Calling UK students to communicate with us!

From a students' group at Dar Assadaqa, Abu Dis
(translated from the Arabic)

We are university students from Al Quds University have just joined the twinning club at Dar Assadaqa. We live in a very difficult situation and we don't think it can be the same situation in universities in other countries. We think it must be difficult to imagine the situation the Israeli occupation are putting us in, having to travel to university through military checkpoints and sometimes not being able to get there because we are stopped by the army who close streets, losing years of your life and studies because of being imprisoned by the Israeli army. 

We are coming here but one of our colleagues who was meant to be with us, Osama al-Khateeb, a second-year student from the Law School, was arrested by the Israeli army at Jabaa checkpoint  yesterday army on his way to university.  

Students don't just suffer when they are on the way to university but even when they are there, they can be attacked by the Israeli army at any time. When the army invades the university it is really difficult. They do a lot of destruction and damage inside the university. They throw tear gas and sound bombs everywhere, which causes injury among the students. Many students get hit by rubber bullets and even live ammunition.

We would like to send this message to the students in the UK, to give you a brief idea of what we are facing on a daily basis as university students in Palestine. We are sure that in your universities, you have issues and problems that you are suffering from - we would like to hear about your issues and to exchange information and to have meetings between us to allow us to know more about each other's  lives as students. As Palestinian university students, we believe that we are facing violations of our human rights which are illegal under international law, and we know that these are violations against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All these crimes against humanity should be faced up to. We hope that together we can make some change.

Balquis Mohsen, 2nd year English student
Aos Maraabeh, 2nd year law student
Mohammed Othman, 2nd year law student
Lutfeh Dar Omar, 4th year business student.

تقرير وصور حول تبادل فرنسا في مشروع معاً من مشاركة من نادي توأمة الجامعات

تقرير وصور عن تبادل فرنسا ضمن مشروع معاً

كانت زيارة فرنسا جزء من مشروع معا الذي يضم تبادلات بين فرنسا و فلسطين و بريطانيا و كانت زيارة فرنسا احدى تبادلات هذا المشروع و الذي كان هدفها او موضوعها الاساسي العنصرية بحيث اننا زرنا متحف خاص بالعنصرية (musée de l'homme paris) و تعرفنا فيه على كتير من اشكال للعنصرية في انحاء العالم مثل الاحداث الي كانت في جنوب افريقيا و كمان قمنا بسؤال العديد من الاشخاص غير فرنسين الاصل مثل جزائرين و تونسين مصرين عن اذا كان هناك عنصرية بفرنسا او تعرضوا للعنصرية و كانت هناك اجوبة مختلفة و بنفس الوقت سألنا فرنسين الاصل اذا بشوفوا ان فرنسا من الدول التي تمارس العنصرية و ايضا في هذه الزيارة قمنا بتعريف الناس على فلسطين و على ماذا يحدث في فلسطين و عن معاناة الفلسطيني بشكل خاص بحيث ان فلسطين من اكتررالدول التي تعاني من العنصرية و ايضا على صعيدي الشخصي تعلمت من زيارة فرنسا اولا التعرف على ثقافات و ثانيا تطوير من لغتي الانجليزية و تعلم اللغة الفرنسية و ثالثا تطوير من مهارات التكلم و الاختلاط مع الناس و خاصة من ثقافة و لغة مختلفة و كمان زرنا العديد من الاماكن المعروفة بفرنسا مثل برج ايفل و الذي يعد من اهم الاماكن الاثرية في العالم و متحف LOUVER و الذي يعد من اهم المتحاف بالعالم و يحتوي على لوحة الموناليزا و يوجد بالمتحف جزء خاص للعرب و المسلمين و ايضا زرنا قوس النصر انا برائي ان هذه زيارة كانت جدا مفيدة على الصعيد الشخصي بحيث انها اعطتني الفرصة بالتعامل مع شباب من ثقافات و لغات مختلفة في النهاية بوصي بزيادة من هذه التبادلات او المشاريع لانها تفتح للشباب الفرص في تطوير من مهارات الاتصال و التواصل و التعرف على ثقافات مختلفة و التواصل معهم

A report about Maan together project participants Paris visit

a report and photos by one of the Maan together project participants from the students twinning club at Dar Assadaqa October 2017

the trip to France was very informative and fun , we went on bases of human rights to talk about discrimination , and how we Palestinians are suffering from the Israelis , and to share some stories in addition of hearing from others (french and British people) about what they suffer , discrimination wise , as for what i learned , i gained different knowledge regarding discrimination as a concept , i never thought France would be other than a place where everyone is living the dream and enjoying their life , it turned out that people over their do have problems , i felt connected to them , i gained knowledge regarding the geography of France which was very interesting for me , people were very nice and friendly i believe we gained a life time relationship with our french and British friends , i am looking forward for other exchanges and opportunities.