National March for Palestine Saturday 21 September at 12 noon in Liverpool Assemble at  St Georges Hall Plateau, opposite Lime Street Station and march to the gates of the Labour party conference The role of Palestinian schools in healing childhood wounds: psychological support for war-affected generations A short opinion piece by Samah Jabr, Head of Mental Health Unit, Palestinian Ministry of Health The article covers areas in which schools can promote the mental health of children and practical recommendations for Palestinian schools. The original article is in Arabic but many modern browsers, including Chrome, offer a simple feature to translate the page into English. https://www.alquds.com/ar/posts/133532

Can You See Me? Arab Immigrants’ Quests for Identity and Belonging An article on Psychotherapy.net by Lama Khouri who co-founded the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network and sits on the board of the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network. In this in-depth piece, a Palestinian analyst shares her poignant experiences as an immigrant, and the personal and professional challenges they brought. https://www.psychotherapy.net/article/can-you-see-me-arab-quest-for-identity Two volunteers of the Palestine Trauma Centre (UK) killed in Gaza PTC (UK) has announced the tragic killing of two of its volunteers who were working with children in Gaza. https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/two-palestine-trauma-centre-uk-volunteers-killed/ Palestine In Mental Health – calling all mental health workers, have you felt managed, disciplined or silenced on Palestine? From Tarek Younis, Racial Justice Researcher, Healing Justice LDN Please participate in an interview to explore the racial politics of our mental health systems/ experiences of racism and how this has impacted mental health workers. Share challenges, collate and build a picture of this experience within these systems. Full confidentiality and anonymity is ensured. Nothing will shared without consent. You will receive £30 payment for your participation. To join send an email to tarek@healingjusticeldn.org Israel wages massive military attack on Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank, under cover of its Gaza genocide The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement calls for maximizing grassroots and civil society pressure on all states, the United Nations, and regional bodies. Channel your rage, frustration, and grief into effective, strategic BDS action and build pressure and people power to stop the genocide and to eventually help Palestinians dismantle Israel’s 76-year-old regime of settler-colonial apartheid, the root cause of this oppression and unspeakable violence. https://bdsmovement.net/Israel-Wages-Massive-Military-Attack-West-Bank Urgent action needed to protect Palestinian farm The Tent of Nations near Bethlehem is one of the last Palestinian hilltop farms in the West Bank that is still in Palestinian hands. The farm is under immediate and growing threat from settler activity. The Nassar family that has owned the farm since Ottoman times has two crucial court cases coming up on Wednesday 11 September and Tuesday 8 October. The Friends of Tent of Nations UK has produced a briefing pack and template letter to MPs to raise awareness about the farm and the upcoming court cases. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FxFuQyWPEYcOk0peDRdbdvSsNupnqgvPRjUyTRKbjaA/edit Questions from Gaza’s children Members of the Palestine Trauma Centre (UK) team in Gaza have spoken about the questions their children ask of them as they endure nearly eleven months of bombardment, death, injury, starvation and displacement. We asked if they would like to send these questions out to the wider world and they have responded with the attached list from children. They are of course utterly heart-breaking and we want to do them justice and show our accountability to the children in whatever ways we can, by sending them to our elected representatives, to all children’s charities and through our international networks. Please add your voices. Please add your voices. Those of you who work with children will, we are sure, have ideas about how to share them with colleagues and with mental health directorates. Please share any thoughts you have about how to support this campaign to demand an immediate ceasefire to safeguard the children of Gaza who are being forced to confront and question such iniquities.

UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour Monday 22 April at 13:00 UK time An informal space to share thoughts and feelings, and to channel these into actions that we take together. If you would like a link to this meeting, please contact: ukpalmhn@gmail.com All of the actions for this event and previous events can be found on: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ ‘Chronic traumatic stress disorder’: the Palestinian psychologist challenging western definitions of trauma Chair of the Palestinian ministry of health’s mental health unit says the clinical definition of PTSD does not fit the reality in Gaza https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/14/mental-health-palestine-children ‘Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine’ We reported in a previous mailing that a group of BPC members, now called Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine’ (PVP) had ‘issued a statement ‘Call for psychoanalytic professionals to address the human catastrophe in Gaza’. A response to the PVP’s Statement appeared in a recent issue of Jewish News, entitled ‘Offer practical help, not letters, says expert’.  The ‘expert’, ‘leading Jewish psychologist, David Cohen’, advises that rather than campaigning to stop the genocide, PVP ‘would be better to offer counselling services to Gazan residents’. Enough said. Evidence of the need to challenge pro-Zionist bias within the profession continues to mount. The journal Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy recently published an issue on the theme of ‘reintegrating dissociation’ into therapeutic practice. The editorial only makes references to Israeli victims of October 7th but without any historical context or reference to the ongoing, massive toll of dead and maimed civilians in Gaza. As such, it provides a clear example of the extent to which dissociation distorts psychoanalytic thinking. Derek Summerfield has written a letter to the editor, Paul Cundy, in protest at the apparently unconscious mix-up of proper professional concerns with blatant Israeli propaganda. It is reproduced here. Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine, is organising a two-hour evening meeting, in person and online, on May 10th, at the Frontline Club in London. Details and tickets here.  War on Gaza: The loneliness of grief for Palestinians in the UK An Opinion piece in Middle East Eye by Network member Gwyn Daniel Being told that grieving for your slaughtered family threatens the social order and seeing their killers’ flag light up government buildings is the appalling reality for UK Palestinians https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/war-gaza-loneliness-grief-palestinians-uk Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah: ‘Tomorrow is a Palestinian day’ The speech by Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah when installed as Glasgow University Rector following his landslide election with 80% of the vote. This was on April 11, the day before he was denied entry to Germany. For us, all of us, part of our resistance to the erasure of genocide is to talk about tomorrow in Gaza, to plan for the healing of the wounds of Gaza tomorrow. We will own tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a Palestinian day. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/04/dr-ghassan-abu-sittah-tomorrow-is-a-palestinian-day Samsung Next Withdraws From Israel Samsung Next, the innovation arm of the Korean technology giant, Samsung, is shutting down its Tel Aviv operations, yet another strong indicator of the dramatically declining confidence in the Israeli economy. https://bdsmovement.net/news/samsung-next-withdraws-from-israel The War on Gaza’s Art (webinar organised by The Amos Trust) Tuesday 23 April at 6pm (UK) The war on Gaza is a war against its art and its artists. Our panel will discuss the war’s impact and attack on Gaza’s culture and hear more about the Palestine Museum’s ‘This is not an Exhibition’ display of art from the Shababeek and Eltiqa galleries in Gaza following their destruction. https://www.amostrust.org/war-on-gazas-art Hasbara Tracker – Debunking Israeli propaganda We’re working on documenting and debunking claims made by the Israeli regime during its most recent — and unprecedented — genocidal campaign in Gaza since 7th Oct. The Israeli settler-colony continues to spread disinformation to manufacture consent for ethnic cleansing and land theft, as it has since the Nakba. Our aim is to centralise this information. https://hasbaratracker.com/ HEROES Recent pictures of the UNRWA Psychological and Social Support team in the central region of Gaza organised an entertainment event for children at one of the shelters in Deir al-Balah. This event, titled ‘Living Despite the Pain’, aimed to give children a ray of hope, joy, and celebrate Eid al-Fitr amidst the harsh conditions they are experiencing. It included a variety of interactive games, artistic workshops, small theatrical performances, as well as providing psychological and emotional support for the children.     Activities of Days of Joy at PTC(UK) during the war on Gaza This is a recent 5-minute video celebrating the ongoing work of the Palestine Trauma Centre (UK) (https://www.palestinetraumacentre.uk/) Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5m9FiOiYkM

National Day of Action – Full Ceasefire Now – Stop the Genocide in Gaza Saturday 13 April Full list of local actions: https://palestinecampaign.org/events/day-of-action-for-palestine-stop-the-genocide-in-gaza/ London March for Palestine – Stop Arming Israel (part of national Day of Action) Saturday 13 April at 12:00 – Assemble in Russell Square https://palestinecampaign.org/events/london-march-for-palestine/ UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour Monday 15 April at 13:00 UK time An informal space to share thoughts and feelings, and to channel these into actions that we take together. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to this meeting. All of the actions for this event and previous events can be found on: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Where does the Palestinian National Movement go from here? Thursday 18 April at 15:00 – 17:00 (UK time) A webinar presented by the Arab Center Washington DC In-person, via Zoom and livestreamed free through the website With Hanan Ashrawi, Mustafa Barghouti, Leila Farsakh and Khalil Shikaki Arab Center Washington DC is organizing this keynote webinar with prominent and experienced Palestinian activist leaders and academics to discuss the future of Palestine at this critical juncture for the Palestinian people. https://arabcenterdc.org/event/where-does-the-palestinian-national-movement-go-from-here/ “A Sea of Misery”: Gaza is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, says NGO Head/ex-CNN journalist Democracy Now interview from Tuesday 9 April Arwa Damon returned on Monday 8 April from a humanitarian trip to Gaza. She speaks about the mental health trauma of children and adults in Gaza. She also explains why aid is still not reaching those who need it. She is an award-winning journalist and the founder of the International Network for Aid Relief and Assistance, a non-profit currently providing medical and mental healthcare to children in Gaza. She previously spent 18 years at CNN, including as a senior international correspondent. https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/9/arwa_damon_gaza Palestinians and the world must not lose hope by Mariam Barghouti, Palestinian American writer based in Ramallah Those mobilising against the Israeli genocide face exhaustion and burnout. This is the result of Israel’s ‘war of attrition’. [but] Recognise this: Palestinians are not buried yet, and while the destruction is massive, so is the number of survivors with dreams to pursue, miracles to witness, and a faith in humanity to be re-instilled. Amid all the destruction there is life, and Palestinians are putting up one hell of a fight for it. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/6/palestinians-and-the-world-must-not-lose-hope ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza From Palestinian-Israeli +972 magazine building on previous work by the same organisation. The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties. https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israel-gaza-ai-database-hamas-airstrikes The Death of Amr From the Chris Hedges report On the morning Amr Abdallah was killed, he woke before dawn to say his Ramadan prayers with his father, mother, two younger brothers and aunt, in an open field in southern Gaza.[…] It was dark. They made their way back to their tents. Their old life was gone — their village, Al-Qarara, their house — built with the money Amr’s father saved during the 30 years he worked in the Persian Gulf — their orchards, their school, the local mosque and the town’s cultural museum with artifacts dating from 4000 BC https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-death-of-amr?r=2otfwk Genocide will continue — even if the bombs stopped tomorrow. The Israeli government’s determination to deepen the crisis in Gaza means that we may be looking at even more cataclysmic levels of death and hunger in months to come. https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/04/04/if-the-war-ends-tomorrow/ Since 7 October, my therapy patients have asked themselves: who are our people? Six months later, Gaza’s destruction has exposed the power – and danger – of our fundamental need to belong https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/apr/07/israel-gaza-identity-october-7 Tackling the severe escalation in Israel’s torture of Palestinians A briefing prepared by War on Want and the Council for Arab-British Understanding to support parliamentary and public meetings involving the Palestinian human rights organisations Adalah, Addameer and Defense of Children International-Palestine. https://caabu.org/sites/default/files/resources/Tackling%20torture%20of%20Palestinians%20by%20Israel%20WoWCaabu2703.pdf Video of a recent briefing to the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group: https://youtu.be/iZcQUfR7J-E

UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour Monday 8 April at 1 pm UK time An informal space to share thoughts and feelings, and to channel these into actions that we take together. This Action Half-Hour will highlight the campaign that the UK should re-institute funding to the Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to this meeting All of the actions for this event and previous events can be found on: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Psychoanalysis and the Crisis in Gaza Friday 10 May at 6-8 pm (online and in person) The Frontline Club, Norfolk Place, London W2 W2 1QJ Introduction: Martin Kemp Main Speaker: Karim Dajani Discussant: Dr David Bell Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/psychoanalysis-and-the-crisis-in-gaza-online-in-person-tickets-871594752367 This event is organised by a group of psychoanalytic clinicians who issued a Statement in January 2024 entitled ‘A Call for Psychoanalytic Professionals to address the human catastrophe in Gaza’ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QcFqIFhjL38kCRYDy6WMo3oJ300Yf31GTxXpGNknVHM/edit. This has over 250 signatures from British Psychoanalytic Council members: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fruVb-Sb3sAT2IgWHQPbLfvU5lyXpgDSXgHTI2wWna4/edit?pli=1 Doctor recounts harrowing shifts working at one of Gaza’s last standing hospitals Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan has been recording her experiences working in intensive care at one of the enclaves few remaining hospitals, Al-Aqsa https://www.itv.com/news/2024-03-28/doctor-recounts-grueling-shifts-working-at-one-of-gazas-last-standing-hospitals ‘I lost hope with the Home Office’: Palestinians fundraise to evacuate family in Gaza Hundreds of GoFundMe campaigns set up after Home Office refuses visas or Ukrainian-style entry scheme https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/29/i-lost-hope-with-the-home-office-palestinians-fundraise-to-evacuate-family-in-gaza ‘Ecocide in Gaza’: does scale of environmental destruction amount to a war crime? Exclusive: Satellite analysis revealed to the Guardian shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory’s trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts says Israel’s onslaught on Gaza’s ecosystems has made the area unlivable https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/29/gaza-israel-palestinian-war-ecocide-environmental-destruction-pollution-rome-statute-war-crimes-aoe 10 Year Anniversary Video for the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University A 5-minute video highlighting the successes of the Institute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt8OTGoS198 ‘Famine is setting in’: Top UN court orders Israel to stop blocking Gaza aid Additional provisional measures ordered by the ICJ contradict Israel’s claim that it does not hinder humanitarian aid deliveries to the besieged Palestinian enclave https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/international-court-orders-israel-facilitate-entry-food-gaza Anatomy of a Genocide: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese By analysing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met. One of the key findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/26/un-expert-accuses-israel-of-several-acts-of-genocide-in-gaza Report: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session55/advance-versions/a-hrc-55-73-auv.pdf NYT refutes previous claim of ‘Hamas rape’ on 7 Oct In startling news, on Wednesday 26 March, the New York Times refuted its own claim that Hamas fighters raped two young Israeli girls during the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October. These claims have been used in subsequent allegations about sexual violence carried out by Hamas.The new report is called ‘Medic’s Account of Sexual Assaults Is Undercut by Israeli Soldier’s Video’ but this is a paid-for link so information is provided from a different source: https://thecradle.co/articles/nyt-refutes-previous-claim-of-hamas-rape-on-7-oct ACTION CORNER … Hebrew University reinstates Palestinian Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian following outcry Hebrew University in Jerusalem has reinstated Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the internationally renowned feminist Palestinian professor, who was suspended earlier this month after saying in an interview Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/29/headlines/hebrew_university_reinstates_palestinian_prof_nadera_shalhoub_kevorkian_following_outcry Palestine Action permanently shut Elbit down in Tamworth After sustained direct action, the Israeli weapons maker was forced to sell due to increased security costs which cut their profits by 75%. The new owners wrote to Palestine Action to confirm the factory is no longer associated with Elbit and have discontinued all arms manufacturing contracts. https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1773367473921761323?s=20 Israel lobbyists tried to cancel an event on mental health and Palestine – but failed Israel lobbyists targeted a sold-out event on Palestine at London’s Freud Museum earlier this month, but ultimately failed to stop the discussion from going ahead in an important moment for Palestine solidarity within a divided discipline. https://novaramedia.com/2024/03/28/israel-lobbyists-tried-to-cancel-an-event-on-mental-health-and-palestine-but-failed/

