ICAHD UK October 2018 Newsletter In the early mornings some group members went with Rabbi Aril Ascherman of Torat Tzedek to escort Palestinian sheep and goat herders, who often suffer abuse from settlers of the region, and IDF soldiers. The group was soon stopped by an IDF force and the herders were made to get the sheep off their grazing land under the pretext that this is now a "Fire Zone". "The sheep went home hungry," wrote one of the volunteers. "This was a more telling scene about the realities of Palestinian lives that anything I could have read in books and newspapers." Al-Araqib is one of the 35 ‘unrecognised’ Bedouin villages in the Negev (Naqab) region of Israel. Like most of the other unrecognized villages, it existed before the creation of the State of Israel. Prior to 1948, around 90,000 Bedouins lived on 99 per cent of the Negev land and the residents of Al-Araqib have documents from the Ottoman era showing their ancestors purchased the land in 1906. No amount of reading, attending lectures or watching films can convey a genuine understanding of the facts on the ground compared to being there. Political analysis will be presented by ICAHD’s Dr Jeff Halper. Participants will visit Palestinians dealing with all the constraints and the suffering brought about from living under Israel’s Occupation and Apartheid policies – the demolition of their homes and loss of lands, deliberate impoverishment, the inability to move freely, issues of water discrimination, child imprisonment, and the psychological impact of generations existing under violent military occupation, as well as issues of women’s rights, traumatised families and refugees. 21 March 2019 - Laughing For Palestine fundraiser at Hebdon Bridge, West Yorkshire. Details to be confirmed. Our 2019 Annual Conference will take place at the Amnesty International Human Rights Centre, 25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA on Saturday 11 May 2019. Full details will be available early in the new year. Join Us On Social Media... Twitter @ICAHDUK Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ICAHDUK/ And our new Instagram Account @ICAHDUK With thanks for your continued support, Daphna and all at ICAHD UK. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israeli-Committee-Against-House-Demolitions-UK/366423593418140 Facebook https://www.twitter.com/ICAHDUK/ Twitter http://icahduk.org Website mailto:info@icahduk.org Email Demolition and Displacement Report - September 2018 At least 29 structures were demolished by Israeli forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem) in the month of September, displacing 51 people - including 23 children - and affecting a further 79 people, including 54 children. In addition, two families from East Jerusalem self-demolished their homes. Inside Israel, in the Naqab desert, Israeli forces demolished the unrecognised Bedouin village Al-Arakib for the 133rd time, demolished another house in Hura, and another family self-demolished their home in Sa’wah. In central and Northern Israel two houses were demolished, displacing more then 15 people. All the demolitions… Read more » Wonderful, Interesting - and Heart Breaking": ICAHD CAMP 2018 ICAHD Volunteers from the UK, US, Italy, Finland and Germany have hit the ground in Jerusalem on 21 October, for ICAHD and Torat Tzedek's Building, Harvesting and learning camp. They spent their first three days in Palestine with ICAHD founder Jeff Halper building a community centre at the north of the Jordan Valley. Taking advantage of the long typical Indian summer, they slept in tents and under the sky, and worked hard alongside their Palestinian counterparts. All the bricks bought through the Buy A Brick and Laughing For Palestine fundraisers were put into good use. The second part of the camp... Read more » Demolishing the Green Line: A Tale of Two 'States' but One Agenda On 4^th October 2018, the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib was demolished…for the 134^th time. The majority of Israel’s Bedouin villages were forcibly moved to new locations within a tightly defined zone in the Negev in the 1950’s and now over half of the population of 220,00 is corralled into the seven urban centres, or ‘townships’, specially created by the Israeli State in order to solve the ‘problem of the Bedouins’... Read more » Laughing for Palestine: Chuckles Against Occupation Laughing for Palestine with Alexei Sayle at The Bill Murray in London on 8 October was another successful show in what is about to become an ICAHD UK tradition, following the sold out Laughing For Palestine with Frankie Boyle in Edinburgh in August. Over eight hundred pounds were raised in the packed show, MCed by ICAHD UK Director, Daphna Baram. All the comedians who performed - Alexei Sayle, Dana Alexander, Esther Manito, Dane Baptiste and Sameena Zehra donated their time and talent, and invoked roars of laughter. Comedian Sameena Zehra also designed beautiful special postcards, which have since become best sellers in ICAHD UK events. ICAHD UK will keep organising... Read more » Reminder: Spaces Still Available on March Study Tour There are still some places available on this highly recommended Study Tour which will run from 18th to 28th March 2019. As Jeff Halper explains… Read more » Dates for your Diary On Wednesday 21 November we will be hosting Haggai Matar, the Executive Director of +972 Magazine, for a talk on Israel and the Palestinians two years into the Trump era. The venue will be confirmed shortly and will be in London. — ICAHD (icahd.org) /newsletter/icahd-uk-october-2018-newsletter