CADFA press release 22-10-24
We’re now in the middle of an extraordinary youth visit from Palestine – a wonderful experience for the youth involved and everyone who comes into contact with it, but extraordinary too because of the time it is taking place.
Palestinians have been living a very difficult life for a hundred years or so, since Britain took control of their land and promised it to another group of people. 100 years on from the Balfour Declaration, 78% of their land had officially been taken out of Palestinians’ control and it had been designated a Jewish state, with the majority of Palestinians living there forced into exile in 1948; 22% of the land had been taken by Israel under military occupation and reputable human
rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Israeli organisation B’tselem had all published detailed reports showing that apartheid was in place ‘from the river to the sea’ (ie in the whole of historic Palestine).
Over twenty years ago, CADFA began to link Camden and Abu Dis and to report the systemic human rights violations that affected everyone living like a third-class citizen on their own land. The situation of raw racism and military violence was appalling even before October 2023, and then it ramped up with hundreds of killings by the Israeli military in the past year, arial bombing into refugee camps, ploughing up of infrastructure, home demolistions, thousands of people imprisoned without trial and subjected to disgusting assaults in prison, many of them losing
massive amounts of weight and returning with clear signs of torture.
A year ago, Israel began a military assault of massive proportions on Gaza, killing tens of thousands, causing the death of hundreds of thousands and creating misery on an unprecedented and appalling scale. Although the International Court of Justice said this was plausibly describable as ‘genocide’ and told Israel to stop genocidal acts, although the International Criminal Court wants to try Netanyahu for war crimes, although the United Nations called for a ceasefire, Israel was determined to push on with the violence. In the past month, Israel has continued the war in Gaza, being particularly cruel to the inhabitants of the north of Gaza, and has extended its wild attacks into Lebanon. With assassinations and bombing in Syria, Iran and Libya, regional conflagration is on the cards.
It was in this context that we did not know two weeks ago that our youth visit, all prepared and worked for for most of the last year, would actually go ahead. With the West Bank roads dangerous for Palestinians and frequently blocked by the Israeli military, our friends (the visitors) did not know until they managed to leave the country that they would be able to come.
But all went well, their plane landed on time, and a beaming gr oup of young Palestinians poured through arrivals past welcoming balloons and banners to meet a beaming group of CADFA members and friends.
Thus started an incredible adventure for them, travelling to Pendle (Lancashire), Blackburn,
Bradford, Derby, Birmingham and Cornwall before arriving in London yesterday. They were introduced to local youngsters in schools, youth clubs and special events, shown the sights, feasted and celebrated in welcome events of many sorts. The young Palestinians were great guests, interested, excited, communicative and even joyous. Everywhere there were beaming people – so much love and care for the guests. People who didn’t know about the visit responded strongly – from the Bradford café owner who cried when she thought of what was
happening to other Palestinian children to the Cornish boatman who treated the group to a free sea trip to the Muslims who poured into their northern events with gifts and the southern churchgoers who heard of the visitors and went out and bought treats for them.
It is so clear that people across this country, as across the world, are very upset about the violence being meted out to Palestinians, and rush to support these young people because they are Palestinian even before they meet them, discover their energy and spirit and like the Palestinian guests for themselves.
The London part of the visit starts now, with a chance to see some of the major sights (the South Bank, the museums), visits to schools, youth clubs and further events to welcome their arrival in Camden, Hackney and Ilford. In Camden, they will visit a school, a football club and also Café Palestina where the charity CADFA is based. Next Saturday, their final event in St
Mary’s Church, Primrose Hill will include young musicians from Camden and a performance of
dabkeh (Palestinian traditional dance) by three of the young people who are part of a dabkeh
troupe from New Askar refugee camp, Nablus. Tickets are on Eventbrite under the name of the
project: Beyond the Checkpoints.
The visit is led by Camden-based human rights charity CADFA which has been organising group visits to and from Palestine for nearly two decades. “These are are always wonderful, exciting visits that are very good for young people in both countries,” explained Nandita Dowson, Director of CADFA. “They always build understanding and interest and help young people here to learn the importance of human rights.
“This time, the emotion is intense because of the horrors that are going on. We wish these
positive emotions could translate right away into an end to these unspeakable attacks and the
acceptance that human rights must be upheld for everybody.”
The visit is part of CADFA’s Building Hope | Voices from Palestine project which took women
from the West Bank and Jerusalem to meet women all over England and Wales in 2023 and ran a very successful youth visit in Feb-March 2024. After this visit, there are plans for a conference in Feb 2025 and another youth visit in summer 2025.
More information about the project can be found on CADFA.org
Enquiries to contact@cadfa.org
CADFA.org
