Cafe Palestine 39: Introduction to a new music therapy-informed programme for music teachers in Gaza Saturday 18 April from 4–6pm (UK) This Café Palestine session will introduce a new online support programme for music teachers in Gaza, developed in response to the urgent need for practical ways to support children experiencing severe trauma. See the Featured Events section in this mailing for full details https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82206250113?pwd=nrOre2eYzCgkcG6QOEmLxMnAT7LWNb.1

UKPALMHN Solidarity SpacesEvery Monday during April at 1pm (UK time)This is an open space where people share their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. Please write to ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like to attend these meetings

National March for Palestine: Nakba 78 Saturday 16 May at 12 noon in central London Further details to followhttps://palestinecampaign.org/events/nakba-78-march-for-palestine/

“[The settlers] use every tactic they can think of. They have pepper-sprayed us, beat us, detained us, taken my children’s IDs, beaten women, and stolen our sheep. They threatened to kill me and my family recently and told me I have a couple of days to leave to Mecca or Jordan as these lands have been promised to them by God.”
Palestinians in the West Bank are now experiencing multiple settler attacks per dayDropsite News, 27 March
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/palestinians-west-bank-israeli-settlers-attacks-iran-war

Palestinian child likely starved to death in Israeli prison Source: Jasper Nathaniel on X/substack Date: 24 March 2026 17-year-old Walid Ahmad died in Israeli military detention on 22 March 2025. According to recently released court papers, the judge ruled that he likely starved to death in Israeli military detention, but closed the case anyway. Israel never charged Walid with a crime and still holds his body. The allegations are corroborated in part by AP reporting and the subsequently unsealed Haaretz-linked court ruling. https://x.com/infinite_jaz/status/2036506611091390833 The shocking circumstances of the Walid’s death were described by another child prisoner called Mohammed Ibrahim and published in December 2025 by the same journalist. https://www.infinitejaz.com/p/mohammed-ibrahims-stolen-year

When they come for the homes Source: Mondoweiss Date: 4 April The article describes the lived experience of home demolitions in Palestine, emphasising their psychological impact as families endure not only material loss but the destruction of stability, memory, and identity. It argues that demolitions function as a broader mechanism of control, generating chronic anxiety and insecurity that shape both individual and collective mental health. https://mondoweiss.net/2026/04/when-they-come-for-the-homes/

Psychological burdens during genocide: A psychocartographic qualitative study of civilian experiences in Gaza, December 2024–February 2025 Source: Social Science & Medicine, Volume 399, June 2026, 119227 Date: 24 March – Examines the intertwined psychological, material, and spatial burdens of displaced Palestinians during ongoing genocide in Gaza. – Introduces a psychocartographic, rhizomatic framework for understanding trauma as spatially and relationally embedded. – Identifies three core themes: psychological toll of war, survival challenges, and pervasive unsafety. – Highlights the ethical responsibility of mental health research and advocates for collective, community-based interventions. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953626003035

Thrown out onto the streets – Evictions escalate in Silwan Source: Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Date: 27 March Fifteen Palestinian families were displaced from their homes in the Baten al-Hawa area of Silwan, East Jerusalem, following court rulings transferring the properties to a settler organisation, with most evictions carried out under heavy police presence. The article situates these evictions within broader Israeli policies and legal frameworks that favour Jewish property claims while denying equivalent rights to Palestinians, contributing to demographic changes in East Jerusalem. It highlights the wider scale of displacement in Silwan and beyond, with hundreds of Palestinians facing imminent eviction or demolition as part of ongoing settlement expansion. https://icahd.org/2026/03/27/thrown-out-onto-the-streets-evictions-escalate-in-silwan/

Why Western mental health practice fails in Palestine Source: TRT World (20 minute interview with Dr Jabr) Date: 31 January  (only recently found this link) Dr Samah Jabr argues that Western mental health practice fails in Palestine because it is built on assumptions—trauma as a past event, the existence of safety, and the possibility of a stable future—that do not hold under ongoing occupation and violence. Standard therapeutic models and diagnoses such as PTSD are therefore inadequate, as trauma is continuous, basic needs are unmet, and clinical questions are often secondary to immediate survival concerns.She further explains, drawing on Frantz Fanon, that international interventions cannot function without safety and must be rethought in a context of structural violence, where communities develop their own collective coping mechanisms that professionals must learn from rather than replace. Western frameworks also depoliticise suffering and focus on individual adaptation, whereas in Palestine mental health is inseparable from political conditions, collective experience, and the need to sustain agency and resist imposed helplessness. There is a succinct explanation of the difference between “resilience” and “sumud” at 7.00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYmECI8G2Us Dr Jabr’s website:  https://drsamahjabr.com/

UK government’s inaction fuelling Israel’s takeover of Palestinian land in the West Bank Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians (Instagram) Date: 18 March This video highlights that UK government inaction is contributing to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and calls for concrete measures rather than statements alone. Medical Aid for Palestinians urges the UK to ban trade with settlements, suspend arms transfers to Israel, and take legal, economic and diplomatic action to ensure accountability. https://www.instagram.com/medicalaidpal/reel/DWCPnKlh9AR/

Global Sumud Flotilla 2026 – Collective Care Volunteers Date: April 2026 […][Global Sumud Flotilla 2026] are building a team of anti-oppressive, decolonial and context-rooted psychotherapists, counsellors, somatic, and trauma-practising practitioners to provide a range of collective care and mental health support structures, that will be available to 3,000 sea and land volunteers. The care structures vary depending on the stage of the mission, i.e. pre-mission preparation, in-person support at European ports, care during the sea voyage to Palestine, and post-mission support. Dates and operational details may change depending on circumstances[…] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSddlhbmHh_HgVfRmc9JQ9nYq9QrhWG-4KYdKjqBWwKTQwl8Zg/viewform

ICAHD statement condemning Israel’s “death penalty for terrorists” law Source: The Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Date: 1 April ICAHD  condemns with outrage, if not surprise, the Israeli parliament’s passing of the Death Penalty for Terrorists Bill on March 30. Drafted by Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, himself a convicted terrorist, it was supported by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his entire Likud party and 70% of the Israeli Jewish public. This racist law mandates the death penalty – specifically by hanging – for a “terrorist” defined in terms that could only apply, in our context, to a Palestinian. […] Full statement: https://icahd.org/2026/04/01/icahd-statement-condemning-israels-death-penalty-for-terrorists-law/

Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) Statement in Solidarity with Palestine Source: Group Analysts for Palestine (GA4PAL) Date: 2 April A motion to publish GA4PAL’s Statement in Solidarity with Palestine on the IGA website was passed at its AGM on 7 March, despite resistance and ongoing appeals, marking a significant opening for engagement with the political realities affecting mental health. The letter highlights the importance of collective action within the profession, acknowledges the support of anti-Zionist Jewish colleagues, and frames the development as a source of encouragement for those challenging silence and advocating for ethical accountability. Full announcement: https://ukpalmhn.com/group-analysts-for-palestine/

I am not a number A visual tribute to the 72,000+ Palestinians killed in the Israeli genocide in Gaza Each light represents a life. Hover to remember them. https://bkhmsi.github.io/i-am-not-a-number/

FEATURED EVENTS

From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for revolutionary futures Source: The Relational School Date: Saturday 11 April from 4pm – 5:30pm This online event centres on a discussion of From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures by Lara Sheehi, examining how psychoanalytic thinking can be extended beyond clinical settings into political and collective struggles. The session features responses from clinicians and theorists including Foluke Taylor, Avgi Saketopoulou and Robert Downes, focusing on the implications of the book for therapeutic practice and social transformation. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/therelationalschool/2003398

Bearing witness in the West Bank: Mental health and life under occupation Source: St John’s Church, Waterloo Date: Monday 13 April at 7pm Location: St John’s Church, Waterloo, 73 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8TY (this is an in-person event)Two volunteers share reflections from recent time in the West Bank, combining contextual overview with personal testimony about life under occupation. The session explores the impact of occupation on mental health—particularly for children and young people—alongside insights from local professionals and community initiatives, and includes perspectives on everyday life and faith in Palestine. The event aims to bear witness to lived realities, amplify local voices, and open space for discussion on how participants can offer support, with donations directed to grassroots and humanitarian organisations. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bearing-witness-in-the-west-bank-mental-health-and-life-under-occupation-tickets-1984229614190

Women, prison and sumud Source: Palestine Mental Health Networks International Date: Tuesday 14 April at 5pm (UK)This webinar focuses on the experiences of Palestinian women in prison, examining the psychological and social impacts of detention and incarceration. It highlights themes of resilience (sumud), collective struggle, and the role of mental health in understanding and supporting those affected. https://www.pmhn-international.org/calendar/women-prison-sumud

Cafe Palestine 39: Introduction to a new music therapy-informed programme for music teachers in Gaza Saturday 18 April from 4–6pm (UK) This Café Palestine session will introduce a new online support programme for music teachers in Gaza, developed in response to the urgent need for practical ways to support children experiencing severe trauma. The programme recognises that many musicians are already working closely with traumatised children and offers a music therapy-informed framework to strengthen this work through accessible, ethically grounded tools. The initiative has been developed by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, a leading Palestinian cultural institution, in collaboration with international partners.Dr Lukas Pairon, Chair of the Centre for Social Action and Music-Making at the University of Ghent, will present the programme alongside music therapist Hala Hamdan, who is facilitating the weekly online sessions. The approach is deliberately modest and pragmatic, focusing on shared reflection and practical techniques for observation and stabilisation rather than formal clinical training or trauma treatment. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82206250113?pwd=nrOre2eYzCgkcG6QOEmLxMnAT7LWNb.1

Besiege Your Siege with Madness: Collective liberation and the psychoanalysis of world-making Source: USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, BADIL, Eyewitness Palestine Date: Sunday 19 April from 4.30 – 6 pm (UK) A special presentation and dialogue with Dr Reem Abu Hweij, a clinical psychologist and academic based in Jerusalem. Amid genocide and protracted colonial trauma, what psychic processes enable a people not only to survive but to imagine anew? Drawing from her essay “Besiege Your Siege with Madness” (forthcoming in Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society), Dr. Reem Abu Hweij deftly examines the Palestinian collective psyche as a site of world-making and spiritual revolt. She introduces the concept of liberation madness – a psycho-spiritual rupture through which the oppressed transcend the coloniser’s “Dominant Reason” and reclaim meaning, love, and collective purpose. https://mailchi.mp/41bfc486574d/besiege-your-siege-with-madness-mar-6-52392?e=f02f8a3048

On Thursday 14 May, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign is presenting a major cultural commemoration of the Nakba at the Troxy in London, with Health Workers for Palestine (HW4P) and Marsm, to mark over 78 years of Palestinian resistance to erasure and to fundraise for Palestinian health workers in Gaza. https://dice.fm/event/dkmxdo-voices-of-solidarity-ii-14th-may-troxy-london-tickets

Mental Health Study Tour Autumn 2026 Source: UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Dates: Monday 26 October to Wednesday 4 November. This autumn we are offering a 10-day study tour for practitioners from the fields of mental health and social work who are keen to explore the complex interface between politics and psychological well-being in the particular circumstances of Palestine/Israel.The tour provides excellent access to clinicians, academics, community groups and political analysts with 25 encounters, plus additional cultural opportunities. It will be facilitated by a small UK company established in 1999 that has provided alternative tours to the area. Hotels will be in Bethlehem and Nazareth with additional visits to Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah and Jaffa/Tel Aviv […] Full details here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/autumn-tour-2026/ For an application form please write including your name, address, contact information, and professional qualifications to:ukpalmhn@gmail.com

FEATURED ACTIONS

VOTE PALESTINE ON 7th MAY! The Candidate and Councillors’ Pledge for Palestine In the run-up to the local elections on 7 May, candidates and councillors who are standing for re-election are being asked to sign the Pledge for Palestine. Full information, including a list of current councillors who have signed the Pledge is available from: Vote Palestine website: https://www.votepalestine.co.uk/ PSC website: https://palestinecampaign.org/campaigns/councillor-pledge-for-palestine/ A list of candidates who have signed the Pledge will be made available on the same pages after the nomination deadline for candidates on Thursday 9 April. What you can do: 1. Check which councillors have signed the pledge and check which candidates have signed the pledge when this information is available. 2. Contact prospective candidates who you might vote for and ask them if they will sign the Pledge (if they have not already done so) 3. Raise the issue of the Pledge in hustings and other local meetings 4. Make your own pledge to vote only for candidates who have signed the Pledge!

Global Sumud Flotilla 2026 Source: Global Sumud Flotilla Date: 19 March This spring, the Global Sumud Flotilla returns with its largest mission yet: more than 100 boats in parallel with land mobilisations, representatives from over 100 countries, all united to challenge the illegal Israeli siege on Gaza and the complicity that enables it.⁠ A brief video featuring some prominent supporters introducing the 2026 Flotilla https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWCKKZMlKgV/ You can donate or apply to join the Flotilla here: https://linktr.ee/globalsumudflotilla

Support Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah: Write to the General Medical Council today Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: April 2026 Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah is a British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon who has for decades been treating patients in Palestine, Lebanon and beyond, including children who have been horribly injured in Israel’s attacks. He is being targeted by anti-Palestinian groups, and now Britain’s medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), is trying to stop him practising. This is an outrageous attempt to try and silence Palestinians like Dr. Abu-Sittah, and to prevent them from advocating for their own people’s safety and for the wider principles of justice. It will not work. Already thousands of doctors have called on GMC leadership to resign over this spurious attack, but we need to increase the pressure.https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/complaint-gmcRecent Guardian article providing background to the case: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/02/uk-surgeon-cleared-antisemitism-criticises-gmc-challenge-ruling

“This report will help cement the government’s legacy as an active participant in one of the greatest crimes of our time.”

