
the visiting animators get out brushes
and start to paint the children’s faces.
Very soon there is a circle of colourful
smiles; everyone is clapping to music and
mimicking the movement of clowns.

Street games start, often involving Participation in community events were all injured and inhaled phosphorus.
parents with children, thus reinforcing strengthens a child’s sense of security. Six months after the war, Osama was born
filial relationships. Clown and mime The street where all this happens is and, due to the phosphorus poisoning, he
acts offer Graded Exposure Therapy transformed from a dull, uninspiring area had no hands.
with small moments of knock-about to a place with a happy, exciting memory.
humour or mild shocks (bursting The final activity is a conga up the street His disability caused tensions in the
balloons). Actors in animal costumes and a collective run back down it. family. He became aggressive towards
act out everyday scenes from children’s his siblings. They had serious health
lives (e.g. not wanting to go to school Osama’s story gives some idea of the problems too. No suitable medical
because of nightmares) and so bring efficacy of these community-based treatment existed inside Gaza. The parents
personal fears into a collective space methods. Osama’s family, in a remote area felt overwhelmed by problems.
where they can be faced and challenged. of Gaza, all had health problems resulting
The Hakawati reads and dramatizes a from bombardment in 2008 when they When the Friday of Joy team came, they
traditional story for the whole community. were exposed to phosphorus. The mother noticed that Osama refused to take part
It reinforces everyone’s sense of being was pregnant with Osama and the family and hid himself or ran away rather than
Palestinian with a culture and history to sought refuge in the local school. The allow himself to be noticed.
be proud of. school was bombed. She and her sons
Communication was set up between the
parents and psychological specialists
in the Friday of Joy team who worked
at Palestine Trauma Centre in Gaza City.
Osama attended therapy sessions at PTC.
After a few weeks, he was introduced
to Friday of Joy activities, gradually
breaking down his fear of participating
and exposing his disability. Activities were
designed to concentrate on skills for legs
and feet. He learned to join in uninhibited
play with others, becoming more resilient
and considerate. Tensions in his family
were greatly reduced. Osama is one of
thousands of children who find hope in
projects like this.

Find out more about this work at
www.ptcuk.org

Written by the team at
Palestine Trauma Centre

14 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

PCF Shop - Tatreez

Tatreez: Display Palestine’s
traditional craft in your home!

Embroidery is a craft woven deep into Palestinian
culture. Reflecting Palestine’s natural beauty
as well as culture and even history of protest,
the techniques and intricate patterns have been
lovingly passed down through the generations.

The items pictured on this page were handmade
by women from the Palestinian diaspora living
in Egypt, and are all for sale via us. Email us at
[email protected] to enquire about
prices and arrange collection.

We have further embroidery items arriving
from Bethlehem this summer, from pillow
cases to keyrings, which you will find
featured on our website at:

palestinefoundation.org.uk/project/tatreez/

Finally, if you know somebody or a
cooperative that makes handcrafted
Palestinian embroidered goods and
would like help selling their handcrafts,
please do get in touch.

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 15

Palestinians: a Global Diaspora

As the world’s largest refugee population, a result of the forced expulsion of hundreds
of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 and again in 1967, the Palestinian people are one
of the most globally dispersed people.

There are nearly 10 million Palestinians in An estimated 100,000 Palestinians live in
the world and almost 6 million of these live Europe, mostly across: the UK, Denmark,
outside of Palestine. Exact figures for each France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands,
country are hard to pinpoint, and depend on Spain, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.
how nationalities are categorised with each Germany’s capital Berlin has a huge
generation or with cross-nationality families. Palestinian community of around 30,000-40,000
Palestinians.
Many may be surprised to learn that outside
of the Arab world, the country with the highest Despite many building lives in their new
Palestinian population in the world is Chile. With communities across the world, the “right of
an estimated half a million Palestinians living return” remains an important pillar of identity
there, this is the largest population outside only for Palestinians globally.
of Jordan, Syria and Palestine itself.

