From the Hackney Gazette.

This came from a Hackney paper. Of course the tragedy didn't only affect the four women in this picture, but all of the group.

http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/palestinian_women_s_hackney_visit_ends_in_tragedy_1_3452274 

A tragedy at the end of a great visit. | Remembering Ra'ed Eze'eter.

We hadn't finished putting pictures or notes on the blog, because we became so really busy, when our women friends from Palestine set off back to Palestine. What happened at the border  from Jordan to the West Bank (under the control of the Israeli army) was beyond anyone's worst imagination - It is now unfortunately overshadowing the days before it.  

Here we are going to paste some of the letters we've been sent by our Palestinian friends about what happened.

These are some photos (we hope to have some better ones soon) of a vigil that we had in London to remember Ra'ed Eze'eter.

         

What we wrote on the facebook page for our vigil

When CADFA women visitors returned home to Palestine last Monday, they were on the same bus as an innocent man who was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier. He was one of six who were killed by Israeli soldiers in Palestine on that day. They were six of how many thousands killed or wounded by the Israeli occupation. 

This is a vigil to remember Raed Eze'eter, who was killed in front of them, and the others who were killed that day too. It is a protest against the appalling military violence that people are having to face in Palestine at the hands of the IOF.

In solidarity with our women friends who say they will never forget, this is to say we too are shocked, we too will not forget.

This is too much - much too much - We need to stand together in solidarity with our friends to call for human rights for Palestinians NOW.

Please join our vigil - BRING CANDLES IN BOTTLES + PUBLICISE AS YOU CAN

Why did Ra'ed deserve to be killed?

رائد بأي ذنب قتل ؟؟؟؟

تاريخ 10/3/2014 لن يمحى من ذاكرتي ولا من ذاكرة من عايش الحدث معي ففي هذا التاريخ كان من المفروض ان نرجع لاهلنا ولوطنا سعداء بما حققناه من زيارتنا ولكن للاسف دائما يد الغدر تقف حاجزا امام هذه السعادة وسأروي لكم ما حصل معنا في هذا التاريخ :
في تمام الساعة 00:7 صباحا غادرنا مكان نومنا في عمان متوجهين الى الجسر وهو المعبر الاول الذي يفصلنا عن وطننا ( فلسطين ) وقمنا باخبار اهلنا اننا سنصل في ساعة مبكرة وقمنا بعمل الاجراءات المعتادة لمغادرة جسر الاردن وركبنا الباص متوجهين الى جسر اليهود وكما هو معتاد عندهم ان ينزل جميع الركاب للتفتيش وعند النزول منعونا من اخذ اي شئ معنا وبعد الانتهاء ركبنا الباص وكنت مشغولة برجل كبير السن اجرى عملية جراحية حديثا وعائد الى بلده وما هي الا لحظات واسمع اطلاق رصاص في الوهلة الاولى اعتقدنا ان الرصاص على عجلات الباص ولكن صدمنا عندما كان الناس يصرخون انهم يطلقون النار على رجل كان معنا في الباص واثناء اطلاق الرصاص احد النساء اغمي عليها وحاول بعض البنات مساعدتها وحاولنا تهدئة الاولاد لانهم بداو بالصراخ والبكاء وحاولت تهدئة زميلتي التي كانت جالسة بجانبي ، واحد الاشخاص حاول تهدئتنا بان الرصاص الذي اطلق فارغا وان الرجل لم يحصل له شئ ولكن ما رايناه ان الرجل ممدا على الارض والدماء تسيل منه وبقي فترة طويلة وقبل ان يقوموا باسعافه قاموا بتأمين المنطقة وانزلونا من الباص وجعلونا نمشي تحت اشعة الشمس القوية واوقفونا على مسافة بعيدة عن الشهيد وعن الباص وقاموا باقفال بوابات المعبر للداخلين والمغادرين وبعد هذا الوقت الطويل جاء المسعفين ولكن بعد فوات الاوان فرائد قد مات وابقوه على الارض وابقونا تحت اشعة الشمس واقفين لساعات طويلة دون ان يراعوا ان هناك نساء واطفال وكبار السن ومرضى وبعد ذلك طلبوا منا ان يقوم كل منا باخذ كل ما يخصه والانتقال الى باص ثان وبعدها قام احد الضباط باعطائنا تعليمات اننا سننقل الى مكان حيث يتم تفتيش الحقائب وعند وصولنا للمكان تم نقل الحقائب وتفتيشهم وبعدها قام باخبارنا باننا سنخضع لتفتيش والبعض منا سيتم التحقيق معه وهذا بالفعل ما حصل تم نقلنا لمكان اخر خضعنا للتفتيش وكذلك اغراضنا ووزعنا ليتم ختم جواز السفر وتم تجمعينا في مكان لساعات وكان المفروض ان يتم التحقيق مع جزء وليس مع الكل ولكن ما حصل اننا كلنا تم التحقيق معنا وكنت انا واربعة من افراد المجموعة (نساء في مهمة ) اخر من تم التحقيق معهن حيث جلسنا حوالي 8 ساعات متواصلة ليأتي دورنا غير الاشخاص الاخرين حيث كانت هناك الام الحامل ومعها طفلين والمراة التي تعاني من الخرس ، وايضا عند دخولنا للتحقيق تم تفتيشنا وطرح الاسئلة ( شو الاسم ، من وين انت ، وين كنت قاعد ، شو شفت ، شو الناس بتحكي عن الحادث ..)

