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| National Demonstration at the Labour Party Conference Saturday 27 September – assemble 12 noon at St George’s Plateau, Liverpool, L1 1LQ Join the national demonstration for Palestine in Liverpool to bring the message directly to the Labour Party’s Conference: End Israel’s genocide, stop starving Gaza, stop arming Israel! https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demonstration-at-the-labour-party-conference/ UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 29 September 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 write to ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like to attend this meeting.  National March for Palestine Saturday 11 October – assemble at 12 noon in Central London Location to be confirmed End the Genocide – End Starvation – Stop Arming Israel https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demonstration-for-palestine-11-october/ #Press_Statement- Gaza- 22-9-2025 The Israeli Occupation Forces have just bombed Al-Shawa Building which houses GCMHP’s Gaza Community and Training centre. Gaza Community Mental Health Programme condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli act of destroying Al-Shawa Building, in Gaza City. The building was housing GCMHP’s main offices. GCMHP has been using its 7 rented offices in the targeted building to provide mental health and psychosocial services for war victims and affected people. The building was a pivotal point supporting thousands of beneficiaries who are categorised among the most fragile groups in the community, including children, women and people with disabilities. This targeting does not only represent a flagrant violation of the international law, but also aims at undermining the humanitarian efforts to support the civilians who live harsh conditions under the continuing aggression and siege. Despite the big losses and the increasing challenges, GCMHP emphasises that it will continue to commit to its humanitarian mission of providing psychosocial support for the affected. It also calls upon the international community and human rights organisations to promptly intervene to stop the recurring violations against the civilians and their infrastructure. Gaza Community Mental Health Programme There is currently no web link for GCMHP because the website is being restored following a recent cyber-attack. However, the Gaza Mental Health Foundation in the U.S.A is a partner of GCMHP and has a donations page: https://www.gazamentalhealth.org/support/ Palestine – Global Mental Health Network and its International Counterparts Joint Statement Words mean nothing in the face of ongoing atrocity, yet silence is also complicity. We find ourselves with no choice but to use our words to express our outrage. The Palestine–Global Mental Health Network and its international counterpart, the Palestine Mental Health Networks (which includes the UK Network), condemn in the strongest terms the Zionist entity’s bombing of the Al-Shawa Building in Gaza City, which housed the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme’s Gaza Community Center and Training Department. As networks of clinicians, scholars, and mental-health professionals, we cannot provide services on the ground in Gaza. But we can and must raise our voices to denounce the continuous atrocities the people of Gaza, and the Palestinian people at large, continue to face. The destruction of GCMHP’s center is not an isolated incident: it is part of a decades-long pattern of systemic targeting, dispossession, and assault carried out with utter disregard for international law and without any meaningful accountability. We call on all our colleagues in the medical and mental-health professions worldwide to join us in condemning such attacks, and to use their voices and institutions to demand that their governments: – Hold the Zionist entity accountable for repeated war crimes and crimes against humanity. – Enforce an immediate ceasefire. – Allow unrestricted and unconditional humanitarian aid into Gaza. – End the ongoing genocide. For two years, the world has witnessed endless atrocities live-streamed in real time, and yet no effective action has been taken. There is no other way forward: silence and delay enable genocide. The time for words without consequences has long passed. What is needed now is accountability, justice, and an end to impunity. Palestine–Global Mental Health Network The International Palestine Mental Health Networks https://www.pmhn-international.org/attack-on-the-gaza-community-mental-health-programme Gwyn Daniel interview with Al-Jazeera Source: Al-Jazeera Media Vie Date: 19 September Gwyn Daniel is a member of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Steering Group and a Patron of the Palestine Trauma Centre (UK) Gwyn discusses how Israel’s campaign functions as psychological warfare, combining physical destruction with sustained dehumanisation. She argues that repeated forced displacement, overcrowding, and the absence of safety strip people of agency and exhaust communities. Day-to-day survival tasks dominate life, while trauma and malnutrition inflict long-term cognitive and emotional harm on children. Despite moments of resilience, she describes a population pushed to endure the unendurable. Concise Q&A outline Interviewer: Is the current strategy in Gaza a form of psychological warfare? Gwyn: Yes—its purpose is to debilitate and control, pairing material devastation with a message that Palestinians cannot exist or cannot exist there. Interviewer: What are the key tools or elements of this tactic? Gwyn: Systematic destruction, forced relocations into ever smaller areas, and constant dehumanisation that removes agency and narrows every “choice” to harm. Interviewer: What role does constant displacement play? Gwyn: Serial uprooting over years, fear of never returning, loss of family and livelihoods, and lack of transport compound exhaustion and despair. Interviewer: How does this exhaust and humiliate people on the ground? Gwyn: Overcrowding, scarcity, and the grind of meeting basic needs make survival itself exhausting and erode dignity. Interviewer: How can people carry on, and what about children? Gwyn: People continue because they must, relying on community, but children face acute trauma and malnutrition with lifelong effects, including hyper-vigilance and expressions of hopelessness. Full interview (7 minutes): https://mediaview.aljazeera.com/video/XXPOGoMT1I FEATURED ACTIONS You can see a list of all current actions on this page: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Red Line for Gaza silent vigils The Red Line for Gaza coalition are asking supporters to join the interfaith Red Line action that will be taking place on Thursday 25 September at 11am outside the UK Parliament in London (King George V statute opposite Old Palace Yard) You are welcome to wear red and bring banners relating to the Red Line for Gaza which this week will be focusing on the theme of forced displacement. Details from the Jewish Network for Palestine: https://www.facebook.com/JewishNetworkforPalestine/posts/the-red-line-for-gaza-coalition-are-asking-supporters-to-join-the-interfaith-red/1222650353236192/ Make your own red line The coalition is keen for actions to also take place up and down the country. Christian Aid has shared ways that you can set up your own, simple Red Line actions in your home towns, at your local church, or similar. This can either fit in with the national actions or be at some other time. “There’s no ‘set way’ of doing this, do whatever works for you or your church.” https://www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/red-line-gaza-church-action UK Jewish Fast For Gaza on Yom Kippur Source: Jewish Peaceniks UK Date: Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 October Location: Westminster. The exact location to be disclosed nearer the date. An important initiative from our Jewish colleagues many of whom participated in the UKPMHN Fast for Gaza in July. To mark the 2nd anniversary of the Gaza genocide, Jewish Peaceniks UK are inviting a hundred Jews to join in a public fast on Yom Kippur to express our horror and outrage at the starvation of the Gazan population. The public fast will begin at sunset at 6.24 pm on Wednesday October 1st and end at 7.25pm on October 2nd. – Oct 1st: Kol Nidre. All participants will attend until 8.30 pm – Oct 2nd:Yom Kippur Participants can choose to attend for different periods of the day (See Registration Form) To attend the Yom Kippur Fast for Gaza, please complete the registration form: https://forms.gle/iqBXFrJPxYUByV45A FEATURED EVENT You can see our full list of events on this page: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ Authors Read for Gaza Source: Pages for Hackney Date: Thursday 25 September at 7pm Location: The Old School Rooms, London E5 A rolling evening of author readings to raise funds for two essential organisations operating in Gaza. https://www.instagram.com/p/DNpyEbtoyZ8/ 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).” Monmouthshire and Southwark divestment from companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: 19 September 20 local councils in England & Wales have supported divestment from companies enabling Israel’s atrocities. https://www.instagram.com/p/DOyHVE-CLL1/?img_index=1 PSC letter writing campaign: https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/divestmentduty Joining and shopping with the Co-op In May 2025, Co-op members voted for a boycott of Israeli products. In June 2025, the Co-op Board implemented a new sourcing policy confirming that Israeli goods would be removed from shelves. In September the Co-op started selling a Palestinian beer called Sun and Stone. As a result, the editor decided to join the Co-op which was very straight forward online and costs £1. https://www.coop.co.uk/membership We have now completed our first online shop You do not need to be a member to order on line you can also proceed as a guest. Hourly delivery slots are available up to 5 days in advance and we ordered for the next day. In our area, deliveries cost between £1.50 – £2.50 and are delivered in sturdy paper bags. It is also possible to order food for collection in store. The next step is to try the Palestinian beer. https://shop.coop.co.uk/ Workers stage massive strike across Italy in support of Gaza Source: Politico Date: 22 September Protests took place in 81 Italian towns and cities under the slogan “Let’s Block Everything.” The strike was organised after dockworkers in Genoa vowed to support the Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes prominent activist Greta Thunberg, by threatening to prevent the exit of container ships carrying goods to Israel. Last week, stevedores in the city of Ravenna refused entry to trucks said to be carrying arms destined for Israel. https://www.politico.eu/article/italian-workers-strike-support-gaza-palestine-state/ |
Author: ukpalmhnadmin
UKPALMHN mailing 18 September
