Webinar, Rula Hardal, Palestine Action, & more Featuring: Livnat Konopny Decleve – Israeli PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University, Israel Ilan Pappe – Israeli historian, author, director of the European Centre of Palestine Studies, University of Exeter, UK Jeff Halper – Israeli anthropologist, author, director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions All three speakers are members of the One Democratic State Campaign Register for the webinar here 1. Going through your CV makes for impressive reading. Your many accomplishments indicate that you are strong and determined to work for a more inclusive democratic society. Tell us about your background. I was born into a Christian family in the Galilee in the small town of Pki’in which is 30 kilometres northeast of Acre. When the state of Israel was founded, Pki’in wasn’t demolished as happened to so many Palestinian towns and villages at the time. This was because some Jewish families lived in Pki’in and because most of the population there were Druze. Because of the Nakba which created more than 750,000 Palestinian refugees at that time, some Muslim families came to live in Pki’in so it has a history of being a mixed town. Today it has a population of around 7000 but only one Jewish family remains there. Tourists visit Pki’in to see the ancient synagogue. 2. And your family? Tell us a little more about them and your early years. I was surrounded by our extended family. My father was a bus driver and my mother was a teacher who instilled in us a love of learning. I’m the oldest. I have three sisters and one brother, and we are all university graduates. I can say that our family wasn’t political and that I was the one who travelled the farthest to pursue my education. I broke out of the box of Israel/Palestine and became more open and accepting of others. Over the years I’ve challenged the perspectives held by my family and now they are more open-minded. Read the full interview here . Seven of these demolitions were carried out by the owners themselves in order to avoid having to pay the high fees imposed by the Israeli authorities to cover the cost of the demolitions - demonstrating yet again how the Israeli regime will deliberately maximise the agony for the Palestinian people associated with loss of their homes and livelihoods. In many cases, notably in East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities condition Palestinians to either demolish their properties themselves or have the authorities do so. In an attempt to avoid having to pay the high fee of the Israeli authorities’ demolition operation and additional high fines, many Palestinians are forced to self-demolish. One self-demolition in Bet Hanina in East Jerusalem had even further tragic consequences in the death of 17-year-old Ali Burqan , who was reportedly helping his neighbour demolish their home under the orders of Israel’s Jerusalem municipality. We can expect further escalation in these abuses of the very basic human rights of the Palestinian people in the West bank and East Jerusalem in the near future. In our August bulletin, we reported on a plan being considered by the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF ) for the use of state laws, specifically designed for the dispossession of Palestinians, to claim land ownership and thereby to implement a major programme of evictions in East Jerusalem and settlement building in the West Bank. The plan was formally adopted on September 2^nd and will take 5 years to implement. ICAHD will continue to monitor and record this wholesale abuse of legal processes and its devastating effects on Palestinian communities in order to enhance our existing programmes of awareness raising, education, lobbying and other political work. For full report and to see three maps that indicate the impact of the demolitions see here . Participate in Forthcoming Events Photo: ICAHD UK represented at the Hastings Pier Palestine Festival, 5^th September 2021 Demonstrate your solidarity with Palestinians by getting back out into the streets, raising awareness in your locality. ICAHD UK has free post cards for distribution and other resources for stalls as well as a variety of flags/banners for use in profiling ICAHD’s work. Find out what is happening where you live and then contact us on info@icahduk.org to let us know what is needed. Make note of the diary dates below for larger events happening this autumn. Further news about Climate Justice and the Palestine bloc at COP26 will be featured in the next few weeks. Attend IMET2000's Extravaganza Event: IMET2000 Autumn Extravaganza on Zoom for Child Refugees, Victims of War & of Pandemics Do please join us for the second of our most important fundraisers of the year. Because of the pandemic, we are having to find other ways of meeting our many financial commitments globally and we are determined to give everyone an uplifting evening in these difficult times. We are joined live on zoom by the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Dr Husam Zomlot, children from Syria, Palestine, Uganda and Ghana and frontline workers from Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Yemen, Ghana and Uganda. For entertainment, Mark Thomas and Imran Yusuf provide the laughter, Ken Loach is in discussion with Palestinian film-maker Farah Nabulsi, Jon Snow talks about his experiences in Uganda since working as a VSO teacher there in 1967 and young musicians from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music will perform enchanting Arab music and we have a selection of African music too. * West Bank: Essential equipment to expand our Basic Life Support training in the IMET2000 Acute Trauma Unit in Ramallah * Gaza: Child Mental Health Centre and Mental Health Training after our child mental health clinic was destroyed by an Israeli bomb on May 14th * Syria: Joint project with partner