Jeremy Corbyn MP writing in the Foreword of The Gaza Tribunal Report
https://thegazatribunal.uk/report

Torture at the core of genocide accusations in the Palestinian Territories Source: Al-Quds (Palestinian newspaper) Date: 22 March The latest report from Francesca Albanese, “Torture and Genocide”, has been presented to the UN Human Rights Council. The report’s central claim that torture is not incidental but a “structural pillar” of Israeli control over Palestinians, extending beyond prisons into everyday life through checkpoints, raids, movement restrictions, and systemic coercion. A key concept highlighted is the idea of a “torturous environment”, where policies collectively create continuous psychological and physical pressure on the population, contributing to displacement and the erosion of Palestinian social life. The report explicitly links these practices to genocide under international law, arguing that widespread harm and destruction of living conditions may meet the threshold of intent to destroy a protected group. https://www.alquds.com/en/posts/232494

UK Palestine Mental Health Network statement on the US/Israel assault on Iran and its impact on Gaza and the West Bank Source: UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Date: 23 March (date of statement) The statement condemns US and Israeli attacks across the region and warns that, as international attention shifts, violence and dispossession against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have intensified. It describes worsening conditions in Gaza, including ongoing killings, severe restrictions on aid and infrastructure, and pervasive trauma. In the West Bank escalating violence, movement restrictions, and economic strangulation are severely disrupting daily life and wellbeing. The network calls for urgent attention to these conditions, emphasising their profound mental health impacts and urging continued witness, solidarity, and collective protest. https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/ukpmhn-statement-on-the-us-israel-assault-on-iran-and-the-impact-on-gaza-and-the-west-bank/

The Gaza Tribunal Report The final report of the Gaza Tribunal which took place in September 2025 was published on 16 March. It appears that there has not been significant coverage of the Report in either the mainstream or Middle Eastern press, with the exception of The Guardian. The Guardian reports that the Gaza Tribunal argues the UK has legal obligations to act following the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory ruling, particularly in relation to preventing complicity in violations of international law. The tribunal’s findings suggest that continued UK arms exports, intelligence cooperation, and diplomatic support for Israel risk breaching these obligations.The article notes that the UK government has maintained that it complies with international law, while limiting or avoiding substantive policy changes, including by relying on existing licensing frameworks and emphasising diplomatic engagement rather than suspension of ties. It also highlights that the tribunal’s conclusions may carry political implications, with the issue of UK policy on Gaza expected to feature in debates ahead of the local elections in May 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/15/uk-complicit-desecration-international-law-gaza-says-corbyn-led-tribunal Full Gaza Tribunal Report:https://thegazatribunal.uk/report

The Conscripted Container: How to reach beyond the psychoanalytic erasure of the Palestinian Source: Lama Khouri published in The Key Date: 19 March Lama Khouri is co-founder of the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network. The article traces how the author’s psyche was shaped by early experiences of dispossession, silencing, and institutional conditioning, producing what she calls the “conscripted container” — a self that absorbs and manages erasure while remaining outwardly compliant. Through psychoanalytic reflection, she recognises how this formation was reinforced in professional and clinical settings, where racism, projection, and “unfindability” prevented her from being seen as a fully particular subject and led her to misname or suppress her own experience. The turning point comes in the context of the Gaza genocide, which reconnects previously split-off knowledge and enables a psychological break from accommodation, allowing her to name racism, complicity, and her own prior self-erasure. This awakening leads to a more embodied and assertive form of activism, marked by refusal to participate in spaces that require her silencing and by a commitment to speak as a fully “findable” subject rather than a container for others’ projections. https://www.thekeymagazine.com/p/psychoanalysis-palestine-un-jordan-racism (You need to create a free account to read the article)

West Bank resident recounts sexual assault amid rising settler violence Source: CNN World Date: 18 March A Palestinian resident describes being sexually assaulted during a wider attack by Israeli settlers on his property in the West Bank. The report situates the incident within a broader pattern of escalating settler violence, including attacks on homes and communities. It also notes the context of recent controversy following the release of Israeli soldiers previously charged with rape, highlighting lack of accountability. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/18/middleeast/west-bank-resident-sexual-assault-violence-intl

Therapy in the time of genocide Source: Gestalt Centre Belfast Date: 9 February 2026 The article is a critical reflection on how the European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT) has responded to the war in Gaza and the wider question of Palestine. It takes issue with the EAGT, in the context of its forthcoming global conference, and with its Human Rights and Social Responsibility (HRSR) committee, whose public statement on Gaza the authors consider insufficient.The article argues that professional concepts such as neutrality and dialogue can obscure structural violence and asymmetry, eg a false equivalence between oppressor and oppressed. It questions how therapeutic institutions frame responsibility in situations of war crimes and genocide. It combines organisational critique with broader reflections on ethics and the role of therapists, ultimately calling for the EAGT and its HRSR committee to adopt a clearer and more explicit public position. https://www.gestaltbelfast.org/blog/therapy-in-the-time-of-genocide

Interview with the mother of Hind Rajab Source: BBC Radio 4 Date: Tueday 17 March A moving 7-minute interview broadcast on the main BBC radio morning news programme. The interview starts at approximately 2 hours and 47 minutes. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002sn3j

Every moment is a life Source: bookshop.org Date: 12 March (publication date) Compiled by bestselling author Susan Abulhawa, an Arabic-English bilingual anthology of essays from eighteen young Palestinian writers trying to survive the genocide in Gaza. https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/every-moment-is-a-life-gaza-in-the-time-of-genocide-susan-abulhawa/f2d5f9f5d504ca65

FEATURED EVENTS

The Erasure of Palestine (book tour) The photography book documents Ahmad Al-Bazz’s three-year project tracing the remains of depopulated Palestinian villages, combining visual and historical evidence to argue that the events of 1948 form part of an ongoing process of colonisation and erasure, which he reflects on in relation to the current situation in Gaza. Thursday 26 March – Belfast https://themaclive.com/book?instanceId=723901ASRVCKJVCTBVRGQVRTDNQDNKPRH Friday 27 March – Brighton https://www.tickettailor.com/events/post/2109430 Saturday 28 March – London https://ibraaz.org/whats-on/the-erasure-of-palestine

Palestinian Land Day: Global mental health solidarity event Source: Palestine Mental Health Networks International Date: Saturday 28 March at 6pm (UK) This online event marks Palestinian Land Day, bringing together mental health professionals and activists to reflect on land, dispossession, and their psychological impacts. It will explore the ongoing significance of Land Day in the Palestinian context and consider how mental health frameworks can support solidarity and resistance. https://www.pmhn-international.org/calendar/da-de-la-tierra-palestina-palestinian-land-day

Bearing witness in the West Bank: Mental health and life under occupation Source: St John’s Church, Waterloo Date: Monday 13 April at 7pm Location: St John’s Church, Waterloo, 73 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8TY (this is an in-person event) Two volunteers share reflections from recent time in the West Bank, combining contextual overview with personal testimony about life under occupation. The session explores the impact of occupation on mental health—particularly for children and young people—alongside insights from local professionals and community initiatives, and includes perspectives on everyday life and faith in Palestine. The event aims to bear witness to lived realities, amplify local voices, and open space for discussion on how participants can offer support, with donations directed to grassroots and humanitarian organisations. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bearing-witness-in-the-west-bank-mental-health-and-life-under-occupation-tickets-1984229614190

Women, prison and sumud Source: Palestine Mental Health Networks International Date: Tuesday 14 April at 5pm (UK) This webinar focuses on the experiences of Palestinian women in prison, examining the psychological and social impacts of detention and incarceration. It highlights themes of resilience (sumud), collective struggle, and the role of mental health in understanding and supporting those affected. https://www.pmhn-international.org/calendar/women-prison-sumud

Cafe Palestine 39: Introduction to a new music therapy-informed programme for music teachers in Gaza Saturday 18 April from 4–6pm (UK) This Café Palestine session will introduce a new online support programme for music teachers in Gaza, developed in response to the urgent need for practical ways to support children experiencing severe trauma. The programme recognises that many musicians are already working closely with traumatised children and offers a music therapy-informed framework to strengthen this work through accessible, ethically grounded tools.The initiative has been developed by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, a leading Palestinian cultural institution, in collaboration with international partners.Dr Lukas Pairon, Chair of the Centre for Social Action and Music-Making at the University of Ghent, will present the programme alongside music therapist Hala Hamdan, who is facilitating the weekly online sessions. The approach is deliberately modest and pragmatic, focusing on shared reflection and practical techniques for observation and stabilisation rather than formal clinical training or trauma treatment. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82206250113?pwd=nrOre2eYzCgkcG6QOEmLxMnAT7LWNb.1

Besiege Your Siege with Madness: Collective liberation and the psychoanalysis of world-making Source: USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, BADIL, Eyewitness Palestine Date: Sunday 19 April from 4:30 – 6 pm (UK) A special presentation and dialogue with Dr. Reem Abu Hweij who is a clinical psychologist and academic based in Jerusalem. Amid genocide and protracted colonial trauma, what psychic processes enable a people not only to survive but to imagine anew? Drawing from her essay “Besiege Your Siege with Madness” (forthcoming in Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society), Dr. Reem Abu Hweij deftly examines the Palestinian collective psyche as a site of world-making and spiritual revolt. She introduces the concept of liberation madness—a psycho-spiritual rupture through which the oppressed transcend the coloniser’s “Dominant Reason” and reclaim meaning, love, and collective purpose. https://mailchi.mp/41bfc486574d/besiege-your-siege-with-madness-mar-6-52392?e=f02f8a3048

Mental Health Study Tour Autumn 2026 Source: UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Dates: Monday 26 October finishing on Wednesday 4 November. This autumn we are offering a 10-day study tour for practitioners from the fields of mental health and social work who are keen to explore the complex interface between politics and psychological well-being in the particular circumstances of Palestine/Israel. The tour provides excellent access to clinicians, academics, community groups and political analysts with 25 encounters plus additional cultural opportunities scheduled. It will be facilitated by a small UK company established in 1999 that has provided alternative tours to the area. Hotels will be in Bethlehem and Nazareth with additional visits to Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah and Jaffa/Tel Aviv ][…] Full details here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/autumn-tour-2026/ For an application form please write including your name, address, contact information, and professional qualifications to:ukpalmhn@gmail.com

FEATURED ACTIONS

VOTE PALESTINE ON 7th MAY! Vote Palestine 2026 is a coalition that includes Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Palestinian Youth Movement Britain, The Muslim Vote, the British Palestinian Committee, and the Palestinian Forum in Britain. It has launched a Councillors’ Pledge for Palestine and is urging supporters only to vote for councillors or candidates who have signed the Pledge.Research by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has found that local council administered pension funds invest more than £12 billion in companies complicit in Israel’s violations of international law. Palestine is a relevant issue in the local elections. A video from PSC explaining more about the campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECirAypbYto Further information about how to promote the Councillor Pledge for Palestine: https://palestinecampaign.org/campaigns/councillor-pledge-for-palestine/ Vote Palestine 2026: https://www.votepalestine.co.uk/

Psychoanalysis of Conscience: A call to resign The Collective of Palestine Mental Health Networks recently issued a call for psychoanalysts to resign from the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). In response to this call seven analysts have resigned.This page carries the resignation letters from these analysts and also include a link to the original call to resign. The action is also open to therapists who are not members of the IPA .https://www.pmhn-international.org/they-resigned

Global Sumud Flotilla 2026 Source: Global Sumud Flotilla Date: 19 March This spring, the Global Sumud Flotilla returns with its largest mission yet: 100+ boats in parallel with land mobilizations, representatives from over 100 countries, all united to challenge the illegal Israeli siege on Gaza and the complicity that enables it.⁠A brief video featuring some prominent supporters introducing the 2026 Flotilla https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWCKKZMlKgV/ You can donate or apply to join the Flotilla here: https://linktr.ee/globalsumudflotilla

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS) A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).” Shake the CIV Source: shaketheciv Date: 17 March Shake the Civ is a city-wide campaign to force the London Collective Investment Vehicle to divest from genocide On Tuesday 17 March, the campaign handed a letter signed by over 150 councillors and assembly members from across the capital to the London CIV telling it to divest from genocide.Shake the Civ: https://linktr.ee/shaketheciv Councillors delivering the letter: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWMyVkdjSuS/ Israeli Apartheid Week Source: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement Date: Saturday 21 March – Saturday 28 March (and beyond) Web: https://bdsmovement.net/iaw Share your events and actions online! #IsraeliApartheidWeekPlease share your activism with the wider movement. Take photos and videos, write short reports, and share them all using the hashtags #IsraeliApartheidWeek, #DismantleApartheid, #GazaGenocide and #UnitedAgainstRacism. We’ll be sharing on social media on the accounts: Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/IsraeliApartheidWeek.IAW Twitter:  https://twitter.com/apartheidweek Instagram:  https://instagram.com/israeli_apartheid_week Message from BDS Movement about Israeli Apartheid Week Source: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement Date: 21 March https://www.instagram.com/p/DWJIr4bAVqh/

Cafe Palestine 39: Introduction to a new music therapy programme for music teachers in Gaza
Saturday 18 April from 4-6pm (UK)
This Café Palestine session will focus on a new online music therapy support programme for music teachers in Gaza, addressing the urgent need for practical ways to support children experiencing severe trauma.
See the Featured Events section in this mailing for full details.
Zoom link to follow in the next mailing

UKPALMHN Solidarity Spaces
Every Monday during February and March at 1pm (UK time)
This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news.
Please write to ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to this meeting

POSTPONED
The UKPALMHN Mental Health Study Tour has been postponed until the Autumn
Due to the US and Israel’s ongoing, illegal military attack on Iran, we have decided to postpone the Spring Study tour until the autumn. The tour will now be from:
Monday 26 October to Wednesday 4 November
We know that our tours to meet and learn from our Palestinian colleagues are appreciated by them and this strengthens our commitment to continue with the tour at a later date.
Please contact us now at ukpalmhn@gmail.com for an application form to be completed prior to an online meeting.

“The situation is deteriorating rapidly, and yet it unfolds in near silence. The world is occupied with other urgencies. Gaza no longer interrupts the global conscience. It no longer qualifies as breaking news. And so it becomes easier to look away.
Yesterday, the Israeli army announced an extension of the closure of Gaza’s border crossings until March 13. No goods. No supplies. No aid. For at least thirteen more days. For nowThese phrases, bureaucratic and bloodless, conceal what they mean.
Even when the crossings are open, what enters is not generosity but calculation. The quantities are tightly controlled, measured according to daily caloric limits defined by the very authority that enforces the closure. Survival here has been reduced to arithmetic. Not dignity, not life as it is meant to be lived, but the minimum required to postpone death.
And now the crossings are sealed again.
It will take only days before organizations such as the World Food Programme are forced to suspend their operations for lack of supplies. Bakeries will close. Shelves will empty. Families who have already been living on the narrowest margin will find that even the margin has disappeared.
Gaza is being pushed toward hunger while the world directs its gaze elsewhere, and history has shown us what happens when suffering is permitted to proceed quietly. Starvation does not require spectacle. It does not need the noise of bombs. It advances in increments, in administrative language, in closed gates.
One gate. Then another.
Until hunger becomes policy, and policy becomes ordinary.“
Dr Izzideen on X
https://x.com/ezzingaza/status/2028496226480537979

Between 27 February and 5 March 2026, it is estimated that only about 25–30 truck‑loads of UN‑coordinated aid per day actually entered Gaza through Kerem Shalom, compared to the 500 or more trucks a day that UN agencies say are needed to meet basic needs.