National Demonstration: Ceasefire Now – Stop the Genocide in Gaza! Saturday 30 March – Assemble 12:00 at Russell Square – Marching to Trafalgar Square https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demonstration-ceasefire-now-stop-the-genocide-in-gaza-2/ The UK-Palestine Mental Health Network banner will be at the march. All are welcome to join us. We will meet at 11:45 am at Bloomsbury Square Gardens, Great Russell Street end, London WC1A 2PJ The next UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour will be on Monday 8 April at 1 pm UK time In the interim period, all actions for the Action Half-Hours (including any new or urgent actions) can be found at: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ As brutal war rages and famine looms, look at pictures of Gaza and keep saying: ‘this is not normal’ Of all the threats to those suffering, one of the most frightening is that we tire – and their plight becomes background noise https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/25/war-famine-gaza-israel ‘Man-made hell on earth’: a Canadian doctor on his medical mission to Gaza A gripping, well-told and utterly heart-rending account of a recent 10-day stint in Gaza by a Canadian surgeon working for the UN. Gaza is basically a man-made hell on earth right now, is what it is, and I think that it’s never too late. If the Israeli invasion of Rafah occurs, it’ll be catastrophic. We have to do all that we can to stop that from happening, put all the pressure we can on our politicians, on the powers that be, to stop this from happening because the health care and the human toll will be unimaginable. https://theintercept.com/2024/03/23/intercepted-doctor-gaza-interview/ ‘Man-made starvation’: the obstacles to Gaza aid deliveries – visual guide https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/obstacles-to-gaza-aid-deliveries-visual-guide US doubles down on defunding UNRWA — despite flimsy allegations Congress passed a one-year ban on UNRWA funds even as several Western countries and the EU have resumed funding to the U.N. agency that aids Palestinians. The bill also: approves $3.8 billion funding to Israel; and contains a long-standing provision that would limit aid to the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, if ‘the Palestinians (sic) initiate an International Criminal Court (ICC) judicially authorized investigation, or actively supports such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.’ https://theintercept.com/2024/03/22/gaza-unrwa-funding-congress/ Statement from the Head of UNRWA on Sunday 24 March Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any food convoys to the north. This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine. https://twitter.com/UNLazzarini/status/1771917857598693549 Gaza solidarity played major role in renewed US push to ban TikTok – WSJ The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that could see TikTok banned in the United States. According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal, one of the reasons behind the renewed urgency to pass the bill could be attributed to Washington’s concerns about the way TikTok users interact with content regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/gaza-solidarity-played-major-role-in-renewed-us-push-to-ban-tiktok-wsj/ As Gaza is destroyed, Israel is killing dozens of children in the West Bank A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was shot while lighting a firework. ‘Cases like these happen quite regularly, but no one’s hearing about them,’ according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/23/israel-killing-children-west-bank Finally… A poem called Palestinian by Ibrahim Nasrallah (trans. Huda Fakhreddine) [The first four lines:] I was silent and nothing came of it. I spoke and nothing came of it. I cursed, I apologized, and nothing came of it. I was busy, I pretended to be busy…and nothing […] https://proteanmag.com/2024/03/24/palestinian/