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| UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 22 September 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 UK-Palestine Mental Health Network statement of support for the Sumud Flotilla Source: Palestine Mental Health Networks Date: September 2025 The Palestine Mental Health Networks is an international coalition of Networks, including the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network. It has issued a strong statement in support of the Sumud Flotilla currently sailing towards Gaza. This international initiative brings together participants from over 40 countries and six continents, delivering vital humanitarian aid and calling for an end to the blockade of Gaza. The statement highlights the ongoing humanitarian crisis, emphasising the deliberate starvation of civilians and calling for urgent international action. The Network urges all nations to ensure the flotilla’s safe passage and stresses that saving lives by breaking the blockade is a moral imperative. Read the full statement here: https://www.pmhn-international.org/new-page-3 Gaza Flotilla participants take great risks in the absence of government action Source: Milena Ansari, Human Rights Watch, writing in Common Dreams Date: 13 September Governments should be using all their leverage to prevent genocide by halting weapons sales to Israel, suspending preferential trade agreements, and imposing targeted sanctions against Israeli officials. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-flotilla-risks From Israeli prisons to UK courts, health workers will not be silenced Source: Middle East Eye Date: 15 September 2025 This opinion piece spotlights the targeting, detention, and silencing of Palestinian health workers in Gaza and the parallel arrests of UK health professionals protesting for Palestinian rights. It argues that medical professionals, bound by ethics and conscience, are facing increasing repression both in war zones and Western democracies for speaking out against violence and injustice. The author calls on medical institutions to defend free speech and the protection of health workers, insisting that the duty to humanity must override political pressures. https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israeli-prisons-uk-courts-health-workers-will-not-be-silenced Israel is committing genocide in Gaza says the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) Source: Reuters Date: 1 September The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president said. Eighty-six percent of those who voted among the 500-member IAGS backed the resolution declaring Israel’s “policies and actions in Gaza” had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 UN convention on genocide. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-is-committing-genocide-gaza-scholars-association-says-2025-09-01/ Full text of the IAGS Resolution on the Situation in Gaza: https://genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on-Gaza-FINAL.pdf IAGS page providing reaction to the Resolution and defending the robust process involved in the vote: https://genocidescholars.org/reactions-to-iags-resolution-on-gaza/ Top UN legal investigators conclude Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza Authoritative report by the UN on genocide paves way for ICJ ruling, authors say Source: Middle East Eye Date: 16 Setpember The UN’s top investigative body on Palestine and Israel ruled on Tuesday that Israel is guilty of the crime of genocide in Gaza, in the most authoritative pronouncement to date. The 72-page report by the UN commission of inquiry on Palestine and Israel finds Israel has committed four of the five acts prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention, and that Israeli leaders had the intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-concludes-israel-guilty-genocide-gaza Link to full report: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-crp-3.pdf “This war is a cruel, depraved and deliberate war on the children of Gaza and their future, a generation stolen. If the international community does not step up, we are facing the very real risk of the total annihilation of future Palestinian communities.” Source: Save the Children Date: 6 September https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/2025/gaza-20000-children-killed-23-months-war-more-one-child The Gaza Strip in the Grip of Genocide – Death, Starvation and Trauma Source: Second Palestinian Health Alliance Symposium Date: Tuesday 30 September 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm (UK time) The PHA is an informal network of Palestinian, regional and international researchers, committed to the highest scientific standards in describing, analyzing, and evaluating the health and health care of Palestinians, to contributing to the international scientific literature, and to developing local evidence-based policy and practice. You must register before Friday 26 September https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tY5J-VbACstkDQklA8az9Dt_Y5RAJDf2nZVouL6fzAM/viewform?edit_requested=true Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work special issue on Palestine Source: Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work Date: Setpember 2025 Vol 3, No 2 (2025) of this journal is a Special Issue: Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine This is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal dedicated to the development and dissemination of abolitionist values, theory, and praxis within the profession of social work. The guest editors are Stephanie Wahab of Portland State University in the US, and Rupaleem Bhuyan of the University of Toronto in Canada. Among the wide range of articles are ones by Lara Sheehi and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, close associates of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network. https://apsw-ojs-uh.tdl.org/apsw/issue/view/5 Together for Palestine There was a large solidarity and fundraising concert for Palestine in the Wembley Arena on Wednesday evening, organised by Brian Eno. Damon Albarn teamed up with the London Arab Orchestra and Juzour Dance Collective. Here they are in action on the New Musical Express YouTube channel, playing a medley of Palestinian traditional songs. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-xqeUZRWjMg Mary Nazzal speaking after the end of the concert: It’s a wrap, hats off to all. Stay tuned, this is the beginning. We must shake all spaces, cultural, sports, courts. This is it, we have to give it everything. Free P A L E S T I N E https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOvF4xhiKNg/ Lots more clips on the Together for Palestine Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/t4plive/ FEATURED ACTION You can see a list of all current actions on this page: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ UK Jewish Fast For Gaza on Yom Kippur Source: Jewish Peaceniks UK Date: Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 October Location: Westminster. The exact location to be disclosed nearer the date. An important initiative from our Jewish colleagues many of whom participated in the UKPMHN Fast for Gaza in July. To mark the 2nd anniversary of the Gaza genocide, Jewish Peaceniks UK are inviting a hundred Jews to join in a public fast on Yom Kippur to express our horror and outrage at the starvation of the Gazan population. The public fast will begin at sunset at 6.24 pm on Wednesday October 1st and end at 7.25pm on October 2nd. – Oct 1st: Kol Nidre. All participants will attend until 8.30 pm – Oct 2nd:Yom Kippur Participants can choose to attend for different periods of the day (See Registration Form) To attend the Yom Kippur Fast for Gaza, please complete the registration form: https://forms.gle/iqBXFrJPxYUByV45A or email: marshasanders21@gmail.com FEATURED EVENTS You can see our full list of events on this page: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ Palestine: Repair & Return – Interactive Workshop for Activists Thursday 18 September at 6:30pm Location: P21 Gallery, London and online This event presented by Theatre for Everybody (Gaza) and Az Theatre (London) will be a session run by MAKAN whose work is dedicated to equip people with the knowledge and skills they need to become effective advocates and informed allies in the struggle for liberation and justice in Palestine. This session will be run in collaboration with Theatre for Everybody co-directors, Hossam Madhoun and Jamal Al Rozzi. It will take its inspiration from ideas expressed at the event on Thursday 11 September on Stories of Activism. https://p21.gallery/index.php/node/450 Peace & Justice Project Annual Conference 2025 Saturday 20 September and Sunday 21 September Queen Mary University of London, 4 Newark St, London E1 2AT Join Jeremy Corbyn and a wide range of national and international speakers, panels and discussions on the global issues we face and how we overcome them. Session 1 on Saturday 20th is War and Building Peace with speakers including: Francesca Albanese, Gabor Maté, Ilan Pappé, Shahd Hammouri and Yasemine Acar. Chaired by Jeremy Corbyn MP. https://thecorbynproject.com/events/annual-conference-2025-programme-saturday-20-september/ 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).” Stop Trade with Settlements Source: Oxfam Date: 15 September A coalition of more than 80 humanitarian, development, human rights and faith-based organisations have launched a comprehensive joint report and international campaign calling for a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Continued trade, including services and investments with illegal Israeli settlements is incompatible with international law. Governments that permit such trade are complicit in sustaining Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise and its unlawful and prolonged occupation. The new, joint report is called “Trading with Illegal Settlements: How Foreign States and Corporations Enable Israel’s Illegal Settlement Enterprise” It seems that there is not a single web page for this campaign but that each participating organisation promotes the campaign through its own channels. The full list of participating organisations is shown at the start of the report. Two examples are provided here (both include a link to the campaign report): Oxfam https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/new-international-joint-campaign-stop-foreign-complicity-israels-illegal-settlement Britain Palestine Project https://mailchi.mp/britainpalestineproject/enewsletter-13535120 |
UKPALMHN mailing 10 September
