A number of twinning groups across the country have taken part in the two youth visits from Palestine run this year despite the terrible context since October 2023. These visits had been planned to take place in Oct 23 and July 24 but of course Oct 23 was impossible as the horrific Israeli onslaught on Gaza got underway. It took us time to deal with the particular challenges of this horrible time, to make sure that we had schools and youth clubs who wanted to host and parents in Palestine happy for their children to travel, to deal with building partnerships and common understandings and raise the money and overturn visa refusals … but, in the end, we managed to run two wonderful visits in Feb-March 2023 and October 2024.
There is so much to say about these amazing visits. It is important to say that even in this time of horror, both of these visits (like the women’s visits before them, in March and July 2023) showed the Building Hope | Voices from Palestine project living up to its name (*). We have run dozens of visits since 2005 and always find that they are well worth all the hard work that they entail, that people love meeting Palestinian visitors and that they love to come, that there is massive enjoyment (as well as tiredness!), massive learning and fueling of motivation to be active. We have made them central over the years as they are such a good way of new people meeting Palestinians, of people new and old learning more, of spreading awareness, building the movement for human rights in Palestine…. but these visits, this year, have been extraordinary.
Extraordinary visits for the people in and around them and for the level of energy they created. We brought over 14 visitors in Feb-March with the help of partners in the Midlands, Lancashire, South and Mid Wales and London. We brought over 10 visitors in October with the help of new partners in Lancashire, Yorkshire, other places in the Midlands, Cornwall and London. We ended each visit with a crowd of really excited young people who had had a wonderful time, hundreds of people who had helped in one way or another across the UK and thousands of people each time who had met the visitors or seen them in schools, community events and public meetings – and new groups wanting to be involved. We have pictures and short films and reports articles and speakers and an optimism that people really need at this dire time.
Extraordinary visits also for the seeds they have planted for the future. Some (not all) of our partner groups were twinning groups at the beginning of the project but the project has encouraged others. We were very pleased that our youngsters’ visit was cited in the link below as part of the background to the twinning that Brent hope to make with Nablus. We took our youngsters to Cornwall where they loved the sea of course, but the issue is that Palestinians are people of the sea too, even kept away by walls and ID cards and occupation. We put a small suggestion that friends in Cornwall might twin with one of the Nablus refugee camps (whose children were there) as their roots are actually in Jaffa – to great cheers. Friends in Bradford met friends in Qabalan village and are starting to make links. We have so many new groups wanting to join the next Building Hope visits and we are sure that this will build this wish to link. The project really is building hope.
I could write a book about the visits themselves – the discoveries and surprises, the difficulties and pleasures, the many, many lovely visits and events – but for now let me point you to some links below. Twinning groups may be interested too to know that the next steps in the Building Hope project are to run a Building Hope visit and conference in Feb 2025 and to organise another youth visit in summer 2025. If you’re interested in either or both, do contact us!
(1) Report from the youth visit in Feb-March
(2) Brent PSC video clip citing the visit of our Feb-March youngsters
(3) Short film made by one of the Palestinian visitors, again about Feb-March
(4) Information about the Building Hope visit and conference in February
(5) Pictures from the visit in October.
(*) Building Hope | Voices from Palestine is a project led by CADFA working with partners across the country. The project organises frequent visits of Palestinians to communities all over the UK in order to raise awareness of the human rights situation in Palestine and encourage people to be active for human rights.