*Open letter to local representatives: Demand a ceasefire now! Click here.
Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi
*During the Israeli bombing of Gaza in October 2023, updates and messages from our friends in Al-Mawasi. Click here.
Develop links between Hastings and the Palestinian town of Al-Mawasi in Gaza
Join us in building links between Hastings and the Palestinian town of Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.We are organising events as part of the campaign towards a formal 'twinning' between the two towns.
Find out the ideas we have about arranging friendship links between schools, workplaces and community organisations.
Not in my name - Stop the JNF
Israel's Apartheid Unwrapped
How the JNF (Jewish National Fund) has played an integral role in Israel's policy of ethnic cleansing. The JNF is a pillar of Israeli apartheid. Learn how Israel created apartheid.
The JNF has been a charity in the UK since 1939, enjoying tax exempt status and an extra 25% of all donations from HMRC.
Report back of our meeting with Dr Kholoud al-Ajarma and Annie O'Gara from the Stop the JNF campaign:
No Fairytale Under Apartheid
Report back of the day we spent with Amneh Al Kelani from Jenin and Joan from Cadfa (Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association) recently. The report gives a fascinating look at how Amneh's children's books show the realities of life under military occupation.
Former teacher and supervisor Amneh later on addressed a HRPSC meeting at the Hastings Common Room:
The horrors of life in beseiged Gaza
Dr Shahd Abusalama gave us an insight into this tiny enclave on the Mediterranean coast, cut off from the rest of Palestine under an illegal Israeli blockade, subjected to frequent bombing campaigns.
This followed the screening of the 1985 documentary film Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Palestinian Family (1948-1984), showing life under Israeli occupation.
Shahd was born in Jabaliya refugee camp where the filming took place six years later. These familiar stories served to demonstrate the ongoing Nakba that Palestinians continue to endure to this day.
Hastings' solidarity with the people
of Jenin
of Jenin
Our solidarity event in the town centre after Israel's attacks on Jenin which caused the biggest devastation in 20 years.A thousand soldiers, backed by tanks, bulldozers, helicopters and drones attacked the Jenin refugee camp in the middle of the night. The Israeli military killed 12 Palestinians, four of them children.
"We stand with Jenin, we stand with the resistance, and we will also fight for their freedom, their dignity and for equality."
Demand that the East Sussex Pension Fund divests from companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and war crimes
This was the clear message made outside the recent East Sussex Council meeting at Lewes.The East Sussex Pension Fund has investments in excess of £71 million in companies that are complicit in Israel's violations of international law, in Israel's war crimes against the civilian population of besieged Gaza and which aid Israel's abuses of Palestinian human rights. The majority of these companies directly supply the Israeli military forces.
Hastings Hosts UK's First 'Palestine On The Pier'
A first not only for Hastings but for the UK. The day was a success way beyond our expectations.Local people turned out in such large numbers to celebrate Palestinian culture in its many forms. The Hawiyya Dance Company brought enormous energy, spirit and drama to our event; musicians Jamal and Alaa had people up dancing with their brilliant Arabic folk songs; and storyteller Elias Matar took the audience on a journey into the imagination.
We had a very busy children's corner with face-painting and craft activities There were stalls with authentic handicrafts, food, jewellery, books, art and clothes. Falafel wraps, baklava and a range of liquid refreshments were on sale.
East Sussex pension fund drops Israeli arms firm
Pension Fund ditches Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems and offloads companies complicit in Israel's violations of international law.
The campaign was set up to bring about the divestment of companies complicit in Israel's violations of international law and abuses of human rights. The pension fund has more than £111 million invested in complicit companies.Elbit Systems produces a range of weaponry deployed by the Israeli army to murder or maim Palestinians. Elbit Systems' Hermes 900 drones were among the aircraft that Israel used to murder more than 160 Palestinian children in Gaza in 2014.
The pension fund has also dropped companies involved in Israel's illegal settlement economy, such as Bank Hapoalim, the Israel Discount Bank and the Mizrahi Tefahot Bank which have financed construction projects in Israeli settlements.
Expulsion without Return?
The Palestinian Experience with Ilan Pappé and Ghada Karmi
Our online meeting with world-renowned historian Ilan Pappé and academic and author Ghada Karmi discussing Palestinian expulsion from 1948 to today and the question of return.Ghada describes how her family were forced to flee their home in Jerusalem during the Nakba, or 'catastrophe,' brought about by the creation of the state of Israel.
Ilan shows that between 1947 and 1949, Palestine was ethnically cleansed, a crime against humanity for which it has never faced justice.
The video of the meeting with the question and answer session........
Remember Gaza
We created a memorial wall in Hastings town centre to commemorate those who were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza during the summer of 2014.
More than 2,100 adults and over 550 children were killed; this included entire extended families and babies as young as 10 days.Selecting from a list of over 550 names of the children that were killed, individual passers-by chose a named child to remember. The pages of names seem overwhelming. Some added RIP; some chose a child of the same age as their own children; young people often chose teenagers of the same age and gender.
The support and interest we had from local people was both encouraging and moving.
The Freedom Theatre of Jenin comes to Hastings
As part of its first ever tour of the UK, the Freedom Theatre staged its production of 'The Siege' at St Mary in the Castle in Hastings.
"The Siege" is based on the experiences of a group of resistance fighters who took refuge in the Church of the Nativity during the height of the second Intifada. As St Mary in the Castle was originally a church, it is an ideal location.The play was clearly a triumph with the audience giving the cast 3 rousing standing ovations. The play turned out to be a powerful, emotionally charged example of cultural resistance at its best.
Palestinian child prisoners in Israeli jails
On the 41st anniversary of the first Palestinian Prisoners' Day, we built a prison cell in the town centre and gave out information detailing mistreatment of Palestinian children in Israeli jails.
More information here.
Replica Apartheid Wall in Hastings Town Centre
To highlight the way that Palestinians are harassed and humiliated in their daily lives, we built a mini replica of the wall in Hastings town centre.
The video of our replica wall event: click here.
Hastings Demonstration against Israel's Massacres in Gaza
During the summer of 2014, people in Hastings took action and joined the world-wide opposition to Israel's campaign of terror against Gaza. The march started at the Pier and made its way to the Town Hall. With less than 2 days to organise this action, the response from local people was quite overwhelming.
Hastings and Rye PSC membership and donations
Becoming a member of Hastings and Rye PSC is an important way of supporting our work. The annual subscription is £10 waged, £5 unwaged.
Online membership.
If you would like to support our work without becoming a member please visit our shop page here and see the right hand column: Donate to Hastings & Rye PSC.
Hastings and Rye PSC newsletter
We publish an online newsletter. It covers news of - local activities; UK complicity in the occupation; situation in occupied Palestine; successes of the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement.
Recent newsletters:
24 November 2023.
21 November 2023;
14 November 2023;
To be added to our mailing list, please email us.
The Golan Heights - Israeli occupied and annexed territory.
The world seems to have forgotten the land that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. A friend of a local PSC member has written an account of his visit in 2010 - before the war - to the Syrian side of the border, with photos, showing the destruction inflicted by Israel:
Memories Of Syria.
Israeli Abuse Of Palestinian Children
Israel's policy - to degrade and dehumanise Palestinian children
Three generations have grown up only knowing a life governed by the military rule administered by a foreign army. Israel is the only country in the world that prosecutes children in a military court.
Many Palestinian children are arrested in the middle of the night, their homes are trashed and their parents are not informed about the reason or where they are being taken. Many are beaten, interrogated without a lawyer or parent present, abused for being Palestinian and endure sexual threats.
Qalandia thoughts
A local HPSC member (volunteering for the IWPS) writes from occupied Palestine:
Qalandia thoughts
Make Waves at Southern Water: Say NO to an Arad meter
Southern Water has been installing water meters made by Israeli company Arad. This company plays an integral part in Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine.
Arad is an Israeli company that works extensively in the illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Not only has it installed 3,200 water meters in the illegal settlements of Ariel and Barkan, it has committed itself to a "..long term engagement including continued development and continuous service and support over the years."
Make Waves at Southern Water.
£6,000 raised
We made £6,000 for Medical Aid to Palestinians (MAP) at our Art for Gaza sales.
A big thank you to everyone who came to the 2 sales, and lots of thanks especially to all those who contributed paintings.
Article in the Hastings Online Times
Report from Palestine
Reports from one of our members in the northern Jordan Valley with an Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) tour, October - November 2018:
School demolition at Ibziq.
Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem.
Shepherds in the Jordan Valley.
And, as a result of meeting Canon John Hadley on the tour:
Letter to J. K. Rowling.
Demonstration at Nabi Saleh
Palestinian Animal League
Several Hastings PSC supporters visited Brighton to hear Ahmad Safi, the executive director of the Palestinian Animal League, speaking on a national tour.
Palestinian Animal League