THIS INFOGRAPHIC TOP TEN
SHOWS THE ESTIMATED COUNTRIES
BREAKDOWN OF
PALESTINIANS ACROSS HOSTING
THE WORLD PALESTINIAN

DIASPORA

16 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

From Chile to Berlin:

how Palestinians proudly TAKE

their culture with them

Dubbed ‘the Chilestinians’ in a profile piece in Meanwhile in recent years, the Taqalid Festival
hosted the largest Palestinian gathering in Latin
Haaretz newspaper, as denoted by our graphics America, promoting Palestinian culture and
Chile has the largest community of Palestinians aiming to “revive the soul” of Palestinians of the
outside the Middle East. In Chile, there is a diaspora.
popular saying that: “There isn’t a single village
in Chile lacking a curate, a policeman and a Palestinians in Chile have thrived in business,
Palestinian.” So just how and why did this with significant figures such as Marcelo Diaz
Palestinian population arrive there, and how does Bowen, Managing Director for global corporation
it impact on Chilean culture and society today? InclubaUC, now financially supporting start-ups
in Palestine.
The vast majority (an estimated 95%) of
Chilean Palestinians are Christian, having Some of the largest solidarity demonstrations
emigrated largely during the second half of in the world take place in Chile and even
the 19th century, under the increased Christian government policy has been influenced. In July
persecution at the time of the fall of the 2014, the Chilean government called back its
Ottoman Empire. Chile was chosen for its close ambassador from Israel and suspended their
climate to Palestine and a supposed openness Free Trade negotiations, in what was described
to foreigners. Their Christianity helped with as the strongest international stand taken
assimilation in the South American country with against Israel across the world.
a majority Christian population. A Palestinian
church, the Iglesia Ortodoxa San Jorge, was Turning our attentions to Berlin, the European
even founded in Santiago in 1917. city with the highest Palestinian population,
blogger Hayley Pearce dubbed the city’s south-
Palestinians arrived by ship from Haifa, eastern borough Neukölln ‘Little Palestine’,
Beirut and Alexandria, mostly coming from describing a home of ‘Hummus, Hipsters and
Beit Jala, Belen, Beit Sahour and Beit Safafa. Solidarity’. In particular, she points to a street
Chilean Palestinian Juan Sakalha documents called Sonnenallee, where dates, stuffed grape
his parents’ arduous journey from Taybeh to leaves and Palestinian flags overflow out the
Valparaiso passing through Beirut, Marseille, shops, you can even find knaffeh here.
Panama, São Paulo and Buenos Aires, crossing
the Andes on donkeys. PCF spoke with Mahmoud Mawed, a Palestinian
Syrian refugee now living in Berlin, about the
The Palestinian population can be seen to have strength of Palestinian culture in the city.
permeated many aspects of life in Chile, from
arts to sport to politics. “I do feel sometimes that I am home, particularly
when I pass or go to Sonnenallee Street where
Palestinian football club Deportivo Palestino was you always hear our language and can buy
founded in the 1920s and today plays proudly Arabic stuff and food, and even see friends [you
in the country’s top league. The number one on haven’t seen] since you left Syria.”
their jerseys was for a time printed as a map of
historic Palestine, until the Jewish community Mawed’s favourite Palestinian restaurant in
of Chile had these banned, claiming it promoted Berlin is Azzam restaurant, which he says has
erasure of the state of Israel. the best hummus and falafel in Berlin. “The
customers are not only Palestinian or Arabs,
The first Arabic-Chilean newspaper – Al they are from Germany, England, USA and many
Murshid or Muerched – began publishing other countries. You’re very lucky if you find a
in 1912, with an estimated twelve similar free table!”
publications following suit.

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 17

PALESTINE POETRY

ASEEL M JARRAR, Our kind of love
22, is a Palestinian living
in Ramallah city. Soon There is something inside of us. I don’t know what it is
to graduate from Birzeit
University with a degree It’s too deep, too strong, too prevailing in each vein
in English language,
literature and translation. It’s because of it we are still alive, or...
She enjoys all forms
of creative writing and Still fighting to find one
hopes to continue with
this as a career. It’s the insistence of your slumbering eyes to pass by three military check-
points reaching your school before the dawn

It’s the tenderness of your brother’s last smile after his body was shattered
by 21 bullets

It’s in my own strength to deliver my soul under the ground with him, and
my head is up high ...my son is a ray from the sun ... my son is a martyr

It’s inside your grandmother’s palms that gathered the ruins of her house
seven times

It’s in the choked air between the crowded walls of the refugee camps, the
one that holds the smell of the warriors

It is there, breathing on the dry bones of those living in cold cells and their
blue fingers habitually knit the map of Palestine on the dark walls

It’s the sanctity of their hearts, praying in Al-Aqsa mosque while the guns
beleaguer their heads

It is the innocence of a child playing with his kite to cover the jet strikes

It’s the birth of 5300 child after 2140 were killed in the last war of Gaza

Side note: we will never end.

