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| 1. UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour on Friday 5 January at 13:00 2. National March for Palestine on Saturday 13 January at 12:0 3. Cafe Palestine is back on Sat 27 January and Sat 3 February 4. Ambassadors for Humanity – Letters in Solidarity 5. Letter to Tavistock Institute of Human Relations calling for end to association with Recalculating conference 6. A child of Gaza: The war through a child’s eyes 7. A sniper’s bullets shattered last vestiges of sanctuary in Gaza’s only Catholic church 8. The role of the International Committee of the Red Cross 9. Journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh’s message for 2024 Plus The Darkling Thrush By Thomas Hardy 1. UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour on Friday 5 January at 13:00 The Action Half-Hours are intended to provide a space for mutual support and action. Upon reviewing feedback from participants, we plan to keep the Zoom call open at the end of the half hour to provide a space for a broader discussion within the group. This will be a less focused time after the actions have been completed where participants can choose to stay on the call to share feelings and feedback about anything that might have come up for them during the meeting. We hope this will help encourage a feeling of shared solidarity and strengthen our ability to act during this difficult time. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you wish to attend the Action Half-Hour 2. National March for Palestine – Ceasefire NOW – Saturday 13 January at 12:00 noon in Central London The assembly point and route have not been announced at the time of writing. We will circulate an assembly point for the UKPALMHN banner and supporters when the route is announced. https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-march-for-palestine-ceasefire-now-january-13/ 3. Cafe Palestine is back! Keep the dates! We plan to hold two Cafe Palestine events on consecutive weeks: Saturday 27 January at 16:00 – 18:00 and Saturday 3 February at 16:00 – 18:00 They will focus on Mental Health in Gaza with the aim of honouring the work of our colleagues there, their professionalism, creativity and dedication. Samah Jabr describes Mental Health professionals as being ‘a cornerstone in building hope and healing at every level of society.’ With this aim in mind we think it is important to remind ourselves of what our colleagues in Gaza have achieved in promoting mental health. Since they are cut off from electronic communication and forced to focus on their own and their families’ physical survival, their experience and expertise may need to be temporarily represented by colleagues from outside. The two Cafe’s will consist of presentations by different teams who have collaborated with colleagues in Gaza. The Cafe on January 27th will begin with a presentation by Dr Samah Jabr. Further details and Zoom link to follow in the next mailing. 4. Ambassadors for HUMANITY – Letters in Solidarity Disconnected by miles connected through hearts A moving collection of letters to Medics and Paramedics in Gaza, Palestine produced by the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network https://usapalmhn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Final-Letters-to-Gaza-PDF.pdf 5. UKPALMHN letter to Tavistock Institute of Human Relations calling for end to association with Recalculating conference The 36th OFEK International Group Relations Conference called ‘RECALCULATING: Authority, Identity & Belonging in Times of Tectonic Upheaval’ is being organised in Israel in February 2024. https://ofekgrouprelations.org/en/intgrc2024/. Disturbingly, the conference is being organised in association with the London-based Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. https://www.tavinstitute.org/ (The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a different organisation to the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust). The USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, along with the UK, French and Irish networks are urging people not to attend either in-person or virtually stating: “The “Recalculating” event clearly supports Israeli policy. Its bold invitation, ironically issued now in the midst of Israel’s heinous genocide in Gaza, promises to ponder subtle issues of cultural and national identity in a neutral, self-searching, and transparent manner. Alas, however, the list of conference planners excludes Palestinian voices—those human beings currently being uprooted through genocide and violent upheaval. What’s more, the invitation states with proud defiance that the ‘conference will be conducted according to the guidelines of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command to ensure the continued safety of residents’. With this framework, how can the perspectives of Palestinians or their international supporters conceivably be heard?” The UK-Palestine Mental Health Network has written to the CEO of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations calling on the Institute to end association with the conference. There has been no reply to this letter. A copy of the UKPALMHN letter and a link to the open letter urging people not to attend can be found on this page: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/dont-go-to-the-recalculating-conference/ Further information about this action will be added to this page as it becomes available. 6. A child of Gaza: The war through a child’s eyes Under Israeli bombardment, nine-year-old Elaf and her family struggle to find safety in the Gaza Strip. A recommended 25-minute film released on Christmas Day https://www.aljazeera.com/program/witness/2023/12/25/a-child-of-gaza-the-war-through-a-childs-eyes 7. A sniper’s bullets shattered last vestiges of sanctuary in Gaza’s only Catholic church On 20 December two elderly women were shot dead by a sniper whilst going to the outside toilet in Gaza’s only Catholic church. Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-gaza-church-palestinians-christians-b2466049.html Al Jazeera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otw-1JQsP2g&authuser=0 8. The role of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mazin Qumsiyeh, the Director of the Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University has questioned the impartiality of the ICRC. The ICRC is taking a strong stance in support of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. On the other hand, thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have been seized without due process and are held without charge (under so-called “Administrative Detention”) and often subject to torture and abuse. The ICRC is not treating these Palestinian prisoners in the same way that it deals with the Israeli hostages. Amnesty International https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/11/israel-opt-horrifying-cases-of-torture-and-degrading-treatment-of-palestinian-detainees-amid-spike-in-arbitrary-arrests Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/29/why-does-israel-have-so-many-palestinians-detention-and-available-swap 972 (an independent, online, non-profit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists) https://www.972mag.com/palestinians-abused-israeli-prisons-torture/ Mazin urges people to write to the ICRC about this: https://www.icrc.org/en/contact 9. Journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh’s message for 2024 https://twitter.com/SamiXSavage/status/1741628394435940398 As we enter 2024, a poem that perhaps befits the times … The Darkling Thrush By Thomas Hardy I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. The land’s sharp features seemed to be The Century’s corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I. At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44325/the-darkling-thrush |
الشبكة البريطانية الفلسطينية للصحة النفسية 