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| WANT TO TAKE ACTION? https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ 17 new actions posted in August and September LOOKING FOR EVENTS? https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ 29 curated, up-to-date events currently listed UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 15 September 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 to attend this meeting. Update from EABCT conference and BABCP correspondence We reported last week on a coalition of activists leafleting the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (EABCT) annual conference in Glasgow. https://eabct2025.org/ The conference was hosted by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP). A video was recorded of an activist reading the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network open letter outside the venue. Towards the end of the recording, from 6:56 to the finish, the reader provides an update about a Special Interest Group meeting about Gaza that took place during the conference and which was attended by the BABCP and EABCT presidents. https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/eabct-conference-video-sept-2025/ At the start of the conference, Graham Bryce, a member of the executive group of the Scottish Palestinian Health Partnership, entered into a correspondence with Dr Moorey, BABCP President. The correspondence may have a broader interest for other activists that are dealing with the leadership of professional organisations who are fearful of the constraints imposed upon them by their charitable status. To start with, Dr Moorey refers to the “humanitarian disaster” taking place in Gaza and the reply provides a resounding refutation of this framing. Dr Moorey goes on to state that the BABCP is limited in speaking out due to its status as a UK charity. The reply highlights the actions that are still being taken by Medical Aid for Palestinians which is also a registered UK charity. It also lists a number of examples of public references to a “genocide” in Gaza, including by the First Minister of Scotland (the country hosting the conference). Finally, the reply explores a number of different actions and initiatives that are still open to the BABCP. The full correspondence can be seen here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/correspondence-with-babcp-september-2025/ On 4 September a message was circulated in the Scottish Healthworkers for Palestine WhatsApp group from someone who attended an EABCT symposium at the conference on the work of the EABCT Special Interest Groups. This reported that both the BABCP and EABCT presidents attended. They came under strong criticism from participants in the meeting which they had difficulty answering. Participants reportedly said that they should stop beating about the bush and instead should name what is happening in Gaza as genocide and ethnic cleansing. A group within the meeting suggested starting a WhatsApp group to take further action within both organisations. “You cannot put everyone in a therapy chair in Palestine” Source: Falastin Podcast 45 minute interview with Dr Samah Jabr Date: 4 September “When the trauma is collective, of course, we cannot put everyone in a therapy chair in Palestine, justice has a healing effect. And I think much of the psychological pain that we are experiencing now will be influenced by whether Palestinians see justice at the end or not. Without safe space, there is very little that we can do. Helplessness by itself can generate more negative psychological consequences. Pain can radiate and can be felt in a different part of the world or in a different part of the body. What we have been witnessing over the past 22 months in Gaza is an extreme intentional political trauma that targets the people of Gaza directly but it is creating circles of affected people. We see that there are reverberations for our pain and for our resilience. Our role as mental health professionals is to facilitate for people to tell their story […]” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaYeVg0OPPU Hunger, looting and lost childhoods: Gaza’s engineered collapse Israel’s genocidal assault is deliberately unravelling the fabric of Palestinian society Source: Ahmed Abu Artema writing in Middle East Eye Date: 3 September Whenever a friend from outside Gaza asks me how we are doing, I answer: our situation defies words. I recently shared with friends abroad a one-minute audio recording of an Israeli drone buzzing endlessly over our heads. I told them to imagine that this nerve-shredding noise has not abated for even a moment in the past 10 hours. Now imagine living under such crushing psychological pressure, almost without pause, for nearly two years. What kind of psyche can emerge from such extermination? Will anyone who survives be able to recover? […] https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/hunger-looting-and-lost-childhoods-gazas-engineered-collapse Gaza Mental Health Professionals Warn of Urgent, Widespread Trauma Crisis Source: Truthout Date: September 4, 2025 Mental health specialists in Gaza describe a collective stage of “chronic trauma fatigue” under ongoing siege conditions. The article details severe symptoms across all age groups—nightmares, panic attacks, dissociation, and rising adolescent self-harm—arguing that community-wide trauma is now reshaping the very social fabric. Practitioners urgently call for global support, robust trauma responses, and long-term investment in Gaza’s fractured mental health system. https://truthout.org/articles/gaza-mental-health-professionals-warn-of-urgent-widespread-trauma-crisis/ The prevalence of smartphone addiction and its related risk factors among Palestinian high school students: A cross-sectional study Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry Date: September 8, 2025 This large academic study finds that 57% of high school students surveyed in Palestine meet criteria for smartphone addiction, with strong links to anxiety, depression, poor teacher relationships, and inadequate social support. The authors highlight the impact of these factors on youth wellbeing and urge mental health professionals to address digital addiction with culturally appropriate interventions. The research underscores an emerging mental health priority for young Palestinians living under occupation. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1636080/full Reclaiming identity: The Gaza War’s role in shaping Palestinian university students’ resilience and life’s meaning Source: ScienceDirect (Acta Psychologica) Date: September 2025 This open access study examines how the 2023 Gaza War has impacted the resilience and sense of identity among Palestinian university students. Through in-depth interviews, the research highlights a collective, culturally rooted understanding of resilience, shaped by ongoing conflict and occupation. It underscores the essential role of community and education in helping young people adapt and maintain meaning amidst adversity. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825006250 Remembering Awdah: May his memory be a revolution A new website that seeks to continue Awdah’s legacy by sharing his written work, his presentations, and the ways in which he impacted those around him. Awdah Hathaleen, a lifelong activist and resident of Umm Al Khair, was murdered in cold blood on July 28, 2025 by a settler who invaded his village. Awdah was a beacon of joy, persistence, and warm-heartedness. He was a bedrock of his community and was known and loved by thousands of people all over the world whom he had welcomed into his village and into his community’s struggle. He was a storyteller who sought to teach and inspire visiting activists and supporters and to empower future generations of his community and those around him. https://www.rememberingawdah.com/ The Voice of Hind Rajab’ Receives Standing Ovation at Venice Film Festival Source: Palestine Chronicle Date: 4 September This article covers the powerful premiere of Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s film, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” at the Venice Film Festival—telling the true story of a Palestinian child killed by Israel in Gaza. The film moved audiences and critics, receiving a 23-minute standing ovation and highlighting the humanitarian crisis and emotional trauma facing children in Gaza. The article also notes that the Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a formal war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC), holding an Israeli officer responsible for the killing. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-voice-of-hind-rajab-receives-standing-ovation-at-venice-film-festival/ Meet the Gaza music teacher behind viral drone song Source: Al Jazeera English Date: 1 September A music teacher in Gaza has transformed the sound of Israeli drones into a powerful song honouring those killed in Israel’s genocide. Ahmed Muin Abu Amsha uses music to help displaced and traumatised Palestinian children cope amid war and devastation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtodtEKmYSE Here is the original drone song (turn on sub-titles to see the text in English and Arabic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6PeQ9ze5ks&t=6s FEATURED ACTIONTell your Councillors: Divest from Companies Enabling Israel’s Genocide Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: September 2025 PSC has sent a legal notice to every council in England & Wales administering a Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) fund, outlining that they are under a legal obligation to take steps to divest from companies enabling and profiting from Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. E-mail your councillors today to demand that the council ends its financial ties to companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/divestmentduty FEATURED EVENTS Palestine: Repair & Return – Stories of Activism Thursday 11 September at 6.30pm Location: P21 Gallery, London and online This event will be a public conversation about activism and creativity. It will engage with activists in the UK and Palestine and ask what people in both contexts consider effective and inspiring. There will be a bias towards asking how art activity relates to furthering the movement for justice and liberation in Palestine. We will talk about building community, gatherings, meetings, posters, performances, direct action. Also about how far activism relates to sanity and mental health. https://p21.gallery/node/449 Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (film screening) Saturday 13 September from 7pm – 10:30pm Source: Nilly Brook / Obscenity State Location: Palestine House, London WC1V 6JJ The film bears witness to the tragic realities of everyday life in Gaza through the lived experience of Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona. Heartbreakingly, soon after the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Fatma and her family were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Ahmed Alnaouq, Palestinian author of We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth, will be in conversation with event organiser and activist Nilly Brook. Together, they will discuss the targeting of journalists in Gaza. Copies of Ahmed’s book will also be available for purchase. Film screening at 8pm https://www.tickettailor.com/events/palestinehouse/1840703 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). ”Spain announces nine-point sanctions on Israel over Gaza genocide Source: Palestine Chronicle Date: September 8, 2025 This article reports on Spain’s announcement of a sweeping nine-point sanctions package against Israel, including an arms embargo, port and airspace restrictions, and entry bans for Israeli officials over actions in Gaza. The article highlights how Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez framed these measures as a moral and humanitarian response to the ongoing suffering and devastation faced by Palestinians. It details the scope of the sanctions, reactions from both governments, and the potential impact on humanitarian aid for Gaza. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/spain-announces-nine-point-sanctions-on-israel-over-gaza-genocide/ Shabana Mahmood MP, the new Home Secretary, advocating passionately in 2014 for boycott of Israel Her message was that boycot is a powerful tool to hold Israel and those who support apartheid to account. What will the be message in 2025? https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOTY63PDUrp/?igsh=cGIxZWg4d2pydWVw Slovenia will not participate at the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel participates Source: esctoday Date: 4 September Slovenia leads the way! https://esctoday.com/201566/slovenia-eurovision-2026-participation-in-jeopardy/ Israeli arms manufacturer closes UK facility targeted by Palestine Action Source: Guardian Date: 6 September An Israeli arms manufacturer’s facility in Bristol which was repeatedly targeted by Palestine Action appears to have closed unexpectedly. The Elbit Systems UK site in the Aztec West business park was the subject of dozens of protests by Palestine Action, including on 1 July, days before the direct action group was banned under the Terrorism Act. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/06/israeli-arms-manufacturer-elbit-systems-closes-uk-facility-targeted-by-palestine-action |
Mailing 3 September
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 https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-march-for-palestine-stop-starving-gaza-6-sept/ UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 8 September 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 for a link to this meeting.  Activist groups leafleting the current EABCT conference Source: UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Date: August 2025 The European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (EABCT) annual conference is currently taking place in Glasgow from 3-6 September. EABCT is a non-profit organisation that brings together 56 member associations and 7 affiliate associations from 43 different countries. https://eabct2025.org/ The EABCT conference in Scotland is hosted by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP). Two activist groups attended the opening day of the conference on Wednesday 3 September distributing open letters. Firstly, the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network prepared a leaflet and contacted participating bodies calling on participants to: “… take the opportunity of this large professional conference to follow the plea of Anas al-Sharif <the Al-Jazeera journalist who was recenty killed by Israel>, to speak out against the genocide in Gaza and to demand your professional bodies do likewise” The full text of the leaflet is available here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/eabct-2025-flyer/ Secondly, the Scottish Palestine Health Partnership, Health Workers 4 Palestine, Psychiatrists for Palestine, and PalMed UK distributed an open letter to the Chair of BABCP, issued the following call: “BABCP as an organisation is committed to improving mental health. In Gaza we see a health crisis of almost unimaginable proportions. The impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the population is likely to reverberate for generations. That is why we ask you, as President of BABCP, to address this matter explicitly and unambiguously in the opening session of the forthcoming conference with a condemnation of the killing by Israel of Palestinians civilians and the deliberate destruction of health infrastructure.” https://ukpalmhn.com/joint-letter-to-babcp-2025/  Activists (including more out of shot) leafleting at the start of the EABCT annual conference in Glasgow. Palestinian psychiatrist Dr Samah Jabr on dealing with trauma in Gaza Source: ABC Radio (Australia) (27 minute audio interview) Date: 21 August Dr Samah Jabr is a world-renowned psychiatrist who has spent over twenty years practising in the West Bank and Gaza. In a powerful interview, she describes the psychological impact the war in Gaza is having on Palestinian children and their families. Dr Jabr says in a place where there are few resources and constant bombardment, collective approaches grounded in the community are the most useful ways to help a traumatised people. She also says maintaining a belief in the fundamental goodness of people is what gives Palestinians a sense of hope and resilience. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/dr-samah-jabr/105681292 Radiance in Pain and Resilience: The Global Reverberation of Palestinian Historical Trauma by Dr Samah Jabr Source: Wakefield Press (Australia) Date: August 2025 (published) A powerful collection of essays that explore the enduring psychological impact of colonial violence on Palestinians and global communities. Drawing from her experience as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Dr Jabr weaves together personal reflections and clinical insights, highlighting themes of resistance, trauma, and healing. The book features a foreword by renowned trauma expert Dr Gabor Maté. https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product/radiance-in-pain-and-resilience/ We’re Sailing To Gaza When the World Stays Silent, We Set Sail. Source: Global Sumud Flotilla Date: August and September The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) is the largest civilian maritime mission organised to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza. Coordinated by grassroots organisers, seafarers, doctors, artists, and solidarity activists from over 40 countries, the flotilla is a nonviolent humanitarian mission responding to the ongoing genocide and siege against the Palestinian people. In August and September 2025, boats of all sizes will set sail from ports around the world, converging toward Gaza to open a humanitarian corridor by sea. The flotilla brings together participants and organisers from the Global March to Gaza, Sumud Convoy, Sumud Nusantara, and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition*, building on decades of Palestinian resistance and international solidarity to shift the global narrative and confront international complicity. #SAILTOGAZA https://globalsumudflotilla.org/ Powerful writing from Gaza Here is some more writing from Dr Saeed, a Mental Health Specialist and Writer in Gaza who is in regular contact with colleagues in the UK. We have featured his eloquent writing before. |
3 September 2025
I call upon the television channels that host military analysts to dedicate a portion of their airtime — time carved directly from our lives — not to “battle maps” or “grand strategies” for wars that don’t even exist in reality, but to the details of how we survive, day by day, under fire.
Is it not the right of every citizen in Gaza to know how to deal with the drones that stalk us night and day? Is it not strange that after two years of relentless killing, we still do not know the names of these drones, their functions, or the ways they are used to take our lives?
What should one do if they wake up buried under rubble?
How do we deal with incendiary bombs — do we put them out with water, or does water only make them fiercer?
In which corner of the tent should we sleep to avoid shrapnel? And what if the tent itself is torn into a crater by a massive blast — where do the neighbours begin searching for the remains of those who were just alive a moment ago?
And what if one morning the camp awakens to find tanks at its gates? What must people do to avoid the fate of families crushed beneath their tracks in an instant?
Instead of inflating us into mythical beings who never die, would it not be far more useful for these analysts to share the simple, practical knowledge that might save a single life?
As a citizen living beneath the brutality of fire, I have the right to understand the nature of the death that may soon be mine — so that perhaps I do not die a thousand times each night.
And more than that, I have the right to learn how to live. Speak to us about life — it matters far more to us than speeches about us after we are gone.
ACTIONS
WANT TO TAKE ACTION?
Already in September we have added 6 new actions on our dedicated Actions Page. Take a look and see how you can support campaigning and activism.
https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/
If you know of any future, relevant actions that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com
FEATURED ACTIONS
Open Letter to the Royal College of Nursing
A Call for Urgent Action against the Genocide in Gaza
Source: Nurses for Palestine
Date: September 2025
A call to action: Why is the RCN still silent on the genocide in Gaza? We urge the RCN to use their power, speak out and pressure our government to take action. We challenge the RCN’s position of “neutrality” and reject this as “the voice of nursing”.
More information:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5FGr2NFrbT6i9n_a4a-75RRNYtanCNSYYRidBSXdqeWwi2g/viewform
Link to full letter:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PqUUWRxCJic-lCqmj8-GlkuNsfb36AuB08m9EZz7vHE/edit?tab=t.0
Nurses for Palestine are also running a series of vigils (all at 12 noon)
London – Monday 8 September
Cardiff – Wednesday 10 September
Edinburgh – Thursday 11 September
Belfast – Friday 12 September
Full details:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DODdafZjA7k/
Tell your Councillors: Divest from Companies Enabling Israel’s Genocide
Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Date: September 2025
PSC has sent a legal notice to every council in England & Wales administering a Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) fund, outlining that they are under a legal obligation to take steps to divest from companies enabling and profiting from Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. E-mail your councillors today to demand that the council ends its financial ties to companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/divestmentduty
AMENDMENT FROM PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN
PSC Lobby of Parliament will now take place on Tuesday 9th September 2025
The PSC lobby was originally scheduled for Wednesday 10 September, but has been moved a day earlier in solidarity with PCS workers taking industrial action in parliament. Please complete this action to register or re-register your participation for the new date.mIf you previously registered, but are not able to come to parliament on the 9th September, then please click here to notify us and your MP.
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/LobbySept2025new
EVENTS
WANT TO NETWORK, LEARN AND SHOW SOLIDARITY?
THERE’S A LOT GOING ON AFTER THE SUMMER BREAK.
Find your way to express solidarity and to support justice for Palestinians from our up to date list of 34 curated events on our dedicated Events page (up to date as of 3 September)
https://ukpalmhn.com/events/
If you know of any future, relevant events that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com
FEATURED EVENTS
The Biosphere of Genocide (webinar) with Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah
Chair of Conflict Medicine at the Global Health Institute of the American University of Beirut
Source: Britain Palestine Project
Date: Monday 8 September at 3 pm UK time
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aD9Rg6XeTGmQiyTMXeLiEg#/registration
Reporting Gaza: A Public Talk with Wael Al-Dahdouh
Source: SOAS Department of Media Studies and Islaah SOAS
Date: Monday 8 September from 4pm – 5:30pm (UK time)
Location: SOAS Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, Russell Square London WC1B 5DQ
Join us for a compelling and timely conversation with Wael Al-Dahdouh, the veteran, award-winning journalist and Gaza bureau chief for Al Jazeera. For months, his reporting has served as a critical window to the world, offering unflinching coverage from the heart of the conflict. He has not only reported on the devastation but has also endured immense personal loss, becoming a global symbol of journalistic resilience and the human cost of war.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reporting-gaza-a-public-talk-with-wael-al-dahdouh-tickets-1649697001139
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).”