Indifferenz
Source: Parapraxis Magazine
Date: 6 March
Lama Khouri is co-founder of the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network.
This essay by Palestinian psychoanalyst Lama Khouri is addressed to the organisers of the European Psychoanalytic Federation’s 2026 conference titled “Neutrality”. It criticises psychoanalytic institutions for invoking “neutrality” while remaining silent about the mass violence in Gaza. The author revisits Freud’s concept of Indifferenz, noting that while it was historically translated as “neutrality”, Freud used the term to describe a technical stance within the analytic consulting room rather than a broader institutional or political position. Khouri argues that psychoanalytic organisations have gradually extended and reshaped this clinical concept into an organisational doctrine that enables institutional self-preservation through political silence. Framed as a protest to the conference organisers, the article endorses calls for psychotherapists to leave the umbrella organisation called the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). It argues that continued membership legitimises the misuse of neutrality in the face of Palestinian suffering.
https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/indifferenz

Sport counselling training in Gaza
Source: Palestine Trauma Centre UK
Date: 1 March
A recent, 3-minute video showcasing current work of PTC (UK) in Gaza.
https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/ptc-uk-sport-counselling-in-gaza-march-2026/
PTC (UK) website:
https://www.palestinetraumacentre.uk/

Exercise and freedom: Inside a children’s mental health centre in Gaza
Source: The Guardian
Date: 5 March
A Palestine Red Crescent Society mental health centre provides one of the few places left where children in Gaza can play and feel safe
A collection of 10 photos and commentary from the children’s centre.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2026/mar/05/childrens-mental-health-centre-gaza

Mental health and primary care in Gaza: The ceasefire opportunity and imperative
Source: The Lancet Psychiatry (Correspondence)
Date: 9 February (Epub) / March issue
This commentary argues that the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system has created an urgent need to integrate mental health services into primary care as part of reconstruction and humanitarian response. It emphasises that the scale of psychological trauma across the population requires rapid expansion of community-based mental health and psychosocial support.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(26)00022-2/fulltext

Gaza remains a crisis of children’s mental health
Source: Los Angeles Times
Date: 15 February
In this recent op‑ed, psychologist Nisreen Qawas of the Palestine Red Crescent Society – the real operations‑room responder whose experience inspired The Voice of Hind Rajab – describes being in the PRCS control room in Ramallah, speaking with Hind and her family as colleagues desperately tried to reach them by ambulance. Qawas writes that Gaza’s children are not only surviving bombardment and displacement but enduring an overwhelming, cumulative psychological trauma that is destroying any sense of safety or future, amounting to a full‑scale mental health crisis for an entire generation.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-02-15/gaza-remains-crisis-of-childrens-mental-health

Mental health of children in Gaza: A call for global action
Source: ScienceDirect
Date: 29 January
This article examines the severe psychological impact of the war in Gaza on children, focusing on the effects of continuous traumatic stress, mass bereavement and large-scale displacement. It argues that the destruction of homes, schools and healthcare infrastructure has compounded the mental health crisis by removing many of the social supports that normally help children cope with trauma. The authors call for urgent international action to expand mental health and psychosocial services for children in Gaza and to prioritise long-term recovery and protection.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S3050713826000069

Trauma and mental health burden of Gaza’s displaced children during war: A cross-sectional study
Source: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
Date: 27 January
This research study reports extremely high levels of trauma exposure and psychosocial difficulties among displaced children in Gaza. The authors conclude that the war is likely to produce long-term and intergenerational mental health consequences and call for large-scale psychosocial interventions.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13034-026-01024-5

The Gaza we want: Children’s voices on life, recovery and the future of the Gaza Strip
Source: UNICEF / UNISPAL
Date: 24 February
This report presents testimonies and surveys from children in Gaza describing the psychological effects of war, displacement and loss on their daily lives. It highlights widespread anxiety, grief and uncertainty among children while calling for sustained mental health and psychosocial support as part of recovery planning.
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/unicef-report-the-gaza-we-want-childrens-voices-on-life-recovery-and-the-future-of-the-gaza-strip-24feb26/

Francesca Albanese on being sanctioned by the United States
“… its a judgement without appeal that skips the trial”
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/E0JCNSTUN8c

FEATURED EVENTS

Decolonial Mental Health Practice
Clinical and ethical Insights from Palestine
A four-part webinar with Dr. Samah Jabr (two modules remaining)
Source: Science and Nonduality
How do we offer genuine healing when trauma isn’t in the past, but an ongoing reality?
In times of ongoing structural violence and protracted conflict, how do standard mental health frameworks hold up? Often, traditional models of “neutrality” and “post-traumatic” care fail to capture the reality of distress that is a daily, lived experience.
SAND are honoured to announce a crucial interactive workshop developed by Dr. Samah Jabr, based on her extensive frontline psychiatric practice in Palestine. This four-part training challenges us to move beyond mainstream psychology and explore decolonial frameworks, Liberation Psychology in action, and the vital human rights dimensions of clinical practice. This is essential learning for anyone seeking ethical pathways to healing in highly politicised environments.
Sunday 15 March, 4:00pm–6:00pm (UK)
Module IV: Mental Health, Human Rights, and Professional Responsibility
Sunday 22 March, 4:00pm–6:00pm (UK)
https://scienceandnonduality.com/event/decolonial-mental-health-practice/

Scottish Palestinian Health Partnership Conference
Speaking up against injustice: Addressing Intimidation of UK Health Workers Supporting Palestine
Date: Saturday 21 March from 1 pm to 4:30 pm
Location: University of Glasgow, James McCune Smith Learning Hub, University Avenue, Room 641, Glasgow G12 8QW
In parts of the UK, health care workers speaking up for the basic human rights of Palestinians have been subjected to threats, intimidation and formal disciplinary action. Join us as we hear from prominent clinicians and a legal expert on the right to express Palestinian solidarity.
Invited Speakers:
Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon
Dr Ang Swee Chai, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Co-founder MAP
Dr Tamara Ali, Glasgow Trainee GP
Mr Franck Magennis, UK Barrister
Dr James Smith, ER medic and Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies
The conference is free to attend but booking is required.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/speaking-up-against-injustice-tickets-1982770430733

Health under siege
Date: 22 March at 5pm (UK)
Source: USA-Palestine Mental Health Network and Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council
This webinar organised by the Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council will examine the impact of the war in Gaza on health systems and civilian wellbeing, focusing on the destruction of healthcare infrastructure and the wider public health consequences of the siege. The speaker, Dr Zeena Salman, is a Palestinian-American psychologist and mental health advocate whose work focuses on trauma, community mental health and the psychological effects of war and displacement in Palestinian communities.
https://mailchi.mp/130505c71b7a/jvp-hac-webinar-health-under-siege-march-22-2026?e=f6d53898b3

Cafe Palestine 39: Introduction to a new music therapy programme for music teachers in Gaza
Saturday 18 April from 4-6pm (UK)
This Café Palestine session will focus on a new online music therapy support programme for music teachers in Gaza, addressing the urgent need for practical ways to support children experiencing severe trauma. The programme recognises that many musicians in Gaza are already working closely with traumatised children and seeks to provide them with simple, ethically grounded tools to strengthen this work.
The initiative has been developed by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, a leading Palestinian cultural institution, in collaboration with international partners.
Dr Lukas Pairon, Chair of the Centre for Social Action and Music-Making at the University of Ghent, will introduce the programme alongside music therapist Hala Hamdan, who is facilitating the weekly online sessions. The approach is deliberately modest and pragmatic, offering shared reflection and practical techniques for observation and stabilisation rather than formal therapist training or trauma treatment.
Zoom link to follow in the next mailing

NOTE THE NEW DATE
Besiege Your Siege with Madness:
Collective liberation and the psychoanalysis of world-making
Source: USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, BADIL, Eyewitness Palestine
Date: SUNDAY 19 APRIL from 4:30 – 6 pm (UK)
A special presentation and dialogue with Dr. Reem Abu Hweij who is a clinical psychologist and academic based in Jerusalem.
Amid genocide and protracted colonial trauma, what psychic processes enable a people not only to survive but to imagine anew? Drawing from her essay “Besiege Your Siege with Madness” (forthcoming in Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society), Dr. Reem Abu Hweij deftly examines the Palestinian collective psyche as a site of world-making and spiritual revolt. She introduces the concept of liberation madness—a psycho-spiritual rupture through which the oppressed transcend the coloniser’s “Dominant Reason” and reclaim meaning, love, and collective purpose.
https://mailchi.mp/41bfc486574d/besiege-your-siege-with-madness-mar-6-52392?e=f02f8a3048

POSTPONED
The UKPALMHN Mental Health Study Tour has been postponed until the Autumn
Due to the US and Israel’s ongoing, illegal military attack on Iran, we have decided to postpone the Spring Study tour until the autumn. The tour will now be from:
Monday 26 October to Wednesday 4 November
We know that our tours to meet and learn from our Palestinian colleagues are appreciated by them and this strengthens our commitment to continue with the tour at a later date.
Please contact us now at ukpalmhn@gmail.com for an application form to be completed prior to an online meeting.

FEATURED ACTIONS

Israeli Apartheid Week
Source: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement
Date: Saturday 21 March – Saturday 28 March (and beyond)
Web: https://bdsmovement.net/iaw
Share your events and actions online! #IsraeliApartheidWeek
Please share your activism with the wider movement. Take photos and videos, write short reports, and share them all using the hashtags #IsraeliApartheidWeek, #DismantleApartheid, #GazaGenocide and #UnitedAgainstRacism. We’ll be sharing on social media on the accounts:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsraeliApartheidWeek.IAW
Twitter: https://twitter.com/apartheidweek
Instagram: https://instagram.com/israeli_apartheid_week

Framing Israeli Apartheid: Uses and Limitations for Palestine Advocacy – for Israeli Apartheid Week
Source: Makan
Date: Tuesday 24 March 2026, 6.30pm to 8.30pm (workshop)
Deadline for applications: Wednesday 18 March by 6pm
Activist training: speaking about Palestine in hostile environments
This online training session, organised during Israeli Apartheid Week, is aimed at activists who want to feel more confident speaking about Palestine in challenging or hostile settings. The session focuses on equipping participants with practical tools, arguments and strategies for responding to common narratives and objections. It is designed to help activists communicate more effectively and feel better prepared when engaging in public discussions, campaigning or advocacy work on Palestine.
https://www.makan.org.uk/event/framing-israeli-apartheid-uses-and-limitations-for-palestine-advocacy-online/

Report UK Lawyers for Israel Charitable Trust to the Charity Commission
Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Date: March 2026
In our last mailing it was reported that UK Lawyers for Israel had challenged both the British Museum and the Open University over use of the term “Palestine”. Furthermore, it was reported that both institutions had partially conceded to these demands. Palestine Solidarity Campaign has now launched a letter writing campaign to the Charity Commission voicing concerns that UK Lawyers for Israel Limited (UKFLI) is using its charitable trust as a cover for activities by its non-charitable wing to promote discriminatory and racist positions towards Palestinians. It is understood that the Charity Commission has already opened a compliance case looking into this relationship and the letter urges the Charity Commission to include evidence from the recent incidents at the British Museum and the Open University in the investigation.
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/uklfi-charity-commission
Other news:
UK charity regulator found ‘mismanagement’ by Campaign Against Antisemitism
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-uk-charity-regulator-found-mismanagement-campaign-against-antisemitism

Psychoanalysis of Conscience: A call to resign
Source: The Collective of Palestine Mental Health Networks
Date: February 2026
The Palestine Mental Health Networks (PMHN) is a collective of mental health professionals, including many psychoanalysts from twenty-three nations, brought together by a commitment to psychoanalytic principles and to the fundamental dignity of all human beings.
PMHN are calling on psychoanalysts to resign from the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) in response to its complicity with the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The full text of the statement is in the link below.
It is not necessary to be an IPA member to sign this letter. This call is open to all psychoanalysts and mental health professionals, whether holding an IPA membership, having already resigned, belonging to other psychoanalytic societies, or working outside institutional psychoanalysis entirely.
https://www.pmhn-international.org/psychoanalysis-of-conscience-a-call-to-resign

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS)

A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).”

“Complicity has consequences”
A brief introductory video about the new Vote Palestine 2026 initiative.
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DVGpiVOCCYI/

Recording of the Vote Palestine 2026 launch event on 24 February
https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/m932en-UJ63dlJWGq-g3naHn_hEktwk7wtiUTCthN2-16HR4t–SUiBsp2OUsnOt.bqcXzbqWYsA3SRlx?startTime=1771963034000
Please write to ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like the password for this restricted access video.

“So, what exactly does Palestine even have to do with Lambeth? Quite a lot actually …”
Source: Lambeth Votes Palestine
Date: 6 March
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DViY9SsCLFE/

New tools aim to stop tourism industry’s complicity with genocide
Source: The Canary
Date: 27 February
Two new digital tools have been launched to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement’s “No Room for Genocide” campaign, which seeks to challenge the tourism industry’s links to Israeli settlements and alleged war crimes. The initiative includes a website inviting hospitality businesses to pledge that their venues will not host individuals implicated in war crimes and an online petition urging tourists to avoid platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb that list properties in illegal settlements. The campaign calls on civil society and businesses to pressure governments and travel companies to end forms of complicity with Israel’s actions against Palestinians.
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2026/02/27/israel-tourism-partners-no-room-for-genocide/

UKPALMHN Solidarity Spaces
Every Monday during February and March at 1pm (UK time)
This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news.
Please write to ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like to attend this meeting.

Universal Ethical Framework for Mental Health Practitioners
Source: Psychoanalytic Voice for Palestine (PVP)
Date: 24 February
This document proposes a shared ethical framework addressing silencing, structural determinants of mental health, and the responsibilities of mental health practitioners in a changing world. It aims to support ethical clarity, protected dialogue, and global professional solidarity across differing perspectives and contexts.
It is offered as a living document and we warmly invite thoughtful comments and reflections. Follow the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page to post a comment. Contributions will be monitored, and responses provided to support constructive discussion.

