HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

SouthCoast Indymedia

Brighton Delegation to Palestine -Education and resistance in occupied Palestine

brighton-tubas Solidarity Group | 07.04.2008 12:13 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Palestine | South Coast | World

7th APRIL 2008
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Education and resistance in occupied Palestine

Equipped with footballs, balloons and art materials Brighton students are today visiting two schools in remote Palestinian villages. They will involve the local children in a day of sports and arts activities.

They will spend the morning at Al Jiftlik school. Three years ago the people of Al Jiftlik defied the Israeli authorities and built a school of tents, as there was no secondary school for local children. Their resistance and resilience paid off, and they now have a new, modern school built with international aid.

In the afternoon the delegation will organise sports and arts activities for the children of Fasayil in their new locally built school. Inspired by the tent school in Al Jiftlik, the local people planned to build a school of mud bricks. Construction began in the summer of 2007 in defiance of Israel’s ban on house building in the area and the school constitutes a physical manifestation of the Palestinian people’s peaceful resistance to the occupation.

When they received an injunction form the Israeli Civil Military Administration to stop building, in October 07, they carried on building and challenged the injunction. International supporters organised an international petition, press and fundraising campaign. The local people were defiant: ”They can knock our school down as often as they want. We cannot stop them from doing so. We will build the school again and again and again. They cannot destroy our determination to give proper education to our children.” Israeli Military Civil Administration were forced to concede that “humanitarian considerations” must be taken into account before demolishing the school.

The village have just heard that the Palestinian Authority have agreed to provide a teacher from September when the school will open. Meanwhile, the local children will get their first taste of activities in the school today.

The building of the Fasayil primary school is a joint project between the Popular Committee of Fasayil, the Palestinian Save the Jordan Valley Initiative of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group.

The villagers were almost immediately issued with an injunction on the continued building of the school by Israel’s ’Military Civil Administration’ and hence the building was threatened with demolition if the work continued.

In Early December, the project suffered a setback as some of the walls collapsed during unusually heavy weather. The village is now in the process of repairing the damaged parts with more sturdy concrete blocks as well as adding a second building. The first classroom is completed and ready for use.

Therezia Cooper from the Brighton Tubas Group says ”The determination of the people of Fasayil not to let this occupation crush them and drive them from their land is truly inspirational. Education is a human right and hopefully the activities day will allow the children to experience the school for what it is supposed to be and have some fun. This will be a small victory over the occupation in itself”.
These activities are being planned as part of a week long delegation to the Tubas and Jordan Valley areas of the Palestinian West Bank by Brighton Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group.

Journalists based in the area are encouraged to get in contact on the numbers above and come to Fasayil on Monday afternoon.

For photos of the building of Fasayil school see  http://charity.dc5b.com/fsp/
Photos of the activities day will be available after the event.

ENDS

For more information or photographs contact:

Email:  brightontubas@gmail.com

Therezia Cooper (Brighton, UK) (0044) 07984 438655

Brett Cohen (Delegation in Palestine) (00972)0526 320590
(00972)(0)59 836744

Notes for Journalists:

From the 5-15 of April 2008 a delegation from Brighton will visit Tubas and the Jordan Valley.

The Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group was set up in 2006 and is a network aimed at fostering links between community groups in Tubas and the Jordan Valley in Palestine and Brighton in England.

Al Jiftlik and Fasayil are two Palestinian villages in the Jordan Valley. Since 1967 Palestinians in this area of the West Bank have had 95% of their land and 98% of their water confiscated by the Israeli military and settlements. It is the stated intention of the Israeli administration to annex the West Bank, and they are ethnically cleansing the area in preparation for this.

All press releases and blogs from those on the delegation will be on our blog site at www.brightonpalestine.org/blog

For background information about Brighton Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group and our work in the Tubas and Jordan Valley region of the West Bank see our website at  http://tubas.brightonpalestine.org/

For more background information about the Jordan Valley project see www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org


brighton-tubas Solidarity Group

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

South Coast [navigation.actions2016]

South Coast [navigation.actions2015]

South Coast [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

South Coast Actions 2013

G8 2013

South Coast Actions 2012

Workfare

South Coast Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

South Coast Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

South Coast Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

South Coast Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

South Coast Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

South Coast Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

South Coast Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

South Coast Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

South Coast Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech