westwalesfriendsofpalestine.files.wordpress.com€¦ · Web viewIt was a great honour and privilege to be at the graduation ceremony at Rummaneh Kindergarten on May 25th 2016. We

WEST WALES FRIENDS OF PALESTINE CYFEILLION PALESTEINA YNG NGORLLEWIN CYMRU

Newsletter No 4 Cylchlythr Rhif 4 (August / Awst 2016)

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Hello members- we hope everyone is enjoying a good summer. Since our last newsletter, we have had a couple of good events in the Llandeilo area which have been well attended, and these have raised substantial funds for our canopy appeal. Events in other parts of South West Wales are planned over the next three months, and details are given in this newsletter. Our appeal to raise money to fund an all weather canopy for the kindergarten in Rummenah has been well supported, and we are now in a position to send enough money to Rummaneh for the school to start the building work.

Since our last newsletter, two members of the group –Becca and Dave Vaughan- have, at their own expense, visited Rummaneh for the kindergarten graduation- they report on their visit and the welcome they received. There is also an article describing the nature of the Palestinian Authority, its limitations and the challenges it faces.

Shwmae aelodau – gobeithio’ch bod chi’n cael haf bendithiol. Ers ein cylchlythyr diwethaf, cawsom ddigwyddiadau da yn ardal Llandeilo, gyda nifer go dda yn mynychu, felly bu modd codi arian sylweddol tuag at yr apêl am do newydd. Bydd nifer o ddigwyddiadau eraill yn Ne-orllewin Cymru dros y tri mis nesaf, a nodir y manylion am y rheiny yn y cylchlythyr. Cawsom ymateb cefnogol iawn i’n hapêl am arian i godi to bob-tywydd yn yr ysgol feithrin yn Rummenah ac erbyn hyn gallwn anfon arian atynt fel bod y gwaith adeiladu yn ysgol Rummaneh yn

medru dechrau.

Ers y cylchlythyr diwethaf, aeth dau aelod o’n grŵp – Becca a Dave Vaughan – ar ymweliad â Rummaneh ar eu cost eu hunain, a hynny ar adeg ‘graddio’ plant yr ysgol feithrin. Cewch adroddiad ar eu hymweliad a’r croeso a gawsant. Mae erthygl hefyd am Awdurdod Palesteina, y cyfyngiadau sydd arno a’r her sy’n ei wynebu.



For more information about these events please contact our secretary – Sue Davies at [email protected]

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Forthcoming Events

Date and time Event Venue

Saturday 17th September 7-11pm

Live music and Food Bancyfelin

Saturday 15th October, 1-5.00pm

Information Day Wesleyan Church, Carmarthen

November 26th Street event to mark International day of Solidarity with Palestine

To be confirmed

December 10th Event to mark International Human Rights Day

To be confirmed

mailto:[email protected]



Rummaneh Kindergarten’s graduation Ceremony May 2016.

It was a great honour and privilege to be at the graduation ceremony at Rummaneh Kindergarten on May 25 th 2016. We were welcomed as special guests

by Linda, Head Teacher of the Kindergarten, Mohammed and Hassam, (Chair and treasurer of Rummaneh Charitable Association) and made to feel that the

friendship between Rummaneh and WWFoP was valued and important. We were given a “”declaration of friendship and twinning” as a symbol of this and

to mark the one year anniversary of WWFoP’s first visit.

Parents were all gathered expectantly and seated under a make shift canopy. It was a hot and sunny day (approx. 29c) and the vital need for shade was

evident. Some children handed around refreshments and after a few brief opening speeches the

children performed a delightful series of dances. Some were traditional Palestinian songs and

dances in national dress, while others were nursery rhymes in English. When we mentioned that

we did not have graduation ceremonies for this age group in Wales, we were reminded of the

need to celebrate good news in

Palestine. A play demonstrated the

importance of family and the need to

look after older members of the family.

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Mohammed Sbehat, far left Chair of RCA looks on as a member of the Jenin Govern ate and Rebecca Vaughan from WWFoP sign a declaration of friendship.

Friends, family and guests under a make- shift canopy



At a meeting after the event we were pleased to be able to discuss how we could start

transferring the money WWFoP have raised to cover the cost of building a permanent

canopy, as well as ideas for building on the friendship and understanding between the

two groups and areas. These included exchanging descriptions of customs such as

hospitality (e.g. norms re meeting and greeting, food etc) and education, and sharing

poetry (Mohammed’s father is a poet).

Other visits are planned for the future.

