Occupied Palestine, March 29 2012

Dear Friends of the Welcome to Palestine Initiative,

We want to express our gratitude for your solidarity efforts and “welcome you to Palestine”.

As the secretariat of the Palestinian national committee for the World Social Forum “Free Palestine”, we want to invite you during your stay in Palestine after April 15 to a preparatory seminar.

This World Social Forum “Free Palestine” will be held at the end of November 2012 in Porto Alegre, Brazil and will be a historic four day event focused solely on building and strengthening solidarity with Palestine.

This WSF “Free Palestine” is a unique opportunity, challenge and responsibility for all of us. It is exciting to be able to unite people, organizations, movements, unions and networks from across the globe and to discuss, strategize and build together solidarity and more effective and sustainable actions and campaign strategies.

The process towards the WSF “Free Palestine” is almost as important as the forum itself as it will set out our ability to come out of the four days of discussions with concrete and forward looking work plans, strategies and visions. We further believe it is important to develop a truly global preparatory process, including the formation of an international committee. In this context, we would be very happy to be able to organize together with you a preparatory seminar on April 18th.

Looking forward to welcoming in Palestine,

Secretariat of the Palestinian national committee for the World Social Forum “Free Palestine”

WELCOME TO PALESTINE 15th APRIL 2012

Why We Are Flying to Tel Aviv on 15th April with “Welcome to Palestine”

Norma Turner, Sandy Broadhurst and Pia Feig from Greater Manchester

On Sunday 15th April 2012 hundreds of people from across the world will be flying into Israel’s Tel Aviv airport demanding the right to visit their Palestinian friends in the Occupied Territory of the West Bank.
Many from Scotland and the North of England will be flying from Manchester Airport – among them Norma Turner, Sandy Broadhurst and Pia Feig from Greater Manchester.
Palestinian people in the West Bank are looking forward to welcoming 1500 international friends, in particular so that they can help build a vitally needed school in Bethlehem.

Norma Turner, a retired nurse who has trained nurses in Palestine, explains why the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative is so important:
“The Israeli state denies Palestinian people all of their basic human rights including in many cases access to water; food; jobs; justice through the courts; good health care and medicines. The continued collective punishment of the indigenous population of Palestine is enforced through military might and support of America and Europe, including the British Government.
“The Palestinian people are prisoners in their own land and cannot freely receive visitors from abroad.
“That is why I am flying out to insist on the right of my Palestinian friends to receive visitors freely from abroad.”

Pia Feig is Jewish and has family living in Israel. She is going on the flight to Tel Aviv on 15th April in solidarity with the Palestinians, because the Israelis have created a ghetto for the Palestinians.
She says this initiative is about breaking down the walls of the ghetto. Being Jewish she feels strongly that Israel shouldn’t reverse the history of the Jews onto the Palestinian people.

Pia is a health worker, in the NHS in Manchester, and a trade union activist. She has the support of her trade union, Unison, which nationally gives public support for the Palestinian cause.

“As individuals we have talked to people who we know and work with and local people are really interested and want to support this initiative, on a personal level. People should have the right to travel. We should all have the right to visit and to receive visitors. People should not live in ghettos.

“Many of our friends and contacts will be coming to the Manchester Airport on Sunday to see us off – and to help us break the walls of the ghetto imprisoning the Palestinian people.”

Sandy Broadhurst is a teacher from Stockport. She says:

” The purpose of my trip is to assist in building a school in Bethlehem plus other humanitarian activities such as the reinstatement of water cisterns, tree planting, education through community arts and so on. As a life long teacher and someone who is totally committed to education, the school project in Bethlehem is of particular interest. Education, so important for everyone, is absolutely crucial to liberate deprived people.

“As a British citizen, with a British passport, I should have free access to any country for the purpose of such humanitarian activities; and of course, Palestine should have the right to invite and receive visitors of their choice too.”

Local MP Gerald Kaufman has also written to the Foreign Secretary in support of his constituents.

CONTACT – Norma Turner – noturn3@hotmail.com; 0161 225 0302
information on www.welcometopalestine.info and www.coordin8.org.uk

BELOW – picture of Sandy Broadhurst (attached of Norma Turner in Jerusalem in January 2012)
FURTHER BELOW – The Welcome to Palestine Statement, signed by Desmond Tutu, John Pilger, Tony Benn and others – and the “weclome” from the Palestinian National Committee
FURTHER FURTHER BELOW – BIOGS OF NORMA, SANDY AND PIA

Welcome to Palestine Initiative 2012
“We, the undersigned, endorse the call from the Welcome to Palestine 2012 Initiative for supporters of Palestinian human and national rights around the world to openly visit Palestine during Easter 2012.

“There is no way into Palestine other than through Israeli control points. Israel has turned Palestine into a giant prison, but prisoners have a right to receive visitors.

“Welcome to Palestine 2012 will again challenge Israel’s policy of isolating the West Bank while the settler paramilitaries and army commit brutal crimes against a virtually defenceless Palestinian civilian population.

