| National March for Palestine – Tell the new PM – End the genocide Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: 18 July at 12 noon Location: Russell Square, central London Following Keir Starmer’s resignation, PSC is calling on the next Prime Minister to break with the previous government’s support for Israel and take concrete action. Join the march to send a powerful message to the next Prime Minister to stand up for Palestine and take all possible action, including sanctions, to end Israel’s genocide. https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-march-for-palestine-tell-the-new-pm-end-the-genocide/ The UK-Palestine Mental Health Network banner will be at the march. We will assemble at 12.30pm in the south-west corner of Russell Square, opposite Montague Street; please note that this is different from our usual meeting point. All are welcome. |
| UK-Palestine Mental Health Network mental health study tour Monday 26 October to Wednesday 4 November Limited places remain. Applications close on Friday 21 August. Applications are open for UKPALMHN’s 10-day study tour for mental health and social work practitioners interested in the relationship between political realities and psychological wellbeing in Palestine/Israel. The tour includes meetings with clinicians, academics, community groups and political analysts, with visits planned to Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah and Jaffa/Tel Aviv. Full details: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/autumn-tour-2026/ For an application form, please email ukpalmhn@gmail.com, including your name, address, contact details and professional qualifications. |
| “This is the last time you will see me. They brought me here to kill me. I don’t see myself surviving. This is the end.” Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who is held without charge in the Rakefet underground prison, speaking to his lawyer on 2 July Source: Physicians for Human Rights Israel Date: 5 July During a visit on 2 July, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya told his lawyer that he believed this would be their final meeting and that he had been brought to the underground Rakefet facility to be killed. He reported that guards had beaten him with a hammer and batons and that the abuse had become a daily occurrence, while his lawyer observed severe injuries, extreme weakness, breathing difficulties and signs that he was close to losing consciousness. https://www.phr.org.il/en/save-dr-abu-safiya/?pr=22935 |
| In Israel’s prisons, torture and death have become a norm that it barely tries to hide Source: The Guardian Date: 13 July In this opinion piece, Nesrine Malik uses the detention and torture of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya to illustrate the longstanding system of administrative detention without trial, abuse, enforced disappearance and deaths in custody affecting thousands of Palestinians, including children. She argues that these practices are extensively documented and increasingly carried out in plain sight, yet continue because they are treated as normal within Israel and provoke little meaningful action from its western allies .https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/13/israel-prison-torture-death-hussam-abu-safiya-palestine |
| Most documented. Least protected. Source: Lama Khouri writing on Substack Date: 3 July Dr. Khouri co-founded the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network Drawing on the Palestinian Feminist Collective’s report A predatory state, Lama Khouri examines eight decades of sexualised and gender-based violence against Palestinians, arguing that humiliation and torture are deliberately used to damage family bonds, communal identity and trust in the world. She describes the psychological effects as extending beyond those directly assaulted to children, relatives and witnesses, with trauma repeatedly reproduced through fear, shame, disrupted attachment and the lasting effects of being forced to watch loved ones degraded. Khouri argues that extensive documentation has failed to secure protection or accountability, and calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions, as well as sustained pressure on mental health organisations to confront torture, institutional complicity and silence. https://substack.com/home/post/p-204970477 |
| The man who walked toward the “yellow line” in Gaza – and the son he carried with himSource: Drop Site NewsDate: 11 July The report describes how Osama Al-Shafi’s mental health deteriorated under relentless fear, deprivation and loss until, in an apparently dissociated state, he walked towards Israeli soldiers carrying his 22-month-old son, Jawad; Osama was shot in the shoulder and remains detained, with his fate unknown. Jawad was returned with blood, puncture wounds and marks that a doctor reportedly considered consistent with deliberate cigarette burns used as torture, and now wakes in terror and speaks in fragments as Gaza specialists describe the population’s anguish as “continuous trauma” because the violence and threat have never ended. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-yellow-line-psychological-trauma-maghazi |