Universal Ethical Framework for Mental Health Practitioners

Letter to the Prime Minister regarding Israel’s death penalty legislation
The UK-Palestine Mental Health Network, along with 12 other UK healthcare organisations, sent a letter to the Prime Minister on 12 February urging action.
“We are writing to you urgently to raise our concerns about Israel’s Penal Law (Amendment No. 159—Death Penalty for Terrorists) 2025, which is currently being fast-tracked by the Netanyahu government. As healthcare professionals dedicated to the preservation of life and medical ethics, we oppose the death penalty in all circumstances. We are particularly alarmed that this legislation is designed as a discriminatory tool to further the systemic targeting of Palestinians, which could include our colleagues in the healthcare field. […]”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18CxorJkRn85Zs5gL2oBNUtVT0RmrIMJwcU3huVKnyQU/edit?tab=t.0
The Palestine-Global Mental Health Network has also issued an Urgent International Statement and Call to Action to “Stop the state-sponsored execution of Palestinian prisoners” with actions mainly directed towards U.S. political institutions.

https://www.pgmhn.org/statements

Palestinian scholarships at Goldsmiths University
2 Undergraduate and 3 Postgraduate
Applications for scholarships close on Tuesday 31 March 2026
Please note: You must first apply for a place at Goldsmiths and receive an offer of study by Tuesday 31 March 2026 to be considered for a Scholarship.
Successful applicants will receive a full tuition fee waiver and a living allowance of £20,500 per year during their studies. We will also cover the cost of the student visa and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), and a return trip to and from the UK.
https://www.gold.ac.uk/fees-funding/scholarships/palestinian-scholarship/

Result of International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) Special General Meeting
Source: Social Workers for a Free Palestine
Date: 24 February
On 18 February, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) held a Special General Meeting to vote on motions to suspend or expel the Israel Union of Social Workers (IUSW), with a 75% majority required for either measure to pass. Although a majority of voting member associations supported suspension, the required threshold was not reached and the IUSW remains a full member of the IFSW.
If you’re a social worker or social care worker and would like to become actively involved, or be added to our contacts list, email sw4palestineuk@ukpalmhnadminLink to the full statement from Social Workers for a Free Palestine:

Social Workers for a Free Palestine

It’s Bisan from Gaza, and we triggered TikTok by telling the truth
“We’re not free. We’re just acting based on their community standards and rules.”
After being temporarily banned on TikTok following the app’s transition to majority U.S. ownership, Bisan Owda reflects in a rare sit-down interview on skewed algorithms, the silencing of Palestinian content, and the future of social media.
THIS INTERVIEW WAS AVAILABLE A FEW DAYS AGO ON YOUTUBE BUT HAS NOW DISAPPEARED WITHOUT EXPLANATION
https://youtu.be/EYgz8zCCDDg

FEATURED EVENTS

Decolonial Mental Health Practice
Clinical and ethical Insights from Palestine
A four-part webinar with Dr. Samah Jabr
Source: Science and Nonduality
How do we offer genuine healing when trauma isn’t in the past, but an ongoing reality?
In times of ongoing structural violence and protracted conflict, how do standard mental health frameworks hold up? Often, traditional models of “neutrality” and “post-traumatic” care fail to capture the reality of distress that is a daily, lived experience.
SAND are honoured to announce a crucial interactive workshop developed by Dr. Samah Jabr, based on her extensive frontline psychiatric practice in Palestine. This four-part training challenges us to move beyond mainstream psychology and explore decolonial frameworks, Liberation Psychology in action, and the vital human rights dimensions of clinical practice. This is essential learning for anyone seeking ethical pathways to healing in highly politicized environments.

Module I : Rethinking Mainstream Psychology
Sunday 1 March, 5:00pm–7:00pm (UK)

Module II: Liberation Psychology in Practice
Sunday 8 March, 4:00pm–6:00pm (UK) (US daylight saving time change)

Module III: Trauma-informed Care in Contexts of Ongoing Political Violence
Sunday 15 March, 4:00pm–6:00pm (UK)

Module IV: Mental Health, Human Rights, and Professional Responsibility
Sunday 22 March, 4:00pm–6:00pm (UK)

https://scienceandnonduality.com/event/decolonial-mental-health-practice/

Besiege Your Siege with Madness
Collective liberation and the psychoanalysis of world-making
Source: USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, BADIL, Eyewitness Palestine
Date: Sunday 15 March from 4:30 – 6 pm (UK)
A special presentation and dialogue with Dr. Reem Abu Hweij, a clinical psychologist and academic based in Jerusalem.
Amid genocide and protracted colonial trauma, what psychic processes enable a people not only to survive but to imagine anew? Drawing from her essay “Besiege Your Siege with Madness” (forthcoming in Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society), Dr. Reem Abu Hweij deftly examines the Palestinian collective psyche as a site of world-making and spiritual revolt. She introduces the concept of liberation madness—a psycho-spiritual rupture through which the oppressed transcend the coloniser’s “Dominant Reason” and reclaim meaning, love, and collective purpose.
https://mailchi.mp/aa973cc5af03/besiege-your-siege-with-madness-jan-20-2026

Scottish Palestinian Health Partnership Conference
Speaking up against injustice: Addressing Intimidation of UK Health Workers Supporting Palestine
Date: Saturday 21 March from 1 pm to 4:30 pm
Location: University of Glasgow, James McCune Smith Learning Hub, University Avenue, Room 641, Glasgow G12 8QW
In parts of the UK, health care workers speaking up for the basic human rights of Palestinians have been subjected to threats, intimidation and formal disciplinary action. Join us as we hear from prominent clinicians and a legal expert on the right to express Palestinian solidarity.
Invited Speakers:
Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon
Dr Ang Swee Chai, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Co-founder MAP
Dr Tamara Ali, Glasgow Trainee GP
Mr Franck Magennis, UK Barrister
Dr James Smith, ER medic and Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies
The conference is free to attend but booking is required.

UK-Palestine Mental Health Network study tour to Palestine/Israel
Tuesday 28 April – Thursday 7 May 2026This spring we are offering a 10-day study tour for practitioners from the fields of mental health and social work who are keen to explore the complex interface between politics and psychological well-being in the particular circumstances of Palestine/Israel.
The tour provides excellent access to clinicians, academics, community groups and political analysts with 25 encounters plus additional cultural opportunities scheduled. It will be facilitated by a small UK company established in 1999 that has provided alternative tours to the area.
[…]
Send your request for an application form to: ukpalmhn@gmail.com. Include your name, address, contact information, and professional qualifications.
Full details:

Spring Tour 2026

FEATURED ACTIONS

Erasing “Palestine”: pressure on cultural and academic institutions
A number of commentators and campaigners have raised concerns that UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has written to cultural and academic institutions challenging their use of the term “Palestine,” particularly in historical contexts. In recent weeks, both the British Museum and The Open University (OU) have been cited as institutions that have altered or qualified their use of the term following correspondence from UKLFI. Critics have described this pattern as part of a broader attempt to “erase Palestine” from public history and academic discourse, while the institutions concerned have framed their actions in different terms.
The British Museum
In February, reports emerged that the British Museum had removed the word “Palestine” from several displays in its Ancient Middle East galleries, reportedly after correspondence from UK Lawyers for Israel. A Change.org petition titled Erasing a Word Erases a People: Reinstate Palestine in the British Museum argues that describing the term as “anachronistic” is not supported by historical scholarship and contributes to the erasure of Palestinian presence from public memory. The petition calls for the reinstatement of the term and has prompted wider public debate and media commentary.
Online action:

https://www.change.org/p/erasing-a-word-erases-a-people-reinstate-palestine-in-the-british-museum

The Open University
Separate concerns have been raised regarding The Open University’s reported commitments to UK Lawyers for Israel in relation to the use of the term “ancient Palestine” in learning materials. According to a 20 December 2025 statement published by UKLFI, the OU agreed not to use the term in future materials and to contextualise existing references as “contested,” a move critics argue amounts to a politically motivated restriction on academic language. An open letter to the Vice-Chancellor, supported by members of staff and others, calls for clarification and retraction of these commitments and frames the issue as one of academic freedom and resistance to the erasure of Palestine from historical study.
Open letter to OP Vice Chancellor:
https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vQkTPnYNKc-kpm9lLTzdw-TAcRm75o57VGziPimNEeNmGOoxH_mwixhcGvDwwMQbUmuzbfoEpnszGmT/pub

Background reporting and commentary:
British Museum’s move to erase Palestine from exhibit labels is shameful by Victoria Brittain
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/british-museums-erasure-palestine-shameful

British Museum removes the word ‘Palestine’ from displays following pressure by pro-Israel lawyers

Israel is trying to rewrite history – and British institutions risk helping them do it

Psychoanalysis of Conscience: A call to resign
Source: The Collective of Palestine Mental Health Networks
Date: February 2026
The Palestine Mental Health Networks (PMHN) is a collective of mental health professionals, including many psychoanalysts from twenty-three nations, brought together by a commitment to psychoanalytic principles and to the fundamental dignity of all human beings.
PMHN are calling on psychoanalysts to resign from the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) in response to its complicity with the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The full text of the statement is in the link below.
It is not necessary to be an IPA member to sign this letter. This call is open to all psychoanalysts and mental health professionals, whether holding an IPA membership, having already resigned, belonging to other psychoanalytic societies, or working outside institutional psychoanalysis entirely.
https://www.pmhn-international.org/psychoanalysis-of-conscience-a-call-to-resign

Write to the Foreign Secretary: Oppose Israel’s annexation of West Bank
Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Date: February 2026
Over the weekend, the Israeli government approved a proposal submitted by far-right ministers to reinstate the deeply problematic land registration process in the illegally occupied West Bank. This latest measure by the Israeli government will be used to further dispossess Palestinians of their land, enable the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, and entrench Israel’s illegal occupation. Large swathes of Palestinian land will be at risk of being registered as Israeli state property if Palestinians cannot prove ownership, which is extremely difficult to do. This is a dangerous step further cementing Israel’s de-facto annexation of land across the West Bank.
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/WestBanklandregistration

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS)

A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).”

Vote Palestine 2026
Together let’s make Palestine non-negotiable this local election
Source: Vote Palestine 2026
Date: run up to UK local elections on Thursday 7 May
Vote Palestine 2026 is a national grassroots campaign centring Palestine and rejecting genocide in the 2026 local elections.
It is campaigning for local councillor candidates to sign the Candidate Pledge for Palestine and to stand against genocide and ethnic cleansing. This is supported by the People’s Pledge for Palestine through which voters commit to only consider candidates who have taken the Candidate Pledge. This shows candidates – clearly and publicly – that voters are paying attention and will not support those who enable or excuse the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Local groups are launching in 12 London boroughs and also in Greater Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and Sheffield.The Vote Palestine 2026 contains extensive information for activists who wish to launch a group in their own local authority.
https://www.votepalestine.co.uk/

Lambeth leads the way in launching the Vote Palestine pledge

Lambeth leads the way in launching the Vote Palestine pledge

Help to secure big divestment milestone in London
Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Date: February 2026
Please note, this e-action is for people in London. If you enter a postcode from outside London, you will instead be able to sign an e-action asking your local councillors to sign PSC’s pledge for Palestine.
This is a vital moment for divestment campaigning in London. London CIV, the body which manages councils’ pension fund investments, is setting up a new responsible investment system. This could be a big step forward. However, its current proposals fall short.
Write to your councillors to ask them to sign an open letter calling on London CIV to provide councils with an investment option that excludes all companies identified by human rights orgs as complicit in Israel’s grave violations of international law, and to take steps to divest from such companies across its whole portfolio.
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/londondivestment