Supermarket imports of Israeli food plunge amid Palestine activist pressure
Consumer boycotts of goods such as avocados, tomatoes and couscous affect UK retailers
[This Instagram post has a link to the source Daily Telegraph article which is partly visible behind a paywall]
https://www.instagram.com/p/DOAp5L1CqzF/?igsh=aWRxNW4zZDY5aHJ5
Co-op launches Palestinian beer amid Israel boycott
Taybeh Brewing Co, a Palestinian microbrewery, has secured a national listing with the Co-op for its new collaboration with Scottish B Corp Brewgooder. The move comes as the retailer ends trade with Israeli suppliers following a member-backed policy on ethical sourcing.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/08/co-op-launches-palestinian-beer-amid-israel-boycott/
Mailing 27 August
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https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-march-for-palestine-stop-starving-gaza-6-sept/ Support for Chilean Network protesting and event in Santiago Source: Palestine-Global Mental Health Network Date: August 2025 The Palestine-Global Mental Health Network has coordinated a letter in support of the Chilean network, protesting against an invitation to the US/Israeli academic Tal Ben-Shahar to an event in Santiago. The UK Network has signed this letter of support. The full text of the letter is available here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/letter-to-the-organizers-of-the-san-carlos-de-apoquindo-event-centre/ The International Community Must Act Now in Gaza and the West Bank Source: PsychoActive (statement) Date: August 2025 PsychoActive is “a group of practicing and academic mental health professionals who have set themselves the goal of being active in areas of social-political concern, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The group developed out of the members’ need to expand therapeutic discourse and practice to include the social and political contexts.” https://psychoactive.wixsite.com/website PsychoActive has recently issued a statement “The International Community Must Act Now in Gaza and the West Bank“ that is signed by 31 mental health professionals and which concludes: “[…] As witnesses to these ongoing atrocities, the international community bears responsibility not just to observe but to act. History will judge not only those who committed these acts but also those who had the power to stop them and chose silence. We have seen how governmental mechanisms of dehumanisation make ordinary citizens complicit in extraordinary crimes. The international community has tools to break this cycle – economic leverage, legal mechanisms, and diplomatic pressure that can create accountability where domestic systems have failed. This is not a time for symbolic gestures or cautious diplomacy. It is a time for the moral clarity and courageous action that protecting human life demands. The question is not whether the international community can act, but whether it will choose to do so before it is too late. The children of Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank – Palestinian and Israeli alike – deserve a future free from trauma and violence. That future requires international intervention today.” https://psychoactive.wixsite.com/website/the-international-community-must-act-now We Are Still Here: An anthology of resilience, grief, and unshattered hope from Gaza’s university students (a new book) Source: Dajarapress Date: August 2025 (publication date) We Are Still Here is an anthology of the voices of students from Gaza – raw, unfiltered, and courageous. It features short and long stories, poems, essays, and testimonies written by students from Gaza’s universities. These are not retrospective reflections or distant analyses; they are real-time words, emerging from the depths of genocide, displacement, and grief. These writings may be their last hopes to reach the world, a final act of resistance through expression. https://darajapress.com/publication/we-are-still-here/  Please note the deadline of Friday 29 August ACTIONS WANT TO TAKE ACTION? So far in August, we have posted 14 actions on our dedicated Actions Page: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ If you know of any future, relevant actions that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com FEATURED ACTION Stop arming Israel (crowd sourcing appeal) Source: Global Legal Action Network Date: August 2025 GLAN and Palestinian human rights organisation, Al-Haq, are challenging the export of weapons to Israel for use in Gaza. […] We urgently need to build a groundswell of support to get this case over the line in this final push. We must send a clear message to government: complicity in war crimes and other atrocity crimes including genocide, is unlawful. […] This case is about ensuring that Britain complies with its own policies on the export of weapons and does not contribute to war crimes or breaches of International Humanitarian Law. https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-arming-israel EVENTS WANT TO NETWORK, LEARN AND SHOW SOLIDARITY? As of 27 August there are 21 upcoming, curated events listed on our dedicated events page: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ If you know of any future, relevant events that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com FEATURED EVENT The Biosphere of Genocide (webinar) with Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah Chair of Conflict Medicine at the Global Health Institute of the American University of Beirut Source: British Palestine Program Date: Monday 8 September at 3 pm UK time https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aD9Rg6XeTGmQiyTMXeLiEg#/registration 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).” United Methodist Church divests from Israel bonds Source: Mondoweiss Date: 18 August The United Methodist Church (UMC) will divest from Israel bonds and from other governments maintaining illegal military occupations, making it the first church in the world to make such a pledge. [Wikipedia describes The United Methodist Church (UMC) as a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism.] https://mondoweiss.net/2025/08/united-methodist-church-divests-from-israel-bonds/ |
Mailing 21 August
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| Al-Haq registry of Israeli genocidal statements Source: Al-Haq Date: August 2025 Al-Haq is a respected, independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based in Ramallah, West Bank. It has launched a public database of Israeli genocidal statements providing important evidence of intent. https://intent.alhaq.org/ More information about the extensive legal actions undertaken or supported by Al-Haq are available here: https://mailchi.mp/alhaq.org/al-haq-midyear-newsletter-when-the-international-community-fails-to-act-we-must-hold-them-accountable-9488095 Petition for the End of the Genocide in Gaza! In Defense of a Free Palestine! Manifesto of the Brazilian Jungian Community for the End of the Genocide in Gaza We, the undersigned, professionals of the Brazilian Jungian community, hereby demand the immediate end of the genocide of the Palestinian people, carried out by the far-right government of Israel with the support of the United States and European powers. […] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ONcdgtKM_3b-lGScx8BFESuft4ySN5RHD0CJxpVfRrs/edit ACTIONS WANT TO TAKE ACTION? As of 20 August, we have 15 actions posted in July and August on our dedicated Actions Page: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ If you know of any future, relevant actions that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com EVENTS WANT TO NETWORK, LEARN AND SHOW SOLIDARITY? As of 20 August there are 20 upcoming, curated events listed on our dedicated events page: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/If you know of any future, relevant events that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com FEATURED EVENTS  Welcome to Gaza Friday 22 and Saturday 23 August Palestine House, London WC1V 6JJ Source: Hands Up ProjectWe’re thrilled to invite you to witness Welcome to Gaza- a powerful, moving theatrical performance created by young Palestinian voices. After heartfelt showings at the Totnes Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Welcome to Gaza is heading to London Palestine House. These aren’t just plays. They’re a raw and brave expression of life under siege, told by the children who live it. Featuring a unique blend of drama, and real-time verbatim messages from Gaza (before and after October 7, 2023), this performance gives space to voices too often unheard. Directed by Peter Oswald and performed by a group of incredible Palestinian talents, Welcome to Gaza is a rare chance to connect with the resilience and creativity of Palestinians. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/palestinehouse/1794023 Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk (film) Wednesday 20 August – UK Premiere Edinburgh Film Festival From Friday 22 August – in cinemas For a year, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi recorded her video calls with photojournalist Fatma Hassona, creating a vivid and haunting video testimony of her daily life in Gaza. Through the faltering intimacy of the phone screen, a strong bond develops between the two women, and Fatma’s unfailing resilience creates a powerful contrast to the ongoing devastation and destruction around her. Combining their video calls with Fatma’s arresting images of Gaza, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is a testament to this talented photographer, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike days after the film’s completion. https://releasing.dogwoof.com/put-your-soul-on-your-hand-and-walk Official trailer: https://youtu.be/9yaSKI1wc-M Detained, Tortured, Disappeared: The Israeli military’s targeting of Palestinian children Source: Defense for Children International – Palestine Date: Tuesday 26 August at 5pm (UK time) Israel is the only country in the world that systematically detains, tortures, prosecutes, and imprisons children in a military detention system. Around 500 to 700 Palestinian children are targeted by this system each year, and the brutal abuse they face by Israeli forces has severely intensified since October 7, 2023. Now, Israeli forces are detaining, torturing, and disappearing Palestinian children from Gaza, with no accountability. This webinar will train attendees on the basics of Israel’s military detention system and how it targets Palestinian children to exert control over the Palestinian people. Attendees will hear directly from Defense for Children International – Palestine about the hurdles faced by lawyers trying to provide legal aid for child detainees. This training will also include actions to take in support of Palestinian child detainees from the United States, United Kingdom, and other places around the world. https://www.dci-palestine.org/detained_tortured_disappeared_20250826 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).” Cumberland Council commits to divest from companies enabling Israel’s crimes Cumberland Council has declared that it will end financial ties with companies supplying weapons to Israel, and those active in Israel’s illegal settlements. The council will also call on Cumbria Pension Fund to similarly divest. Cumbria Pension Fund must immediately heed this call, and commit to begin to divest the £74million+ it has invested in companies facilitating Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians. This win is testament to the tireless campaigning of Carlisle & District PSC. Cumberland Council is the 17th council in Britain to support divestment from companies enabling Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. This link provides material for further action: https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/councillorsaction |
