Amos Trust launches Gaza Christmas appeal with concert

Amos concert at St James's Piccadilly

Two eloquent Palestinian speakers launched the Amos Trust Christmas appeal at St James's Piccadilly, last Saturday, in an evening of deeply contrasting moods and emotions.

Gazan journalist Hala Hanina from Palestinian Deep Dive told a terrible Christmas story of a "brilliant, beautiful, powerful" young woman called Sara who lost all her family after an Israeli airstrike on her home on Christmas Day 2023. Sara was rescued "from underneath the rubble without a hand and a leg."

Sara had grown up without her own father and yet excelled in her studies in architecture while simultaneously working as a brilliant English translator and entrepreneur to support her mother and four siblings.

"How was Sara able to survive," Hala Hanina asked. "Who was feeding her? How was she eating? How could she evacuate from place to place in Gaza where people have to evacuate tens of times, sometimes at night?

"Sara refuses to speak with anyone, she refuses to open up, she suffers from serious injury. Do you think the genocide will ever be over for Sara?"

Hala Hanina said that Palestinians were praised for their great strength in the face of adversity but "Our resilience is not something we can do alone now, it's a collective responsibility."

She said the Israelis had breached the terms of the recently agreed ceasefire from the very first day, killing around 400 people with an average of two children a day, according to UNICEF.

Less than a third of aid trucks were getting in to Gaza and Israel was keeping out essential medical aid and material to create viable shelters, she added, and this while people were forced to camp out on flooded beaches.

"Israel is effectively starving the Gazans," Hala Hanina said. "Developmentally, cognitively, children will not develop without routine, without fruit, without vegetables.

"Every single one of us when looking at the Christmas tree and the gifts, and the beauty and the warmth you're giving to your own children and grandchildren, just remember the 40,000 orphaned children in Gaza lacking not just warmth and safety but also their parents."

Hala Hanina's own cousins had survived the last two years in Gaza but in recent weeks since the ceasefire their makeshift tent was bombed by the Israelis. "My cousins were taken into intensive care, their two daughters were killed. They survived a genocide, but lost their lives in a ceasefire," she said, adding: "Is this a ceasefire? It is not."

She noted that Israel occupied over half of the Gaza Strip and was "bombing the hell out of it" while President Trump was "bragging."

"Zionism, imperialism, colonialism: all of that must be dismantled for Palestine and the rest of the World to be free," she concluded.

Dr Abdelfattah Abusroar, the creator of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society in the Aida Refugee Camp on the outskirts of Bethlehem, offered possibilities of hope and joy in the midst of the suffering.

Born in Aida himself, he noted wryly: "It seems paradoxical to be a refugee in your own home." He explained how Aida Camp hosted people from 43 different villages around the Bethlehem region which had been ethnically cleansed during the Nakba in 1948 - "among the 534 villages occupied and destroyed by Zionist groups between 1947 and 1949."

Aida Refugee Camp, just outside Bethlehem, has been described as "the most tear-gassed place in the world." Since October 2023, the camp has faced daily incursions by Israeli occupying forces and its children and young people live under constant threat of violence, arrest and detention.

Dr Abusroar had created Alrowwad (which means Pioneers) in 1988 with a group of friends in order to "save lives and inspire hope in young people and give them the possibility to express themselves in beautiful, creative and peaceful ways, to be proud of their heritage, and hopefully grow up to change the world."

The cultural and arts society provides a safe space where children feel seen, valued and free to express themselves and their culture. It empowers young people through non-violent creative programmes and preserves Palestinian culture.

Dr Abusroar added, 'We started with theatre because theatre is one of the most amazing and powerful ways to express yourself and hopefully to build peace within yourself. To be peaceful, you have to start within your own community.' Now all the arts were covered 'to reach everybody one way or the other.'

He said, "This is what I call beautiful resistance against the ugliness of the occupation and its violence - a beautiful act of humanity against oppression. Despite the de-humanisation of the occupation, they [the Israeli occupiers] only de-humanise themselves."

Dr Abusroar spoke of the 65 checkpoints hemming in the Palestinians around Bethlehem and more than 900 checkpoints in the West Bank as a whole. "So if you ask the children how many of them have been in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), none of them. It is much easier to go to the UK than to Gaza or Al-Quds which is 9 kilometres away."

Dr Abusroar spoke movingly of shared humanity and cultural encounter in peace, equality and love.

He urged the audience to raise its voice "against the injustice that is happening. Despair is not a heritage we can leave to our children and the generations to come."

Then it was the turn of the young performers, violinist, pianist and nimble-footed dabke dancers to delight the audience with their excellent and joyful performances. They were joined by singers from Vox Holloway directed by Harvey Brough and accompanied by Justin Butcher.

Alrowwad are currently on tour and there is a chance to see them in Exeter, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London between now and this coming Sunday, 7th December. See: www.amostrust.org/diary/beyond-the-rubble-steps-of-hope-uk-tour/

The Amos Trust's Christmas Appeal for Gaza has launched its 'Big Give' today where any donation made up to the 9th December will be doubled by its partner in the Reed Foundation.

Amos says: "In the midst of devastation, something remarkable is happening. Children are gathering in tent-schools, learning and laughing. Women are finding space to process trauma and rebuild strength. Young people in Bethlehem's Aida refugee camp are creating art, dancing, filming - practicing what they call "Beautiful Resistance."'

All donations will go directly to rebuild lives in Gaza and the West Bank."Children in Gaza do not suffer from post-traumatic stress - because the trauma never ends. Our work is to help them live, learn and dream again, even in the midst of it."

Donate to the Christmas Appeal here: www.amostrust.org/give/christmas-appeal/