It’s in our eternal belief, our mobilized voice… freedom

It’s in the urge of our damaged, suppressed, broken, wounded, stolen,
poisoned, paralyzed, imprisoned, chained, besieged, shot, burned, battered,
cut, hurt, exiled, drowned, thirsty, OCCUPIED lungs to breath HOPE!

It’s too deep, too strong, too prevailing in each vein

It’s our kind of love...

As if words or even books would ever be enough to tell the stories of Palestine; with all
love I present this simple writing piece, after years of abandoning my pen. It is an answer
to a question I was asked once by a foreign friend: “Do you even know what love is?”

18 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

PALESTINE POETRY

The Barbed Flower

Green traverses the land I free them from bondage,
like a weary soldier she says, I am the incarnation
stumbling along of death and lucidity
around all things beautiful come to give retribution and life,
are iron and stone bars to change my name, and yours
twisted in earthly song. we now fight for a different purpose.

Life before them mourns Come away, come away
the hills ache quietly shield your soul from the
and the wind shrieks her anger blackened heart
the world groans at the blemish set, instead, a new course
bemoaning the blood for a soul in unity.
that wrought them.
Oh fence, with my existence you
But from the ground will bind yourself, and I to you
a burst of fire and light tearing down the bitter lie
crawls up the fence and innocent dream
entangling her fragile body our destruction to herald the beginning
in the carnage of a dawn anew
coaxing green into the dulled silver for men, sight, and truth.
pulling ever downward.

S.A. BORDERS-SHOEMAKER is a PhD Candidate
in Conflict Analysis & Resolution. She received
her MA Palestine Studies degree from the
University of Exeter and has been an advocate
for Palestinian rights alongside her professional
work in interpersonal communication. Her
published works include poetry, editorials, and a
micronovel. This piece is inspired by The Tent of
Nations outside Bethlehem and her time living
and working in the OPT.

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 19

Just Cycle Palestine 2019

24TH OCTOBER - 3RD NOVEMBER

DAY 1This October will see the launch of Just Cycle, an exciting new bike ride through

occupied Palestine, calling for justice for the Palestinian people.

Just Cycle Palestine has its roots in As well as supporting the SOS Children’s writing about Palestine for international
another groundbreaking event, the Village in Bethlehem and raising £10,000 pwuabsliecvaetinoninsv. oOlvneedoDifnAoruYerb1euailrdlyincgycthliestJsenin
Peace Cycle, which began in 2004 when for Medical Aid for Palestinians, Peace Freedom Theatre aDftAeYr v2isiting the site of
25 cyclists of different nationalities and Cyclists also donated enough money to its destruction withDtAhYe f3irst Peace Cycle,
faiths cycled through 10 countries from set up a mobile eye clinic in the West and another foundDedAtYhe4UK Friends of
London to Jerusalem, campaigning Bank, enabling people living in remote the Freedom Theatre.
for justice and peace. It was the last areas or cut off by checkpoints to access
international group to meet President the optical care they desperately need. DAY 5
Yasser Arafat, and a feature film was Our participants haDvAenY’t6only supported
made of the ride, narrated by the iconic But we haven’t just helped financially – projects in PalestinDeAitYse7lf. In 2013, two
actress Julie Christie. Tony Benn and the Peace Cycle has inspired participants Belgian Peace Cyclists were so affected
Jeremy Corbyn helped launch the event to form grassroots projects to attempt by seeing the AparDthAeYid8Wall that they
and gave it their support, and so began a to alleviate some of the suffering at the filmed a series of dDoAcuYm9entaries about
series of Peace Cycle trips to Palestine, hands of the occupation, such as the divided communitiDesA,Ywh1i0ch have
each ride raising awareness of the Qalqilya Cycling Club and the Palestine been shown internationally, and the
occupation whilst also raising funds to Yoga Movement, and several support International Peace Cycle inspired the
help those suffering because of it. Our groups for women and children which formation of the Norwich Peace Cycle
aim has always been to allow people to are still running today. One of our past and Peace Camp, a major annual event
see the realities, to learn the facts, and cyclists set up a project in Belgium to supported by the Mayor of Norwich,
then to use that knowledge to campaign help displaced Bedouins in the Negev, Amnesty International and local MPs,
for change… if anyone ever doubts that and another cyclist, inspired by our visit churches & faith groups.
individuals can make a difference, the to the Ramallah Circus
Peace Cycle has proven that they can. School, founded a Rajab Shamallakh with Jeremy Corbyn in 2007
group to fund projects
So while the situation today remains a and organise regular
terrible injustice, our cyclists have given trips for the children
support and solidarity to many, and I’d there. A participant
like to share just some of those stories of the 2013 ride
with you. was so inspired by
her experience on
the Peace Cycle
she immediately
applied to become
an Ecumenical
Accompanier and
spent three months
monitoring abuses
at the Bethlehem
Checkpoint and