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Children line up to graduate

Children perform a traditional Palestinian song and dance



The Palestinian Authority and the West Bank

The territory known as the West Bank was established following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It was made up of the land between the

war’s armistice line in the west and the Jordan river in the east and initially was annexed by Jordan. Following the Arab defeat in the

1967 War the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem were directly occupied by the Israeli military in defiance of international law. This

was followed by an ever growing number of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Negotiations brokered by the U.S. and the

international community led to the Oslo Accord of 1993 establishing the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a key element of a transitional

settlement intended eventually to lead to a autonomous Palestinian control.

Media portrayal, and demands made upon it by Israel suggest the PA governs an autonomous independent state like any other. At its

inception the political structure of the PA was that of a parliamentary democracy based on an elected Legislative Council of 132

members. This in turn elected a president, currently Mahmoud Abbas, who appoints a Prime Minister. Thus with Executive, Legislative

and Judicial bodies, representation on a number of U.N. bodies the impression might be that of an independent nation state. However

the reality is very different. Oslo designated Control Areas A,B, & C ( See Newsletter 3). Area C, some 60% of the West Bank was

placed under direct Israeli Military control. A military which also protects 223 illegal Israeli settlements and their road networks. The

Israeli military also protect an Israeli enclave in the major West Bank city of Hebron. Area A alone is under PA security and civilian

control while Area B is under Palestinian civilian but Israeli security control. All this means that movement within a West Bank pock

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marked by Israeli settlements and communication networks is oppressively controlled by the Israeli military. Then in 2006 the PA lost

control of the Gaza Strip following the violent schism between Fatah and Hamas.

Alongside limited territorial sovereignty goes a restricted financial base. The PA's 2016 income of $4.25 billion is derived from three

sources. Taxation of the Palestinian population, financial donations from the international community, and 70% of its revenue from

custom clearances between Israel and the West Bank, making 70% of its income dependent on the whims and mood of the Israeli

government. Of this budget, administrative expenses take up over 51% with security institutions alone getting 28% of the proposed

2016 budget. So salaries and wages of government employees grab the lion's share with only very limited allocations for education,

health social affairs and the economic development its citizens would hope for.

In theory the budget should be approved by the legislative council but this has not officially sat since 2007 when Hamas won a majority

over the previous Fatah regime. The U.S. and the international community would not recognise a Hamas led government and have

continued to negotiate with a Fatah led PA on the West Bank which has held on to power and still rules by Presidential decree. The

Legislative Assembly passed into ineffectual limbo and Hamas took control of Gaza by armed force. Presidential and legislative

elections have been postponed indefinitely. The Judicial arm of the PA is similarly flawed. In April this year the PA established a

constitutional court with the power to appoint a presidential successor to Abbas and whose decrees are binding on the executive and

legislative arms. Critics say this court has been stacked with Fatah loyalists whose aim is to shore up the dwindling authority of the PA.

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Security of its population is a fundamental purpose of any state, the PA was given power to appoint a police force but not an army, with

a remit that includes the requirement to cooperate with the Israeli military and security services. Initially this numbered 9,000 but has

now grown to a greatly increased internal security system alongside powerful armed militias. All this and the role of the Israeli military

in the West Bank negates the PA and the West Bank as conforming to the usual definition of a state as alone having the authority to

use legal force in its territory.

Also vital to a democracy is a free press however under a 1995 PA press law, journalists may be fined and jailed and newspapers closed

for publishing “secret information” on PA security services or news that might harm national unity or incite violence. Journalists and

private individuals who criticize the PA or Fatah face arbitrary arrest, threats and physical abuse.

The reality is that the PA has no control over its external borders, customs, airspace, water and minerals. Israel collects the PA's custom

duties, taxes Palestinian citizens working in Israel on behalf of the PA and is the market for its exports and the source of its imports. The

PA has also to cooperate on secuity matters with Israel while being unable to stop the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements.

Inevitably such a broken backed political authority, to which must be added corruption and heavy handed control, has lost the

confidence of its population especially the young.

This leaves the Palestinian population of the West Bank trapped between an ineffectual PA and an Israel securing ever more West Bank

land while granting the Palestinians neither an independent state nor citizenship in what is becoming an ever larger Israel.

Sources: Freedom in the World website/ Wikipedia /AL-Monitor 4/2/2016. / Electronic Intifada 6/5/2016

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COMMEMORATING THE NAKBA - ‘CATASTROPHE’ - OF THE PAST AND PRESENT DISPOSSESSION OF PALESTINIAN PEOPLE .

Our event in Llandeilo on the evening of Saturday, May 14th at the Angel Inn

Our thanks to everyone who contributed and came to support this event in Llandeilo at the Angel Inn, which aimed to commemorate and increase our knowledge and understanding about the Nakba - past and present - through films, sharing ideas, discussion, music and ‘cuisine’.

