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P.O.Box 46081, London W9 2ZF JfJfP@aol.com

page last updated 4 July, 2008

 

Forthcoming events

Generally in London - dates in bold = out of London

  • Olive Co-operative tours - including tours catering specially for teachers; medics; architecture, history & culture; the olive harvest and others


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2-3 July, FFIPP-International Conference at Al Quds University, Jerusalem

The Predicament of Gaza and Palestine: US/Israel policies and the role of academia

Preamble

It has been almost two years since the last FFIPP conference in Ramallah. Since then, the situation in the Occupied Territories has deteriorated with the rapidly worsening conditions in Gaza, the continued construction of the Wall and the settlements, continued violence— mainly against the Palestinians- and the lack of any progress in the ‘negotiations’. The tensions between Hamas and Fatah continued as well and the isolation of Hamas contributed to the general deterioration. The Annapolis conference has failed to produce any positive change in the region and the occupation of Iraq is now threatening to escalate into, potentially, a major confrontation with Iran.

This turbulent political environment in Israel, Palestine and the region, coupled with the devastating socio-economic conditions in Gaza, urgently call for better understanding, cooperation and positive plan of joint action among Internationals, Palestinians and Israelis. This conference has been designed as an aid for such an action.

The Program — a preliminary outline

First Day
1. The Gaza blockade and the demonization of Hamas.

2. US policy in the Middle East in light of the coming
elections: Israel/Palestine and Iraq.

Second Day
3. The Israeli strategy towards Palestine.

4. Academic involvement and the agenda for ending the occupation. [Workshops]
a. Policy papers and concrete research
b. Campaign for free education— how to conduct education under conditions of encirclement.
c. The boycott and divestment campaign.
d. Alternatives modes of action.

Speakers
The following is a partial list of confirmed speakers and panelists:
1. Gaza blockade: Eyad el-Sarraj, Salim Tamari, Hashim Shawa(President of the Bank of Palestine), Kamalin Shaath, Issam Younis(Director of Al Mizan Centre for Human
Rights), Abdel Karim Ashour (Director of Agriculture Relief Committees), Mona Farra(The Red Crescent Society).
2. US policy: Henry Siegman, Richard Falk, Phyllis Bennis, Bassma Kodmani
3. Israeli policy: Eyal Wiezman, Oren Yiftachel
4. Workshops: Saleh el-Jawad, Islah Jad, Kenneth Mann

For further details and how to register, contact Uri Hadar at uri-h@freud.tau.ac.il


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Tuesday 8 July, 8.00 pm, north London

The Safe Space - Asylum in Israel

JCore in association with the Jewish Community Centre for London

Venue: Upstairs at The Adelaide, Adelaide Road, London NW3
Price £5

Over the past year Israel has been dealing with the challenge of asylum in a way that it has never had to before.
 
Hundreds of survivors of the genocide in Darfur have been flooding over the Egyptian-Israeli border. As a country famous for its integration of people from all over the world and one which has had to deal with the legacy of the Holocaust, the situation presents a complex challenge to the state.
 
Ellen Goldberg director of the New Israel Fund UK;
Lisa Richlen Associate Director for Resource Development of the Migrant Worker's Hotline in Israel; and
Nikki Levitan volunteer with Bnei Darfur in Israel

will be in conversation with

David Brown from the Aegis Trust

discussing the differences and similarities in the way the UK and the State of Israel are dealing with asylum seekers from Darfur and considering whether Israel has a unique responsibility to these people.

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8, 10, 17 July, central London

Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation

Saree Makdisi is the author of Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation published by WW Norton on 15 July. He will be in the UK during July and giving various talks in London on Palestinian daily life under the occupation of the Israelis.

He will be discussing his book at vious venues including:

8th July – Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre

Doors open at 6.30pm, talk starts at 7pm.

Saree Makdisi will give be part of a panel discussion at the Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre. This talk has been set up in partnership with The Council for Arab-British Understanding, and will be chaired by Sir Geoffrey Bindman, chair of the British Institute of Human Rights. The talk will be followed by refreshments and book signing. Click for location

For further information on this event please contact Dion Markakis, tel: 020 7832 1310   

10th July – The Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, London WC2N

Lunchtime talk  from 1-2pm.

The talk will be followed by a book signing.