UKPALMHN Solidarity Spaces Every Monday during February at 1pm (UK time) This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like to a link to this meeting. Israel’s genocide wiped out over 2,700 families in GazaSource:  Al Jazeera Date: 26 January https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/1/26/israels-genocide-wiped-out-over-2700-families-in-gaza  Child Psychotherapists’ Group – Update February 2026 We continue to meet online every month. Members are still involved in working with a clinical team in the West Bank and with a group offering support and consultation to the Mothers of Hind school in Gaza. https://mothersofhind.org/ Three of us submitted proposals for papers to be presented at the conference of the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) in June on children without a home or those who have no surviving parents from the genocide. One has been rejected, one is being considered. We have not heard about the third. We plan to leaflet the conference. We are planning a campaign to coincide with Palestinian Children’s Day on 5 April. We will have a planning meeting in the next couple of weeks. Teresa will submit something about child abductees in Israeli prisons to the ACP online magazine. Child Psychotherapists for Palestine contact details: Email: write to: ukpalmhn@gmail.com and we will forward your message to the group Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palestineukchildpsychotherapy/ Web: https://ukpalmhn.com/child-psychotherapists-for-palestine/  The world spoke for South Africa’s children – it must do the same for Gaza’s Source: Middle East Eye Date: 6 February This opinion piece argues that the international community once mobilised moral, legal and political pressure to protect black children under apartheid in South Africa, and that a comparable response is urgently required for Palestinian children in Gaza. It emphasises that Gaza’s children are facing systematic killing, injury, starvation and trauma, and contends that global silence and inaction amount to complicity in the destruction of an entire generation. https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/world-spoke-south-africas-children-it-must-do-same-gazas  The Violence of Liberal Racism: What Palestine reveals about British mental health care Source: Healing Justice LDN Date: 9 February The report examines what the genocide in Palestine has revealed about the racial politics of British mental healthcare by exploring the experiences of 30 mental health practitioners and students who have been managed, silenced, or disciplined for Palestine solidarity. The report situates this repression within broader processes of racialisation shaped by Zionism and Islamophobia, as well as the global War on Terror. It further argues that spaces are not safe or anti-racist simply by claim or intent. Rather, racial formations must be critically theorised and confronted. For healing spaces to become genuinely anti-racist—particularly in relation to Palestine—they must meaningfully confront counter-terrorism and Zionism. The full report can be accessed here: https://healingjusticeldn.org/methodology/the-violence-of-liberal-racism-what-palestine-reveals-about-british-mental-health-care/ A short video overview of the report is available here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUiVJMXCjdU/  Interview with Dr Samah Jabr on mental health under occupation Source: TRT World Now Date: 11 January In this interview, Palestinian psychiatrist Dr Sama Jabr describes how Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem continue to provide care and sustain a sense of responsibility and agency despite mass trauma, deprivation and ongoing bombardment. She argues that the Palestinian experience cannot be understood through conventional PTSD models, but instead reflects a continuous, deliberate and intergenerational “colonial trauma” in which people resist imposed helplessness even as children suffer profound developmental and psychological harm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Qle6Kk_i8  Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital director reports alleged Israeli abuses against Gaza victims’ bodies Source: Middle East Monitor Date: 6 February The director of al-Shifa Medical Complex, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, says that bodies returned to Gaza by Israel show signs of deliberate tampering, including amputated limbs, surgical incisions and missing organs. He told Al Araby Television Network that some remains were returned as unidentified body parts or bones without documentation, raising serious concerns about possible organ theft. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260206-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-director-reports-alleged-israeli-abuses-against-gaza-victims-bodies/  MPs condemn Government failure to apply Genocide Convention to Israel Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign (3 minute video) Date: 5 February (date of the debate) On Thursday 5 February 2026 MPs from all parties condemned the government’s refusal to adhere to the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestine, in a debate led by Brendan O’Hara M.P.  The video shows key clips of pro-Palestinian MPs speaking during the debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UFBMesiYt4  Stand By The Mother inaugural lecture – video now available Finding the Creatura, a lecture by Dr John Beebe is the inaugural lecture in the Stand By The Mother series took place on 1 February. If you didn’t get to see the lecture then there is now a chance to watch the recording. Fill in the form, make a donation to one of the Gaza Gofundme sites, and a link for the recording will be sent to you. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXVKE60HuX9KuEs0phck-_ejiGeA2_PVhYHfKfucKbZJBHqw/viewform  A world famous football manager speaks up about the “genocide in Palestine” – in a pre-match press conference! Source: Middle East Eye (2 minute video clip of the interview) Date: 4 February Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, speaking at a pre‑match press conference before the Carabao Cup semi‑final second leg against Newcastle United on 4 February 2026, describes what is happening in Gaza as “genocide” and links it to wider global injustices in Sudan and Ukraine. In this clip he urges that “when there is injustice, you have to talk”, stressing that images of “thousands and thousands of innocent people being killed mean it is a responsibility for all human beings, not just politicians or footballers”. https://youtu.be/ML12NxAsqGY?si=6ltWRGmmhTIJ9C7Q  FEATURED EVENTS Bearing Witness in the Academy: Silence, Emotional Labour, and the Cost of Neutrality Source: Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine (PVP) Date:  Saturday 14 February from 10.30am – 12.30pm The speaker, Aneeza Pervez, is a Research Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. Her recent research examines how institutions respond to political violence and genocide, and how silence and emotional labour shape the moral life of universities.Link to the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84435183882?pwd=kGtSYUgraPclnniDrhQXbv5CEnC18o.1 Aneeza also spoke at the recent PVP conference “Living Through the Unimaginable” leading to an interesting and engaged plenary discussion. A summary of her talk, slides and a recent open access paper she has written are available in the afternoon session of the full conference report: https://ukpalmhn.com/pvp/pvp-conference-living-through-the-unimaginable/ (scroll down to find the report and then scroll down the report to find the relevant section) Faith in a Time of Genocide: A moment of truth for the worldwide church Source: United Methodist Kairos Response and Methodist Federation for Social Action Date: Wednesday 18 February at 6pm (UK time) This online webinar centres on the launch and implications of Kairos Palestine II: A Moment of Truth – Faith in a Time of Genocide, a major new manifesto by Palestinian Christians calling for “costly solidarity” in the face of genocide, apartheid and settler colonialism. Speakers include Rifat Kassis, General Coordinator of Kairos Palestine, and Rev. Munther Isaac — the well-known Palestinian pastor, theologian and Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College — alongside United Methodist leaders from several continents reflecting on the document’s challenge to churches worldwide. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/7ryqs-OFS7OGs7wDdtaG3w#/registration From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for revolutionary futures Source: The Relational School Date: Saturday 11 April from 4pm – 5:30pm This online event centres on a discussion of the book From the Clinic to the Streets by Lara Sheehi, examining how psychoanalytic thinking can be extended beyond clinical settings into political and collective struggles. The session features responses from clinicians and theorists including Foluke Taylor, Avgi Saketopoulou and Robert Downes, focusing on the implications of the book for therapeutic practice and social transformation. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/therelationalschool/2003398 UK-Palestine Mental Health Network study tour to Palestine/Israel Tuesday 28 April – Thursday 7 May 2026 This spring we are offering a 10-day study tour for practitioners from the fields of mental health and social work who are keen to explore the complex interface between politics and psychological well-being in the particular circumstances of Palestine/Israel. The tour provides excellent access to clinicians, academics, community groups and political analysts with 25 encounters plus additional cultural opportunities scheduled. It will be facilitated by a small UK company established in 1999 that has provided alternative tours to the area.[…] Send your request for an application form to: ukpalmhn@gmail.com. Include your name, address, contact information, and professional qualifications. Full details: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/spring-tour-2026/  FEATURED ACTIONS UK Doctors call for the resignation of the Chair and Chief Executive of the General Medical Council (GMC) (A petition for signature by medical doctors) Source: Healthworkers4Palestine Date: 7 February Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah explains that the General Medical Council is continuing to pursue him through the courts. https://www.instagram.com/p/DUYicypjKqI/?igsh=MW5ub3JtaWg3b28wbg%3D%3D Health Workers 4 Palestine announce a petition for medical doctors calling for the resignation of the Chair and Chief Executive of the GMC: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUbu6cniEaV/?img_index=1 Link to the petition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtT1MIfTowdnvu699apeULreIBFyD1aEsxsY-XfKg67Mj2jg/viewform Statement on Normalisation, Erasure, and Our Professional Obligations During Genocide Source: The Palestine-Global Mental Health Network and The International Collective of Palestine Mental Health Networks Date: February 2026 Mental Health professionals can endorse the Statement through the web link below We issue this joint statement concerning the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Henri Parens Symposium, scheduled for 7 March 2026. Our networks comprise mental health professionals, social workers, psychoanalysts, psychologists, researchers, and advocates committed to Palestinian liberation and the decolonization of mental health practice.We write to name what our institutions are doing, and failing to do, during the genocide on Gaza—a genocide that has not ended. What we document here is a pattern: active silence in the face of atrocity, and the staging of events that render Palestinian suffering invisible while claiming professional neutrality. The Henri Parens Symposium exemplifies this pattern. We name it as participation in erasure. Full statement: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11m0NBUgM1WQwpS7lIYwMVCAEguA211eRkDDFQzXenqg/edit?tab=t.0 Gaza Sumud Flotilla plans largest relief operation in history Source: The New Arab Date: 6 February The Sumud (steadfastness) Flotilla is planning what organisers describe as the largest maritime relief effort ever attempted for Gaza, bringing together international civilian vessels to challenge Israel’s blockade. It is Palestinian-led and framed not only as a humanitarian mission but as a political and symbolic act aimed at breaking the siege and confronting global inaction over conditions in Gaza.The initiative will officially launch on 29 March 2026, with a naval fleet and a land-based humanitarian convoy operating simultaneously. https://www.newarab.com/news/gaza-sumud-flotilla-plans-largest-relief-operation-history The Sumud Flotilla website outlines a number of ways in which you can support the initiative: https://globalsumudflotilla.org/  BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS) A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).” Councillor Pledge for Palestine In the run up to local elections in May 2026, Palestine Solidarity Campaign has launched an important new initiative asking local councillors to sign a Pledge for Palestine committing to:- Uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people- Stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid- Ensure their council isn’t complicit, including through divesting pension funds from complicit companies.On the action page, enter your postcode and you will see the names of your local councillors and a template letter (that you can alter if you wish) that will be sent to them automatically. Asking sitting councillors to sign the Pledge for Palestine will help to identify target seats in which councillors who do not support divestment could be replaced with those who do. Further information and the action page are available here: https://mailchi.mp/palestinecampaign/nov2025lobby-4931105?e=27bd721334

https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demonstration-for-palestine-31st-january/ The UK-Palestine Mental Health Network banner will be at the march. All are welcome to join us. We will meet at 12:00 noon at: Bloomsbury Square Gardens, London WC1A 2PJThis is the same location where we have assembled for previous marches from Russell Square. UKPALMHN Solidarity Spaces Every Monday during February at 1pm (UK time) This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. L’enfer des prisons israéliennes/The hell of Israeli prisons Arte, a French/German state-funded public broadcast service, has produced an astonishing and horrific 30-minute documentary. The documentary is in French but you can watch it on YouTube with English sub-titles in this way: Click on the icon to enable captions/sub-titles (these will by default be in French) Click on the Settings icon (a cog wheel), click on Auto-translate and then choose English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHizfeozVws  Living Hell: The Israeli prison system as a network of torture camps Source: B’Tselem Date: January 2026 The Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem’s Living Hell report documents how Israeli prisons and detention facilities have been transformed into a systemic network of torture camps where thousands of Palestinians endure institutionalised abuse, including physical violence, starvation, sexual violence, and denial of medical care. The report highlights testimonies from released detainees, notes hundreds of deaths in custody, and frames the abuses as deliberate policies embedded in the prison system’s operation. https://www.btselem.org/publications/202601_living_hell  To move through Gaza is to perceive extremely high levels of suffering, both individual and collective Source: Altreconomia Date: 22 January The article is in Italian but most browsers provide a translate facility so that it can be read in EnglishIn this eyewitness reportage from Gaza, clinical psychologist Guido Veronese describes pervasive destruction and extreme individual and collective suffering observed during field work with emergency medical teams coordinated by the World Health Organization, where constant bombardment and environmental degradation make daily life resemble an “infernal circle.” The piece emphasises the intense psychological and physical strain on both local residents and humanitarian workers as they navigate devastated urban landscapes and chronic insecurity. https://altreconomia.it/girare-per-gaza-significa-percepire-dei-livelli-altissimi-di-sofferenza-individuale-e-collettiva/  Psychiatrist reveals devastating trauma of Gaza’s children amid Israeli genocide Source: Palestine Will Be Free Date: 22 January Dr Nawal Asqoul, a psychiatrist working with children in Gaza, reports that the trauma observed among young survivors of the ongoing Israeli offensive surpasses anything seen in her professional experience, manifesting in severe psychological and physical symptoms including suicidal ideation and regression. She details the profound effects of relentless bombardment, massive loss of family members, and ongoing deprivation, emphasising that the siege and brutality sustain the children’s trauma with no relief in sight. https://palestinewillbefree.substack.com/p/psychiatrist-reveals-devastating-trauma-gazas-children-israeli-genocide  Statement by mental health practitioners on the hunger strike undertaken by members of Palestine Action January 2026 We write as Mental Health Practitioners to protest the callous, punitive and unlawful treatment by the UK government of the Palestine Action hunger strikers, many of whom face being remanded in custody for over eighteen months before being brought to trial. We also challenge the politically motivated media silence regarding their action […]Full text and list of signatory organisations: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/ukpalmhn-statement-on-hunger-strikers-jan-2026/ Since we issued the statement, the hunger strikers have ended this action and have commenced the arduous and dangerous process of re-feeding. They all continue, however, to be remanded in custody. We have sought advice from their support group about whether a further statement from our coalition would be helpful at this time.  Settlers chase a vehicle transporting children from their school in a Bedouin community near Jericho Source: Eye on Palestine Date: 25 January https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT8oOpMDSp4/ A second Instagram posting provides further details about the same chase: “Settlers attacked a school bus full of children on their way home. The bus driver reported:‘On our way home from school, three settlers suddenly blocked our path and told me to wait, that they wanted to talk. I reversed the truck as they advanced, and when I turned the car around, they violently struck me through the window, hitting my nose and smashing the rear window. They then chased me for two kilometers. After we escaped into the Arab areas, I regained consciousness and was taken to the hospital.’” https://www.instagram.com/reels/DT8GEsJjHCi/  FEATURED EVENTS Settler colonialism and the long shadow of genocide in Palestine Date: Saturday 31 January at 18:00 – 21:00 (after the National March for Palestine) Location: Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL This is an in-person event.This panel discussion features Dr Emile Badarin, Samer Jaber and Dr Nehad Khanfar. Dr Emile Badarin will speak on the long shadow of settler colonialism in Palestine. He will discuss his book, “Recognition Politics in Settler Colonial States: Normalizing disposession and elimination in Palestine”, and explain the role settler colonialism and recognition politics have played in the genocide of the Palestinian people. We will further the discussion with Palestinian researcher Samer Jaber and Dr Nehad Khanfar, Chairman of APCUK. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/decolonialpraxis/2043240 Finding the Creatura – a lecture by Dr John Beebe Source: Stand By The Mother series Date: Sunday 1 February This online fundraising lecture is part of the Stand By The Mother series, which brings depth-psychological perspectives to questions of care, suffering and human dignity in the context of Palestine. Led by Dr John Beebe, the talk draws on Jungian psychology to explore the concept of the Creatura and what it may offer practitioners and participants seeking meaning, ethical orientation and psychological grounding in times of collective trauma. Hosted by Heba Zaphiriou-Zarifi, the event is intended for clinicians, therapists and others interested in depth psychology, while also raising funds in support of Palestinian mothers. Register here: https://forms.gle/ovt14gUKU6Uwbrxw6 A Zoom link will be sent three days before the talk For further information, write to: standbymother@gmail.com If I Must Die”: How the story of liberating Palestine continues through us Source: Science and Nonduality (SAND) Date: Tuesday 10 February at 5pm – 6:30pm (UK time) This online community gathering features a conversation between Palestinian psychiatrist Dr Samah Jabr and Dr Mays Imad exploring healing, justice and the impact of prolonged political violence on lived experience, with an emphasis on reframing trauma beyond conventional Western psychiatric models. The event situates collective endurance and memory as central to both personal and political liberation, inviting participants to engage deeply with the ethical dimensions of remaining human amid sustained structural harm. https://scienceandnonduality.com/event/if-i-must-die/ Bearing Witness in the Academy: Silence, emotional labour, and the cost of neutrality Source: Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine (PVP) Date:  Saturday 14 February from 10.30am – 12.30pm The speaker, Aneeza Pervez, is a Research Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. Her recent research examines how institutions respond to political violence and genocide, and how silence and emotional labour shape the moral life of universities.Link to the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84435183882?pwd=kGtSYUgraPclnniDrhQXbv5CEnC18o.1 Aneeza also spoke at the recent PVP conference “Living Through the Unimaginable” leading to an interesting and engaged plenary discussion. A summary of her talk, slides and a recent open access paper she has written are available in the afternoon session of the full conference report: https://ukpalmhn.com/pvp/pvp-conference-living-through-the-unimaginable/ (scroll down to find the report and then scroll down the report to find the relevant section) UK-Palestine Mental Health Network study tour to Palestine/Israel Tuesday 28 April – Thursday 7 May 2026 This spring we are offering a 10-day study tour for practitioners from the fields of mental health and social work who are keen to explore the complex interface between politics and psychological well-being in the particular circumstances of Palestine/Israel.The tour provides excellent access to clinicians, academics, community groups and political analysts with 25 encounters plus additional cultural opportunities scheduled. It will be facilitated by a small UK company established in 1999 that has provided alternative tours to the area.[…] Send your request for an application form to: ukpalmhn@gmail.com. Include your name, address, contact information, and professional qualifications. Full details: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/spring-tour-2026/ ICAHD extended study tours Source: ICAHD (formerly the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) Date: 11 May – 21 May 2026 ICAHD is advertising an “Extended Study Tour” to Palestine/Israel offering an opportunity to learn about conditions on the ground through an organised visit that is:- Grounded in ICAHD analysis- Visit both the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel- A total of around 30 encounters- Daily debriefing sessions- Hotel accommodation in Bethlehem and NazarethThe page invites applications and directs readers to further details about the tour and how to join. https://icahd.org/extended-study-tours/  FEATURED ACTIONS Write to your MP ahead of Gaza debate on 5 February Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: January 2026 On Thursday 5 February, Parliament will debate Britain’s obligation to assess the risk of genocide in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Our allies in Parliament have worked hard to secure this rare debate, giving an opportunity for us to pressure MPs to demand the Government recognises the reality of genocide in the Gaza Strip. We need your support calling on MPs to attend this debate, speak out against Israel’s ongoing crimes, and finally bring an end to Britain’s complicity in genocide. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/genocidedebate Demand the British government takes action on Israel’s torture of Palestinian prisoners Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: January 2026 Write to the Foreign Secretary to demand the British government uses every possible lever, including by imposing immediate sanctions, to stop Israel’s systematic torture of Palestinian prisoners. More than 9,000 Palestinian political prisoners remain in Israeli detention, including 350 children. They face systematic torture, sexual violence and ill-treatment. On top of this, Palestinian human rights groups who have been advocating for the rights of those imprisoned are being attacked by Israel and the US, especially over submissions of evidence to the ICC.  https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/prisonersaction Stand against Israel’s ban on aid organisations Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) Date: January 2026 Medical Aid for Palestinians is campaigning against Israel’s decision to revoke the registration of 37 international humanitarian aid organisations operating in the occupied Palestinian territory, warning that such a ban will obstruct essential life-saving assistance to Palestinians enduring a severe humanitarian crisis. The campaign invites supporters to contact their UK Members of Parliament to urge government pressure on Israel to immediately reverse the ban, reinforcing that unrestricted humanitarian access is both a legal obligation under international law and a moral imperative. https://www.map.org.uk/how-to-help/campaigns/stand-against-israels-ban-on-aid-orgs/ Defend Free Speech: legal challenge against IHRA application in the NHS Source: CrowdJustice Date: January 2026 This CrowdJustice crowdfunding appeal supports a judicial review initiated by Right to Protest Ltd challenging the application of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism within NHS England, on the basis that it is being used to suppress legitimate political speech and professional critique. The action highlights concerns that the policy blurs the boundary between lawful criticism of state conduct — including discourse on Israel and Palestine — and prohibited conduct, potentially chilling free expression and undermining ethical medical practice. https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/defend-free-speech/ Related news: Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York, revokes the previous administration’s adoption of the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism. https://theintercept.com/2026/01/02/israel-zohran-mamdani-antisemitic-antisemitism/ Judicial review launched against NHS adoption of IHRA antisemitism definition https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2026/01/06/ihra-nhs-court/ Professor Avi Shlaim, a world renowned Israeli historian at Oxford University, talking about anti-Zionism and anti-semitism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCnKZg-bFz8  BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS) A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).” Green councillors confront Lambeth Council as Labour ‘guts’ Gaza divestment motion backed by 5,000 signatures Source: Brixton Buzz Date: 22 January“ Lambeth Council’s Full Council meeting descended into chaos last night following a protest outside the Town Hall, disruption from a packed public gallery, and a walk-out by Green councillors over Labour’s handling of a Gaza divestment motion backed by 5,000 petition signatures.” The Labour group allegedly used a number of procedural irregularities and wrecking amendments to avoid a full debate about the divestment motion. Green Party councillors eventually walked out of the meeting and will now write to the auditors raising concerns about governance at Lambeth Council. https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2026/01/streathams-martin-abrams-confronts-council-as-labour-guts-gaza-divestment-motion-backed-by-5000-signatures/ Related news: Who runs Lambeth? The council reject hearing petition of 5,000 local residents and workers calling for divestment from Israel https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2026/01/who-runs-lambeth-the-council-reject-hearing-petition-of-5000-local-residents-and-workers-calling-for-divestment-from-israel/ “Chaos” – Lambeth Greens issue statement about their dramatic council meeting walk out https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2026/01/chaos-lambeth-greens-issue-statement-about-their-dramatic-council-meeting-walk-out/ Councillor Pledge for Palestine In the run up to local elections in May 2026, Palestine Solidarity Campaign has launched an important new initiative asking local councillors to sign a Pledge for Palestine committing to:- Uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people- Stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid- Ensure their council isn’t complicit, including through divesting pension funds from complicit companies. On the action page, enter your postcode and you will see the names of your local councillors and a template letter (that you can alter if you wish) that will be sent to them automatically. Asking sitting councillors to sign the Pledge for Palestine will help to identify target seats in which councillors who do not support divestment could be replaced with those who do.Further information and the action page are available here: https://mailchi.mp/palestinecampaign/nov2025lobby-4931105?e=27bd721334