charity, Firefly International, with education and training for Syrian children in refugee camps (in Syria and Turkey) * Yemen: Joint project with partner charity Action for Child Trauma International (ACTI) training Yemeni psychologists in modern specialist therapies for victims of war * Ghana: Joint project with partner charity Action Through Enterprise (ATE) for support of severely handicapped and disabled children and their mothers * Uganda: Management of COVID-19 patients, installing piped oxygen and a large oxygen generator for the operating theatres and CV19 ward in our IMET2000 Herona Hospital To confirm your attendance please email info@imet2000.org . The Zoom joining link will be sent out the day before the event and only those who have confirmed their attendance by email will receive the link. There is no ticket for sale but we request a donation of £30 to register. To make your donation please use this link to the dedicated IMET 2000 JustGiving event page If you wish to donate anonymously please ensure that you have confirmed your attendance by email on info@imet2000.org otherwise we cannot send you the zoom joining link. On the JustGiving page please ignore the tip request (15%) and either give nothing or maximum of 5%! But gift aided at 25% costs you nothing and increases our income enormously. Sunday 12th September 2021 - Stop Arming Israel demonstration – view full list of resistance activities here (https://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk/events/ ) . Wednesday 22nd September 2021 5.00-6.15pm (UK time) - ICAHD UK Webinar: Israelis decribe their journey away from Zionism. Register here . Saturday 6th November 2021 - ACTIONS BULLETIN - September 2021 * Register for the September webinar * Meet Rula Hardal who calls for one democratic state * Study the August Demolition and Displacement Report * View new film about Palestine Action * Participate in forthcoming events * Attend the IMET2000 extravaganza * Mark your diary ICAHD UK Webinar: Dissident Israelis: Breaking Away from Zionism Wednesday, 22nd September 5.00-6.15pm (UK time) Dissident Israelis will be in conversation with each other as they discuss their journey of moving away from Zionism. They will cover what it has been like to counter Israel’s rhetoric, how this has impacted on their lives including with their family and friends. Learn about why some Israelis leave, preferring to live in exile. Hear about their vision for an inclusive democratic state to be established in historic Palestine as the only sustainable way for the future. ICAHD UK's Interview with Dr Rula Hardal Palestinian Israeli academic who chooses to live in the West Bank Meet Rula Hardal in the latest or our series of interviews with Palestinians and Israelis who support a one democratic state for all who reside in historic Palestine. August's Demolition and Displacement Report During August, Israel’s relentless programme of dispossession of the Palestinian people continued with 125 demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - all on pretext that the houses and other structures destroyed were built without a permit. One hundred and seventy-seven individuals were displaced and a further 1075 directly affected. Monica Wusteman, Chair ICAHD UK Palestine Action - A year of direct action against Elbit Systems UK Palestine Action, a direct-action focused organisation, has released a film that documents its activities over the last year. It targets all companies that are directly complicit in Israel’s ongoing military occupation and subsequent colonization of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of its people. Its largest campaign to date has been targeting Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer. The new Palestine Action film includes comments from ICAHD activist Sahar Vardi as well as from other ICAHD colleagues. View the film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCV-vTWTwsQ&ab_channel=RealMedia) here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCV-vTWTwsQ&ab_channel=RealMedia) . Date: Monday, September 27th, 2021 Time: 7pm-9pm IMET2000 was established in the year 2000 with a mission to upgrade healthcare through education and training of all professionals working in the healthcare sector worldwide particularly those working with children suffering physical and mental trauma through extreme economic deprivation, major natural disasters or military conflict. On the night we will be raising funds for: * West Bank Palestine: Advanced training in critical care of COVID-19 infected patients for nurses, doctors and allied professionals in Gaza and the West Bank and donation of more medical grade oxygen delivery systems Dates for Your Diary Ongoing - Global Emergency Actions for Palestine – find out what is happening near you here (https://samidoun.net/events/list/) . Many are scheduled for 15^th May, including London and locations around the UK. COP26 Coalition - Global Day of Action - Join the Palestine solidarity bloc at demonstrations in Glasgow and London for climate justice. Further information available here Many thanks for your ongoing support. If you're not already a member of ICAHD UK, please consider joining us (https://icahd.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a3728e1a8014d53820403ca12&id=11543a1508&e=04ebcc88fa) to enable our campaign to spread at this critical time in history. From all at ICAHD UK. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israeli-Committee-Against-House-Demolitions-UK/366423593418140 Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israeli-Committee-Against-House-Demolitions-UK/366423593418140) https://www.twitter.com/ICAHDUK/ Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/ICAHDUK/) http://icahduk.org Website (http://icahduk.org) mailto:info@icahduk.org Email (mailto:info@icahduk.org) — ICAHD (icahd.org) /newsletter/webinar-rula-hardal-palestine-action-more