Just Cycle will be proud to continue this legacy by educating individuals
and encouraging them to take action, so why not make 2019 the year that

you take action? Just Cycle with us – see the sights, meet the people,
hear the stories and learn the truth about Palestine.

Email me for an information pack – [email protected]

20 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

J2uC4YsTCHtLEOCCRyTIcDOlEBeE- RPITa-INl3EeRRsDAtRNiYnOeVE2M0B1E9R

DAY 1 Welcome Reception DAY 2 DAY 7

Thursday HAIFA Wednesday

24 NAZARETH 30

DAY 2 DAY 1 SROefSugCeheildCraemn’ps,VCilhlaugrceh, AoifdNaativity
Friday
25

Baladna Youth Organisation, DAY 3 DAY 8
Journalist Jonathan Cook
JENIN Thursday

DAY 4 31

DAY 3

Saturday

26

City tour, Youth Against Settlements

AL-FARRA

Refugee Camp, Women’s Centre, DAY 5 JORDAN
Freedom Theatre, Old City
NABLUS DAY 9

TEL AVIV Friday

01

DAY 4 DUMA, TAYBEH IDserameoliliCtioomnsm, KittheaenAaglaAinhsmt aHrouse
AND RAMALLAH
Sunday DAY 10
Saturday
27 02

DAY 6

APlr-iFsoanrrtaoRure,fCuugleteurCaal mevpe,nFinorgmer DAY 10 JERUSALEM
DAY 9
DAY 5 DAY 7

Monday Old City, historical and holy sites

28 DAY 11

BEIT SAHOUR Sunday
AND BETHLEHEM
03
Al Najah University, Old City

DAY 6 DAY 8 DEAD
SEA
Tuesday HEBRON/AL-KHALIL

29

Lunch with families, Brewery Tour End of Just Cycle

This trip supports SOS Children’s Village CONTACT US TO APPLY NOW

1 0300 70P73A70L10E7S77TI1N7E77VOICEinfoI@sspinuafeloe@s1tpiWnaeliefnostuteinrde2afo0tiu1on8nd/.o1ar9tgio.unk.org.uk PwAwLwES.pwTawIlNewsE.tpinVaelOefoIsCutinEdeafoItsiuosnnud.oeartg2io.unSk.po/rrjugins.ugt-kc2/yj0uc1sle9t-cycle 21

Photographers of Palestine

THEIR LATEST WORK

A selection of some Gas bombs being used on demonstrators at the Great March of Return,
of the most striking 22nd February, a week before the one year anniversary of the protests.
imagery taken over
the past three months By Sanad
by photographers in
Palestine.

A young man stands by his cart, loaded with strawberries and “If it weren't for Israel, this strawberry
decorated with red balloons, in the middle of Gaza City. would be exported to the whole world" –
Taken by Sanad Abu Latifa.
Instagram: @sanad_latefa_photographer The Palestinian Information Center.

22 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

In a particularly marginalised area of Gaza, a woman cooks
with her son on fire as she has no money for cooking
gas. “I entered this area by coincidence with one of the
organisations that distribute food ... I took these pictures
very sadly.”

By Sanad

Over in the West Bank, spring blossoms in Jericho
as Imad studies desert plants.
Taken by Imad Hussein.
Instagram: @imad.91

A Palestinian girl carries the flag of Palestine during an Taken by Mariam of Rawa Al-Najjar, aged 22 and the
event in Gaza for Palestinian Children’s Day. Taken by first woman to open a flower nursery in the Gaza strip.
Mariam Abu Daqqa.
"Gaza, habibti keep standing by flowers
Instagram: @mariam_riyad_dagga hugging the Moon and life forever."