Palestinians in Gaza are literally left ALONE, FREEZING and STARVING in the winter storm. I keep asking how we became such monsters, incapable of stopping this nightmare. For them, for us, for whatever remains of the people in whose name this genocide is being committed. Francesca Albanese https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1998830824184066515 UKPALMHN Solidarity Spaces Every Monday during January at 1pm (UK time) This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. The full report of the PVP conference Living Through the Unimaginable: Witnessing and Responding to the Genocide in Gaza now available This one-day conference on 8 November 2025 brought together mental health professionals and Palestinian colleagues to examine the realities of ongoing genocide, the collapse of services in Gaza, and the ethical challenges facing practitioners. The report summarises key themes from each section of the event, including the impact of colonisation on mental health, the limits of therapeutic work under conditions of mass violence, the silencing occurring within UK institutions, and the collective responsibilities of our professions.Full report (plus section by section overview of the conference): https://ukpalmhn.com/pvp/pvp-conference-living-through-the-unimaginable/  Call for Palestinian voices at the Association of Child Psychotherapists Conference (ACP) Source: Palestine-UK Child Psychotherapists Date: December 2025 The ACP Conference in June 2026 is around looked after, fostered, adopted children. Palestine-UK Child Psychotherapists would like to have our Palestinian friends and colleagues involved in a presentation about what is happening to orphaned children in Palestine, because their parents have been murdered in the genocide or so badly injured and disabled that they are unable to care for their children. This leaves thousands of children without parents and possibly with no surviving family members.We would like to ask our Palestinian colleagues if they might have the time and be willing to write something that could be recorded and presented at the conference or read aloud by one of us on any aspect of the community’s involvement with the orphans or children abandoned through the loss of parents in the chaos of forced displacement. We would like to make the most of this opportunity to bring the voices of the children and clinicians of Palestine into this conference. Teresa Bailey, Consultant Child Psychotherapist and UKPMHN Steering Group member Please write to Teresa via ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you can help with this initiative.  Urgent call to social workers – ask your social work association to vote for expulsion of the Israeli Union of Social Workers from the IFSW Following the Social Workers for a Free Palestine (SW4FP) campaign for an IFSW Special General Meeting to consider the expulsion of the Israeli Union of Social Workers from the IFSW, it has now been agreed that this will take place on 18th February. SW4FP are now calling on social workers to ask their national associations to vote for expulsion of the Israeli Union given their continuing involvement in the genocide. Follow the link below for a model letter which you can email to your national association, and instructions on how to find their email address on the IFSW website https://forms.gle/FVzfy4uMtxQf1aTg9  Special issue: Psychotherapy and Politics International on PalestineSource: Psychotherapy and Politics International Date: December 2025 This special issue of Psychotherapy and Politics International brings together a substantial collection of peer-reviewed articles examining the psychological, political and ethical dimensions of Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. Contributors draw on decolonial theory, psychoanalysis and political psychology to explore how occupation, apartheid and ongoing violence shape subjectivity, gendered experience and mental health, while also questioning the role and responsibilities of psychology as a discipline under conditions of structural injustice. A central contribution is Samah Jabr and Maria Helbich’s article “Colonisation and Resistance,” which revisits Frantz Fanon to illuminate the psychological dimensions of occupation and resistance, setting the critical tone for the issue. Other articles reflect on the reaffirmation of humanity under extreme violence, the limits of conventional therapeutic frameworks, and what psychology might learn from Palestinian experiences of collective struggle, with several authors drawing comparative insights from Latin America and Brazil. Taken together, the issue challenges individualised and depoliticised approaches to mental health and calls for a more explicitly political, decolonial engagement with Palestine .https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/psychotherapy-politics-international/issue/view/70  Palestine, health and the limits of humanitarianism (1.5 hour webinar) Source: MedAct Date: The webinar took place on 11 November and the recording became available on 16 DecemberThe discussion frames health work in Gaza as inseparable from settler-colonial violence, arguing that clinical care becomes a form of resistance when care is deliberately denied and the health system is systematically targeted. A central theme is that mainstream humanitarianism and “neutral”, depoliticised professional norms can function as instruments of imperial power: they can normalise or “humanitarianise” mass violence, increase dependency, and erode Palestinian health sovereignty, including through donor-driven attempts to reshape or effectively “buy” ruined institutions. Speakers repeatedly emphasise that health outcomes depend on structural conditions (food, water, land, safety) and that Gaza exposes interconnected systems of warfare, surveillance, extractive capitalism and repression, including links to the UK context (austerity, policing, borders, and corporate incursions such as Palantir). The panel distinguishes mobilisation from organising, urging health workers to move beyond symbolic solidarity towards building collective power that can obstruct harmful policies, defend colleagues facing institutional reprisals, and pursue strategies grounded in unity of struggle rather than pity-driven “perfect victim” narratives. Finally, the discussion points to historical and contemporary models of politicised, community-rooted “liberation medicine” and internationalist practice (including Cuba and earlier Palestinian health organising), while warning about NGO-isation and academic “humanitarian” programmes that can depoliticise, professionalise, or hollow out resistance and clinical capacity. Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUJOrp8fJus Palestine, Health and the Limits of Humanitarianism – Speakers’ resource page https://www.medact.org/2025/blogs/palestine-health-and-the-limits-of-humanitarianism-resources/  Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners suffer severe crimes and extermination behind bars Source: Commission of Detainees’ Affairs & Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (briefing) Date: 25 December 2025 A new report by the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs (a Commission of the Palestine Authority) and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (a Palestinian civil society organisation) documents systematic and severe violations against Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli custody, describing widespread abuse, ill-treatment and policies amounting to physical and psychological extermination. The briefing highlights the extensive use of administrative detention without charge, brutal prison conditions and deliberate denial of medical care that have led to grave harm, while emphasising the authorities’ failure to provide transparency or accountability. The report calls for international recognition of these practices as part of broader patterns of violence and urges urgent measures to protect the rights and lives of Palestinian detainees. https://cda.gov.ps/index.php/en/51-slider-en/21602-palestinian-prisoners-report-dec-2025  Garbage is poisoning Gaza Source: Dropsite News Date: 16 December This report describes a growing environmental and public health crisis in Gaza as an estimated 900,000 tons of solid waste have accumulated across the enclave, largely because access to Gaza’s major landfill sites has been cut off and municipal waste-management infrastructure has been largely destroyed. Residents, including displaced families living near vast piles of rotting trash, are exposed to toxic fumes, infestations, contaminated water and increased risk of disease, while sanitation services struggle to function amid continuing barriers to equipment, fuel and access. (dropsitenews.com) https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/garbage-poisoning-gaza-landfills-inaccessible-waste-disease  Rebranding genocide Source: GroundXero Date: 15 December In this commentary, Chris Hedges argues that the ongoing destruction in Gaza is effectively a genocide that has been obscured or softened in public discourse through euphemistic language such as “ceasefire” or “peace plans.” The article contends that, despite temporary pauses in overt hostilities and stipulations in recent agreements, violations of international law continue and the fundamental conditions of suffering, displacement and structural violence in Gaza persist. https://www.groundxero.in/2025/12/15/rebranding-genocide/  On the monotony of the checkpoint Source: The Call Date: 15 December The piece describes how daily encounters with Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank slowly turn from acute fear into a numbing, routinised experience, showing how constant control over movement reshapes perception of time, safety and normality. It highlights the psychological effects of “social atomisation” and chronic uncertainty—people’s social worlds shrink, plans are cancelled, and even acts of minor resistance are squeezed into narrow windows defined by soldiers’ moods and shift changes, making occupation feel both banal and inescapable. https://thecall.ps/p/on-the-monotony-of-the-checkpoint  “Freedom” desalination plant in Gaza Source: Bisan Owda (wizard_bisan1 on Instagram) Date: 18 December What’s Ours Is Yours, a youth volunteer charity campaign, is launching the “Freedom” desalination plant, which will serve the northern areas of Gaza City and its camps. This achievement, accomplished during the genocide and without resources in such a short time, is truly “like digging into a rock”. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSaMORhCttc/  FEATURED EVENTS Finding the Creatura – a lecture by Dr John Beebe Source: Stand By The Mother series Date: Sunday 1 February This online fundraising lecture is part of the Stand By The Mother series, which brings depth-psychological perspectives to questions of care, suffering and human dignity in the context of Palestine. Led by Dr John Beebe, the talk draws on Jungian psychology to explore the concept of the Creatura and what it may offer practitioners and participants seeking meaning, ethical orientation and psychological grounding in times of collective trauma. Hosted by Heba Zaphiriou-Zarifi, the event is intended for clinicians, therapists and others interested in depth psychology, while also raising funds in support of Palestinian mothers.A link for the meeting will be provided in our next mailing. For further information, please write to: standbymother@gmail.com Bearing Witness in the Academy: Silence, Emotional Labour, and the Cost of Neutrality Source: Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine (PVP) Date:  Saturday 14 February from 10.30am – 12.30pm The speaker, Aneeza Pervez, is a Research Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. Her recent research examines how institutions respond to political violence and genocide, and how silence and emotional labour shape the moral life of universities. Link to the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84435183882?pwd=kGtSYUgraPclnniDrhQXbv5CEnC18o.1 Aneeza also spoke at the recent PVP conference “Living Through the Unimaginable” leading to an interesting and engaged plenary discussion. A summary of her talk, slides and a recent open access paper she has written are available in the afternoon session of the full conference report: https://ukpalmhn.com/pvp/pvp-conference-living-through-the-unimaginable/ (scroll down to find the report and then scroll down the report to find the relevant section)  FEATURED ACTIONS Councillor Pledge for Palestine In the run up to local elections in May 2026, Palestine Solidarity Campaign has launched an important new initiative asking local councillors to sign a Pledge for Palestine committing to:- Uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestine people- Stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid- Ensure their council isn’t complicit, including through divesting pension funds from complicit companies.On the action page, enter your postcode and you will see the names of your local councillors and a template letter (that you can alter if you wish) that will be sent to them automatically. Asking sitting councillors to sign the Pledge for Palestine will help to identify target seats in which councillors who do not support divestment could be replaced with those who do. Further information and the action page are available here: https://mailchi.mp/palestinecampaign/nov2025lobby-4931105?e=27bd721334 Stop FANUC: Together let’s end the Japanese company’s complicity in Israel’s genocide, apartheid and military occupation Source: Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement Date: December 2025 The BDS Movement has launched a new campaign against FANUC. FANUC has an office in the UK.FANUC is a Japanese-owned company which manufacturers robots used by Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems. FANUC robots are crucial in the manufacturing of 155mm shells, the ammunition most commonly used by Israel in its genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and its systematic destruction of Gaza. These weapons are also used by Israel in its aggression and massacres elsewhere. 155mm shells are one of the world’s most indiscriminate lethal weapons, exploding into two thousand pieces of shrapnel upon impact, able to kill or injure people in a 600 meter diameter. Israel has fired hundreds of thousands of these unguided shells into Gaza.Full information: https://bdsmovement.net/stop-fanuc Change.org petition: https://www.change.org/p/fanuc-stop-selling-robots-to-make-israeli-weapons-stopfanucnow  BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS) A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).” Write to your MP: Support Divestment from Israeli Apartheid Write to your MP to demand they support Amendment 2 to the Pensions Scheme Bill which would direct pension funds to end investments that contribute to grave violations of international law. PSC’s research has found that Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds, administered by local councils, invest £12.2billion+ in companies with proven involvement in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. Local divestment campaigns are active across Britain, and are achieving significant gains, with 23 local councils having passed a motion or issued a statement to support divestment. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/support-divestment Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