| Iterations of Hell: Settler colonialism as societal abuse Author: Martin Kemp Source: International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, Volume 23, Issue 2 Date: June 2026 Martin Kemp is a member of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Steering Group. This paper examines the ethical responsibilities of the psychoanalytic profession in the context of the Gaza genocide. It considers how the crisis in Palestine has prompted wider mobilisation and raised questions about the responsibilities of health professionals as citizens and members of civil society institutions. The paper explores a perceived divide between responses to harm in private settings, where moral responsibility and agency are more readily recognised, and responses to comparable harm in the public sphere, where these implications may be denied or avoided. It develops this argument through a discussion of child sexual exploitation and settler colonialism, and calls for psychoanalytic ethics to move beyond symbolic commitments to human rights towards standards consistent with established medical ethics https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/F7YZRJNKYSIP9TJJKJQS?target=10.1002/aps.70057 |
| A home for liberatory mental health Source: Palestine-Global Mental Health Network Date: 4 July Palestinian mental health professionals are inviting colleagues worldwide to help establish an international professional body for liberatory mental health practice, organised through independent chapters under a shared charter. The proposed body would provide clinicians across countries, languages and disciplines with a place for professional belonging, mutual support, supervision and collective thought, while refusing to separate clinical work from the political and material conditions affecting patients’ lives. The initiative responds to the alienation experienced by practitioners whose existing institutions require political silence or have marginalised them, and extends beyond Palestine to those working with communities facing oppression, displacement and state violence. https://www.pgmhn.org/statements/a-home-for-liberatory-mental-health |
| Genocidal politics of settler psychopathology and Palestinian liberation as healthy becoming – An extended interview with Dr Samah Jabr Source: Interventions – International Journal of Postcolonial Studies Date: 3 July https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369801X.2026.2681430 The article is not open access, but Dr Jabr provides an overview in a LinkedIn post: In the interview with researcher Anissa Haddadi, Dr Samah Jabr examines Palestinian mental health through the intersecting realities of settler colonialism, genocide and the politics of psychological knowledge, criticising approaches that strip suffering of its political context and reduce it to individual diagnoses such as PTSD. Drawing on Frantz Fanon, faith, spirituality, sumud, language, testimony and memory, she argues for a liberation-oriented psychology grounded in the experience of colonised peoples, in which justice, narrative reclamation and bearing witness are essential conditions for mental health. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7481360277012226050/ |
| Annihilated Families and the Politics of Mass Graves: Testimonies of Gazan women after the loss of entire kin networks Authors: Veronese, G., Hamamra, B., and Mahamid, F. Source: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Date: 2026 The article is not open access and the following summary is based on the published abstract. This study draws on interviews and testimonies from 30 displaced women in Gaza to examine the psychological effects of losing entire family networks, alongside the destruction of homes and neighbourhoods and the inability to recover and identify bodies, hold funerals, bury relatives with dignity and grieve collectively. It argues that trauma in Gaza is cumulative, relational and rooted in the destruction of collective life, requiring community-based and justice-oriented responses rather than solely individual clinical treatment. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08862605261463258 |
| Fearing cultural erasure, a Palestinian literary movement takes root Source: Publishing Perspectives Date: 18 June The article surveys a growing international movement to preserve and promote Palestinian literature, memory and cultural life in response to the destruction of libraries, universities, bookshops and other cultural institutions in Gaza. It highlights initiatives including archives of killed writers, projects documenting destroyed cultural sites, new Palestinian bookshops and magazines, and Gaza’s Phoenix Library, created from thousands of books salvaged from the rubble. https://publishingperspectives.com/2026/06/fearing-cultural-erasure-a-palestinian-literary-movement-takes-root/ |
| “Every post you write that refuses the official silence, every conversation you refuse to drop, every moment you say the word genocide in a room that wants you not to: that is a stream finding another stream.” Lama Khouri 11 actions that you can take for Palestine… |
| ACTIONS FOR DR ABU SAFIYA AND ALL PALESTINIAN PRISONERS / DETAINEES / HOSTAGES Amnesty International Release Dr Hussam Abu Safiya! https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/release-dr-hussam-abu-safiya/ Doctors Against Genocide Letters to Free Dr Hussam Abu Safiya https://doctorsagainstgenocide.org/actions/abu-safiya-letters Dr Abu Safiya action website https://savedrabusafiya.com/ Palestine-Global Mental Health Network From Australia to Indonesia, Ireland to Chile, Sweden to Abya Yala, and across the shatāt, clinicians and mental health workers are holding one line: free Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, and free every detained Palestinian health worker. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DawWBfZu4ci/ Red Ribbons Campaign – Free Palestinian Hostages (#FreePalHostages) An urgent humanitarian appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross for the immediate restoration of ICRC access to Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli custody https://www.instagram.com/p/DalcxHMCBQd/?img_index=1 Open letter to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health re: Unlawful Detention of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfyP4fDnfu0AX3z07KcLHv7tm4QTcRkeSr9H2hXOGtIHrGMIg/viewform Background and evidence United Nations Human Rights Council (Background information) Israel must release Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian medical personnel arbitrarily detained and adhere to international law, UN Commission of Inquiry says. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/07/israel-must-release-dr-hussam-abu-safiya-and-all-palestinian-medical?sub-site=HRC |
| OTHER FEATURED ACTIONS |
| Challenge the use of the IHRA definition to suppress criticism of Israel Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: July 2026 This appeal seeks donations towards a legal challenge arguing that the use of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism is incompatible with the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association guaranteed by the Human Rights Act. The case concerns Bea Foster, who was accused of antisemitism after sharing posts condemning Israel’s actions, and aims to protect advocacy for Palestinian rights from being silenced through the application of the definition. https://donate.palestinecampaign.org/oppose-the-IHRA |
| Thank you and congratulations to the British Medical Association Source: Public for BMA campaign on Action Network Date: July 2026 This action asks members of the public to email the British Medical Association to thank it and its members for rejecting the IHRA definition of antisemitism at its June 2026 annual representative meeting. Organisers describe the vote as a principled defence of freedom of expression on Palestine and invite supporters to demonstrate public backing as the BMA faces pressure to reverse the decision. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/thank-you-and-congratulations-to-the-bma |
| Petition: Suspend the IMA from the WMA Source: People’s Health Movement, Doctors for Gaza/Artsen voor Gaza and Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council Date: 30 June This petition calls on the World Medical Association to suspend the Israeli Medical Association, arguing that it has failed to uphold medical ethics or oppose attacks on Palestinian healthcare workers, the destruction of health services and reported abuses in detention. It asks healthcare workers, students and health institutions to sign, share the petition and press their national medical associations to support action ahead of the World Medical Association’s General Assembly in Rotterdam in October. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfe3SfFvOo2pgaEX6c5FAbsPivkQ2eNVMilxwMSQcAnjX64pQ/viewform |
| Email your MP: demand the UK bans trade with settlements Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians Date: June 2026 Medical Aid for Palestinians says Israel’s illegal settlements are forcing Palestinians from their land and worsening the healthcare crisis, and argues that government advice discouraging British businesses from settlement trade is insufficient. The action asks supporters to email their MPs demanding a legal ban on UK trade with illegal Israeli settlements. https://mailchi.mp/map.org.uk/urgent-demand-the-uk-ban-settlement-trade |
| Tent of Nations – Early Day Motion 502 Source: Friends of Tent of Nations UK Date: 2 July The Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent visit has brought renewed attention to the Tent of Nations, the Nassar family’s educational and ecological farm south-west of Bethlehem, known for its Christian-rooted commitment to non-violence and its message: “We refuse to be enemies.” The family have spent 35 years trying to protect and re-register their land through legal means, while facing restrictions on access, road construction through the farm, development of a nearby outpost, surveillance and harassment. Please write to your MP and ask them to sign Early Day Motion 502, which calls on the UK government to raise the Nassar family’s case with the Israeli authorities. https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/66221 An action pack, including a template letter, a briefing for MPs, an updated legal briefing and a booklet about the farm, is available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gw3sOr251O1G24D3WA_H0GAcpMURUnQc?usp=sharing |
| FEATURED EVENTS |
| ICAHD UK Annual Conference – Empowering the Palestinians in their struggle for justice Source: ICAHD Date: Saturday 17 October from 9.30am – 4.45pm Location: Porter Hall, The Wesley Hotel, London NW1 2EZ The conference will consider how Palestinians can be supported as Israel advances its settler-colonial and apartheid policies. It will also examine responses to the criminalisation of people and organisations demonstrating solidarity with Palestinians. https://icahd.org/2019/10/01/upcoming-events/ |
| 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, divestment and sanctions (BDS).” |
| Palestinian civic movement and civil society position on so-called “people-to-people” and “peacebuilding” initiatives Source: Al-Haq Date: 11 July Al-Haq is a leading independent Palestinian human rights organisation, founded in 1979. A broad coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations rejects “people-to-people” and “peacebuilding” initiatives that bring Palestinians and Israelis together without confronting occupation, apartheid, settler colonialism and genocide, arguing that such projects normalise oppression and marginalise Palestinian agency. The statement calls on governments, international organisations and donors to stop supporting these initiatives, end state, corporate and institutional complicity, and instead enforce international law and support Palestinian-led efforts for accountability, self-determination and return. https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/27696.html |
الشبكة البريطانية الفلسطينية للصحة النفسية 