UKPALMHN mailing 13 August
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| UKPALMHN Solidarity Space The next Solidarity Space meeting will be on Monday 1 September 2025. Regrettably, this means that there will not be Solidarity Space meetings on: Monday 25 August – no meeting Ahed Tamimi – National Symbol of Resistance on Liberation, Law & Living Under Occupation (rare 50-minute interview) Source: The Enlightenment Podcast Date: 9 August [Many of you will remember our UKPMHN conference on Palestinian Children in March 2019. We wanted to hear directly from Palestinian children and Mohammed Mukhaimer, one of our Steering Group, interviewed Ahed on zoom.. We are pleased to circulate this recent interview with her especially as violent settler attacks on her village, Nebi Sala and all over the West Bank are escalating.] From Hanan Kattan in the Enlightenment Podcast: “A young Palestinian girl raises her hand and slaps an IDF soldier. It was an iconic moment that put Ahed Tamimi, her defiant face and blonde curls, on front pages all over the world. Ahed resisted, she wrote a book ‘They Called Me Lioness’, she refused to submit. She was jailed, then put under house arrest by the IDF. She rarely gives interviews, but we’re honoured that Ahed is our guest. Risking yet more time in Israeli prisons, Ahed speaks openly, with raw honesty, about her experiences, her frustration and her vision of the future. We believe that at this crucial moment for Palestine, Ahed’s message needs to be amplified, and we’re asking if you will take the time to post a link to the full episode for your followers and community today.Thank you in advance for considering helping get Ahed’s words to a world that needs to hear them.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BanFKA9Vep4 (50 minute episode. The interview with Ahed starts at 2:00) Strong responses to an inadequate statement by the International Federation of Social Workers. On 19 July, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), which has hitherto been silent on the genocide in Gaza, published a “Public statement of solidarity with Palestinian social workers and the people of Gaza” – https://www.ifsw.org/public-statement-of-solidarity-with-palestinian-social-workers-and-the-people-of-gaza/ The IFSW is STILL silent on the genocide in Gaza, as this weak and inadequate statement makes no mention of it, nor of apartheid, occupation, settler colonialism, or ethnic cleansing. It refers to Palestinian suffering, but makes no mention of who is causing this suffering. On 29 July, the Irish Association of Social Workers issued a groundbreaking response: “The omission of terms like ‘genocide’, ‘ethnic cleansing’, ‘starvation’ and ‘war crimes’ significantly weakens the moral and legal clarity needed to address the ongoing crisis. […] The passive language used, phrases like ‘end the violence’ and ‘protect the lives of civilians’, masks the agency of the perpetrators. These vague statements obscure the direct actions of the Israeli state and the Israel Defence Forces, which are causing the suffering and deaths of countless innocent civilians. Without explicitly naming the aggressors, the call for peace risks becoming a neutral stance in the face of oppression, erasing accountability and downplaying the urgency of confronting the reality of state-sponsored violence.” Their full response: https://iasw.ie/Response_to_IFSW_Statement_on_Palestine On 2 August, the Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists lambasted the IFSW statement: “While framed as ‘solidarity’, the statement is little more than a carefully worded exercise in neutrality. It fails to name the aggressor, omits the term genocide, and avoids addressing the occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid that underpin the Palestinian tragedy. This is not solidarity. This is complicity masked as diplomacy.” https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/puswp-response-to-ifsw-statement-july-2025/ The UK group, Social Workers for a Free Palestine, have contacted BASW and called on them to also speak out against the IFSW statement. The group is working on its own response. To find out more about Social Workers for a Free Palestine: email: sw4palestineuk@gmail.com X: @SW4PalestineUK Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialworkersforafreepalestine/ ACTIONSWANT TO TAKE ACTION? As of 13 August, we have 14 actions posted in July and August on our dedicated Actions Page: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ We have a record number of recent actions listed on our web page this week so a big shout out to the volunteers who are helping to scan the web for relevant material. You know who you are! If you know of any future, relevant actions that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com FEATURED ACTIONS Write to your MP: Recall Parliament for Gaza Israel is escalating its abhorrent attacks against the Gaza Strip, including by announcing plans to “take control of all Gaza”. Palestinians cannot wait for parliamentarians to return from their summer break to respond to the ongoing genocide they face. Please write to your MP to demand the government recalls Parliament from its summer recess in order to impose immediate sanctions against Israel, including ending all arms trade and military cooperation. https://palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/recallparliament Think these are unrealistic demands? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/1/slovenia-becomes-first-eu-country-to-impose-arms-embargo-on-israel From Palestine House, 113 High Holborn, London WC1V 6JQ: Good morning. The British Palestinian community will be holding:a 3 day vigil outside Palestine House starting from Tuesday 12 August between 7pm-10pm to commemorate Anas and all the journalists in Palestine. They ask all groups to get involved. EVENTS WANT TO NETWORK, LEARN AND SHOW SOLIDARITY? As of 13 August there are 25 upcoming, curated events listed on our dedicated events page: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ This week we have a record number of events listed on our web page so it is time to say a big thank you to the volunteers who are helping to scan the web for relevant material. You know who you are! If you know of any future, relevant events that can be added to the page then please let us know at: ukpalmhn@gmail.com FEATURED EVENTS Welcome to Gaza Friday 22 and Saturday 23 August Palestine House, London WC1V 6JJ Source: Hands Up ProjectWe’re thrilled to invite you to witness Welcome to Gaza- a powerful, moving theatrical performance created by young Palestinian voices. After heartfelt showings at the Totnes Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Welcome to Gaza is heading to London Palestine House. These aren’t just plays. They’re a raw and brave expression of life under siege, told by the children who live it. Featuring a unique blend of drama, and real-time verbatim messages from Gaza (before and after October 7, 2023), this performance gives space to voices too often unheard. Directed by Peter Oswald and performed by a group of incredible Palestinian talents, Welcome to Gaza is a rare chance to connect with the resilience and creativity of Palestinians. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/palestinehouse/1794023 Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk (film) Wednesday 20 August – UK Premiere Edinburgh Film Festival From Friday 22 August – in cinemas For a year, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi recorded her video calls with photojournalist Fatma Hassona, creating a vivid and haunting video testimony of her daily life in Gaza. Through the faltering intimacy of the phone screen, a strong bond develops between the two women, and Fatma’s unfailing resilience creates a powerful contrast to the ongoing devastation and destruction around her. Combining their video calls with Fatma’s arresting images of Gaza, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is a testament to this talented photographer, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike days after the film’s completion. https://releasing.dogwoof.com/put-your-soul-on-your-hand-and-walk Official trailer: https://youtu.be/9yaSKI1wc-M 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).” Cumberland Council commits to divest from companies enabling Israel’s crimes Cumberland Council has declared that it will end financial ties with companies supplying weapons to Israel, and those active in Israel’s illegal settlements. The council will also call on Cumbria Pension Fund to similarly divest. Cumbria Pension Fund must immediately heed this call, and commit to begin to divest the £74million+ it has invested in companies facilitating Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians. This win is testament to the tireless campaigning of Carlisle & District PSC. Cumberland Council is the 17th council in Britain to support divestment from companies enabling Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. This link provides material for further action: https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/councillorsaction |
UKPALMHN mailing 30 July
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| UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 4 August 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 for a link to this meeting. National March for Palestine – Stop Starving Gaza – Stop Arming Israel Saturday 9 August from 12 noon – 4pm Central London Further details to follow https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-march-for-palestine-stop-starving-gaza-stop-arming-israel/ PSC Statement on Starmer’s announcement on Palestinian statehood Source: Palestine Solidarity Campaign Date: 30 July PSC condemns Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement on Tuesday which fails to address the urgent pressure needed for Israel to end its genocide in Gaza. It shamefully frames the Palestinian right to self-determination within the context of Israel’s actions, rather than as an inalienable right of the Palestinian people. Tuesday’s announcement came in part because of intense pressure from the British public, expressed in the huge protest movement that has persevered over many months. […] We call upon people to join the protests we have called over the summer, including the next national march on Saturday 9 August. We must sustain pressure on the government to take the action required, as outlined above, to bring an end to the genocide and a dismantling of the structures of oppression Israel has employed for decades to deny the Palestinian people their inalienable rights. https://palestinecampaign.org/psc-statement-on-starmers-announcement-on-palestinian-statehood/ What if they were ours? Aneeza Pervez on moral failure and the lives of Palestinian children. Source: The British Psychological Society website Date: 25 July 2025 “Psychology cannot claim to protect children if it is only willing to do so selectively. This is not about slogans. It is about the daily, often unseen ways we model our values: in what we publish, what we teach, and what we refuse to name. Palestinian children are not collateral. They are not too complex or too controversial to grieve. They are children, entitled to safety, dignity, and care.” https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/what-if-they-were-ours British Psychological Society and BDS A group of psychologists are aiming to hold the British Psychological Society (BPS) to account over the genocide and to get the BPS to commit to the Palestinian-led call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (https://bdsmovement.net/) If you are a member of the BPS and want to be involved, please contact: Artemis: artichristinaki@gmail.com or Ian: discourseunit@gmail.com “Pull a Baby Out of Your Bag?” The Question That Exposes a Genocide. Source: Lama Khouri (from the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network) writing in CounterPunch Date: 30 July It was January 2025 […] I stood with other seasoned professionals in the Capitol Hill lobby, planning our day of advocacy for Palestine. […] We were a quiet crowd when four or five guards approached. One of them — short, stocky, visibly angry– began shouting as if shooing away a herd of animals: “This is your first warning. If you do not disperse, I will arrest all of you!” We shuffled slightly, exchanging quizzical glances, unsure what had triggered such fury. Then came the line that would haunt me: “What are you going to do now, pull a baby out of your bag?” In seven words, this guard had unknowingly exposed the mechanism by which an entire society can watch children starve on their screens and remain unmoved. https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/30/pull-a-baby-out-of-your-bag-the-question-that-exposes-a-genocide/ The Prime Minister – after 20 months of negotiation – has approved the Project Pure Hope proposal for a government scheme to medically evacuate a cohort or 30 children from Gaza to the UK Source: Project Pure Hope Date: 26 July A Co-Founder of Project Pure Hope (an initiative by private citizens) providing a powerful description of the work of the project and the most recent developments in an extended Sky News interview (approximately 5 minutes): https://www.instagram.com/p/DMkfcRgoJpe/ Project Pure Hope website: https://www.purehope.co.uk/ “Our Genocide”: Israel is Committing Genocide in the Gaza Strip Source: B’Tselem (Israeli human rights organisation) Date: 28 July Friends and partners, It’s almost impossible to comprehend, but for nearly two years, Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. As Israelis and Palestinians who live here, and who are exposed daily to testimonies and lived reality, it is our duty to speak the honest and whole truth. […] In our new report, we present facts, data and testimonies that demonstrate how Israel is systematically destroying Palestinian society in Gaza through creating catastrophic living conditions that make continued existence impossible. This, precisely, is the definition of genocide. Press release: https://mailchi.mp/btselem/18act4vnza-9433659?e=3bc8bb3a1e Report launch video (7 minutes): https://youtu.be/OngVkKu6rHk?si=0JIyYE0oHQJSdAvo Full Report: https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/202507_our_genocide_eng.pdf Destruction of Conditions of Life: A Health Analysis of the Gaza Genocide Source: Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) Date: 28 July “This report documents the Israeli assault for what it is: a deliberate, cumulative, and ongoing dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare system – and of the population’s ability to survive. Its meaning: genocide.” PHRI news release: https://www.phr.org.il/en/genocide-in-gaza-eng/ Full report: https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Genocide-in-Gaza-PHRI-English.pdf Children who refuse to give up hope in a hopeless world Source: Middle East Eye (short video) Date: 25 July A group of children on Egypt’s northern Sinai coast have begun throwing plastic bottles filled with rice, pasta, and grains into the sea, hoping the tide will carry them to Gaza. One of the children, Janaat Abdon, said the idea was to send food “from the children of Sinai to the children of Gaza”. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMinfCbIeJn/ ACTIONSWANT TO TAKE ACTION? We have 13 actions posted in July and ready to go on our dedicated Actions Page: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Protesting over Gaza’s starvation feels like screaming into a void – but we mustn’t stop https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/28/gaza-israel-aid-starvation-children FEATURED ACTION  DAY OF ACTION – STOP STARVING GAZA – Pots and Pans protests Friday 1 August at 6pm After last Friday’s national day of action we must keep the pressure up. Join us in towns across Britain as we once more lay down pots and pans to represent those starved to death by Israel’s genocidal blockade and demand our politicians take action to end Israel’s starvation of Gaza. Nationwide actions – details of local actions will be available here: https://palestinecampaign.org/events/day-of-action-stop-starving-gaza-pots-and-pans-protests/ EVENTSWANT TO NETWORK, LEARN AND SHOW SOLIDARITY? Our Events Page lists 16 curated events taking place in July, August and September: https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ FEATURED EVENT Between Sky and Sea Exhibition Saturday 2 August from 3pm – 11pm Palestine House, London WC1V 6JJ Between Sky and Sea is a photography exhibition by the late Palestinian artist Ismail Abu Hatab, created remotely from Gaza during the 2023–2024 war. Despite severe injuries and living under siege, Abu Hatab documented the lives of displaced Palestinians caught “between sky and sea” — exposed to war, weather, and waiting. Between Sky and Sea is an immersive exhibition that seeks to convey the emotional and physical reality of displacement experienced in Gaza, those who were forced to live in fragile tents along the coastline, with only fabric walls between them and the sky, the sea, and the constant threat of bombardment. Set within a symbolic tent echoing Gaza’s camps, the exhibition combines immersive visuals and audio to explore exile, memory, and resilience. It centres people—not objects—as the heart of its sensory storytelling. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/palestinehouse/1782602 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). ”German retail giant Aldi reportedly stopped Israeli imports due to boycott pressure https://www.instagram.com/p/DMCYDnktI4L/ Airbnb: Stop Listing Properties On Stolen Land! Source: CODEPINK Date: July 2025 Sign our petition to let Airbnb know that perpetuating Israel’s violations of international law is reprehensible. Airbnb has previously taken down listings on illegal settlements in 2018 and we can pressure them to do it again! https://www.codepink.org/stopairbnb |
UKPALMHN mailing 23 July
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| UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 28 July 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. Cafe Palestine – Listen to Gaza notes of meeting    Cafe Palestine – Listen to Gaza was a joint event between the Palestine Trauma Centre UK (https://www.palestinetraumacentre.uk/) and the UK Palestine Mental Health Network which took place on 12 July. The full minutes (see link below) contain testimonies from the Palestine Trauma Centre (UK) therapy team in Gaza. They have witnessed and endured the ongoing genocide and in this meeting had opportunities to share what they see, feel and think with their supporters in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/listen-to-gaza-12-7-2025-minutes/ British surgeon warns Gaza patients dying from wounds due to starvation Source: NHS surgeon Professor Nick Maynard in The New Arab Date: 17 July A British surgeon in Gaza has warned that malnutrition was preventing patients from being able to recover from injuries sustained in the war. https://www.newarab.com/news/surgeon-warns-gaza-patients-dying-wounds-due-starvation MAP clinic forced to close Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians Date: 21 July Medical Aid for Palestine’s life-saving Solidarity Polyclinic was forced to close after the Israeli military issued forced displacement orders in the southwest areas of Deir al-Balah City. Our colleagues here at MAP were forced to evacuate immediately, unable to relocate all our critical supplies and equipment. https://www.instagram.com/medicalaidpal/p/DMVoQq0xqZJ/?img_index=1 Detained Gaza doctor Abu Safiya in critical condition, lawyer says Source: Middle East Eye Date: 13 July The health of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, has severely deteriorated in Israeli detention in Israel’s infamous Ofer prison, his lawyer said in a statement on social media. Israeli forces arrested Abu Safiya on 27 December from the hospital in Beit Lahia in north Gaza, which was left out of service following Israeli attacks. All medical staff, patients, and their relatives were taken out of the hospital at gunpoint, forced to strip down to their underwear. Remaining in solitary confinement, Abu Safiya has lost more than 40kg (88 pounds) since his arrest and was reportedly beaten on 24 June, his lawyer said. He was denied medical care despite requesting treatment for injuries to his ribs, face and back, as well as for irregular cardiology test results. https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/lawyer-says-detained-gaza-doctor-hussam-abu-safia-critical-condition Imagine (new campaign video) Source: Healthworkers4Palestine (projection onto St Thomas’s Hospital) Date: 17 July On 14 July, the walls of St Thomas’ Hospital lit up with a powerful projection: an animated film imagining what it would look like if the assault on Gaza was happening here in London. “Imagine your city under siege. Foreign tanks roll through your streets. Fire rains down from above—drones, airstrikes, F-16s” https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMLgD8fOYKI/ Psychoanalytic Hub for Online Liberatory Education (new web resource) Source: P-HOLE Date: July 2025 Let’s face it: traditional models of psychoanalysis have too often failed minoritised people. Sometimes this is a matter of the unreflective ways psychoanalytic theory and practice presume whiteness, heterosexuality, binary gender, non-disabled status, and middle-class (if not upper-middle-class) economic background. This can result in epistemic and ethical gaps in which non-normative subjects speak but cannot be heard within the terms of traditional psychoanalysis – whether as patients, candidates, or colleagues. When psychoanalysts cannot reckon with the social context that is already in the consulting room or the educational institute, they implicitly uphold systems of domination. They also diminish the extraordinary capacity and complexity of psychoanalysis to move in the spaces between outside and inside, the social and the psychic. https://p-hole.com/ ACTIONS Our Featured Action is available below and also on our dedicated Actions page. In the past 6 weeks we have added 7 new, relevant actions to our Action page. https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ FEATURED ACTION Red Line for Gaza Source: Oxfam UK Date: July 2025 A digital, online action Starving people. Killing civilians. Targeting children. An entire population could be facing erasure. We have all watched in horror as Israel crosses red line after red line in Gaza. Together we say: enough. Let’s speak out, in our