UKPALMHN Solidarity Spaces Monday 15 December and Monday 22 December at 1pm (UK time) This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to this meeting. “After two long years during which use of the word ‘ceasefire’ was enough to put you at risk of losing your livelihood or political career, after resolutions calling for a ceasefire were blocked repeatedly by the US at the UN Security Council, ‘ceasefire’ has become something we are expected to be grateful for, now that ‘ceasefire’ means continued genocide.” Selma Dabbagh, Rebranding Genocide Israel’s genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip continues unabated despite ceasefire Source: Amnesty International Date: 27 November Amnesty International states unequivocally that Israel continues to commit genocide in Gaza after the ceasefire, deliberately imposing conditions of life aimed at the physical destruction of the Palestinian population. The report highlights Israel’s ongoing obstruction of food, medical supplies, fuel, reconstruction materials, infrastructure repair and humanitarian access, which together sustain life-threatening deprivation across Gaza. It further notes that forced displacement, expansion of the “yellow line,” restrictions on return, and denial of access to investigators entrench a system designed to maintain these destructive conditions. Press release: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/11/israels-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza-continues-unabated-despite-ceasefire/ Official public statement: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/0527/2025/en/ Rebranding Genocide Source: London Review of Books (blog) Date: 28 November 2025 “For Palestinians, the rebranding of genocide is not an abstract debate about terminology but a lived experience of loss, displacement and deliberate destruction.” In this personal essay, British-Palestinian writer and lawyer Selma Dabbagh argues that the term “genocide” has been cynically rebranded as “conflict” — masking ongoing atrocities and allowing the international community to normalise the destruction in Gaza. She describes repeated ceasefire violations, widespread destruction, enforced displacement, and the creeping expansion of control over Gaza as evidence that what continues is not a ceasefire but a methodical campaign of dispossession and erasure. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/november/rebranding-genocide Israel is quietly expanding its occupation of Gaza under cover of “ceasefire” Source: Truthout Date: 4 December Palestinian journalist Dalia Abu Ramadan describes how Israeli forces have been steadily shifting the so-called Yellow Line deeper into Gaza, quietly expanding the area under military control even while claiming to observe a ceasefire. She reports that residents returning to their neighbourhoods are confronted with new military fences and barricades, and that the army has bulldozed large strips of land to create additional buffer zones. These incremental incursions occur without public announcement, allowing the effective occupation line to move, while international observers focus on the ceasefire itself. Abu Ramadan, who hopes to graduate from the Islamic University in Gaza, argues that these tactics reveal a systematic effort to tighten control under the guise of reduced hostilities. https://truthout.org/articles/israel-is-quietly-expanding-its-occupation-of-gaza-under-cover-of-ceasefire/ How Israel’s genocide in Gaza extends to digital annihilation Source: Middle East Eye Date: 2 December In this opinion piece, Palestinian journalist Sujoud Awais argues that the ongoing genocide in Gaza is being extended into digital spaces through systematic erasure of archives, censorship, and information blackouts that wipe out Palestinian presence online. She describes how what is lost is not only lives and land, but also history, memory and collective identity — emphasising that digital annihilation is part of the broader campaign of dispossession. Awais, who has previously contributed to peer-reviewed publications, warns that the erasure of Palestinian digital heritage is a deliberate strategy to silence future generations as well as those living today. https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/how-israel-genocide-gaza-extends-digital-annihilation Pregnant women in Gaza face catastrophic scenarios Source: The Electronic Intifada Date: 29 November 2025 By Farah Samer Zaina, a writer, translator and English lecturer from northern Gaza. The article describes how pregnant women in Gaza are experiencing sharply increased rates of miscarriages, neonatal deaths, premature births and congenital deformities — often after perilous journeys through conflict zones just to reach medical care. It documents how severe shortages of nutritious food, vitamins and prenatal care — alongside displacement, malnutrition and toxic exposure — are deeply endangering maternal and fetal health. The piece underscores that the crisis is structural: the ongoing war, destruction of infrastructure, lack of medical access, and dire living conditions mean pregnancy in Gaza now carries far greater risk than before. https://electronicintifada.net/content/pregnant-women-gaza-face-catastrophic-scenarios/51072 Child amputees in Gaza use makeshift prosthetics as Israeli restrictions block medical supplies Source: Drop Site News Date: 25 November 2025 The article describes how children in Gaza who have lost limbs — including 10-year-old Rateb Abu Qleiq — are forced to fashion makeshift prosthetic limbs because proper prosthetics are unavailable. Rateb lost his right leg below the knee after an Israeli airstrike that also killed his mother and brother; desperate to walk again, he and his cousin used scavenged plastic sewage pipe and string to build a crude prosthetic. The piece reports that Gaza now has the world’s highest per-capita number of child amputees, with thousands in need of rehabilitation, while medical supply blockades and destruction of prosthetic-care facilities — including Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics — make recovery nearly impossible for many. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-child-amputees-makeshift-prosthetics-limbs-israeli-restrictions-hamad-hospital Meet Sana, 7 months old, her father, journalist Yehya Subaih was murdered 5 hours after she was born, 7 May 2025 Source: Bisan Owda (a brief video with @wizard_bisan1 on Insta) Date: 24 November https://www.instagram.com/p/DRceUAfiovi/ Israel is threatening to demolish a popular West Bank youth football pitch Source: Middle East Eye Date: 5 December No psychological relief for Palestinian children … The article reports that an artificial-grass football pitch in the Aida refugee camp, built in 2021, has become a central space for local children — both boys and girls — to play. It notes that several girls from the camp have gone on to represent Palestine national youth football team at youth-level competitions. The threatened demolition of the pitch by Israeli authorities therefore risks undermining a vital community resource and a rare pathway for young Palestinians to engage in sport and represent their country. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-threatening-demolish-popular-west-bank-youth-football-pitch  FEATURED EVENTS The Logic of Extermination/The Logic of Denial: An Online Symposium Date: Sunday14 December at 6pm (UK time) Source: The Psychosocial Foundation × Parapraxis This full-day online symposium explores how the “logic of extermination” and the “logic of denial” operate in the context of the genocide in Gaza and other long-standing racialised violences, bringing together international scholars across three panels. It serves as a fundraiser for the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, emphasising how psychological, political and historical frameworks are interwoven in mass violence. https://www.thepsychosocialfoundation.org/store/p/logics-of-extermination-and-denial USA-Palestine Mental Health Network: Reading Circles Programme 2026 The USA-Palestine Mental Health Network is offering a series of facilitated reading circles in 2026, each centred on key texts exploring Palestinian experience, mental health, resistance, and structural violence. These groups provide structured collective reading and discussion spaces, with each circle running for six sessions and operating on a donation basis. Reading circles (all groups are in English) UK-friendly times: Cycle 25 – Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine by Professors Lara & Stephen Sheehi. Thursdays from 15 January–19 February 2026. Cycle 26 – Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine. Saturdays from 7 February–14 March 2026. Cycle 1 – Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights by Omar Barghouti. Sundays from 11 January–15 February 2026. Not UK-friendly times: Group VII – Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding by Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kervorkian. Bi-weekly on Mondays from 23 February–4 May 2026. Cycle 24 – Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine. Wednesdays from 14 January–18 February 2026. https://mailchi.mp/c1b6e5dfc738/new-reading-circles-for-2026-48677?e=f02f8a3048  FEATURED ACTIONS Councillor Pledge for Palestine In the run up to local elections in May 2026, Palestine Solidarity Campaign has launched an important new initiative asking local councillors to sign a Pledge for Palestine committing to:- Uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestine people.- Stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid.- Ensure their council isn’t complicit – including through divesting pension funds from complicit companies. On the action page, enter your postcode and you will see the names of your local councillors and a template letter (that you can alter if you wish) that will be sent to them automatically. Asking sitting councillors to sign the Pledge for Palestine will help to identify target seats in which councillors who do not support divestment could be replaced with those who do.Further information and the action page is available here: https://mailchi.mp/palestinecampaign/nov2025lobby-4931105?e=27bd721334 Eurovision – No stage for war crimes At the time of writing, the petition has 587,000 signatures After two years of genocide in Gaza  and near-daily attacks since the ceasefire, last week Israel was confirmed for Eurovision 2026. Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia have already pulled out in protest. But for organisers to change course, more key countries must follow their lead. We need to pressure national broadcasters to withdraw right now, while this decision is fresh. We can’t let Israel whitewash its crimes with songs and sparkle while the brutal apartheid and suffering for Palestinians continues. https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/eurovision_no_for_war_crimes_loc/ Write to your MP: Sign the Early Day Motion (EDM) on cluster munitions and demand an end to contracts with Elbit Systems Israel has used banned cluster munitions in its recent bombings of Lebanon, but our government continues to give contracts to the manufacturer of these banned bombs and allows them to operate factories in Britain. Imran Hussain MP has tabled Early Day Motion (EDM) 2376 highlighting this and demanding the government takes action. Please take two minutes to email your MP to ask them to sign EDM 2376 demanding an end to contracts with Elbit Systems and the closure of their British factories. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/clustermunitions  BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS) A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).” Write to your MP: Support Divestment from Israeli Apartheid Write to your MP to demand they support Amendment 2 to the Pensions Scheme Bill which would direct pension funds to end investments that contribute to grave violations of international law. PSC’s research has found that Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds, administered by local councils, invest £12.2billion+ in companies with proven involvement in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. Local divestment campaigns are active across Britain, and are achieving significant gains, with 23 local councils having passed a motion or issued a statement to support divestment. Write to your MP to ask they support divestment from companies enabling Israeli apartheid. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/support-divestment