For further information on this event please contact Tabitha Pelly

17th July – SOAS, Khalili Lecture Theatre, London WC1H 0XG

6pm.

The talk will be followed by book signing.

For further information on this event please contact Tabitha Pelly

PALESTINE INSIDE OUT: An Everyday Occupation

Saree Makdisi

15 July 2008 £15.99  ISBN: 978 0 393 06606 7

Each morning thousands of Palestinians in the occupied territories set out from their homes—to work, on errands or simply on social calls. They travel along roads that are in desperate need of paving towards Israeli military checkpoints where they will be hassled, humiliated and perhaps even turned away. Those who actually make it to their place of work will often bring home pitifully little at the end of the day. Those attempting to import or export goods or farm produce will be subject to logistical nightmares and additional costs and will often not make enough money to make their trip worthwhile. Some of those who seek medical treatment never make it to hospital.

For Palestinians, Israeli army checkpoints are, at best, an unsustainable imposition on the conduct of everyday life. At worst, situations at the checkpoints can deteriorate from boring and insulting to injurous and even life-threatening.

In Palestine Inside Out, through real-life stories and eye-opening statistics, Saree Makdisi offers readers a first-hand look at what life is really like for Palestinians in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967.

Abdallah found himself beaten in the head with a rifle butt, handcuffed and detained for hours, after trying to prevent being needlessly separated from his family by guards at a checkpoint. Tahani and her husband helplessly watched their prematurely newborn baby die at home because an army checkpoint refused to allow an ambulance to take them to hospital. Ismail, a Gaza fisherman, was stopped by an Israeli patrol boat and forced to swim after it out to sea. Every time Ismail drew close, the boat would move farther away, increasing the distance between them until Ismail was aching with cold and begging for mercy. These are just some of the many devastating personal accounts found in Palestine Inside Out.

Building on these stories of daily life under occupation, the book also provides a thorough account of the logic and nature of the occupation and its location in the broader history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It also offers some context and an explanation for the breakdown of the peace process and why Palestinian supporters supported Hamas in 2006.

THE END OF A TWO-STATE SOLUTION?

Makdisi points out that more and more Palestinians, and a small number of Israelis, are abandoning the concept of a two-state solution and are calling for an end to the structural distinction between Jews and non-Jews and the foundation of a single democratic and secular state in all of historic Palestine—with equal rights for all citizens, regardless of their religion. As Makdisi says, the Israelis and Palestinians, “...must decide between remaining locked in a deadly struggle that neither side is in a position to win—or taking the path of reconciliation. For Jewish Israelis, that would mean giving up on the dream state that never really was; for Palestinians, it would mean giving up on the dream of a sovereign Palestinian state, for which they have yearned for so long. But there is no longer any other way out.”

Both horrifying and moving, Palestine Inside Out is required reading for anyone looking for a better understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

SAREE MAKDISI is a professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA. He has written regularly for The London Review of Books and speaks on Middle East affairs all over the world.


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10 July, 12 July, 15 July

Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association events


Thursday 10th July – 7 for 7.30 pm

CADFA fundraising meal: PALESTINIAN FEAST

Delicious home cooking (in a private house, so you MUST BOOK)

£15 - all proceeds to CADFA education links

Please let us know by the end of this weekend if you can come

And tell us if you are vegetarian!


Saturday 12th July –

Please let us know if you can help with the CADFA stall at the  Somers Town Festival of Cultures

Tuesday 15th July, 7.30 pm

CADFA AGM

Torriano Meeting House,  99 Torriano Avenue, NW5

Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association
promoting human rights and
respect for international humanitarian law
PO Box 34265
London NW5 2WD
email, tel + fax  0845 458 1167

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16th September 2008, Central Hall, Westminster

Paths to Peace : Proposals to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Speakers:
Dr Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Legislative Council Member, Palestinian Territories. 
Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian democracy activist who represents the Independent Palestine list on the Palestinian Legislative Council. 
Yael Dayan, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv, Peace Now Activist. 
Efraim Halevy, Former Director of Mossad and the Israeli National Security Council. 
Dr Edward Luttwak, Senior Advisor, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC. 