Line from a poem by the Coordinator of
Human Rights Defenders Group and al-Khalil

based activist, Badee Dweik.

See more on: www.palestinefoundation.org.uk/project/photographers-palestine/
See or share more under the hashtag #PhotographersOfPalestine

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 23

Israel’s One Million Child Prison:

The Siege of Gaza in 2019

Remember the story of Abdul-
Rahman Nofal, the aspiring 12-year-
old striker playing football with
his cousins when an Israeli sniper
obliterated his left leg last April?

Or the story of Mohammed Abu-
Hussain, the 13-year-old whose
father was killed by an Israeli rocket
in 2006, whose younger brother was
shot in the leg on the first day of the
Great March of Return, and on June
29th was shot himself in the right
leg by Israeli sniper resulting in an
amputation above the knee?

Or the story of Wisal Sheikh-Khalil,
the 14-year-old girl described by
her family as ‘sometimes dancing,
sometimes fearless’, shot in the
head by Israeli sniper on May 14th?

Perhaps you have, or perhaps these names In 2016, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Children whose daily lives are shaped by
are new to you. Either way you will never Statistics stated children constituted 49.6% of Israel’s siege, ‘putting them on a diet’, in the
get to know all the names and stories of the the population of the Gaza Strip, with slightly words of Israeli advisor Dov Weissglass,
Palestinian children of Gaza because there less across the Occupied Palestinian Territories where 80% of Palestinians in Gaza rely on
are one million of them, each possessing their as a whole. The median age being 17-years- the UN for basic aid, where 96% of water is
own stories of trauma and suffering. Stories old. If we consider that Gaza has a population undrinkable and electricity limited to a few
of relatives and friends who have been killed, growth rate of 3% a year, among the highest in hours a day. In the 7-week massacre of 2014
stories of family members who have been the world, very shortly if not already over 50% alone, 1 in every 1000 Palestinian in Gaza was
maimed and injured for life, and the stories of of Gaza’s population will be under 18-years- slaughtered, stealing the lives of 546 children,
war planes raining down terror in the night. old. With accurate statistic gathering in Gaza damaging 252 schools and destroying 7.
understandably being a difficult endeavour.
Children of Gaza In light of this demographic truth, what does it
by Sanad Abu Latifa In light of this demographic truth, what does say about Israel’s legal commitment to protect
it tell us about Israel’s 12-year siege on the all children?
The latest demographic statistics from enclave?
Gaza will show what medics, aid workers In 1991 Israel ratified the UN’s Convention
and journalists have long been aware of. It tells us Israel’s collective punishment on on the Rights of the Child which stipulates
That Gaza has an overwhelmingly young Palestinians in Gaza is not primarily affecting all children have the fundamental rights to
population, in fact so young that the majority Hamas operatives, armed combatants or life, survival and development, protection
of its population may well now be children. even unemployed men and women, but that it from violence and an education that enables
overwhelmingly affects children. children to fulfil their potential. But Israel
protects the rights of Palestinian children in
Children whose memories are confined to Gaza as much as it protects the collective rights
the geographical limits of the boundary fence of the Palestinians it controls; it does not.
and sea blockade. Over 40% of Palestinians
in Gaza are under 15-years-old. Children By fragmenting the Palestinian people into
whose memories force them to relive Israel’s different political and legal domains across
industrial military campaigns against them: the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem,
2008 Operation Cast Lead, 2012 Operation Israel itself, and those exiled as refugees
Pillar of Defense and 2014 Operation abroad and by subjecting them to differential
Protective Edge. With such massacres dubbed and oppressive treatment in each, Israel
regularly as ‘mowing the lawn’ by Israeli operates a regime of apartheid designed to
politicians such as Naftali Bennett. protect the demographic balance of Israel as
a Jewish state and designed to ensure the
dominance of Israeli Jews.