The evening was introduced by Annie De La Hunty who summarized the evening programme and then outlined the past and present significance of May 15th , Nakba Day – meaning catastrophe in English - a day marked out annually by Palestinians as a day of recognition and remembrance of the events of 1948 and the ongoing displacement of Palestinian people from their homes.

In 1948 around 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel. 500 villages were destroyed in a premeditated campaign, and their inhabitants never allowed to return. Zionist militias, who later became the “IDF”, committed massacres in Deir Yassin, Lydda, Tantura and dozens of other Palestinian communities. A critical understanding of the Nakba is essential as it continues to shape Palestinians’ experience. Palestinian society was all but destroyed, with refugees scattered around neighbouring states and across the world. The ethnic cleansing never ended, and continues today with, for example, hundreds of Palestinians losing their homes due to Israel’s demolition policies. Israel continues to deny Palestinians their fundamental rights, including, crucially, the right of return. [REF 1]

The yearning for and hope of return is symbolised by Palestinian people by a key, the key to their ‘lost’ homes –referenced in the logo of WWFoP.

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Pat Gill then gave an informative talk about her visit to Rummaneh, a community on the West Bank facing the Israeli wall, and with which WWFoP is twinned in friendship [REF 2]. Pat described her meeting with the children of the community and the subsequent aim of WWFoP to meet the request of the community of Rummaneh to support the funding of a playground shelter for their kindergarden.

Following on was a showing of two films, one exploring a snapshot of the current situation in Hebron, the daily experience of discrimination, dispossession and injustice [REF 3]. The other film, “Resistance Recipes”, a documentary composed of several stories examining culinary and agricultural projects in villages in Palestine, looked at accounts of independent eco-farming and a women’s farming and marketing cooperative. The film explores the history of the emergence of the cooperative and the skills, commitment, effectiveness and passion of the women involved [REF 4]. Thanks to Luke Conlon, who obtained copies of the film ‘Resistance recipes ‘ to be shown and sold.

The films were followed by discussion and Palestinian styled snacks, later supplemented by music from singer songwriter guitarist Kerry St John , an acapella duet of two songs beautifully harmonised by Jude and Christa, a final short film of Roger Waters singing ‘We Shall Overcome’ [REF 5] and finally a rousing drumming session provided by local djembe drummers.

Many thanks to all those who came along, despite a busy summer weekend of other local events in Llandeilo, and gave a very generous £112, all of which will support the funding of the kindergarden playground shelter. WWFoP has now raised a significant proportion of the funds needed, thanks to everyone who has supported this aim. Thanks to Tracy, Paul and Glynis of the Angel Inn for providing the First Floor without charge and supporting our setting-up arrangements

Thanks also to Helena and Ioanna who travelled up by train from Swansea to support the evening, after having recently met WWFoP members at another event to commemorate the Nakba.

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Leaflets and items to purchase were available and many people took the opportunity to talk to members of WWFoP about the purpose of the charity and present activities. Four people became new members and overall about 10 people registered an interest in meeting up locally every 2 – 3months, to discuss the activities of WWFoP , the situation in Palestine in general and how they might want to contribute.

We hope to to follow up this support from September onwards - information about these informal local gatherings of friends [together of course with the programme of WWFoP activities as a whole] will be announced in the POST [a regional news magazine], the WWFoP website, via the membership secretary, through direct contact , this newsletter and the general press.

Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the Nakba commemorations so look out for news about what we’ll be doing throughout West Wales.

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RESOURCES/References/Recipes.

[1] PLO Fact Sheets Nakba: http://www.nad-plo.org/userfiles/file/fact%20sheets/Refugees-Nakba%20Fact%20Sheet-.pdf

[2] On the Britain Palestine Friendship and Twinning Network Middle East Fact Sheet about Nakba inc. map: http://imeu.org/article/the-nakba-65-years-of-dispossession-and-apartheid [3] Daily Life in Occupied Palestine [E U Parliament Film] via YOU TUBE [4] Resistance recipes. Film obtainable from www.resistance recipes.com [5]We Shall Overcome, sung by Roger Waters via YOU TUBE

SIMPLE PALESTINIAN RECIPE: Za’atar pitta bread served during the event on May 14th.

What is za’atar? A mixture of dried herbs and seeds. A Palestinian product widely available from shops supporting fair trade with Palestine e.g. Dragons Garden in Llandeilo. Ask your local whole food outlet if they can supply it. Easy to use creatively in the kitchen.

Za’atar paste: mix dried herb mix with olive oil to make a thick or

http://www.resistance/

http://imeu.org/article/the-nakba-65-years-of-dispossession-and-apartheid

http://www.nad-plo.org/userfiles/file/fact%20sheets/Refugees-Nakba%20Fact%20Sheet-.pdf



PLANTS FOR PALESTINE

On the 24th June a garden near Llandeilo with lovely views of the Twyi Valley

was thrown open to members and supporters to raise money for our Canopy

Appeal. The garden looked beautiful and ready to give a good show but

unfortunately the weather took no notice and it rained all afternoon!

Nevertheless our members were undeterred and turned out in good numbers

to enjoy the event. They watched films and heard news of Rummaneh (the

community with whom we are linked); sent messages to our friends in Palestine which were translated into Arabic; toured the garden; found plants

to buy from the plant stall and enjoyed delicious tea and cakes! £400 was raised thanks to the enthusiasm and generosity of all who participated.

Garden event

This was held in Trecnwc, Glandwr on Sunday 24th July.Thanks to all who came and contributed to a successful day. Over £500 was raised for the school canopy

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The ‘Hobbit House’ in Trecnwc built by Charlie & Meg



The West Bank opens up its great outdoors = From the Guardian Saturday 9th July

The striking, culturally rich landscape of the Judean desert in Palestine is starting to lure visitors with new hiking routes, homestays and Bedouin treks

Route of the ancients … Walkers on Abraham’s Path near Jenin. Photograph: Kevin Rushby

Clinging to the contours of the Kidron valley, the monastery of Mar Saba blends into the backdrop of the West Bank’s ancient hills. A throng of Orthodox pilgrims chant outside the modest stone entrance.

A priest, in black, accepts donations and bestows blessings on the crowd.

Unlike the majority of historic sites in and around Jerusalem, there is no noisy bus park, no boisterous tour groups, no vendors pushing rosary beads or postcards. Instead, Mar Saba and its surroundings seem little changed from how it must have looked on completion in the fifth century AD.

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For most westerners, a holiday in the West Bank isn’t high on the wishlist, although Foreign Office warnings relate only to very specific areas on the main road connecting Jerusalem with Hebron and Nablus. But those who do venture into the Judean desert can take advantage of the new opportunities in outdoor and community-oriented tourism that are opening up across the region.

Palestinian

landscape with olive trees.

Photograph:

Getty Images

The recent creation of marked walking trails running the length of the West Bank, from Rummana in Jenin to the village of al-Burj in the Hebron Valley, along with the promotion of homestays and camping by various non-profit organisations, has enabled Palestine to introduce a generation to outdoor activities and build a tourism infrastructure around one of the most striking and culturally rich landscapes in the Middle East.

One of the key organisations involved is Masar Ibrahim al Khalil, a non-profit, community-based tourism initiative and local partner to the wider cross-border walking programme, Abraham’s Path, a trail that retraces Abraham’s journey through the Middle East. According to George Rishmawi, Masar Ibrahim’s executive director, the explanation for this increase is largely down to a sense of Palestinian youth wanting to explore and realising the potential benefits of outdoor activities both in a local and international context: “For the past 15 years Palestinians have been suffocating from politics, a lack of freedom

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and living in crowded areas. The social fabric is changing. The youth are more adventurous and curious than before. They are discovering the beauty of a country many don’t know.”

On attracting greater numbers of visitors, Rishmawi explains that “although the Palestinian Authority does not consider tourism a major ministry, tourism is the oil of Palestine and developing opportunities and services will bring economic benefit and a better experience for visitors.”

It is not just trekking and camping that are becoming popular. In March, the West Bank’s first indoor climbing gym opened in Ramallah. Aside from over 50 different colour-coded climbing routes, the gym offers weekly outings to Ramallah’s environs.

A goat forages near a Bedouin camp in the West Bank. Photograph: Alamy

One of the most ambitious initiatives involves the West Bank’s most vulnerable community, the Bedouin. Sahari Desert Eco Tourism,

established in 2014, organises activities including multi-day treks, full-moon hikes and day trips from a camp near East Jerusalem. It recently added retreats for NGOs and businesses in the region. “Bedouin are part of the desert; when you speak about the desert you speak about the Bedouin,” says Jamal Hammadeen, Sahari’s founder and the first Bedouin in the West Bank to be certified as a local desert guide by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

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https://www.facebook.com/AlmdarbAldwyhFyAlqds/



His programmes take hikers deep into the Judean desert, towards the Dead Sea and along ancient shepherding routes among crumbling dry stone walls and terraced olive groves. Water comes from wells, food is fresh flat bread, cheese and honey, and your bed is in a Bedouin camp, a cave, or under the stars.

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Documents

westwalesfriendsofpalestine.files.wordpress.com€¦ · Web viewIt was a great honour and privilege to be at the graduation ceremony at Rummaneh Kindergarten on May 25th 2016. We