Standing Together: International Activism and Solidarity with Palestine

This Café Palestine was dedicated to the precious memory of Eamon McMahon 1951-2022

Chair: Victoria Brittain

Tribute by Arlene Healey of the Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network to the activism and solidarity work of Eamon McMahon

Elizabeth Berger and Lama Khouri on international solidarity initiatives from the USA-Palestine Mental health Network and the Palestine-Global Network including collaboration on the campaign for the release of Ahmad Manasra and other child prisoners.

Gwyn Daniel on pushing back against the instrumentalisation of antisemitism to silence Palestinian activism

Guy Shennan and Issa Rabadi on recent collaborative developments in Palestine-related social work activism within the UK, in Palestine and internationally

Speakers  
Elizabeth Berger is a child psychiatrist living in New York City and a member of the Steering Committee of the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network. Her work as an activist with colleagues in Palestine focuses on the impact of the occupation on health and well-being.

Victoria Brittain  is a British writer and journalist who has written widely on Human Rights and Politics in the Middle East and beyond. She has visited the West Bank and Gaza many times over the past thirty years. She is a founder member of the annual Palestine Festival of Literature and is trustee of the Palestinian Book awards. She has been closely associated with the UK Palestine Mental Health Network. Her most recent book is Love and Resistance in the films of Mai Masri published by Palgrave Macmillan New York.

Gwyn Daniel is a consultant systemic psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. She is on the steering group of the UK Palestine Mental Health Network. She is a patron of the Palestine Trauma Centre in Gaza. She has given presentations in the UK and Europe and published articles on the impact of Israeli settler colonialism on Palestinian family life.

Arlene Healey is a consultant systemic psychotherapist and former Director of the Family Trauma Centre, Belfast. She is a founder member of the Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network

Lama Khouri DPsa, LCSW-R is a Palestinian psychotherapist based in New York. She is one of the founders of the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network and is on its steering committee.  Lama has a private practice and is a clinical supervisor at the Arab American Family Support Center.  She comes to the field of mental health following a 14-year career at the United Nations, most of which she spent as a political affairs officer at the Department of Peace Operations.

Issa Rabadi is a Palestinian social worker, member of the Palestinian Union for Social Workers and Psychologists (PUSWP), and of the Palestine-UK Social Work Network.

Guy Shennan is a social worker and therapist based in London, UK. A founder member of the Palestine-UK Social Work Network, with colleagues in the UK, and Issa and other social work colleagues in Palestine, Guy is now a member of the steering group of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network.