Remaining speakers to be announced

Chaired by:To be announced

This debate will take place at Central Hall Westminster
Doors open 6pm. Debate starts 6.45pm and finishes at 8.30pm

Intelligence Squared with the Weidenfeld Institute for Strategic Dialogue     

TICKETS:Individual tickets: £25
Season tickets: £100 Season ticket includes one ticket to each event (a saving of £25) and a complimentary glass of wine
No concession tickets available
Purchase tickets online


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Alternative tours to Palestine and Israel

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   Olive Tours Spring, Summer and Autumn 2008

Olive Cooperative are delighted to announce a range of unique educational tours to Palestine and Israel in 2008. Each tour offers participants the opportunity to visit this beautiful area and to meet inspiring Palestinian and Israeli organisations working in professional and voluntary capacities to contribute to a just and lasting peace in the region.  Building on our extensive knowledge of a spectrum of civil society organisations in Palestine and Israel, our tours meet individuals and groups, visit the separation wall and sights of historic and religious significance, stay in local hotels, and many offer the chance to experience Palestinian hospitality by staying in Palestinian family homes.  Each tour is built around a theme or topic, allowing participants to develop in-depth understanding of a particular area of interest, and facilitating lasting linkages between groups of similar interests in the UK and Palestine and Israel. All the tours are suitable for anyone with a general interest in the situation.  In addition, we offer a service for those who would like a tailor made tour to suit their availability and interests, or for groups of people or families who wish to experience this unique but troubled area of the world together.    Arabic language courses in Bethlehem are available to individuals or groups throughout the year and tuition can be tailored to your level of ability.  
 
Olive Cooperative Tour Programme 2008 
 
Easter Tour Saturday, 15th March to Sunday, 23rd March 8 nights for £500  Easter is an exciting time of year in the Holy Land, and during our Easter tour participants will experience the festivities and celebrations in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  The group will visit historical sites such as the Via Dolorosa and Church of the Holy Sepulcher  as well as refugee camps, educational and medical institutions.  You will be given the opportunity to stay with Palestinian families in Bethlehem, a town where Muslims and Christians have lived side by side peacefully for generations, but where social and economic pressures have increased since the construction of the Wall, which divides the town itself as well as annexing large areas of agricultural land.        
 
Teachers Tour Monday, 7th April to Tuesday, 15th April 8 nights, approx £625  Olive Cooperative's Teacher's Tour in April 2008 offers participants the unique opportunity to visit educational institutions in Palestine and Israel, to hear first hand about the effects of the occupation on Palestinian education and the problems of increased militarisation of the Israeli education system. From schools and Universities to refuseniks, Trade Union activists and peace organisations, this tour will visit Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus. Designed for those with a particular interest in education, the tour will also suit anyone wanting to gain a general understanding of the current situation in Palestine and Israel, giving them the opportunity to see the wall, visit refugee camps and meet inspiring Palestinian and Israeli individuals and organisations. Participants will benefit from the experience and personal contacts of our tour guide, who ran our successful Teacher's Tour in 2007 and has worked in the West Bank, including as a long term volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service. 
 
Olive Coop Medics Tour

Unique guided study tour in the West Bank looking at health issues, 11th-18th June 2008, 7 nights for £655

Many medical and health care jobs involve high levels of stress. But the pressures and stresses of UK hospitals pale in comparison to the working conditions faced by medics in Palestine.

Olive Cooperative are offering a unique tour of Palestine and Israel focusing on medicine and healthcare. While designed with medics in mind, the tour is open to anyone with an interest in health care in the region, and anyone looking for a general introduction to the situation. The tour will be guided by a UK medical student with extensive experience as a long term volunteer in the West Bank.

Visiting a broad range of medical settings and meeting with medical professionals in Palestine and Israel, this tour aims to offer an understanding of the challenges facing medics.

The tour will visit emergency services who face Israeli army searches and gunfire in the 'normal' course of their work; and meet the organisations planning long term health care provision in this unstable situation. Tour participants will also meet with medical students who have to cross military checkpoints to get from their lectures to the teaching clinic.

The tour will offer an insight into access to medical care in the West Bank, visiting a clinic in Hebron fenced in by settlers. Participants will meet key Israeli groups working for better access to health care in the West Bank. The group will also visit an unrecognised village in Israel, denied access to healthcare, electricity or even sufficient clean water.

And in the light of the discussion in the BMJ of a proposed boycott of the Israeli Medical Association, the tour will ask what medics could, or should, do to change the current situation.