'This must not be forgotten'

THIS WAS SENT TO US BY ONE OF THE PALESTINIAN WOMEN WHO WAS THERE:

I hope this email finds you well. What I'm writing you is my personal version of the homecoming that I definitely did not expect but was forced to go through. Since I do not have all the contacts that you have, can you please forward it to as many people as you can. It was the highlight of going back home and it is no different from the stories we were telling, only we were the protagonists this time.

Four shots. It took them 4 shots to kill an innocent man, who was eager to go home. Unfortunately, his family did not know he was. He was planning on surprising them. And it took them more than 10 hours to investigate, interrogate, insult, and handle things inhumanely. They succeeded on interrogating 55 person but did not succeed on erasing the brutal images from our minds. We will always carry Eze'eter in our hearts and minds, even thought he was a complete stranger to us, but he was still one of us. One of the many Palestinians who were killed for so many alleged reasons, especially the one that is going spiral now on every news channel: "He approached the Israeli soldier and tried to snatch the gun from him".

You can find more details on the story in the following paragraph. But, I am not writing this to be pitied. I'm writing this to all of you as a continuous storytelling of what we were doing in the UK.

While on our way to the Israeli border lines, Raed Eze'eter, a Palestinian living in Jordan, was murdered with cold bloods. A young naive Israeli soldier who might be 18-years-old shouted at him, pushed him to the ground, and when Eze'eter tried to stand on his feet, the Israeli soldier started to retreat back and shoot bullets at Eze'eter. The first bullet was a miss, but three others penetrated through his body. 

What was worse is that he was left on the ground bleeding to death, an ambulance arrived only to show that they have some degree of "humanity", but then they announced him dead! 

Next, we all get interrogated by the Israeli intelligence. Every inch of our bags and bodies was fully searched. We were asked unrelated questions, such as: "What year in school are you?" and they did not believe it you when you say "I did not see anything that happened, just heard four bullets being fired." 

To make matters even worse, they go up to the bus we were punished to stay in and tell us that they are going to blow up his belongings and bags just in case! We were asked not to fear the bombing sounds, and that it was a normal procedure to secure the area! 

How could he be a suspect of anything when he was the victim who was murdered with the iciest bloods ever! We all went home broken to pieces to see such incident. Yes we are used to such actions, but the scenery of a man dying helplessly in front of you is not a very encouraging one. 

I had this urge of defending him, even if it meant dying, but the shock just leaves you hanging there unable to help, to scream, or even to cry. In such situations you only have two options. Either you scream and cry out of fear, or you block those feelings, push them back in your mind and move on. I chose the second option, not because I was not human enough, but because most of the people chose option number one and they needed somebody stronger than them. I'm not saying this to seem heroic but because this is me. Yet, I still regret how I did not feed that urge to help Eze'eter.

**Please note that the whole process took them to hold us up from 8:30 AM till later than 7:00 PM.

This will not be the last story you will hear/read. This is only one of many that must not be forgotten.