“We call on governments to support the right of Palestinians to receive visitors and the right of their own citizens to visit Palestine openly.

“The participants in Welcome to Palestine 2012 ask to be allowed to pass through Tel Aviv airport without hindrance and to proceed to the West Bank to take part in a project there for children to benefit from the right to education.”

SIGNED:

Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Hedy Epstein
Ambassador Manuel Hassassian
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

Invitation to Welcome to Palestine participants

Occupied Palestine, March 29 2012

Dear Friends of the Welcome to Palestine Initiative,

We want to express our gratitude for your solidarity efforts and “welcome you to Palestine”.

As the secretariat of the Palestinian national committee for the World Social Forum “Free Palestine”, we want to invite you during your stay in Palestine after April 15 to a preparatory seminar.

This World Social Forum “Free Palestine” will be held at the end of November 2012 in Porto Alegre, Brazil and will be a historic four day event focused solely on building and strengthening solidarity with Palestine.

This WSF “Free Palestine” is a unique opportunity, challenge and responsibility for all of us. It is exciting to be able to unite people, organizations, movements, unions and networks from across the globe and to discuss, strategize and build together solidarity and more effective and sustainable actions and campaign strategies.

The process towards the WSF “Free Palestine” is almost as important as the forum itself as it will set out our ability to come out of the four days of discussions with concrete and forward looking work plans, strategies and visions. We further believe it is important to develop a truly global preparatory process, including the formation of an international committee. In this context, we would be very happy to be able to organize together with you a preparatory seminar on April 18th.

Looking forward to welcoming in Palestine,

Secretariat of the Palestinian national committee for the World Social Forum “Free Palestine”

Norma Turner Lives in Longsight, Manchester This Is Her Story

I started work in the NHS in 1964 at the age of sixteen. I retired from nursing on my 60th birthday also the 60th birthday of the NHS. I have been an active Trade Unionist and socialist all my adult life and campaigned against injustice and for peace.

During my nursing career I have worked as a Health Visitor, Clinical Nurse Specialist for people with HIV disease and as a Macmillan nurse caring for people with cancer.

My goal was always to empower people I have nursed to control their own lives with dignity and without fear. I have worked with nurses in Gaza and it is impossible for them to work with that goal because Palestinian people do not have any control over their own lives. They live under the continued illegal occupation of the State of Israel which itself was founded in my birth year of 1948. The suffering and injustice that I have witnessed on my visits to Gaza and the West Bank on the Palestinian people, many of them children is worse than anything I have experienced in my whole career as a nurse in England, India and Africa.

The Israeli state denies Palestinian people all of their basic human rights including in many cases access to water; food; jobs; justice through the courts; good health care and medicines. The continued collective punishment of the indigenous population of Palestine is enforced through military might and support of America and Europe, including the British Government. The Palestinian people are prisoners in their own land and cannot freely receive visitors from abroad.

This is why I will be flying into Tel Aviv on April 15th 2012 as part of Welcome to Palestine to insist on the rights of Palestinians to freely receive visitors from abroad.

Sandy Broadhurst, Stockport Resident, Says:

On Sunday 15th April, I am travelling from Manchester to Palestine via Tel Aviv.

The purpose of my trip is to assist in building a school in Bethlehem plus other humanitarian activities such as the reinstatement of water cisterns,

tree planting, education through community arts and so on.

As a life long teacher and someone who is totally committed to education, the school project in Bethlehem is of particular interest .

Education, so important for everyone, is absolutely crucial to liberate deprived people.

I am as well, looking forward to the arts project, having extensively used the arts as a teaching technique professionally.

I am going to ensure the Israelis allow me free access to Palestine.

As a British citizen, with a British passport, I should have free access to any country for the purpose of such humanitarian activities;

and of course, Palestine should have the right to invite and receive visitors of their choice too.

I’m going to Palestine, as part of a wider initiative called ‘Welcome to Palestine’, the purpose of which is, through humanitarian activities,

to publicise the lack of free access to Palestine caused by the Israeli state.

You can find out more information about this initiative at www.welcometopalestine.info/

Pia Feig is from Chorlton in South Manchester.

Pia is Jewish and has family living in Israel. She is going on the flight to Tel Aviv on 15th April in solidarity with the Palestinians, because the Israelis have created a ghetto for the Palestinians.

She says this initiative is about breaking down the walls of the ghetto.

Being Jewish she feels strongly that Israel shouldn’t reverse the history of the Jews onto the Palestinian people.

Pia is a health worker, in the NHS in Manchester, and a trade union activist. She is going on “Welcome to Palestine” with the support of her trade union branch, Unison, and her union nationally gives public support for the Palestinian cause.

“As individuals we have talked to people who we know and work with and local people are really interested and want to support this initiative, on a personal level. People should have the right to travel. We should all have the right to visit and to receive visitors. People should not live in ghettos.

“Many of our friends and contacts will be coming to the Manchester Airport on Sunday to see us off – and to help us break the walls of the ghetto imprisoning the Palestinian people.”