Café Palestine Nine on Sat 8 August from Arabeh in Galilee
at 10.45am (UK time) / 12.45pm (Palestine time)
with Hussam Kana’na from the Palestinian Counseling Center
Hussam will discuss his research on the psychological impact of the practice by Israeli authorities of delaying the return to their families of bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82860202452?pwd=QWZDR0t5SDdHcnd5Y29hcys3QTlkZz09
The Cafe will open with live music from Palestine
at 10.45am (UK time) / 12.45am (Palestine time)
The dialogue with Hussam Kana’na will start at 11.00am (UK time) / 1pm (Pal time)
The whole event is expected to last about 90 minutes
الترجمة العربية لخطاب حسام سيكون متوفر في كافيه فلسطين، سيتم ترجمة الأسئلة والإجابات من إنجليزي إلى عربي والعكس خلال النقاش.
An Arabic version of Hussam’s talk will be made available at Cafe Palestine. The question and answer session will be translated between Arabic and English during the discussion.
Hussam Kana’na is a psychotherapist at the Palestinian Counseling Center. He holds a Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Padua, Italy.
Hussam is a former prisoner between 2004-2014 and spent his reading, writing, learning and teaching others when it was possible. When he was released he published a book, Captivity Mirrors (Maraya Al-Assr) – Stories and Tales from the Confined Time, that reflected his experience and the everyday life for Palestinian prisoners.
He chose to work on detained bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces because it was new topic and relatively little information was available. He was shocked to learn the intensity of emotions and sorrow that the families experience. He reflects that he was “used to working with hard cases as a psychotherapist but working with these families was a completely different experience”.
Recording of Café Palestine Eight
https://ukpalmhn.com/cafe-palestine/
Cafe Palestine Eight on 25 July featured the psychiatrist, writer and Head of the Mental Health Unit within the Palestinian Ministry of Health Dr Samah Jabr who spoke about the impact of Israel’s incarceration and torture of Palestinian adults and children of all genders upon individuals, families, Palestinian society and the wider collective.
For the first time, an extensive Arabic summary of the talk, questions and answers is available at this link:
https://ukpalmhn.com/cafe-palestine/cp8-arabic-translation/
Cafe Palestine began with music from Ramallah and Nablus organised with PalMusic UK. The three musicians, students Reem Malki and Maya Abu El-Arayess, and their teacher George Ghattas were located in different places. Due to the technical limitations of Zoom they needed to perform their pieces one-by-one. You can listen to a beautiful version of their final song, “Oh, Lovers of the Land, Arise!” with them all playing together at this link:
1. Recent articles about the history and practice of withholding the bodies of Palestinians killed by the Israeli security forces
Human Rights Groups Submit to UN experts on the Israeli policy of withholding the mortal remains of indigenous Palestinians:
http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/17033.html
On 22 June 2020 three Palestinian and regional human rights groups (Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Man and Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies) filed a joint submission to the UN’s EMRIP (Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) regarding the decades-long illegal practice of withholding the mortal remains of indigenous Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces. The submission asks EMRIP to end this illegal practice and lift all restrictions on Palestinian funerals and mourning rituals, which are also illegally and violently stifled. The article summarises the contents of the submission and which articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are violated.
The full submission can be found here:
Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (Report of the Secretary-General of the UN)
This is a detailed report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Israeli practices affecting the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This report has a particular focus on the forceful use of arrest and detention practices by Israel as well as a section on application of collective punishments such as the ever more common practice of delaying the return of bodies of actual or alleged Palestinian attackers or suspects killed by Israeli security forces (point 25). The Secretary-General suggests this is being carried out with punitive intent against the families of the deceased. Lack of accountability for such violations feeds the cycle of violence and compromises prospects for sustainable peace and security.
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-176639/
2. Suicide in Gaza: political oppression, international indifference and personal despair
Several articles have appeared in recent days highlighting a rise in the number of suicides and attempted suicides in the Gaza Strip, particularly amongst young people.
‘Gaza 2020: Worsening conditions lead more Palestinians to take their own lives’ by Maha Hussaini:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-2020-palestine-mental-health-suicide-israel-occupation-blockade?fbclid=IwAR2VwCeXVTps-G3XpqEzhqgNe5HxhV1IjaYsd_05v0kcKHKWQc4XbtBYXrk
‘Desperate and Trapped, Gaza’s youth turn to suicide’ by Yousra Samir Imran:
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2020/7/29/desperate-and-trapped-gazas-youth-turn-to-suicide
‘Gaza’s young people turn to suicide amid growing desperation’ by Ali Adam:
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/gaza-s-young-people-turn-to-suicide-amid-growing-desperation-1.1045005
‘When hope dies: why so many young Palestinians are committing suicide’ by Muhammad Shehada: (registration required to view this article)
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-when-hope-died-why-so-many-young-palestinians-in-gaza-are-committing-suicide-1.8995929?fbclid=IwAR09d-ja6_2yjArYAmJK-ONQLpABbbHsAOSxN2NVpurSQOs9z_MG0W39OGY
الشبكة البريطانية الفلسطينية للصحة النفسية 