CADFA Student Meeting 28/07/2015

On 28th July 2015 CADFA held a student meeting for all London universities to come together and discuss how best to organise for the upcoming student visit next year. It was a hard time to bring everyone together, with most undergraduates being at current on their summer vacations and many abroad, some universities were unable to attend. Nevertheless KCL and UCL managed to come together at the beautiful location on Kings College campus to have a joint meeting.

                                   (The bust of Desmond Tutu wearing a Palestinian flag)

Many innovative ideas were discussed, such as holding a comparative presentation on British and Palestinian education, which would highlight the challenges Palestinians face to access their right to education.

All universities which were unable to attend will receive the minutes of the meeting and will most certainly be kept up to date with the plans for the student visit.

School Students Picnic

On 20th July 2015 Cadfa held a picnic on Hamstead Heath for all school children in the local area to attend in order to raise awareness about Palestine and encourage local participation in the kids visit from Palestine next year.

Roughly 20 school kids from Camden schools showed up for friendly conversation and in depth discussion of Palestine. Many of the school children were surprised to hear that Nadine, with an Israeli ID from West Jerusalem, and Momin, with a Palestinian ID from Ramallah in the West-Bank, although both Palestinian have completely different rights. An interesting illustration of this is that Nadine has the right to unrestricted travel throughout Israel and the West-Bank whereas Momin requires special permission from the Israeli Occupation Authorities even to travel within the West-Bank, which is not easily obtained.

We hope that many who came were inspired to get involved for the benefit of the Palestinian people.

Student life in Gaza, one year on

It has been exactly a year since Israel's bombing of Gaza in summer 2014, in which 2,200 Palestinian lives were lost and 100,000 buildings were damaged and destroyed, although life has yet to recover. The limit imposed by Israel on the resources allowed into Gaza has meant that most houses still stand in ruin and over 150,000 Gazans are homeless.

Life as a student in Gaza is understandably bleak, and education has suffered. Not only have university premises in Gaza once more been damaged, as in 2009 when the Islamic University of Gaza had its science laboratories destroyed by Israeli bombs, but simple education materials such as books, stationary and computers are in scarce supply. The ability to teach is furthered hindered by the temperamental electricity supply, which allows buildings in Gaza approximately 6 hours of electricity per day.

Perhaps, however, the most daunting aspect of student life in Gaza is the likelihood of being unemployed after graduation. The worries of future employment prospects are familiar to students in the best corners of the world, and they are most definitely not at loss to the students in Gaza, where youth unemployment, standing at 60%, is almost a certainty upon graduation.

There is in conclusion, little hope of a normal life for the students of Gaza.

Memories - 'Ma’an. Students Together’

This short animation was made during the project 'Ma’an. Students Together’, which took place from the 9th to the 19th of June 2013, held by CADFA (Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association).
Twelve students from Palestine and twelve students from British universities had the chance to meet and work together. The main aims of the program were to share life experiences of the students, to build a website and to promote twinning links between British and Palestinian student unions. However, it should be underlined that the project was not political or religious but it was rather something related to the promotion of human rights which are meant for everybody.

The animation reflects part of what has emerged during the project and it shows the memories of a British young boy and those of a Palestinian student.

For more info about the report of the project visit: giacomotirelli.com/2013/07/04/maan-students-together-project-report/

Here the association CADFA's website: camdenabudis.net based in London