masses, right now. Your photo will help create a powerful image we’ll share during upcoming days of action for Gaza – a clear message from people across the country: this is our red line. This isn’t just symbolic. It’s our collective voice against the horrors being inflicted on people in Gaza – a public stand against the UK’s role, and a demand for justice. https://oxfamapps.org.uk/redline/ EVENTS Our Events page is updated weekly with events related to Palestine and mental health. As of 23 July, there are 10 up to date events listed. https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ FEATURED EVENTS Palestinian Childhoods – Solidarity and Sumud Monday 1 – Sunday 14 September – Open Daily 10am – 4pm At UCL East, Marshgate Building, London E20 2AE An immersive experience to counter the dehumanisation of the Palestinian people. Besides the exhibition, the event includes an international conference, film screening, family day, and fabric arts project. https://reimaginingchildhoodstudies.com/solidarity_and_sumud_programme/ The Gaza Tribunal Date: Thursday 4 and Friday 5 September Source: The Gaza Tribunal The Tribunal will be streamed live to registered users starting at 10am on Thursday 4 September. It is organised following the refusal by the Government of the call from Jeremy Corbyn to hold an independent inquiry into UK involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza. […] The Tribunal will examine Britain’s role in war crimes perpetrated in Gaza. Hearing from experts and witnesses, the tribunal will establish the full scale of our government’s complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people. The Tribunal will hear from expert witnesses including Palestinians on the ground in Gaza, journalists who have covered the conflict, health and aid workers who have worked in Palestine as well as legal experts and UN officials who have intimate knowledge of the situation. https://thegazatribunal.uk/ 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).” Cut all ties with Israel Source: Francesca Albanese in Jacobin Date: 17 July In her address to the Bogotá Conference on 15 July, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese explained why the world’s nations must suspend all ties with Israel. Jacobin republishes her remarks in full https://jacobin.com/2025/07/albanese-palestine-israel-cut-ties/ Slovenia bans far-right Israeli cabinet Ministers, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir https://www.instagram.com/p/DMPyZY4TmrI/ Here’s why I won’t be chairing a panel on Violence Against Women and Girls for the NSPCC at the Labour Party Conference in September Source: Nicola Thorp on Instagram Date: 18 July https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMQVtjRtega Belgian court bans further transit of all military equipment to Israel in landmark ruling Source: 11.11.11, the Flemish coalition for International Solidarity Date: 17 July In a groundbreaking ruling, the Brussels Court of First Instance has not only ordered the Flemish government to block a specific container of military equipment but also banned all further transit of military material to Israel. https://pers.11.be/belgian-court-bans-further-transit-of-all-military-equipment-to-israel-in-landmark-ruling |
UKPALMHN mailing 16 June
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| UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 21 July 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. National March for Palestine Saturday 19 July – Assemble 12 noon at Embankment station As our government seeks to repress the movement for Palestine, and Israel continues to commit genocide in Gaza, it is more important than ever that we continue to show solidarity with Palestine and pressure our government to #StopArmingIsrael. Join us as we march in London for Palestine once more. https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-march-for-palestine-stop-starving-gaza/  On the final day of #FASTFORGAZA on Monday 14 July, fasters and supporters marched from Parliament to the Foreign Office to deliver a letter of protest. The letter calls for: “The resumption of food provision by the regular agencies which have a proven success record in effectively delivering aid”. It is signed in the name of the four UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Steering Group members and more than 100 activists who took part in the fast. Letter delivered to David Lammy: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/letter-to-foreign-secretary-14-july-2025/ 3-minute video of fasters and supporters delivering the letter, including a summary at the end of the Fast by Gwyn Daniel: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/delivery-of-fast-for-gaza-letter-to-foreign-secretary/ FAST FOR GAZA – SUMMARY AND FEEDBACK The Fast for Gaza concluded on Monday 14 July with participants marching from Parliament to the Foreign Office, delivering a letter demanding the resumption of UNRWA aid and the dismantling of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Participants and supporters overwhelmingly praised the event, highlighting renewed commitment, solidarity, and emotional support across diverse religious and secular communities. The public response was largely positive, notably aided by a scroll displaying the names of Gazans killed on July 2nd, which effectively attracted attention and facilitated meaningful conversations. Twelve MPs and two Lords visited the demonstration, underscoring its political visibility. Although symbolic, the fast significantly boosted solidarity, communicated strong support to people in Gaza, and inspired similar events, including a planned fast in Glasgow in early August. The organisers encourage further local actions and urge continued advocacy through MPs.Read the full report here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/fast-for-gaza-final-report/ A large selection of photos and videos from Fast for Gaza bearing witness to the outrage and commitment of activists and supporters is available on this page: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/fast-for-gaza/ “A moment amongst the horror to feel the warmth and comradeship of our group. And it was truly an honour and privilege to spend the day with you.” “Let us fight for Gaza as we have never fought before.” “The other pleasing feedback came from the frequent ‘crocodiles’ of schoolchildren who would invariably, on seeing us, start shouting en masse: ‘Free Palestine!’” Cafe Palestine: Listen to Gaza A live link-up with mental health workers in Gaza, organised jointly by the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network and the Palestine Trauma Centre (UK), took place on Saturday 12 July. There will be a full report about this meeting in the next mailing. Mental health in Gaza: a war on babies, children and families Source: Britain Palestine Project Date: Video and podcast of event that took place on 10 July The recording features child psychotherapist Teresa Bailey, discussing the profound psychological impact of the Gaza conflict on infants, children and families, as presented via the Britain Palestine Project. The programme explores intergenerational trauma and disrupted childhood development amidst ongoing violence. https://britainpalestineproject.org/mental-health/ Arabic language book group discussing “Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding” by Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kervorkian Source: USA-Palestine Mental Health Network Date: The Arabic language group will have six 90-minutes sessions on Sundays: 21 September – 26 October 12:30-2:00 pm (Eastern time) / 5:30-7:00 pm (UK) To deepen our understanding of “unchilding” and inspire people across the mental health community and beyond to act to stop the atrocities committed by the State of Israel, we are hosting reading/discussion groups about Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding by Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kervorkian (Cambridge University Press, 2019). The book centres the lived experiences of Palestinian children through their own words and the words of their parents. Many of the experiences are unspeakable and the author documents how memories of violations reside in embodied forms, transcending generations within Palestinian families. [..] https://mailchi.mp/187e9cd98da5/arabic-language-group-for-incarcerated-childhood-and-the-politics-of-unchilding-fall-41805 Jeff Halper’s July 2025 update – we’re in the end game Source: ICAHD (Committee Against House Demolitions) Date: 9 July This ICAHD update assesses the intensifying situation in Israel-Palestine, warning that the conflict has reached a critical “endgame” stage. It analyses geopolitical dynamics, including how developments like proposed “humanitarian cities” mask deeper strategies of displacement. https://icahd.org/2025/07/09/jeff-halpers-july-2025-update-were-in-the-end-game/ At Hague Group Emergency Summit, 30+ Nations Seek to “Halt the Genocide in Gaza” Host nation Colombia’s deputy foreign minister said participants “will not only reaffirm their commitment to opposing genocide, but also formulate concrete steps to move from words to collective action.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/hague-group-summit-colombia ACTIONSOur Featured Action is available below and also on our dedicated Actions page. In the past 4 weeks we have added 7 new, relevant actions to our Action page. https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ FEATURED ACTION Francesca Albanese urges users to boycott airbnb and Booking.com https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL-Qf1ExGIG/ EVENTS Our Events page is updated weekly with events related to Palestine and mental health. As of 16 July, there are 10 up to date events listed. https://ukpalmhn.com/events/ The myth of anti‑racism in British mental health care Source: Healing Justice LDN Date: 22 July This online event launches a research project investigating how Palestinian solidarity is marginalised within British mental health care. Speakers will explore racism in institutions, training, and therapy, spotlighting voices usually silenced. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-myth-of-anti-racism-in-british-mental-health-care-online-tickets-1441078146529 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).” Unite union votes for Israel arms embargo Source: Novaramedia Date: Monday 14 July Unite, one of the largest trade unions in the UK, has voted to support members who refuse to build, handle or transport weapons destined for Israel and for a full arms embargo on Israel. Unite’s policy conference passed a statement which commits the union to support worker-led campaigns to boycott the handling of Israeli goods, as well as campaigns for divestment from Israeli companies. The passage of the statement constitutes a breakthrough for pro-Palestine campaigners within the union. https://novaramedia.com/2025/07/14/unite-votes-for-israel-arms-embargo/ Top Economists Back Francesca Albanese’s Report on the ‘Economy of Genocide’ in Gaza Source: Zeteo Date: 7 July Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, French economist Thomas Piketty, and others join open letter supporting Albanese amid US calls to remove her as the UN special rapporteur on Palestine. https://zeteo.com/p/exclusive-top-economists-back-francesca Italian supermarket chain Coop switches Israeli products for Gaza Cola https://www.instagram.com/p/DLXkZQntskw/ |
الشبكة البريطانية الفلسطينية للصحة النفسية 