News article about the wife of the judge who was killed.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=680754

Another letter from one of the Palestinian women

Greetings to you I wish you to be okay 

Thank you very much for the trip was successful introduced to a lot of new things, but unfortunately in the way of our return to Palestine got what we did not expect was painful indeed when sent down the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint first and after that we went to the bus again, there was not a minute or maybe less of minutes until we heard the sound of bullets, when I looked out of the window Noting are geared toward young man was hit several shots directly

Israeli soldiers left him lying on the ground without any first-aid kit for about hour and were rummaging through our bags

After that we transferred from the bus to another and we arrived at the crossing, the Israeli left us wait about seven hours until it was our turn in the investigation

This was very painful and the most hurts They accused him of false charges as "crazy or that he tried to hijack a weapon soldier" are all false accusations so sorry, I know you know the story, but I wanted to tell you we came to us to Britain in order to convey the reality in our way back we saw this reality, perhaps it is time I see that the first person to die in front of my eyes anyway

translation follows

القصة صارت قدامنا
قصة الشهيد القاضي رائد زعيتير
رائد زعيتر من نابلس الذي استشهد يوم الاثنين الماضي على معبر الكرامة الباص القادم من الاردن الى ارض فلسطين
ما حد يقول هجم ياخد سلاحهم، الجندي الاسرائيلي دفش القاضي على الارض وهو طالع على الباص
اسمعنا صوت الرصاص وشاهدنا هذا الانسان عم بوقع شوي شوي 
الرصاص هزم جسمة تركو على الارض ينزف ويتحرك ويحرك في ايدي وكأنة بقول حد يجي يساعدني بعدي عايش
واحنا حشرونا بالباص مش قادرين نحكي مش قادرين نعمل شي صوت الصغار وهم يصرخو ا لازم يعرف ولادنا انو في فلسطين الموت رح يجي لكل واحد فينا بأي وسيلة وأي وقت احنا شعب مش مكتوبلنا نشوف اهلنا ولا نفرح ولا نكمل تعليمنا حتى حقوقنا مهدورة
احنا شعب بنشوف جثة مرمية على الارض بتنزف اكثر من نص ساعة ما حد بقدر يوصلها تسمع صوت الرصاص بنبهك انو في شهيد جديد على الابواب حتى انهم ياخدو اغراضة ويفجروهم عشان ما يضل ذكرى منه بدهم يمحوه ويمحو ذكرياته بس نحنا شعب صرنا فاهمين انو حتى لما فجروا اغراضة عشان يثبتو انو هو مجرم وكانت اغراضة فيها اشي
ما سألو ا عنا بأكل وشرب عشان احنا بشر بس هو مجرم حاسبووا

استدعوا واحد واحد لغرفة التحقيق يسألونا
وين كنتوا قاعدين بالباص و وين هو قاعد وشو شفتو وكم من رصاصة سمعتو !!!
شو الغاية من الأسئلة ما فهمنا
حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل
احنا اسفين يا شهيد يا دكتور يا قاضي احنا اسفين انو قبلك مات كثير بدم بارد وعملوا قصص عشان يبينوكم مجرمين استاذي قبلك قتلو وقالو انو رمى عليهم العاب نارية بس الي بعرف الاستاذ بشير بعرف انو شب مؤمن مسلم واعي اكثر من هيك قصة
وانت يا قاضي قدمنا شفنا انك ما هجمت تاخد سلاحهم بس بفتشو على تبرير لوحشيتهم
احنا اسفين مت قدامنا ما قدرنا نعمل شي غير انو نحكي حقيقة
احنا اسفين حكومتنا مش فاضية لشهيد مات بقدر ما هي فاضية لمنح الجواز الدبلوماسي
وهـــــــــــــــــــيـــــــــــــــــــك ضاعت بلادنا وضاع المنيح فيها بدم بارد من ايدين نجسة و رصاصات جبانة تهاجم اجساد الاشراف

From Wafaa.