24 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

Meaning Palestinian children in Gaza are not Clearly the oppression of Children of Gaza by Sanad Abu Latifa
the only children to be suffering at the hands Palestinian children at the
of Israel’s oppression; Israel’s regime of hands of Israel is not isolated a burning desire for a better life beyond the
apartheid and settler-colonialism oppresses to the besieged enclave of Gaza confines of their unjust prison.
Palestinian children across the Occupied alone, which is considered
Palestinian Territories and beyond. occupied under international The fact children make up such a vast
law, but situated in a broader proportion of Gaza’s population obliterates
In Israel itself, Palestinian schools receive context of Israel’s dereliction of popular myths about complicity of
almost six times less funding per child responsibility to protect those Palestinians in their calamitous fate in this
than schools for Jewish students as they it occupies as stipulated under war of narratives, and exposes how the
are ineligible for funding from Zionist International Humanitarian Law. Israeli military enterprise causes the most
institutions. They go on to face discrimination devastating effects on those universally
in the job market and are subject to Israel’s How can Israel continue to profess a deemed most innocent and most vulnerable.
65 racist laws. supposed commitment to peace when it
subjects the future architects to any possible It is not just a moral obligation, but a legal
By denying Palestinians the right to return lasting stability to a controlled environment imperative to combat apartheid where it
to Israel, whilst allowing unlimited and designed to incubate such trauma and manifests. And so we must continue to call
exclusive immigration for Jews, over 5 million desperation? on governments to suspend all arms trade
Palestinian refugees must rely on the United with Israel, encourage our institutions to
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Since March 30 2018, more than 195 commit to the non-violent boycott, divestment
for aid living in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Palestinians have been killed in the Great and sanctions movement and press our
Lebanon and Jordan, with over 1 million March of Return protests, at least 41 of governments to call out Israel at international
children requiring humanitarian assistance. whom are children. In one of the world’s legal institutions, for if we do not protect the
Palestinian refugees, mostly children, live most densely populated areas where a children of today we may lose the architects
among 58 camps with conditions described majority of the population are children, clearly of any long lasting future peace.
by UNRWA as “generally poor, with high every bomb dropped, every high velocity
population density, cramped living conditions sniper rifle fired, every tear gas canister If we have any chance in combating the
and inadequate basic infrastructure”. launched, is done so in the knowledge that intransigence of our global political elite, in
children are the likely recipients of gas shaking-up persistent apathy among our
Gaza amputee by Sanad Abu Latifa inhalation, shrapnel and collateral damage. peers, and in penetrating through the haze
Subsequently, every weapon and piece of of confusing narratives surrounding the
In the West Bank, Israel’s apartheid subjects military technology bought and sold from situation in Gaza, it must surely be through
Palestinian children to discriminatory laws Israel is done so with the knowledge that this demographic fact; the siege of Gaza,
and practices; they are routinely denied their their ‘battle proven’ products have been above anything else, is a siege against
right to education when forced to wait at tested on children and would be used against children which must be lifted.
checkpoints; their classes can be disrupted them in future.
by the Israeli military at any time; teenagers OMAR AZIZ is a Programme
as young as 14 are incarcerated for years Psychologists, sociologists and parents alike Officer at Palestine
for throwing stones. Just last week armed are right to value childhood as a precious Community Foundation. He
soldiers intruded an elementary school period of innocence and vulnerability but also recently completed an MA
to arrest a 9-year-old Palestinian boy for as a prophetic period where the environment in International Relations
throwing stones. At the end of February 2019, may shape the future emotional and mental (Middle East) and has written
205 Palestinian minors were held in Israeli wellbeing of an individual. It is no wonder that for OpenDemocracy, Middle
prisons, often interrogated without a lawyer Save the Children found 95% of Palestinian East Monitor and elsewhere.
and put into solitary confinement. children interviewed in Gaza showed deep
signs of psychological distress.

How can it be that children who would not
even be eligible to vote in an election are the
primary victims of a politically masterminded
humanitarian nightmare? Where birds take
flight children must remain in Gaza. In spite
of this torturous environment and constant
dehumanization from Israeli politicians like
justice minister Ayelet Shaked who recently
labelled them ‘little snakes’, Palestinian
children manage to go to school, have world
leading literacy rates, form dance groups,
parkour clubs, sing, produce art and profess

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 25

Letters from Palestine

Jamal from the Ghirass Cultural Center

The following piece has been translated from Arabic.

EXCUSE ME, where is the smoking room?

“Walk a little and you will find it to your right.”

I went to where the cleaner told me to go, dragging
my small luggage bag behind me and carrying two bags
over my shoulder, one which contained my laptop
and the other my proof of identity, essential for
checkpoints at airports and crossings.

I have lost myself since I was born and have been trying consciously to build also trying to absorb the anxiety of a ten-year-old child. She was aware that it
myself again. was an unusual situation, even at the time.

I entered the room with the transparent glass door about ten meters from my I knew that two days ago my 17-year-old brother was on the run and that the
boarding gate. Gate 14. I took off the bags that I had been carrying and sat on occupation forces were very likely to break into our house at any moment.
the floor. I was lucky that it was the morning and the room was empty. I felt
prepared to cry, so I called my brother. The next few minutes were full of action, and my father was very careful to
calm the situation for the family until the door of our house exploded, it was
“Hello, good morning” very old and heavy – something I realised only at the time I heard banging
sounds on the surface of the door. It was at this point my father, mother and
“Good morning Isaac, where are you now?” he said in his sleepy voice. sister Mariam realised the seriousness of the situation.

The sound of my crying grew over the phone and my emotions were burning I noticed that I was lying down in the smoking room, I was sure that a security
out of my heart. I had only one thought which kept playing in my mind: I am man somewhere in this airport was watching me from a muted screen,
going to be away from them for seven months. questioning my situation, maybe even laughing, or maybe not even realising
I was there. So, I decided to sit on the chair, stare at the ceiling and return
“Try to calm down brother, be strong.” again.

We were interrupted by the automated mobile service informing me that I There was half an hour remaining until dawn, and the occupation soldiers
only had one minute of credit left in my account. continued to destroy the house while we hid in a corner by the exploded door,
the freezing cold eating at my bones. In front of me was my father in a very
“I am at Queen Alia airport, my plane will depart in two hours at 11am, I will difficult situation, there was no way he could prove to me in a situation like
call you as soon as I land. I will not say goodbye but instead, until we meet this that he is the strongest hero in the world.
again, my dear brother.”
The sound of things breaking was prevalent in this darkness, without any
The line cut. I did not wait for any response from Ibrahim. I remained sat question or understanding of what was going on, they asked about Ibrahim,
down and lit a cigarette. Come to think of it, cigarettes have accompanied me but he was not there.
during the majority of my short life. The cigarette dries quickly as drops of
water trickle onto it, making it damp. It dries up and becomes stronger than When my father was not able to say anything, they forced him to take off all
before. his clothes except for his trousers in front of his wife and Mariam, out in the
open. He was not able to look me in the eye but I really wanted to tell him to
The smoking room, which I did not leave until the time of my departure, punch one of them. But he didn’t, and I was disappointed and felt betrayed.
became a site of many memories of my life. My mind was crowded with the
thoughts of the past and thoughts of what is to come. He took off his clothes so that he could be ‘searched’ and perhaps they felt
sorry for him because of the cold and so told him to wear his clothes. They
17th November 2009 then asked my father again about Ibrahim.

My mother disrupted my dream almost an hour before dawn, alerting me to “Ibrahim isn’t here and in fact it makes no sense to get back at us for failing
the presence of a number of occupation forces besieging the house, whilst to find him. Yesterday I expected to find the answer about his whereabouts.
Looks like you have no answer.”

26 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

His words hung in the air, none of the soldiers seemed to understand Arabic “The soldiers want tea, we will wait until someone prepares the tea.”
well and so the sound of smashing continued until it seemed to me that all
the noise in our house were battling against the morning call to prayer in “So why all this sabotage then?”
the camp.
He shouted at the top of his voice in Hebrew, a new level of shouting. The
Fajr prayer was called, despite the entire camp in critical condition, the sound sound of demolishing intensified, which posed an important question to me
of bullets and bombs intensifying every now and then during stone throwing then: what remains to break or damage?
clashes with young men.
I noticed that the light of the sun had just begun to spread in the camp, it was
I need another cigarette, my mind is not in a good state, looks like the state about 6:30am and they have been here since 4am. Two and a half hours of
of mania has probably come back. No time for it now, I’ve lost control to my nothing. If they were actually looking for Ibrahim during this time, they would
memory now. have found him.