Day of Action for Palestine – Ceasefire NOW – Stop the Genocide in Gaza Saturday 23 March Details of local actions: https://palestinecampaign.org/events/day-of-action-for-palestine-ceasefire-now-stop-the-genocide-in-gaza/ Resist! Palestinian women and non-violent resistance to occupation Thursday 21 March 2024 at 3 pm UK time Balfour Project webinar with Rula Salameh from Palestine for Just Vision https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LNc6mlnXSOC_aiWvKgdfIw#/registration UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour Monday 25 March at 1 pm UK time An informal space to share thoughts and feelings, and to channel these into actions that we take together. This Action Half-Hour will highlight the campaign that the UK should re-institute funding to the Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA. Zoom link: Please write to ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to this meeting. All of the actions for this event and previous events can be found on: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ National Demonstration – Ceasefire Now – Stop the Genocide in Gaza Saturday 30 March at 12 pm in central London The route has not yet been published. https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demonstration-ceasefire-now-stop-the-genocide-in-gaza-2/   DETAILS ABOUT THE MENTAL HEALTH NETWORKS CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF PROFESSOR NADERA SHALHOUB-KEVORKIAN ARE AVAILABLE HERE: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Humanitarian Violence and the weaponisation of humanitarian measures A new investigation from Forensic Architecture The information is presented using sophisticated mapping software with text, location specific videos and satellite images to explain events of the past months. The report is dispassionate but the detailed evidence of cynical and inhumane mistreatment of vulnerable refugee populations is shocking . The Israeli army has weaponised humanitarian measures such as ‘evacuation orders’, ‘safe routes’ ‘and safe zones’ to support their military operations and facilitate the mass displacement of Palestinians. […]Where Israel’s evacuation orders might individually be framed as humanitarian in nature, in fact when closely analysed and considered over time, they reveal patterns of systematic mass displacement, with Palestinians deliberately and repeatedly being expelled from one unsafe and under- resourced location to another.https://gaza.forensic-architecture.org/displacement Geno-Ecocide at its cruelest – Zionist crimes in Gaza The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network- Friends of Earth Palestine is a coordinating body among different Palestinian NGOs working in the field of environment. The network has issued a new report.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h8dq32xHiPQs3jqikp1YooKr03WlKgyz/view?pli=1 Israeli Civilian Harm Mitigation in Gaza: Gold Standard or Fool’s Gold? An expert in ‘Civilian Harm Mitigation’ who worked as a senior adviser in the US State Department forensically dissects the Israeli government claim that its efforts to minimize civilian casualties are deliberate and “unprecedented”’. https://www.justsecurity.org/93105/israeli-civilian-harm-mitigation-in-gaza-gold-standard-or-fools-gold/ Gaza Faces, not just numbers! GAZA Faces is an international campaign to re-humanize Palestinians when mainstream media represent them only as number. https://gazadesvisages.com/index.php/en/ No evidence from Israel to back UNRWA accusations, says EU humanitarian chief The European Union’s top humanitarian aid official said on Thursday he had seen no evidence from Israel to back its accusations against staff from the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which should continue playing a “critical” role in Gaza. https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-evidence-israel-back-unrwa-172039861.html ‘This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity’ Philippe Lazzarini Commissioner-General of UNRWA on 18 March https://twitter.com/UNLazzarini/status/1769711761136009310 BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS) One of the founding Aims 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)’ During March there will be a number of actions under the umbrella of Israeli Apartheid Week organised by the BDS Movement. You can find information about a range of events organised by the Palestinian BDS National Committee here: https://bdsmovement.net/ #IAW2024 #NoTechforApartheid Palestine Solidarity Campaign also organises a range of national and local events, including a Boycott of Barclay’s Bank and of Israeli dates: https://palestinecampaign.org/emergency-response-2023/ Ceasefire Now Coalition response to Michael Gove’s statement in Parliament The government has used the protests we have organised in response to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people as a core rationale for the need to redefine extremism. Successive government minsters and pro-Israel voices have attempted to demonise those protesting as hatemongers, Islamist mobs and antisemites. The reality is that, as the police themselves have publicly affirmed, the marches have been overwhelmingly peaceful and attended by a broad cross section of British society, young and old, of all faiths and none. https://palestinecampaign.org/coalition-statement-on-michael-goves-statement-in-parliament FIONA BRUCE: “Is there anyone here who welcomes what Michael Gove had to say?” *pindrop silence* https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1768399715937178009

