The Palestinian Day in Photos...

Nadia explains how the Palestinian territories are becoming increasingly isolated

Dr Fadwa demonstrates the difference between Jerusalemite and West Bank IDs

Making Palestinian-style stuffed peppers

Stuffed peppers stewing for lunch

Dr Fadwa unveils the maqloubeh

Learning Palestinian cross-stitch

Time for some nail art

Adding toppings to Dr Fadwa's sahlab, to be enjoyed by the campfire

Fatmeh makes music from a biscuit tin to accompany the girls' dancing

All dressed up for the dabkeh performance

Day Three: The Palestinian Day

By Cordu N'Diaye (Aisheh's buddy)

The day started off in a fairly lackadaisical manner, which was perfect. The night before a few of us stayed up late to watch ‘28 Days Later’; and if the fact that the movie finished at 4am wasn’t enough to render me exhausted at the 8 am wake up, then the mild concern that there were rabid zombies lurking in the shadows of every dark room (so that sleep evaded me for a while longer) had definitely performed that trick.

Sunday was ‘Palestinian Day’ at the camp so Dr Fadwah and a few of the girls got up early to make, what can only justifiably be described as a feast, complete with fresh hand mashed hummus, fried bread&cheese and baklavah.

After breakfast we gathered to listen to the presentations that our Palestinian friends had prepared and the events and stories of the following few hours were amongst the prominent of the whole trip. The topics that the girls spoke on ranged from ‘Education’ and ‘The Wall’ to ‘Checkpoints’ and ‘Refugees’ but the one constant evident in all of the presentations was the silent determination of these otherwise everyday women to fight for their country and their resilient desire for the simple right to just ‘be’.

Haya prepares her presentation 

Dr Fadwa demonstrates the difference between green and blue Palestinian ID cards

It would be unfair to say that women everywhere, especially those of ambition, don’t hold most of these characteristics true, but during that afternoon it became evident that it ran especially deep in these women and to me they represented what I imagined to be a much larger, stronger nationalistic sentiment among Palestinians.

The afternoon events that followed inspired another one of the most interesting parts of the visit. After the presentations had been given and the Q&A concluded, we did what was inevitably bound to happen when 20+ women confine themselves to a small space, we had makeovers. What really surprised me here was the versatility of our Palestinian friends’ attitudes and I felt slightly naive for expecting them to be as sombre playing dress up and painting henna as they were when they were telling us stories of being regularly detained, mocked and humiliated at Israeli checkpoints by military soldiers whilst on their way to University.

The evening ended in dabkeh, another campfire (with Dr Fadwah’s sahlab to quench the legendary campfire thirst) and a fantastic rendition of “London’s Burning” lead by Anna Amo.

Day Two: The British Day

By Decca Muldowney (Samah's buddy)

This morning began at 8am, with people emerging slowly from bed. At 9 am the kitchen team produced a full English breakfast of eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, veggie sausages, toast and tea. There were mixed reactions from the Palestinians- they seemed particularly divided over the baked beans. 

After clear-up we all sat down for an induction meeting, talking about our hopes, fears and expectations of the project. Many of our hopes were the same: to learn more about each other, about our different lives and political situations. We were worried about things like miscommunication and misunderstandings and things like cultural differences. The consensus in the group seemed to be that it is important to talk about differences rather than pretend they are not there. (Incidentally- this is something I believe is essential to any solidarity work: no two political situations are the same and our unity can be based on acknowledging the difference of our struggles. Strangely, I’ve found that it is often by discussing difference that similarities are found! This really came true today on the walk when we were talking with Esraa. She said that in Palestine it is always society- rather than law or religion- that determines how women are treated and expected to behave. I think this is true much of the time in Britain too.) 

After our induction me and Samah, my buddy, were on cooking duty. I am also acting as a buddy to Fatmeh, whose buddy isn’t here yet. We chopped lots of vegetables together for the butternut squash soup. It was really lovely as I was able to learn more about Samah and Fatmeh. They both have big families (by my standards as an only child!) and live in the towns where they were born. Although they are younger than me they are both already engaged. Both of them are planning to get married after finishing university. I told Samah about my boyfriend Noah, who I’ve been with for 2 ½ years. He comes from a Jewish family in the US. After travelling with me in Palestine last year he became really anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian, I got the feeling that Samah hasn’t met many anti-Zionist Jews and I would really love to be able to introduce her to Noah. 

Then we all went on a walk into the forest and encountered a lot of mud and a very friendly New Forest pony. He licked our hands- but the Palestinians seemed quite frightened. That didn’t stop them all taking pictures with him! 

When we got back we put the finishing touches to lunch. Samah and Fatmeh helped me make bread roles from the dough- and they came out really beautifully! Everyone was starving and the mountain of bread rolls seemed to disappear very quickly. 

