| UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 27 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 this meeting. Mental Health Conference for Palestine: Living through the Unimaginable Source: Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine Date: Saturday 8 November from 9:30am – 4:30pm Location: Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX Speakers: Dr Yasser Abu Jamei, Dr Yoa’d Ghanadry-Hakim, Gwyn Daniel, Martin Kemp This is a hybrid (in-person/online) event but seating is limited, so advanced booking is recommended. Join us for a day dedicated to updating on the present situation, bringing together professionals working in Palestine and allied Mental Health groups in the UK organising around Palestine. The conference is aimed at all mental health professionals who want to make an ethical response to the destruction of ordinary human life in Palestine and spearhead a collective mental health response. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-health-conference-for-palestine-living-through-the-unimaginable-tickets-1744401304259 Cafe Palestine: The normalisation of genocide and ecocide Saturday 15 November from 4pm – 6pm (UK time) At this Cafe Palestine we reflect 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. Speakers: Prof Mazin Qumsiyeh is 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 where he teaches. Over the course of his career he has published well over 150 scientific papers on topics ranging from cultural heritage to biodiversity in addition to several books. Prof Paul Hoggett is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. His research spans social policy, community life, and the emotional dynamics of politics, with notable expertise in the intersection of psychoanalysis, group relations, and social systems. He co-founded the Climate Psychology Alliance and served as its first chair in 2012. A Zoom link to the meeting will be included in a future mailing. The psychological impact is huge Source: Al Jazeera English (video clip) Date: 14 October Dr Samah Jabr, a consultant psychiatrist, says that for Palestinians in Gaza, the trauma of Israel’s war doesn’t end with a ceasefire, but is something they’ll keep living with. https://www.facebook.com/reel/798548789488997 Returning to Shujaiya: Palestinians are going back to Gaza City despite proximity of Israeli troops Source: Drop Site News Date: 17 October A report including interviews with several Palestinians who have returned. After the ceasefire, thousands of Palestinians have returned to Gaza City’s shattered Shujaiya neighbourhood, even though parts of it remain within an Israeli military “yellow line” zone. Families are rebuilding makeshift shelters amid total devastation, famine, and continued air surveillance, determined to reclaim their homes and dignity despite lethal warnings from Israeli forces. Many have lost relatives, livelihoods, and basic necessities, yet speak of steadfastness and belonging to the land that holds their memories. Aid restrictions and an immense volume of rubble—enough to fill New York’s Central Park twelve metres deep—continue to hinder recovery and the retrieval of the dead. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/shujaiya-palestinians-return-gaza-city-yellow-line Five Gaza journalists reflect on the toll of the genocide Source: Drop Site News Date: 10 October “I have mixed feelings of happiness and sadness because when the war ends, another struggle will begin—an internal war. Our wounds will reopen, and we will have time to grieve our beloved ones, to give sadness the time it needs. We may have survived physically, but we haven’t survived mentally. This genocide lives inside us. It swallowed our loved ones, our youth, our dreams. I think this genocide will stay living inside us forever in our minds” https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-journalists-reflect-ceasefire-genocide Soaked in Blood: The Killing Of Ameen Sameer Khalifa Source: Middle East Eye (40 minute video report) Date: 17 October On 3 June 2025, Ameen set out to one of GHF distribution centres in southern Gaza trying to feed his displaced family. This is a deeply moving story of the life and death of one of the many martyrs killed at Israeli controlled aid centres. It uses first person and third person phone footage, interviews with family and friends, and a detailed investigation of the evidence carried out by Forensic Architecture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qz3xV6FSQU “All kinds of torment” – Released Al-Awda Hospital director details Israeli abuse of doctors in detention Source: The Palestine Chronicle Date: 18 October Dr Ahmed Muhanna, director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, described nearly two years of detention by Israeli forces marked by torture, humiliation, and deliberate targeting of medical staff. He reported that detainees, including doctors and nurses, were shackled for long hours in harsh conditions, denied healthcare, and beaten, prompting him to establish a small improvised treatment unit inside the prison. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/all-kinds-of-torment-released-al-awda-hospital-director-details-israeli-abuse-of-doctors-in-detention/ Brutal, coordinated attack on first day of olive harvest in the West Bank Source: Jasper Nathaniel on X Date: 19 October A well documented report of the attack (with video and interview) On Sunday, the first day of the olive harvest in the village of Turmus’ayyer, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a group of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians farmers and residents in a brutal assault that left many people injured, including a Palestinian women who was knocked unconscious with a club. The incident was captured on video by journalist Jasper Nathaniel who said Israeli soldiers in the area led a group of Palestinian famers “directly into a brutal ambush by armed settlers.” Report on X: https://x.com/infinite_jaz/status/1979854674401341451 Drop Site interview with Jasper Nathaniel about the incident: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/1980006981374238851 A War Without Bullets: How disinformation reshapes the reality of Palestinian youth against the backdrop of a genocide Source: 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media Date: 15 October This new 33-page report analyses how Israel’s digital disinformation campaign—through AI-generated content, propaganda, fake accounts, and algorithmic manipulation—has reshaped the consciousness of Palestinians, especially young people. False narratives about “safe zones” and “humanitarian corridors” have endangered civilians, while constant exposure to manipulated media has damaged youth’s psychological wellbeing, deepening fear, confusion, and mistrust in institutions. Disinformation, it argues, functions as a weapon that attacks awareness before the body, stripping Palestinian youth of epistemic justice and silencing their voices in global media spaces. https://7amleh.org/post/a-war-without-bullets-en Related news: Influencers are being paid $7k per post to boost pro-Israel social media content Source: Truthout Date: 4 October https://truthout.org/articles/influencers-are-being-paid-7k-per-post-to-boost-pro-israel-social-media-content/ Complicit: Britain’s role in the destruction of Gaza (new book) Author: Peter Oborne Publication date: October 2025 A hard-hitting investigation arguing that successive Conservative and Labour governments, aided by a compliant media, supported and concealed Israel’s assault on Gaza. Drawing on insider knowledge and original reporting, Oborne exposes how political and journalistic elites misled the public, vilified peaceful protest, and evaded accountability for Britain’s role in the devastation. https://orbooks.com/catalog/complicit/ Support for Palestinian Students to Study Abroad Support for Palestinian Students to Study Abroad (SPSSA) has been organised by collaborators in the UK, Germany and France, working directly with colleges, universities and the relevant bodies granting visas. This fundraiser has been established to provide direct support to Palestinian students in Gaza and to raise funds required to evacuate eligible individuals to study at colleges and universities across Europe. https://chuffed.org/project/152090-support-for-palestinian-students-to-study-abroad-spssa Beyond Israelism Source: Zeteo (podcast) Date: 19 October “A new series on Zionism, Jewish Identity and Palestinian Freedom” Many readers will have seen the film Israelism (2023) which examines how young American Jews, such as Simone Zimmerman, are indoctrinated through educational and cultural programs to uncritically support Israel, often without exposure to Palestinian perspectives. Simone hosts a new podcast called Beyond Israelism that will “host bold and inspiring conversations that face, head on, the growing global reckoning with Zionism, the debates over Jewish identity, and the urgent struggle for Palestinian freedom. The episodes will unpack the myths of Zionism; dive deep into the meaning of Palestinian liberation, and through raw and fearless discussions examine the Jewish relationship with Israel.” The first episode is called “The Growing Rift Between Young Jews and Israel”. Search for “Beyond Israelism” on Apple Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, or similar Against frames of trauma and testimony: Palestinian children’s narratives from within a contemporary genocide Authors: Rania Jawad,Sama Dawani,Said Shehadeh and Bisan NateelSource: Journal of Palestine Studies Date: 1 October (published online) This article is not open access During Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, youth worker Bisan Nateel documented the ways children’s relationships to the sea, the land, home, and life have been reconfigured. […] The authors discuss how Nateel’s engagement with the children and coproduction of the narratives goes beyond collecting testimonies that position their narrators as victims of a particular event in time and pushes against dominant psychological paradigms of children in war. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0377919X.2025.2560304 FEATURED ACTIONS 3 new actions have been added to our Actions page in the past week: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Release Paediatrician And Hospital Director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya Source: Amnesty International Urgent Action Date: October 2025 In December 2024, the Israeli military raided Kamal Adwan hospital and arbitrarily detained its director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, along with other medical staff and patients. The raid put the hospital, the last functioning major medical facility in the North Gaza governorate, out of service. Israeli authorities must immediately release him. Pending his release, they must ensure his protection from torture and other ill-treatment, and provide him with adequate healthcare. Following the implementation of a ceasefire in Gaza on 10 October 2025, Dr Abu Safiya was added to a list of detainees set to be released by Israel, only for his name to be subsequently removed and his detention extended by another six months. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/urgent-actions/release-paediatrician-and-hospital-director-0 Email the FCDO about Palestinian political prisoners Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: October 2025 Despite the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Israel’s apartheid regime continues, including its system of mass imprisonment as a tool of political repression. Even after the release of 1,968 Palestinian prisoners on 13 October, more than 9,000 remain in Israeli detention, including 400 children. The Israeli military has continued to conduct arrest raids across the West Bank, even during the week of the Gaza ceasefire. Write the FCDO and demand the release of Palestinians still held prisoner by Israel. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/PalestinianPrisoners FEATURED EVENTS You can see our full list of events on this page: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ London Palestine Film Festival 2025 November 14 – 28 Twenty seven separate events are listed in the Festival programme: https://www.palestinefilm.org.uk/ ICAHD UK Annual Conference 2025 The Day After Gaza: How do we address the urgency of the political moment? Date: Saturday 1 November from 10:30 am to 4:45pm Location: Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8EP. Source: ICAHD (formerly Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) Advanced registration is essential The conference will bring together leading voices on Palestine to assess the current struggle for Palestinian rights and the urgent political challenges ahead. Participants will explore Israel’s settler-colonial agenda, Trump’s peace plan, the Abraham Accords, and grassroots mobilisation. Sessions will share insights from ICAHD’s on-the-ground resistance and equip UK campaigners for more effective, sustained advocacy. Speakers include: Dr Jeff Halper – ICAHD’s Co-founder and Director, anthropologist, activist, author Dr Nadia Naser-Najjab – – Palestinian from Jerusalem, Senior Lecturer at Exeter University Jeremy Corbyn MP – long-time supporter of justice for Palestinians Peter Frankental – Programme Director Economic Affairs, Amnesty International UK Prof Avi Shlaim – British Israeli historian, award-winning author and more … https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/icahd-uk-annual-conference-2025-tickets-1570864862089 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). ”Netflix and BBC sent legal letter over Israel film boycott Source: Far Out Magazine Date: 13 October Last month, thousands of high-profile names in Hollywood, including the likes of Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Emma Stone, and Joaquin Phoenix, signed a letter on behalf of Film Workers for Palestine, pledging that they would not work with Israeli film institutions while the war in Gaza is still ongoing. Now major production houses and entertainment corporations in the UK, including Netflix, the BBC and the union Equity have reportedly been sent a letter by UK Lawyers for Israel asserting that the boycott could potentially be in breach of the UK Equality Act. Film Workers for Palestine have responded in a statement, which says: “This kind of intimidation tactic is used so commonly and unethically by UKLFI that a formal complaint was filed with the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority in Britain over ‘a seeming pattern of vexatious and legally baseless correspondence aimed at silencing and intimidating Palestine solidarity efforts.’” https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/netflix-bbc-legal-letter-israel-film-boycott/ Film Workers for Palestine pledge: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOVzqTPDpV6/?img_index=1 |
الشبكة البريطانية الفلسطينية للصحة النفسية 