National Demonstration for Palestine Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: Saturday 29 November from 12:00 noon to 4:30pm Location: From Hyde Park Corner to Whitehall End the Occupation – Stop Arming Israel – End Apartheid On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we will be marching again in London to demand an end to Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demonstration-for-palestine-29-november/ UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 1 December and Monday 8 December at 1pm (UK time) This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to these meetings Resolution 2803: How the UN Security Council legitimised Palestinian children’s death-worlds Source: Lama Khouri writing in CounterPunch Date: 24 November 2025 Lama Khouri is a member of the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network. This article contends that United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 did not merely fail to protect Palestinian children — it officially sanctioned their systematic destruction by endorsing a plan that entrusts Donald Trump and allied states with control over Gaza’s governance and reconstruction. It argues that through colonial, racialised frameworks the international system continues to produce a hierarchy of children’s lives, whereby Palestinian children are rendered killable while others are protected. Drawing on theorists such as Achille Mbembe and Frantz Fanon, the piece describes how the resolution transforms genocide into governance and normalises the elimination of a population. https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/24/resolution-2803-how-the-un-security-council-legitimized-palestinian-childrens-death-worlds/ Palestinian civil society condemns UNSC Resolution 2803 establishing joint US–Israel illegal occupation of Gaza (Position paper) Source: Al-Haq Date: 20 November 2025 This position paper, authored by a coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations, presents a collective voice rejecting UNSC Resolution 2803, which they argue institutionalises foreign military and administrative control over Gaza without Palestinian consent. It contends the resolution serves as a de facto form of occupation, sidelining Palestinian self-determination and incorporating aid and reconstruction into frameworks of coercion and dispossession. The paper emphasises that Palestinian perspectives and agency are essential to any meaningful resolution, and calls on states to reject the resolution, uphold rights of return, and pursue accountability for settler-colonial violence. https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/26842.html All my dreams have been erased: Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank Source: Human Rights Watch Date: 20 November 2025 This 105-page Human Rights Watch report analyses “Operation Iron Wall”, during which Israeli forces forcibly displaced around 32,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, demolished hundreds of structures and have since barred residents from returning. It concludes that these actions constitute the war crime of forcible transfer and form part of crimes against humanity, calling on states to impose targeted sanctions, suspend arms sales and take measures to ensure accountability. https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/11/20/all-my-dreams-have-been-erased/israels-forced-displacement-of-palestinians-in-the Killing fields at the food line: Israel’s siege on Gaza’s supply chainSource: Good Shepherd CollectiveDate: 20 NovemberPrices of goods in Gaza remain astronomically high, despite the illusion of a ceasefire.[…]What emerges is a precision-engineered famine. Israel controls every calorie that enters Gaza, restricts the fishing zones that might provide protein, bombs the agricultural lands that could grow vegetables, and destroys the water infrastructure necessary for food production and preparation. The result is predictable: a captive population forced to pay prices that would be considered extortionate in the world’s wealthiest nations, while living in rubble with no income, no infrastructure, and no escape .https://thecall.ps/p/killing-fields-at-the-food-line-israels Dr. Samah Jabr discussing Israel’s impunity when it comes to torturing and raping Palestinians Source: Dr Samah Jabr on LinkedIn Date: 21 November[You may need to close a pop-up window in order to see this item] This is a short clip with Dr Jabr but the post also includes a link to the full interview (requires sign-up). https://www.linkedin.com/posts/samah-jabr-25509883_torture-rape-activity-7397603402307768320-UYIP/ Germany is offering asylum to donkeys from Gaza. Gaza’s children? Not allowed. Source: Opinion piece in Mondoweiss Date: 23 November A text book example of de-humanisation. Germany is now taking in animals from Gaza while refusing entry to injured and sick Palestinians. The message is clear: in Germany’s hierarchy of “valuable” life, Palestinians are valued less than animals. https://mondoweiss.net/2025/11/germany-is-offering-asylum-to-donkeys-from-gaza-gazas-children-not-allowed It is reasonable to ask Israeli academics to condemn genocide? Source: Circulated by theSouth Africa-Palestine Mental Health Network Date: 11 November This document argues that Israeli academics have an ethical responsibility to publicly oppose the genocide in Gaza, noting that academic institutions often legitimise or obscure state violence through silence and selective scholarship. It challenges the idea of academic neutrality and urges scholars to adopt positions rooted in accountability, solidarity and opposition to structural harm. It highlights the limits of liberal academic discourse and calls for more direct forms of engagement aligned with justice for Palestinians. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xcyEN4CmOyyFt042ibH9epU1DZA5ewpB/view Diary of a Young Doctor: Notes from the genocide in Gaza Source: Goodreads Date: 8 November 2025 We included a moving and insightful piece by Dr Ezzideen in our 29 October mailing. Five days before 7 October 2023 a young Palestinian doctor returns to Gaza, having completed his medical studies abroad. His family gathers to celebrate his achievements and welcome him home. On 11 October seventy-five members of his extended family are killed in an airstrike, and thus begins his incredible story of survival and service to his people. […] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242996578-diary-of-a-young-doctor  FEATURED EVENTSThere are 15 informative and inspring events listed in the run up to Christmas: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ War trauma in children: Voices from Gaza and global perspectives (webinar) Date: Friday28 November at 12:30 (UK time) Source: Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Islam Indonesia and Palestine-Global Mental Health Network IndonesiaThis webinar examines the psychological impact of ongoing conflict on children, featuring contributions from mental health professionals working in Gaza and international experts in trauma and childhood studies. It focuses on the current mental-health crisis, evidence-based interventions in conflict zones and the role of global solidarity in supporting affected children. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy4yIH2YLcGlot_KMxjbhy7CDOp67AqayDDZoOAsZMP5gYvA/viewform Break the Silence: Trauma therapists talk about Gaza Date: Saturday 29 November at 8pm Source: EMDR Therapists for Palestine This is an online event and it will be recorded. Have you felt powerless, frustrated, gaslit and shut down when trying to talk about the Palestinian genocide in therapeutic spaces? Confused as to why trauma therapists want to talk about healing trauma, both collectively and intergenerationally, yet avoid mentioning Gaza? Join Gabor Maté and Palestinian friends including experienced therapists Nada Khader and Heba Zaphiriou-Zarifi to explore the implications of what Maté calls “the unspeakable collective trauma that has been for decades inflicted on the people of Palestine,.. A trauma witnessed and grieved by millions around the world”. Please buy a ticket, your donations will support the recovery of children from Gaza. https://events.humanitix.com/breaking-the-silence-trauma-therapists-talk-about-gaza The Logic of Extermination/The Logic of Denial: An Online Symposium Date: Sunday14 December at 6pm (UK time) Source: The Psychosocial Foundation × Parapraxis This full-day online symposium explores how the “logic of extermination” and the “logic of denial” operate in the context of the genocide in Gaza and other long-standing racialised violences, bringing together international scholars across three panels. It serves as a fundraiser for the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, emphasising how psychological, political and historical frameworks are interwoven in mass violence. https://www.thepsychosocialfoundation.org/store/p/logics-of-extermination-and-denial  FEATURED ACTION For all actions see: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ A call to action: Please sign the Open Letter to Thomas Hübl and The Collective Trauma Summit calling on the wellness world to end the silence on genocide in Palestine This call to action urges people to sign an Open Letter addressed to Thomas Hübl and the organisers of the Collective Trauma Summit, challenging the wellness and therapeutic sectors to end their ongoing silence on the genocide in Palestine. Although the Summit ended in October 2025 and the original submission window has formally closed, signatures are still being collected, including from contributors and others within wellness institutions, to maintain public pressure and accountability. The letter has already been signed by more than 500 individuals, including prominent figures such as Dr Gabor Maté, and is continuing to circulate widely (it has been viewed over 16,500 times), generating behind-the-scenes conversations within wellness networks. Organisers emphasise that all are welcome to sign and share the letter, particularly those in mental health and wellness professions, to amplify its impact and keep the issue visible.Full details about this action can be found here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/open-letter-to-thomas-hubl-and-the-collective-trauma-summit-november-2025/ The Open Letter can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/open-letter-to-thomas-h%C3%BCbl-and-the-collective-trauma-summit-2025-03441627-5434-449a-9f6d-36c08dcd40fb

UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 24 November at 1pm (UK time) This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to this meeting. National Demonstration for PalestineSource:  Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: Saturday 29 November from 12:00 noon to 4:30pm Location: From Park Lane to Whitehall End the Occupation – Stop Arming Israel – End Apartheid On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we will be marching again in London to demand an end to Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians .https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demonstration-for-palestine-29-november/  Fatina was 11 when the bomb ripped through her shelter … Source: Adam Goren, a psychoanalytically trained child and adolescent psychotherapist Date: 17 November In this short essay, child psychotherapist Adam Goren suggests Palestine exposes a dark and troubling irony; that broken greed-driven societies create the very distress they then deploy therapy to alleviate. The experience of Palestinian healer Ashira Darwish is drawn on to show how brown and black bodies are isolated and targeted for remediation as part of a gargantuan (largely unconscious) gaslighting project. In centring personal pain, western psychotherapies and other such interventions inadvertently distract from root causes of distress in a whole people’s, often deliberate, brutalisation and dehumanisation. Such broken societies, bent on capital accumulation, create psychological-industrial-complexes that monetise their own misery. Nevertheless, as 11-year-old Fatina and her mental health worker from Gaza illuminate, Palestinians are finding their own solutions to the unimaginable horror inflicted upon them. https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/fatina/ On professional silence during genocide: The 2025 Sigourney Award Source: Palestine-Global Mental Health Network writing in CounterPunch Date: 18 November This article exposes how the Sigourney Award—celebrating trauma-expertise—has never honoured a Palestinian professional in 35 years, even while genocide is occurring in Gaza and Palestinian mental-health workers are active on the ground. It highlights the complicity of institutions in erasing Palestinian suffering and mentions that the International Collective of Palestine Mental Health Networks will continue centring Palestinian voices and resisting frameworks that treat them only as subjects of study, not as agents of healing. https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/18/on-professional-silence-during-genocide-the-2025-sigourney-award/ Torture and health worker complicity in Israeli detention sites Source: The British Medical Journal Date: 11 November This article reports that Palestinian detainees continue to face systematic torture and degrading treatment in Israeli custody, including in facilities such as Sde Teiman, and raises concerns about the role of Israeli health workers who document or witness abuse without intervening. It calls for robust international scrutiny and emphasises the ethical obligation of medical professionals to prevent harm, uphold human rights standards and resist institutional complicity. https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj.r2347 Freed Palestinian child prisoners recount torture in Israeli custody Source: Middle East Eye Date: 15 November In interviews conducted by the NGO Defense for Children Palestine (DCIP), three children describe how they were abducted by Israeli forces near aid distribution points and transferred to the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp in southern Israel. They said they endured torture, beatings and starvation in Israeli custody. The trauma has left them unable to sleep, and they are plagued by night terrors and bed wetting. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/prison-inside-me-freed-palestinian-child-prisoners-recount-torture-israeli-custody Israel punishes a rape whistleblower but embraces the alleged rapist soldiers Source: Zeteo Date: 18 November The article reports that Yifat Tomer‑Yerushalmi, the former military advocate who leaked footage of alleged rape by Israeli soldiers at Sde Teiman prison camp, is now facing retaliation while the accused soldiers are being publicly celebrated. It argues that the mainstream media remains largely silent as state-backed officials reframe whistle-blowing as defamation and the victims’ truth is suppressed. https://zeteo.com/p/israel-punishes-rape-whistleblower-embraces-soldiers “I’m happy and sad to see you”: the paradox of surviving the Gaza genocide Source: Mondoweiss Date: 26 October This opinion piece by Dr Hassan El-Nabih reflects on a moment in the enclave of Gaza where a former student told him, “I’m happy to see you … and also sad to see you,” capturing the dual emotions of survival amidst devastation. He explains how Gaza’s academic life, languishing under siege and bombardment, has become a testament to resilience—not only of bodies, but of education, memory and resistance. https://mondoweiss.net/2025/10/im-happy-and-sad-to-see-you-the-paradox-of-surviving-the-gaza-genocide/ Tents in Gaza collapse from rain as Palestinians struggle with massive flooding Source: Drop-Site News Date: 14 November The article documents how displaced Palestinians in Gaza — many living in tents following the war — are now facing heavy winter rains and flooding, underscoring that trauma and precarious living conditions persist long after the ceasefire. It highlights how shelters are flooding, children’s belongings are ruined, and aid continues to be restricted, emphasising that the suffering in Gaza has not ended. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-rain-flooding-tents-winter-storms-displaced-shelter Reading the crisis: “For Edward Said” with Brenna Bhandar and Hashem Abushama Source: Stuart Hall Foundation Date: 9 November This online teach-in revisits Edward Said through Stuart Hall’s 2004 open letter “For Edward Said”, exploring its relevance for current debates on the Israel–Palestine system and academic discourse. The session examines how Said’s critiques of Orientalism and intellectual responsibility intersect with Hall’s conjunctural analysis to offer tools for rethinking colonial power, representation and resistance today. https://www.stuarthallfoundation.org/resource/reading-the-crisis-for-edward-said-with-brenna-bhandar-and-hashem-abushama/ What happened to the Palestinian popular struggle? Source: +972 podcast Date: 6 November In the occupied West Bank today, life looks completely different than it did just two years ago — with unprecedented levels of state-backed settler violence, arbitrary arrests, new road closures, and mounting economic pressure. But resistance, too, is changing. Veteran activist Munther Amira connects this moment to earlier chapters of the Palestinian struggle and reflects on what it means to keep resisting when survival itself has become the fight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpo-8Jacu6s Recording of UKPMHN Cafe Palestine 38 The UKPMHN Cafe Palestine 38 – The normalisation of Genocide and Ecocide – took place on Saturday 15 November 2025. The meeting reflected on a world that sponsors genocide, and indulges a cynical disregard for the ecological disasters that have been unleashed on Gaza and which threaten further mass death, particularly in the global South. The speakers were: Prof Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian scientist and author, founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University; Prof Paul Hoggett, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. He co-founded the Climate Psychology Alliance and served as its first chair in 2012. https://youtu.be/bY16uQiRFXs This and all previous UKPMHN Cafe Palestines can be found at: https://ukpalmhn.com/cafe-palestine/cafe-palestine-index/  FEATURED EVENTS There are 15 informative and inspring events listed in the run up to Christmas: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ Gaza: Reprocide and the weaponisation of starvation (webinar) Date: Sunday 23 November at 6pm (UK time) Source: JVP Health Advisory Council and Harvard FXB Center (in conjunction with the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network) This webinar examines how starvation is deployed as a tool of war in Gaza, featuring Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar and physician-advocate Dr Alice Rothchild. It situates their testimony within broader discussions on reproductive violence, military policy and humanitarian ethics. Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar is a West Point graduate and 25 year special forces veteran. Col. Aguilar joined the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation but quit after witnessing war crimes including the shooting of unarmed Gazans at food distribution centers. He has devoted his time since as a whistleblower. https://www.jvphealth.org/events/sunday-november-23-2025-jvp-hac-webinar-reprocide-and-the-weaponization-of-starvation War trauma in children: Voices from Gaza and global perspectives (webinar) Date: Friday28 November at 12:30 (UK time) Source: Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Islam Indonesia and Palestine-Global Mental Health Network Indonesia This webinar examines the psychological impact of ongoing conflict on children, featuring contributions from mental health professionals working in Gaza and international experts in trauma and childhood studies. It focuses on the current mental-health crisis, evidence-based interventions in conflict zones and the role of global solidarity in supporting affected children. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy4yIH2YLcGlot_KMxjbhy7CDOp67AqayDDZoOAsZMP5gYvA/viewform Break the Silence: Trauma therapists talk about Gaza Date: Saturday 29 November at 8pm Source: EMDR Therapists for Palestine This is an online event and it will be recorded. Have you felt powerless, frustrated, gaslit and shut down when trying to talk about the Palestinian genocide in therapeutic spaces? Confused as to why trauma therapists want to talk about healing trauma, both collectively and intergenerationally, yet avoid mentioning Gaza? Join Gabor Maté and Palestinian friends including experienced therapists Nada Khader and Heba Zaphiriou-Zarifi to explore the implications of what Maté calls “the unspeakable collective trauma that has been for decades inflicted on the people of Palestine,.. A trauma witnessed and grieved by millions around the world”. Please buy a ticket, your donations will support the recovery of children from Gaza. https://events.humanitix.com/breaking-the-silence-trauma-therapists-talk-about-gaza The Logic of Extermination/The Logic of Denial: An Online Symposium Date: Sunday14 December at 6pm (UK time) Source: The Psychosocial Foundation × Parapraxis This full-day online symposium explores how the “logic of extermination” and the “logic of denial” operate in the context of the genocide in Gaza and other long-standing racialised violences, bringing together international scholars across three panels. It serves as a fundraiser for the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, emphasising how psychological, political and historical frameworks are interwoven in mass violence. https://www.thepsychosocialfoundation.org/store/p/logics-of-extermination-and-denial  FEATURED ACTION For all actions see: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Tell your Councillors: Divest from Companies Enabling Israel’s Genocide Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: November 2025 E-mail your councillors today to demand that the council ends its financial ties to companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. PSC has sent a legal notice to every council in England & Wales administering a Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) fund, outlining that they are under a legal obligation to take steps to divest from companies enabling and profiting from Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/divestmentduty  BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS) A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).” People’s Embargo for Palestine webinar launch Date: Saturday22 November at 6pm (UK time) Source: Palestinian Youth Movement This webinar launches the People’s Embargo for Palestine and provides updates on the #MaskOffMaersk campaign and coordinated international efforts to halt the flow of arms and energy to Israel. Speakers from unions and organisations across several countries will discuss strategies for building pressure on governments, corporations and institutions to end complicity in the assault on Palestinians. https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ7U_JykS7z/