For more details about this or any other Olive Cooperative tour, please contact Xen on xen@olivecoop.com or call the Olive Cooperative office on 0161 273 1970
 
Architecture, History & Culture Tour October 2008  An area of immense historical value, the architecture of Palestine and Israel tells many stories. This tour aims to explore the history preserved in the built environment, and the importance attached to it by various groups of people.  We also hope to reveal some of the ways in which architecture is being used in the current conflict, with the construction of hill-top settlements and the annexation of important religious architectural sites behind the separation wall.  
 
Olive Harvest & Harvest Festival First week in November 2008  Olive Cooperative are delighted to be able to offer this ever-popular tour again in 2008. The Olive Harvest tour will be guided by Heather Masoud, founder of Zaytoun www.zaytoun.com. Meet farmers working millenia-old olive groves, and take part in the Olive Harvest Festival organised by the Palestine Fair Trade Association. PFTA are Olive Co-op's partners in the ground breaking Trees for Life program, and the driving force behind the developing fair trade and organic farming movement in Palestine.  Other highlights of the tour include visiting a permaculture project in the Salfit area of the West Bank, a women's food production co-operative in Jericho and meeting the grassroots Palestinian women's organisation Women for Life. 
 
Dialogue Tour October 2008  Mainstream media representation of Palestine and Israel focuses on violent conflict and political manoeuvrings.  This tour allows participants to see a different perspective, that of the many grassroots organisations forming links across ethnic, religious, economic, political and geographical divides and addressing the tough issues of how to break away from the conflict and build a mutually respectful and peaceful future.  There are at least 100 dialogue groups working in Palestine and Israel, which aim to bring together ordinary people on both 'sides' and to create a space for conversation and co-operation.  Learn about dialogue, and learn the skills of dialogue, from people and organisations engaging in dialogue in one of the most difficult situations in the world. 
 
Intensive Beginner's Arabic Courses in Bethlehem Two courses: Sun 29th March to Mon 6th April and Autumn course dates to be confirmed 8 nights for from approx £525  Building on Olive Cooperative’s popular Arabic courses over the past 3 years, we are happy to offer two beginners Arabic courses in 2008. Courses offer 7 days, 3 hours per day of expert tuition with local teachers.  The focus is on spoken Palestinian Arabic dialect, which is considered ‘central’, enabling you to understand and be understood across the Arab world. Course price includes a choice of accommodation in hotels or with local families in Bethlehem, and opportunities to tour the local area and visit sites of historical, religious and cultural interest.  Learn first hand about the language, life and culture of Palestine.  Practice your Arabic with the people you meet around you, and consolidate your learning with immersion in Palestinian language and culture.  
 
Tour prices includes your Olive tour guide, all local travel, accommodation, breakfasts and some dinners and donations to groups visited. Prices are exclusive of flights and airport transfers.  
For more information about any of these tours, or to discuss designing a tailor made tour for you or your group, please contact Xen or Leonie at xen@olivecoop.com / leonie@olivecoop.com, call our office on 0161 2264219 or drop in to see us at MERCi, 22a Beswick Street, Manchester, M4 7HR. Our regular office opening hours are 2-5pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please feel free to contact us to arrange a meeting of phone conversation outside of those hours. 
Please note: Olive tour guides continuously monitor the situation on the ground using a wide range of contacts. All itineraries are subject to change due to local circumstances and to ensure tour customer safety and security. Our comprehensive Travel Guidance Notes are available from our website www.olivecoop.com, or by contacting the office. We ask our customers to read these notes before joining one of our tours.
 
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AUTUMN STUDY TOUR TO ISRAEL, PALESTINE & JERUSALEM

November 2008

2008 marks 60 years since the state of Israel was established. It also commemorates 60 years of displacement for the Palestinian people.

In order to strengthen the voice of the international community, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Experience Travel Tours (ETT) encourage people to visit the Occupied Territories and Israel to be an eye-witness to the situation on the ground. No amount of reading, attending lectures or watching films can convey an accurate understanding of the “facts on the ground”, which are crucial to any program of advocacy. Our study tours bring visitors to meet with key people from both sides of the divide examining several aspects of life today in Israel, Jerusalem and Palestine. The tours provide a unique opportunity to gain first-hand, in-depth knowledge of some of the latest analysis.