Dear all, 

First of all I'd like to thank all this kind people who gave me the chance to represent my community from SAwahra/ Palestine & special thanks for my British friends who hosted me & my colleges generously at their homes during our visit to the UK, I really felt like I was with my family which support us as a Palestinian women's & increases our determination to keep struggling towards our rights of freedom, but unfortunately that nice dream where we live in peace & safety for 10 memorable days ended up with KILLING & BLOOD, in our way back to Palestine it was about 8:30am when we were passing the first chick point before we move into the Israeli borders, everything was going as normal ( the security chick) that we used to face every time we return back to Palestine , until I heard the people screaming (Ohhhh God he killed him)I stand up in the bus horrified & I saw a humanness Israeli guard pointing his gun against poor Palestinian man in his 38th years , & his only guilt to be killed was just because he told the Israeli soldier do not insult me, he was just smoking out the bus & the soldier pushed him cruelly so once he said no for that he killed him as if he is killing an animal , I saw his hand it didn't shake at all while he was killing that poor man with out any mercy ,,who is the only son for his family & who didn't inter Palestine for 3years ago to return on that day Monday 11th Mar killed on the hands of those who never been humans, after all that they pulled him on the ground from his legs away & they ignored him for more than half an hour they left him bleeding with the blood almost covered all his body till he left the life, what killing me that we all were not capable of doing nothing , he was breathing but ,,,,even we were not allowed to cry, after that they covered all his body with silver as if nothing happened & we were arrested for more than 2 hours standing on our legs under the sun, no bathrooms no phones no passports or ids, even money , there was children who started crying of being hungry , there were pregnant womens & they even didn't care, they forced us to leave our belongings in the bus & suddenly we found dogs & hundreds of male guards surrounded us with their guns , , for unknown reason they killed the poor man & they insulted us as well for no guilt , after 4hours of being arrested under the sun they asked us to move our bags from that bus to another by ourself , then they told in silly way that they will bomb that criminals bags as they claimed so no need to fear, finally they moved us to the investigating hall where we spent more 5 hours wishing to investigate each person individually , I cried lots it was like you are watching a horror movie , then I passed the body chick they asked me to take off my hijab,,,,then once I interred the investigator room after long hours of sticking on chair waiting , he took my personal information , & he asked me in silly way " what did you see" where was your seat in the bus" who was setting next to that criminal in the bus" what did the people say????? This is the real injustice where the Palestinian people face always, once I returned home I was shocked & I said none just crying for the whole night for our conditions, I just want you all my dears to spread this email as much as u can to let the whole world understand the reality of those killers , to decide who injustice who in Palestine & how. Thanks for everything. Wafaa shahin

Our Lovely Palestinian day in Northampton

Mshakhan, Traditional Palestinian food

Nablusi Kunafa, sweets

Monday night at Grendon....we will always remember it!

Singing at the Brent evening on Weds

Thursday evening is in New Cross

Visit from Palestinian women

I was so nervous about going. By the time I had finished school and was packing to go I felt like calling it all off and going to bed instead of travelling for three hours on a train on my own. But I knew it would be an incredible experience and it would be worth it.

By the time Sumayah and I had got to know each other over a kebab in downtown Northampton I felt a lot better about the whole thing and our home-stay couple were so friendly and had made us up amazing beds- and even made me a hot water bottle!

I had no idea about what the Palestinian women would be like, for some reasons I thought they would all wear hijabs and be in traditional Arab dress (I have no idea why). As it turned out at the beginning it was hard to establish who was from Palestine and who wasn't- everyone wore the same clothes and most spoke almost perfect English.

On the first day (Saturday) everyone got to know each other. Like everything at first it was a bit awkward, no one really knew what to say, I didn't want to ask too many questions or be rude and I found it so difficult to remember everyone’s names, especially as I can’t roll my ‘r’s!

In the evening we watched ‘the Promise’ and I felt I learned a lot about Palestine from the debate the ensured afterwards and it really made me think. After the film was over with everyone up in the dorms in their pyjamas it felt like a massive sleepover, everyone chatting about secrets, straightening hair, eating chocolate and playing the most hilarious card games.

 On Sunday it was the Palestinian day with stories from the Palestinian women. Some of the stories were so sad, but so strong, and really inspiring. I was so shocked, as someone who thought I had an idea about what it was like to live in Palestine under occupation I realised I had no idea about what it was like to live under occupation in my day to day life.

That evening Dalia, Rana and some of the other girls made the most amazing food for us. I was so impressed at how delicious it was as it was made in a tiny kitchen in basically a shed! I felt so emotional when I was leaving, as I had to leave early to go to school I knew everyone was still there having fun.

Thank you everyone for a brilliant weekend and to all who answered my questions and gave me a small insight into their lives. 

This evening's event is in Brent (sold out now but look out for pictures)

Missing you - thanks for a great visit to Northants!

Your friends in Northampton wish you a happy and interesting visit to London.
We loved having you with us for the first four days of Women In Action.
Today we have been putting together photos for our exhibition and talk at the International Women's Day event in Northampton Museum. We are very glad you enjoyed meeting the Northampton women's groups on Monday, as well as enjoying the countryside and some peaceful days at Grendon Hall. Look forward to seeing you again on Saturday!

That was a good weekend...

That was a good weekend (Friday to Tuesday weekend) in a lovely place...  Many more pictures and notes are to follow, but we have been so busy!

 These were some comments from the evaluation this morning on the coach on our way to London.

It was a very nice experience - It was good to go to a new place; there was an interesting programme. I was glad to do an exchange - we all learned from each other about the different ways we organise things.