Visit Palestine/Israel on an extended study tour – May 2024 The UK-Palestine Mental Health Network have arranged a number of mental health study tours to Palestine/Israel working with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. The tours are still going ahead and are encouraged by our Palestinian partners. Nonetheless, some participants have withdrawn for understandable reasons. This means that some places have become available on the tour in May that was previously fully booked. The tours offer an amazing programme of appointments that would not be possible to organise if travelling on one’s own. Despite continued unrest, Palestinians are calling for internationals of courage and conviction to be with them to demonstrate their solidarity during this dark time. For more information: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/mental-health-study-tour-may-2024/ To receive an application form, please email us at ukpalmhn@gmail.com Abolition, Settler Colonialism and State Crime Thursday 14 March at 18:00 – 20:00 (UK time) With Joy James, Nadera Shahloub-Kevorkian, Stephen Sheehi, and Abeer Otman Online and Room 313, Third Floor, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS State Crime Journal is sponsoring a launch for its special issue ‘Abolition, Settler Colonialism and State Crime’. The panellists will discuss abolitionist perspectives and practice – perspectives that not only theorise settler colonial governance but offer empirical analyses of a variety of carceral structures, mechanisms, relationships and discourses that are particular to the racial capitalist formations of settler states. https://www.qmul.ac.uk/law/events/items/abolition-settler-colonialism-and-state-crime-joy-james-nadera-shahloub-kevorkian-stephen-sheehi-and-abeer-otman.html Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine Friday 15 March from 18:00 – 20:00 (UK time) at Freud Museum, London Red Clinic event: Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi in conversation with Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian In-person tickets: sold out Online tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychoanalysis-under-occupation-online-tickets-tickets-850177542917 UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour Monday 18 March at 13:00 (UK) These informal events provide an opportunity to talk, swap ideas and take actions together. Please write to ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to the meeting. All of the actions for this event and previous events can be found on: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ A Palestinian Dabke troupe performs inside a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1766708060935078103   Israeli human rights groups accuse country of failing to abide by ICJ’s Gaza aid ruling Twelve of Israel’s most prominent human rights organisations have signed an open letter accusing the country of failing to comply with the international court of justice’s (ICJ) provisional ruling that it should facilitate access of humanitarian aid into Gaza. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/11/israeli-human-rights-groups-icj-gaza-aid-ruling On 8 March, a Rabbi urged his IDF students to kill all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including infants, children, women, and the elderly. https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1766231485546111400?s=20 Palestinian prisoners allege brutal treatment in Israel jails A powerful 7-minute video from Channel 4 News. Munther Amira, a renowned non-violent community activist in the West Bank, describes his brutal mistreatment whilst held without charge. He is bravely speaking out in public in support of the other, unknown Palestinian hostages who are still being held without charge. Israel’s response to the October the 7th attack has involved a huge surge in the number of Palestinians being detained – seven-thousand in the West Bank alone, according to authorities there, with an unknown number of Gazans also in custody. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1dZhYTWDus&rco=1 BBC News investigation: Israeli troops accused of beating and humiliating Gaza hospital staff An 8-minute BBC news video. A detailed and verified account of breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza that had the UK Foreign Secretary spluttering in Parliament that “we need answers from the Israelis about that”. Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have told BBC journalists they were detained, blindfolded, forced to strip and repeatedly beaten by Israeli troops after a raid at their hospital. Ahmed Abu Sabha, a doctor at Nasser hospital, described being tortured by Israeli forces. He said he was held for a week in detention, muzzled dogs were set upon him and his hand was broken by an Israeli soldier. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnU3mMMqNm0 The children of Gaza, amongst war and bombing, are children who love life https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3nkKoDM_aX/ Israeli Apartheid Week 2024 Social Media Storm The Social Media Storm started on Tuesday 12 March and lasts for a week using the hashtag #IAW2024 The link below provides comprehensive information about actions to take, plus images and template text that can be used. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oSCBefjJc6MfCcFy_Z4g3MDyKkydwWHUkOcaj_DJ-24/edit Impact of the Israeli military activities on the environment By Mazin Qumsiyeh, a well-known Palestinian scientist and author, founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University where he teaches. A paid-for academic article published by Routledge in the International Journal of Environmental Studies. In his popular blog post, Mazin has invited anyone who cannot see the article to write to him directly. Many conflicts in Western Asia over the past 75 years left devastation and refugees and the last war on the Gaza Strip is a good example. Our interests as environmentalists are the effects of conflict (including active conflict, pre-conflict activities, and post-conflict impact). https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EKIHYDKHHZNNKHDN73MJ/full?target=10.1080/00207233.2024.2323365 What has Zionism done to Psychoanalysis? Following up on our Report from November last year, ‘The moral bankruptcy of psychoanalysis’ , we have now published a piece entitled ‘What has Zionism done to psychoanalysis’. The mental health professions are built on a commitment to open-minded truth-seeking and still strongly associated with Sigmund Freud who rejected nationalism in all its forms. What’s gone wrong? The original article ‘The moral bankruptcy of psychoanalysis’ appears here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/ukpmhn-statement-the-moral-bankruptcy-of-psychoanalysis/ The new article, ‘What has Zionism done to psychoanalysis?’ appears here: https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/what-has-zionism-done-to-psychoanalysis/ March 2024: The Palestine Trauma Centre (UK) is operating in all parts of Gaza Details about the current, inspiring work of PTC (UK) in Gaza The vicious, genocidal campaign currently being waged against the people of Gaza is being met with resistance of a very special kind. A number of organisations are striving to help traumatised children build and sustain their resilience in response to terror, deprivation and the destruction that surrounds them. PTC(UK) is contributing to this effort in all parts of Gaza. https://www.palestinetraumacentre.uk/news/march-2024-ptcuk-operating-in-all-parts-of-gaza Photos from PTC (UK) FINALLY From Norman Finkelstein: Surprise Biden Announcement in State of the Union Address https://twitter.com/normfinkelstein/status/1766568042807300114?s=20 ‘The US will supply the Starship Enterprise with 1,000,000 Morton pot pies and Captain Kirk will beam them down. The starship’s phaser banks will be set at medium warm to heat the pot pies on the ground. We consider this the most practical solution to the famine conditions in Gaza.’

Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians according to UN rights expert
UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri says denial of food is war crime and constitutes ‘a situation of genocide’.
We have never seen a civilian population made to go so hungry so quickly and so completely, that is the consensus among starvation experts. Israel is not just targeting civilians, it is trying to damn the future of the Palestinian people by harming their children.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/un-israel-food-starvation-palestinians-war-crime-genocide

US intelligence casts doubt on Israeli claims of UNRWA-Hamas links, report says
According to the Wall Street Journal, a US intelligence report casts doubt on accusations that the UN agency was collaborating with Hamas in a wider way. The Journal said the report mentioned that although the UNRWA does coordinate with Hamas in order to deliver aid and operate in the region, there was a lack of evidence to suggest it partnered with the group. It added that Israel has not “shared the raw intelligence behind its assessments with the US”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/22/us-intelligence-unrwa-hamas

Palestinians file criminal complaint against German Government officials for enabling the genocide in Gaza
A group of German lawyers – representing families of two Gazans – is filing a criminal complaint against German Government officials, for the crime of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza by providing Israel with weapons and issuing related export permissions. They are supported by civil society organisations ELSC (European Legal Support Center), PIPD (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy) and Law for Palestine under the Justice andInt Accountability for Palestine Initiative.
https://www.thepipd.com/actions/support-the-justice-and-accountability-for-palestine-initiative

