UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 28 October 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 the meeting.

National Demonstration for Palestine Saturday 2 November at 12 noon from Whitehall to the US Embassy

Oath of Mental Health Professionals and Healthcare Workers for LiberationWe are proud to share this oath for Mental Health Workers produced by Dr Samah Jabr, our colleague, friend and founder member of the Palestine Global Mental Health Network. One of its strengths, in our view, is that it evokes the collective nature of struggles for liberation and the ethical positions that therapists need to take inrelation to all forms of oppression and anti-racism. While not directly mentioning Palestine, Dr Jabr nevertheless places the Palestinian struggle for freedom squarely within an anti-colonial and anti-racist framework, from which it is often excluded. The duty not to pathologise resistance is a timely reminder to all of us that, in this country, therapists who support Palestine are all too often pathologised and silenced. At present there is no request for individual practitioners to sign up to the oath but we hope that you will share it with your colleagues and present it to your professional associations, especially in relation to their equity, diversity and anti-racist committees and policies.

Oath of Mental Health Professionals and Healthcare Workers for Liberation By Dr Samah Jabr, Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, Assistant Clinical Professor, Author, Head of Mental Health Unit Palestine Dr Jabr reading the Oath: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAipfreSxyu/ English transcript of the Oath: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/oath-of-mental-health-professionals/

Life and Death in Gaza A film made by four Palestinians living through extraordinary times. Filming from the first days of the war, Khalid, Aya, Adam and Aseel document their own lives as they endure bombing raids, multiple evacuations, family separations and reunions, deaths, and even the birth of a new life amidst the chaos. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002412q/life-and-death-in-gaza

Israel’s ‘relentless’ pounding of northern Gaza A 6-minute Channel 4 news report on Sunday 20 October “The world cannot say it did not see this. It cannot say it didn’t know”. (Spare a thought for the brave journalists who captured this film and tell this story) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2d1kPNuF8c

‘Devastating blow to humanity’: Barred from Gaza by Israel, health workers cry out for help As the situation inside Gaza is increasingly described as “indescribable,” medical NGOs blocked from providing care to Palestinians trapped inside besieged territory demand world leaders to stop turning ‘blind eye’ to Israeli war crimes and violations of humanitarian law. https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-health-workers

As mental health workers, we call for an end to the West’s collusion with Israel An open letter from the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network and co-signed by 10 other organisations Healthcare practitioner, psychologists, psychotherapists and social workers are calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal onslaught https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-war-uk-mental-health-workers-west-end-collusion-israel

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur Occupied Palestinian Territories “In Gaza, the collective shame of the century continues unabated and unstopped, in defiance of every norm of international law and morale. The Palestinians, exhausted by relentless attacks on their bodies and souls are abandoned to their tormentors. Shocking images of summary executions, mass forced displacements, and other egregious abuses strike us, leaving us stunned and bewildered, unable to comprehend that what is happening in Gaza is truly real. What a disgraceful testament to our global failure to protect basic human rights . The United Nations, once a believed beacon of hope and a force for peace, are crumbling under the weight of this shame – and the pressure of the inaction or complicity of its most powerful member states.” https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1848007903783059730

How the Media Whitewashes Israel’s Rampage A true balanced depiction of the horrors that have taken place over the last year calls not for equal treatment between the oppressor and oppressed, or between the victims of a heinous terror attack over two days and the victims of industrialized mass slaughter over twelve months. Rather, we should question where the balance is struck between attention to the atrocities and war crimes carried out by Israel and critical scrutiny of its paymasters — between the hit man and the crime boss who is supplying the guns and calling the shots. https://jacobin.com/2024/10/israel-gaza-media-bias-empire

Killing of woman harvester underscores ‘war-like’ Israeli assault on West Bank olive growers “The olive season has turned into a season of killing for the Palestinian people, whether at the hands of the Israeli army or armed settlers,” said one observer. https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-attacks-olive-farmers

War on Olives A short video from Sahat featuring a clip of the non-violent activist Munther Amira who was released from so-called administrative detention earlier this year. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBMikAptYpN/

ACTIONS TO PROTEST THE GENOCIDE IN THE NORTH OF GAZA Want to take Action? Our website has a list of up to date of petitions, letter writing campaigns and other ways you can express your solidarity. https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/

Think it’s all hopeless? Look at this link celebrating the successes of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on its 19th anniversary in July 2024: https://bdsmovement.net/BDS_Impacts-In-Times-Of-Genocide