The best way to start a programme like this is to go to the countryside and relax, get to know each other before we stay, to exchange not only culture but live with local volunteers. It was a very good start.

 It was very special to exchange cultures - This weekend really challenged the stereotypes. The British girls were really nice. It was a lovely programme.

A big thanks for the welcome - It was a bit scary at first but we got used to you and you got used to us. The first day was strange, the second day was better - by the time we left, I felt we were leaving home!

 Here are a few more pictures from the countryside before the crazy town life takes over...

Put next Saturday in your diary! All welcome

Our  SPECIAL WOMEN’S DAY EVENT on Saturday 8th March gets better and better! 

FOOD – SONG – TALKS AND MORE. 

Topping the bill  are two of the participants in the women’s project – the extraordinary voices of Leen  from Palestine and Shay from London...

Together with Raised Voices and other singers, the great young dabkeh dancers from Women in Action and the food from ‘Jerusalem Gate’ agreed really tasty at our last event, 

this will make a Women’s Day to remember and 

we hope you will come!

Kentish Town Community Centre, Busby Place NW5 7pm

£5 or £4 at door (food extra).

Women in Action - off to a great start

The women’s visit (Palestinian/UK women’s project Women in Action) has so far been a great success! We are still based on our countryside residential though today the women are in Northampton visiting and discussing many things with a number of Northampton women’s groups. It has been a great three or four days, and there are many impressions and pictures and masses of new things learned by everyone... but internet has been weak and time has been full, and our blog posts are coming later....

For people waiting for us in London, we’re back in the middle of the day tomorrow! Then there will be some tourism and a chance to meet London hosts before a whole programme of visits to women’s centres, community places and some great events.

Do come along to events in

BRENT – Wednesday

NEW CROSS – Thursday

HACKNEY – Friday

CAMDEN – Saturday 

Stories from Abu Dis

I’m Walaa Eriqat from Abu Dis. I’m 19, a member in Abu Dis Youth Club. I work for activities for women in the club and also to increase the women’s activities in other sports activities.

I want to tell you something that happened in my club about three weeks ago.

Adam and Johar were playing in my club. After the football training, they were going together to their friend’s house. They were going to take something from their friend’s house. The Israeli soldiers stopped them and asked them “Where are you going and why?” They hit one of them and when the other one came to defend him, they hit him too. They shot one of them in the leg. They pulled his leg and broke it. The other one was also shot in the top of his leg, and the soldiers’ dogs bit them everywhere.

They took them to Jerusalem hospital and they didn’t let anybody see them for four days. Then there was a court hearing. They let them go to have treatment and now they are in Jordan continuing the treatment.

What do you think about that?

That is Israel. It isn’t a good thing, It happens in every village and it can happen to anyone. 

My cousin Mohammed was shot two years ago. He was walking in the street while there was a demonstration. He was going to Bethany. The soldiers shot him in his stomach twice. There was so much blood. For about a  month, we thought that he would die, it was very dangerous. They didn’t let anyone from the family see him. They gave him treatment but he is still in jail till now.

From the Northampton paper...our exchange...

First impression

After a very long trip, we made it safe to the UK; you would never expect how excited we are. We came from different various for one object; to deliver the message of PALESTINE…
Can’t wait to see you all






 

A warm and lovely welcoming by Julia the coordinator of Northampton Al-Bireh Palestine Friendship Association started at Quakers’ house meeting was followed by Palestinian music. Basically the meeting was about the twining between both cities and how they have improved in the last two years; a presentation was shown to show their achievements. The group enjoyed the speech and they seemed interested to hear more about linking group.

For Lunch,,, the British dish was waiting for us Fish and Chips at Albert J. Ramsbottom. We walked through the city and we enjoyed the Northampton Museum and Art gallery, it was interesting to know more traditions and shoes making,

In the evening we’re invited to meet the members of NABPFA we had cake & a cup of tea, and they hosted two of each group. It was quite interesting to experience the British family life.

Bisan, I am really happy, I didn’t expect people to be nice, kind and modest.

Wafa, it was nice day, everything is very organized and clean,

Bayan, I enjoyed the Northampton museum a lot, but I will never expect myself living in the cold.
Rana, I didn’t expect the UK to be fantastic like what I saw.
Hamda, people are very organized, simple and modest I felt a very important person when they met us.

Reem, I visited Spain it was a mess, I visited France people were very accurate, but here I felt it’s different very organized and different.

Dalia, Am so happy to be with the group.
Najwa, I am really happy with you all.