 

Cost per person sharing a twin-bedded room is £900 including flights from Heathrow, the full tour programme, three-star hotel rooms with private facilities on half-board (bed, breakfast and evening meal), tour guides and tips. Not included: lunches, supplement for single room (£120), insurance.

To receive an application form contact tours@icahduk.org or phone 01737 843408.

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Clinicians’ Study Tour to Palestine & Israel

 10 Days in November 2008

See the situation on the ground and receive expert analysis from Palestinians and Israelis who work for a just and sustainable peace.

Visit 8 hospitals and 2 community-based services and compare treatment offered to Israelis and Palestinians. Hear first-hand accounts from patients and staff on how checkpoints, the wall, home demolitions and the restriction of supplies affect their lives and health. Hear about health in prisons and torture.

Stay in Bethlehem, Gaza and East Jerusalem and visit the Old City of Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah. See the evidence for yourself then discuss the facts and theories with some of the best placed and most informed individuals in the region and in the company of a varied and supportive peer-group.

A humanitarian element to the tour will enable participants to give seminars and to offer donations. Participants will also help provide treatment in selected clinics according to their professional training. All clinicians are very welcome, but those with a background in orthopaedics, oncology, cardiology and paediatrics are particularly needed.

Applications will be considered by clinicians from the UK who have experience in travelling to Israel and Palestine.A meeting will be held in London to prepare participants and another will be held after the return to share thoughts and to follow up issues.

The tour costs £1085 and is being coordinated with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Dove & Dolphin Charity and the Foundation for Al-Quds Medical School. For more information please contact tours@icahduk.org. 

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   Zaytoun

Autumn 2007 events & report

Nasser Abufarha to visit the UK

Nasser will be arriving in London on the 29th September and will be here for one week to promote his work. He is the Founder and Chair of the Palestine Fair Trade Association, a grassroots network of fair trade producer cooperatives with over 1700 members, and Director of Canaan Fair Trade. Both organizations are based in Jenin. He will be meeting with the Fair Trade Foundation, Traidcraft, Moslem Aid, Friends of Al Aqsa, Essential Trading, Equal Exchange, Olive Coop, Hadeel, Shared Interest, Lorna Young Foundation and UNISON during his time here and will also be talking at public meetings in Exeter, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh. (See the link from our home page for details of these. During the visit he aims to raise funds to pay for a mobile education unit which will be used for undertaking fair trade workshops in rural Palestine (for more information on this or to make a donation please contact us)

Zaytoun Staff in Palestine

The olive harvest season is upon us already! Cathi and I will both be in Palestine from October 21st – November 6th We have had a great response again this year from customers and supporters who also wish to experience the Palestinian olive harvest and we have around 25 people joining us.
During this period we will not be able to answer phone calls will be able to reply to emails sporadically. If anyone would like an order over this period we would appreciate if you could let us know by October 17th so we can get that arranged before we leave.

Palestinian Trade Fair 2007

Zaytoun has been working with the Palestinian Delegation to the UK and the Arab British Chamber of Commerce over the past couple of months in organizing this event. It will be held from 29th November – 3rd December at the Egyptian Cultural Centre in London (see attachment for more details). We are looking for volunteers who are interested in helping out with running stalls, hosting exhibitors from Palestine and promoting this event, please do get in touch if you would like to help out.

Soil Association endorsement

As we mentioned in our last newsletter we have ordered our first container of Palestinian olive oil which will carry the Soil Association endorsement.  This container is due with us in late October and we are taking advance orders for it. If you would like to pre-order and pay for this oil we can offer the 10% discount below (this system of pre-payment enables Zaytoun to make the payments to the farmers at the time of order in line with fair trading practice)

Product                                    Pre Pay Prices (per bottle)      In Country Prices (per bottle)
250ml extra virgin organic olive oil   £2.70                                       £3.00
500ml extra virgin organic olive oil   £4.55                                       £5.05
750ml extra virgin organic olive oil   £6.21                                       £6.90
5 litre extra virgin organic olive oil   £34.20                                     £38.00
17.5 litre extra virgin organic olive oil £94.50                                  £105.00

The 250ml comes in cases of 24, the 500ml and 750ml come in cases of 12, and the 5 litre cans come in cases of 4.

Many thanks for your ongoing support,
The Zaytoun Team
0845 345 4887


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