Coming of age in displacement: Navigating gender, mental health, and well-being in Palestinianrefugee camps in the West Bank and Jordan
Thursday 7 March from 17:00 to 18:30 at Bush House North East Wing, King’s College Strand Campus, London
An in-person, ticketed event
Seminar with Dr Weeam Hammoudeh in London.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/coming-of-age-in-displacement-navigating-gender-mental-health-and-wellbeing-in-palestine-refugee-camps-in-the-west-bank-and-jordan

Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine
Friday 15 March from 18:00 – 20:00 (UK time) at Freud Museum, London
Red Clinic event: Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi in conversation with Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
In-person tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychoanalysis-under-occupation-tickets-850139820087
Online tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychoanalysis-under-occupation-online-tickets-tickets-850177542917

Edward Said seems like a prophet: 20 years on, ‘there’s hunger for his narrative’
As war rages in Gaza, the scholar and activist’s words feel prescient. That’s because so little has changed
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/15/edward-said-palestine-israel-gaza

John Berger reads Ghassan Kanafani’s ‘Letter from Gaza’ (20 minute video)
In an address to the inaugural Palestine Festival of Literature in 2008, John Berger gave a moving reading of Ghassan Kanafani’s ‘Letter from Gaza’, written in 1956.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ThCEzFWLOQ

A World without Palestinians
From the Massachusetts Review
Despite the desperate cries of our people for an end to this unceasing bloodshed, despite the millions across the globe who have taken to the streets to demand an immediate ceasefire, despite a ruling by the highest international court that Israel must protect civilians and immediately allow humanitarian aid, a reconsolidation of global powers continues to fund, uphold, and turn their backs as a genocide unfolds, revealing a simple truth: humanity is content to exist in a world without Palestinians. “It no longer matters, after this, if anyone loves us, / or if anyone walks in our funerals,” Palestinian poet Samer Abu Hawwash wrote on October 25th. “We hold each other’s hands, / go forth alone in this desert of a world.”
https://massreview.org/node/11753

Against Erasure: A photographic memory of Palestine before the Nakba with architect Nadi Abusaada and poet Mohammed El-Kurd
An hour-long discussion about the book and the photos
Join Mohammed El-Kurd, Dr. Nadi Abusaada and Haymarket Books to celebrate the launch of Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba
Through its stunning collection of images of Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Against Erasure tells the story of a land full of people—people with families, hopes, dreams, and a deep connection to their home—before Israel’s establishment in 1948, known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtNmUoQQhWM

Women & War: World BEYOND War’s 2024 Virtual Film Festival
Marking International Women’s Day (March 8), this year’s “Women & War” virtual film festival from March 9-23, 2024 explores the intersection of women, war, and militarized masculinity. Each week, we’ll host a live Zoom discussion with key representatives from the films and special guests to answer your questions and explore the topics addressed in the films.
https://worldbeyondwar.org/2024filmfest/

Dr Naledi Pandor, South African MP tells it like it is …
https://twitter.com/umyaznemo/status/1758348154104123882

