ORFA'S SUMMER APPEAL
This year at the Venice Biennale, a tapestry confronting the horror of the Gaza Genocide will be on display. Stitched in the traditional tatreez (cross-stitch) by Palestinian women in the West Bank, the occupied Territories, Lebanon, and Jordan, the tapestry consists of 100 panels and is a project of the Palestinian History Tapestry (PHT). It is a tribute to the memory of those killed, and those suffering life changing injuries in Gaza over the past 3 years; an acknowledgement of those suffering from grief, pain and despair, and support for those trying to remain in their homeland.
The cost of making the Tapestry and the exhibition expenses have been substantial so the PHT Project team and the women embroiderers have been seeking sponsors for each of the 100 panels. ORFA is honoured to sponsor one of the panels, ‘Heavy Flour’, which was stitched by our friends in al-Am'ari camp in Ramallah. We need to raise £1,500 to help pay the costs of this panel. Please help us
The tapestry, based on a photo of a child carrying a heavy sack of flour, has this caption in the exhibition:
While Gaza has been under Israeli siege since 2007, on 9 October 2023 Israel declared a total blockade of Gaza. Water, food and other essentials were blocked from entering the besieged enclave. Although limited humanitarian aid had since entered the territory, shortages remained severe. Children carrying sacks of flour have become a familiar sight in Gaza, returning from dangerous, and often deadly, aid distribution points or airdrops with bread-making supplies.
Human Rights Watch described the Israeli government’s use of the collective starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the besieged Gaza Strip as a war crime. “International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” the report says, citing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Please donate generously to support this important project. Please give what you are able to - every pound is very helpful and goes towards meeting our target of £1,500.
Winter appeal raises over £1,000
ORFA's winter appeal for Defence for Children International - Palestine raised £1020.
Defence for Children International - Palestine (DCIP) is an independent, local Palestinian child rights organization dedicated to defending and promoting the rights of children living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Each year the Israeli military detains around 700 Palestinian children. Three out of four experience physical violence during arrest or interrogation. Nearly half of Palestinian child detainees are being held without charge.
However, on April 7th of this year, DCIP was forced to close as a result of what it described as “challenges resulting from Israel’s targeted criminalization of Palestinian human rights organizations.” The Israeli military had already proscribed DCIP and five other Palestinian human rights groups in 2021, smearing them as “terrorist organizations.”
In these circumstances ORFA has decided to forward the funds raised to Addameer (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a much valued friend of ORFA’s. Addameer is a Palestinian non-governmental institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons, including child prisoners. Addameer also works closely with international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. In 2024 ORFA held a joint meeting with Oxford Palestine Solidarity Campaign, where Sahar Francis, the director of Addameer, spoke from Ramallah about the harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. We were also joined that evening by Oxford-based Dr Nick Maynard who shared testimonies from Gazan medics about their harsh treatments. ORFA is proud to support this brave organisation.
Life under the siege
Interview on BBC Radio Oxford with Mohammed Al Habil, a student doctor from Gaza, on life under the siege. Listen here
Monday 30th October
Armistice Day in Oxford 2023
Councillor Lubna Arshad, Mayor of Oxford City, made a powerful speech on Armistice Day.
Keeping in contact with our friends in Ramallah
Since the beginning of the attacks on 7 October we have been keeping in regular contact with our friends in Ramallah and showing our support in any way we can.
Refugees in our own Homeland Visit to Oxford 29 June to 10 July 2023
Seven individuals linked to the Women's Centre in Al Am'ari Camp visited Oxford this summer. The group included two young people from the Al Am'ari UNRWA school.
The visit helped strengthen the links with Ramallah and deepened our understanding of the challenges people in Palestine currently face. It gave a unique opportunity for the young people and the women involved to share their stories, skills and rich culture and to gain insights and connections with local people and groups in Oxford.
Highlights of the visit:
‘Refugees in our own Homeland’
Public meeting, Oxford Town Hall, Thursday 6th July
A film of life in Al Am'ari refugee camp and speakers from the Women’s Centre
Flo's - The Place in the Park - Friday 7th July
A chance to meet with our friends from Ramallah in a relaxed, informal setting, with food and music. Oxford residents took part in a hand stitching workshop led by skilled embroiderers from Ramallah, and enjoyed some energetic dabke dancing.
‘Pieces of Me’
Pitt Rivers Museum Saturday 8th July. 12-4pm
Pop-up exhibition of historical pieces from Palestine and Palestinian History Tapestry
Cllr Mark Lygo on his visit to Ramallah
ORFA hosted a meeting in the Town Hall in 2022 to hear Cllr Mark Lygo speak about his recent visit to Ramallah. Sharing stories about the people he met, he said he wanted to encourage an exchange of cultures between Ramallah and Oxford, with further visits from both sides. He told members of Mandala Theatre Company, who would visit Ramallah in July, that 'you can achieve peace with storytelling'.
Avi Shlaim, ORFA Patron, spoke at the meeting, briefly giving some political and historical background about the situation for people in Palestine. He said ’the only hope for Palestinians lies in law, politics and civil change. Palestinians are normal people who want what normal people everywhere want, which is to live in peace and dignity’
Yasmin Sidhwa, also an ORFA patron, spoke about her vision for bringing young people of Oxford and Ramallah together through theatre. She said she was very excited that Mandala Theatre would be going to Ramallah to take part in the International Drama Festival in July.
During his visit, Mark was presented with a beautiful hand embroidered logo for the Oxford Ramallah Twinning, made by stitchers in the Womens Centre at Al A'mari Refugee Camp.
SPEAKING UP FOR PALESTINE
Over 3000 people took part in a protest and march through Oxford organised by Help the World Oxford on 16 May 2021.
Winter appeal raises £2100 for Palestinian refugee families
‘Thank you for your help and support’
ORFA’s winter appeal raised a total of £2100 to support families in Am’ari Refugee camp, where the Coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated an already difficult situation.
The money from Oxford has been used to buy olive oil, winter clothes and blankets for families affected by Coronavirus in the camp.
ORFA worked with the Women’s centre, a key democratic and non-aligned institution in Am’ari camp, to identify what was most urgently needed and to distribute items to families in need.
Refugees in the camp, who are living between the pandemic and the occupation, have difficulty in self-isolating due to overcrowded homes with several generations living together.
Many workers are daily paid and unemployment is high. The pandemic is having a disproportionate impact on this disadvantaged community and there are many young children in the camp living with inadequate resources.
A first payment of £1000 was sent in November 2020 and a second payment of £1100 was sent in January 2021.
Pictured here are some of the items distributed to families, and Naifa, one of our friends in the Women’s Centre, with a box of supplies.