I have to wake up a little, I certainly won’t impress the security guard who My father wanted to do something, because if he didn’t, we would have
is watching me again, he must have understood that there is nothing wrong passed the stage of helplessness.
with what I’m about to do.
He shouted in the face of the officer and in a moment of anger and great
I jumped twice and jogged on the spot, I was sleepy and in the state of vengeance he sprang at the spy who was with them. The spy was unknown
delirium according to his judgement, I squatted, lit a cigarette and returned. at the time, however he was certainly well known in our community in other
circumstances that justified his presence among us.
The officer in charge was Jewish, but was fluent in Arabic. As soon as he
arrived, he began questioning us about Ibrahim. He called me and brought Suddenly all the soldiers’ energies turned on my father. The day I saw Abdul
me into my room, without light and without sound. I was alone. Latif helpless in front of his family. They hit him and beat him up from all
sides, to no avail to the attempts of his lifelong partner, Ikhlas, trying to save
“Would you like to wait until Ibrahim arrives?” him. Finally, after the officer shouted for everyone to evacuate, everything
stopped.
I did not respond, I was distracted, but I understood that he was provoking me
and I really didn’t know where Ibrahim was, if I did know I would have told Oh how much I wished for all this to end. And because I love misery, I enjoyed
him. What else would somebody my age do? the first minute because I would not go to school today.

He repeated his questions about Ibrahim. He told me that he knew I had Mariam went with my father to the UNRWA clinic in the camp and took a look
started smoking and threatened to tell my father about it if I didn’t tell him with mother and neighbours at the contents of the house. It looked exactly
about Ibrahim. like the picture you are imagining now.

That boy wished he knew where he was so that he could tell them, and Everything is broken, and a lot of things have become crumbs.
survive his father’s punishment of the smoking issue.
I did not want to take part in my mother’s conversations with my neighbours.
What can I understand more than that the problems will all end someday? I sat impatiently waiting for Ibrahim to tell him everything, and to cry. Ibrahim
To my stupidity, I did not understand anything, and I didn’t understand the protested at the time, the habit that afflicted me since that event.
severity of the moments that passed and the amount of psychological debris
left behind. I was in dire need of getting out of this room, the smoking room at Queen Alia
airport. I needed to breathe a little outside or buy something from the duty-free
I witnessed one of the soldiers attempting to harass Mariam and flirt with shops and forget that until now, with everything that happens to me that makes
her, using his limited power to get close to her and touch her in one way or me a weak child, my first place to turn to is my brother Ibrahim. Always.
another. I don’t really know if anyone noticed this, and I did not dare confront
the masked soldier carrying enough equipment to fight a war. This image I went out and discovered that I had locked the door of the smoking room
was in my imagination just like I had seen in films. when I entered it, maybe one of the workers forgot the key in the door. That’s
probably why I was in here alone all this time. I was in the corner and didn’t
I waited. Looking away at the ceiling while my father still stood in the notice anyone try to get in. Nobody even noticed me, including the security
courtyard of our house facing all the momentum of events that would change man behind his silent screen.
his life forever, and I looked at him…
I looked at the clock, there were ten minutes left until the boarding gate
Forever. opened.

After all, I am proud of him and I wish God to grant me the power of a Meanwhile, I received a call from Mariam telling me that Ibrahim had
legendary man to free him from the absurdity of the situation. been arrested for the second time whilst on his way to university, which
he struggles with due to the difficult situation he lives in, imposed by the
My mother discussed with the officer in charge: occupation.

“Ibrahim is not here, you need to leave.” JAMAL

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 27

WORDSEARCH

NAZARETH FALAFEL JERUSALEM
PALESTINE BEDOUIN OLIVES
RAMALLAH DIASPORA LABNEH
JERICHO THOBE SHEPHERD

28 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 1 Winter 2018/19

COLOURING IN - A PCF colouring book is currently in production, bringing the
historical sights, geographical towns and rich culture of Palestine
Fisherman in Gaza to a new generation of children of the diaspora. Coming soon!

PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019 29

POSTCARDS AGAINST APARTHEID

Masquerading as a temporary ‘occupation’, Israel practices a regime of apartheid over the Palestinian
people which facilitates its settler-colonial endeavour; capture as much land and as few Palestinians as
possible. We’ve designed a selection of ‘Postcards Against Apartheid’ to help spread awareness of Israel’s
crimes against humanity to be sent to friends, colleagues and MPs alike.

Get in touch to order yours or see the full selection on our website: www.palestinefoundation.org.uk
30 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 2 Spring 2019

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