EVENTS Cafe Palestine 38 – Honouring the work of our colleagues in Gaza, part two Saturday 24 February from 16:00-18:00 (UK) / 18:00-20:00 (Pal) Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89486111693?pwd=L3hkZGhpVkFDVi85TmFwN0NuZm5uZz09 or Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/UKPMHN/live_videos/ This second event will feature more of the work of some of the mental health teams that work in Gaza and highlight their professionalism, dedication and creativity. Since most colleagues in Gaza are cut off from electronic communication and have to focus on their own and their families’ survival, we wish to represent and honour them through our voices from outside. Presenters include: – Dr Alice Rothchild, who will provide an overview – Dr Peter Jakob and Dr Michaela Fried from Bridges for Hope and Peace, – David Denborough from the Dulwich centre, Adelaide, Australia will describe collaboration with colleagues in Gaza – Guy Shennan will present a recording of messages from Social Workers in Gaza Alice Rothchild, author, filmmaker, and physician, is focused on human rights and social justice. She writes and lectures widely, authored several books on health and human rights in Israel/Palestine, including Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience and Condition Critical: Life and Death in Israel/Palestine, contributed to a number of anthologies, the most recent being Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism: Stories of Personal Transformation and What Jerusalem Means to Us: Jewish Reflections and Perspectives.  Finding Melody Sullivan, is her young adult novel exploring grief and friendship in the setting of broader political questions raised by realities in Israel/Palestine, available in print and audio. Old Enough to Know, her middle grade novel, is about a nine-year-old Palestinian American boy and his grandmother from the Aida Refugee Camp. For more info: https://www.alicerothchildbooks.com/ She directed a documentary film, Voices Across the Divide.  She is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council, the mentor liaison for We Are Not Numbers, a program for young Gaza writers, and on the board of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation. She was last in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in August 2023. https://alicerothchild.com/ Peter Jakob, PhD is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with a background in social work, Peter has worked as a clinical psychologist and family therapist in both child- and adolescent mental health services and in adult mental health for over 40 years, specialising in working with people who have experienced abuse and with children and families involved with child protective services. Peter’s concern is for understanding the contexts in which peoples’ difficulties emerge and working towards social justice as a key underpinning of psychotherapy. He has introduced Non Violent Resistance (NVR) to the UK and has adapted the approach for families that face multiple challenges and for adopted children and young people in foster- or residential care.. Peter is a prolific national and international presenter. Michaela Fried is a child- and adolescent psychiatrist, specializing in NVR case management for acute and complex crisis, as well as trauma therapy. She has been involved in social projects in Europe and abroad, including voluntary humanitarian work with terminally ill people (UK), war refugees (former Yugoslavia, Macedonia, South Sudan, Gaza ) in mission with several NGOs. She is a graduate of the University of Vienna, and has completed her Post-doctoral fellowship at Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Her medical areas of expertise are child psychiatry and paediatrics. David Denborough works as a community worker, teacher and writer/editor for the Dulwich Centre, Adelaide, Australia. He is particularly interested in cross cultural partnerships which limit the chances of psychological colonization and create possibilities for cross-cultural inventions, such as the Team of Life Narrative Approach and Tree of Life (with Ncazelo Ncube- Mlilo). David is also vitally interested in how collective narrative practices can spark and/or sustain social movements and in projects that respond to racism and seek to strengthen social cohesion/inclusion.  He has been involved with several projects in Palestine, including The Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture, Ramallah and in Jabaliya, Gaza Guy Shennan is a Social Worker and Solution Focussed Therapist. He is on the Steering Group of the UK Palestine Mental Health Network He is a Founder member of Social Workers for a Free Palestine. The previous Cafe Palestine Zoom meeting was full with a maximum of 100 participants. In light of this, the Cafe Palestine on 24 February will be available both on Zoom and as a Facebook Live stream (addresses above). UKPALMHN Action Half-Hour Monday 26 February at 13:00 (UK) These informal events provide an opportunity to talk, swap ideas and take actions together. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to the meeting. All of the actions for this event and previous events can be found on: https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ 1. UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls From the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights UN experts xpressed alarm over credible allegations of egregious human rights violations to which Palestinian women and girls continue to be subjected in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Palestinian women and girls have reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children, according to information received. “We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces,” the experts said. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against 2. Social workers send letters from Gaza Organised by Social Workers for a Free Palestine @SW4PalestineUK / sw4palestineuk@gmail.com Social workers from the UK read out messages from social workers in Gaza that were sent by email at the end of 2023. The social workers wanted their messages to be heard by social workers and others around the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rC13VnVB3g 3. Be ready to imagine a new world by Professor Ilan Pappé The renowned historian of Israeli settler colonialism projects into a possible future beyond the current genocide of Palestinians and foresees the demise of the “Jewish state”. In a contribution to the Islamic Human Rights Commission’s annual Genocide Memorial Day in London on January 21, now published on their website, Pappe argues that Israel’s habitual pretext of defence and retaliation can no longer serve as cover for pursuing its racist and eliminatory policies towards the Palestinians. https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/be-ready-to-imagine-a-new-world [The article was originally published by the Islamic Human Rights Commission website on Thu 1 Feb 2024 at this address: https://www.ihrc.org.uk/it-is-dark-before-the-dawn-but-israeli-settler-colonialism-is-at-an-end For an unknown reason, there were some problems connecting to this site at the time of writing.] 4. Learn more about the Israeli Apartheid Week at this link https://bdsmovement.net/iaw#People%20Against%20Apartheid! 5. Israel systematically uses quadcopters to kill Palestinians from a close distance As part of its genocide against the Gaza Strip that has been ongoing since 7 October 2023, the Israeli army has been using small drones (or quadcopters) to fire directly at Palestinians, killing and injuring many of them, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented. Israel’s army has increased its use of electronic-controlled quadcopters—which were previously restricted to use for intelligence purposes—for killing and injuring Palestinians. The Israeli army has escalated its premeditated murders, extrajudicial executions, and judicial killings against Palestinian civilians through direct targeting with snipers and drones in various regions of the Gaza Strip, in addition to aerial and artillery bombardment of residential areas, Euro-Med Monitor said. https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6166 6. Palestinian ambassador to UK says eight relatives killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah Although the war retains strong public support in Israel, a small but vocal group of anti-war protesters gathered in Jerusalem’s Paris Square on Friday. They held up signs saying “stop the genocide” and “Palestinian lives still matter” as they chanted “From the river to the sea, freedom and equality”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/16/palestinian-ambassador-to-uk-says-eight-relatives-killed-in-israeli-strikes-in-rafah 7. Palestinian film Lyd plus Q&A showing in London Monday 26 Feb at the Prince Charles Theatre near Leicester Square, London at 18:00 Promoted by The Galilee Foundation Link to the film on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12683280/ Tickets are now on sale for the London screening of Palestinian film Lyd- The story of a city that once connected Palestine to the world. What it is now and what it could have become. https://galileefoundation.beaconforms.com/form/d68ef033 8. Messages from Gaza Now Wednesday 28 February at 19:00 – 21:00 P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD, UK At this event Az Theatre will present more readings of Hossam Madhoun’s MESSAGES FROM GAZA NOW, accounts from recent days in the Gaza Strip. Alongside this we are holding an open conversation with the Architects for Gaza/Palestine Regeneration Team group (participation and speaker to be confirmed). Az Theatre is making an appeal to ‘skill and knowledge’ communities to join an ongoing process of support and communication with people in Gaza as they face rebuilding their lives, their landscape and their environment in the coming months and years. https://p21.gallery/news/158