During the post-lunch lull, the Palestinian women told me all about the makeover they want to give me- Samah wants to pluck my eyebrows, something I have neve, ever done. But I think in the spirit of cultural exchange I’ll let her do it. 

Samah and Fatmeh then sat down to work on our story with a femal heroine. Fatmeh told an amazing story about her aunt which we decided to use. She also told me another story about her own mother, who has two sons in prison. One of Fatmeh’s brothers is in Israeli prison for 10 years, with 3 more years to go. Another brother was in prison for life, but was sent back in the Gild Shalit prisoner exchange. I told them that Shalit’s father had told the press that if he was a Palestinian fighting for freedom he would kidnap Israeli soldiers. They had heard nothing about it and were very surprised. 

We spent the afternoon making puppets and sets with Natalie and Esraa. It was really lovely working with them- my only worry is that sometimes things get lost in translation and I think they are too polite to say sometimes! 

We ate a delicious shepherd’s pie for dinner and then apple crumble. After dinner we put on our puppet plays, which were all very different and very beautiful. It was interesting to see the different ways people found to talk about the strength of women.

Day One (Friday 16th): Some First Impressions

by Decca Muldowney (Samah's buddy)

Day One (Friday 16th): Getting to Know One Another

Tile Barn Outdoor Centre, The New Forest.

by Emily Danby ( Saida's buddy)

I arrived at the hostel to hear the fire alarm going off and I met the whole group of excited and very friendly young women walking up the drive way. After settling in quickly, I went to help in the kitchen but everything seemed to be very calmly taken care of. The smell of sage filled the kitchen and I followed my nose to the large trays of fresh herbs brought all the way from Palestine to make authentic Palestinian tea. 

There was immediately a wonderfully cheerful and calm atmosphere amongst the women - helped by the fact that nearly everyone was wearing pyjamas - and as we shared dinner introductions came easily. I learnt about the girls' families and their studies. The Palestinians seemed to eat very modest portions of food and weren't too impressed by tesco's slieced bread, although extra sandwiches were still going down quickly.

After dinner, two of the British group made a campfire and we sat around taking it in turns to share songs. There seemed to be a lot of Palestinian songs that all the women knew - and some of them were very funny when they explained the meaning. Meanwhile, us Brits resorted quickly to Disney numbers to find something we all knew. Singing was followed by a hilarious bi-lingual game of Chinese Whispers, where one person chose a word in English or Arabic and we passed it around until it turned into nonsense or sometimes a whole other word in a whole other language. After a bit of dancing to Beyonce, we all made our way inside.

As the evening went on, it seemed like the British and Palestinian groups had become slightly divided, which they weren't at the beginning. I think this was natural, because the British "buddies" hadn't really had much chance to get to know each other and the Palestinians were all tired from travelling and probably not feeling much like speaking their second language. I don't think divisions will be a big problem for the rest of the week though because we have discussed the danger and I think everyone taking part in the week is so keen to get to know others from the other culture that they won't let it happen. 

Anyway, a good game of snakes and ladders ("sallam wa hay") brought us together again before bed time.

All in all, day one was a wonderful beginning to the week, which made me realise that this project is as much about making good friends with women we have a lot in common with as it is about finding out about Palestine, its problems and how we can provide support.  

Emily Danby (Saida's buddy)

The visit begins!

The Palestinian women arrived safely on Friday, and the visit has begun with a three day residential in the New Forest.

All participants will spend three days getting to know each other, share skills during 'Palestinian' and 'British' days- with fun activities, delicious food and cultural exchange!

The fun has just begun and we know this will be an illuminating, interesting and exciting trip!

More updates and photos to come!

Hopes, Fears and Expectations for the Visit Ahead...

We're hoping ...

"To give a clear picture of Palestine in general and Palestinian women in particular." - Nadia Abu Raida
"To make our targets clear to everyone, and to make a difference - even if just  a small one - to people's thoughts, or even beliefs, about Palestine." - Bissan Shuaiby
"To share our experiences and skills and create new friendships here." - Hanin Abu-Khiram

Our fears are that ...

"There might be problems or misunderstanding between women in the group." - Nawal Shahen
"We'll be under a lot of pressure." - Nadia Abu Raida
"It will rain and be cold all the time!" - Nadia, Bissan, Saida, Isra'a
"We have no fears; we are brave women" - Haya Lahadi

We expect the results of the visit to be ...

"A good website with real stories, pictures and videos- information which you can’t find on other websites." - Nadia Abu Raida
"That we will learn a lot of things about British women, their culture and tradition." - Nawal Shaheen
"A good, yet stressful, trip that will bring a lot of benefit and be a new stage in my life." - Hanin Abu-Khiram