Petition
Petition to call on Hastings Borough Council to formally twin Hastings with Al-Mawasi. Petition here. There is also a petition in paper form available at our information stalls and meetings.Thousands of people have been arriving in Al-Mawasi. Some are lying on the streets with no shelter.
We are able to send money directly to Al-Mawasi; and the community leaders there are able to procure tents.
The situation is extremely serious. Israel has been forcing people from their homes, and large numbers of people have no homes because they have been bombed out. According to the UN, 1.9 million people, nearly 85% of the total population of Gaza have been 'internally displaced,' including many who have been displaced multiple times.
This is the message from Al-Mawasi: "I wanted to ask for your opinion about something that I hope you can help us with. If possible it would be great if you can help us get some tents for some of the displaced people in Al-Mawasi. The situation there where Naheel (the committee's chair) is is really terrible, thousands of people are arriving there daily, some are just lying on the streets with no shelter."
10 January 2024.
We are very pleased to announce that the community at Al-Mawasi has now bought four solar panels, installed them and they are up and running. We send our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed funds for this.
The community is now generating electricity to pump fresh water from a well and also to use it for charging phones and lights.We are receiving reports which show that they have opened their doors to displaced people so that now the community centre is full up with people. They have been distributing some of the money we've sent amongst the local community to buy seriously needed medications. This is required because of widespread diarrhoea and vomiting amongst the children caused by drinking the unhealthy water (Israel having turned off Gaza's supply of electricity, water, food and fuel supplies on October 13). At least this is a problem that should now be reduced with fresh drinking water. But clearly with 1.9 million homeless people forced into such a small area in southern Gaza the risk of diseases is very high.
We are still sending funds but it is difficult to collect the money because the nearest banks are in Khan Younis which is now a war zone.
14 December 2023.
Thank you everyone who came and supported our fundraiser Gig for Gaza for Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi and Medical Aid for Palestinians. 170 of you!
It was a wonderful evening of solidarity, music and love, raising nearly £3,000 to help support the struggling community of Al Mawasi, as well as the healthcare needs of all Palestinians in Gaza suffering from 70 days of war and siege.
Thanks to all our incredible musicians for bringing such beautiful, soulful, moving, mesmerising, entrancing and uplifting music - Frank Moon, Juliet Russell, Bellza, Arfrit Nebula, Woodland Folk Sian and Mike Willis.
Special thanks to the East Hastings Sea Angling Club for hosting, organiser extraordinaire Jess Luby, prize-getter Mark Caffrey, tech & sound man Julian Humphries, artwork designer Dick Hogg, our helpers on the night and all the generous businesses and artists who donated to our raffle.
Thanks one and all! Two short videos of the night on Facebook and on TikTok.
6 December 2023.
We launched the Al-Mawasi Women's Project at the end of September. Unfortunately Israel's assaults in October brought this to an end.
The Committee for Community Resilience in Al-Mawasi is looking to open a cafe and shop on the beachfront for women to sell their own handmade craft goods and food.
The Committee was set up in 2019 by local people in Al-Mawasi to build a community centre, which they call the Safe Space, and to organise community events and training opportunities. From holiday clubs for children, to workshops about sheep farming, they are doing incredible work; supporting each other striving to live normal lives in the most harrowing circumstances.
At the Safe Space there have been various training workshops for women to teach them crafts and cooking skills, which have been particularly aimed at supporting women who have been victims of abuse. The next step is to open this cafe and shop so the women can sell the food and gifts they make, such as baskets, knitwear, sweets and soap.
Financial independence is a lifeline for women suffering abuse in any society but the barriers to finding work are multiplied a thousand fold for women in Al-Mawasi. Job opportunities, even for highly qualified people in Gaza are extremely poor, and even if women were willing or able to leave their community, the Isreali blockade makes it impossible to look for opportunities anywhere else.Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi is raising money to help get the Al-Mawasi women's shop and cafe up and running and we hope to provide ongoing support for this vital work.
Please give generously via paypal or make a direct donation to our bank account using reference 'Al-Mawasi Women's Project' - Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ac: 32319845 SC: 40-23-18
We will be raising money at the Hastings and Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign weekly stalls on Saturdays in central Hastings (next stall outside Barclays on Sept 23rd 12 to 2pm). Come along to make a donation or spread the word by sharing our Facebook post.
23 September 2023.
 Residents of Al-Mawasi taking part in Swim With Gaza. |
Our friends in Al-Mawasi joined in the global Swim With Gaza - along with more than 40 groups throughout the world: from New Zealand to Seattle, Kuala Lumpa to Oaxaca in Mexico, Cape Town to Fountainstown in County Cork. And along the Sussex coastline - Hastings, Brighton, Eastbourne and Worthing. The main aim of the day was to show solidarity with the 2.2 million people of Gaza who have lived under Israeli siege for more than 16 years. This is a short video from Al-Mawasi. And a video of a group of youngsters from nearby Khan Younis.
At the centre of the day's activities is the Swimming Festival in Gaza run by the Tantish Swimming Academy. The plan was to have 1,000 children swimming in the sea. The Festival is run by Amjed Tantish whose Tantish Swimming Academy has taught thousands of children in Gaza to swim. Amjed started his academy over 20 years ago with five students.
 One of the photos that the community in Al-Mawasi has sent us. |
As part of the global day of solidarity, a fund was set up to give free swimming lessons for disadvantaged children in Gaza. In Hastings we collected £123. The global fund has now reached £6,241. This will give lessons to more than 150 children, 10 lessons for each child, eight in a pool and two on the beach.
Report of our Swim With Gaza event in Hastings: Article here. Our video.
The video from the organisers and the Swim With Gaza website.
August 2023.
A Palestinian vegetarian feast from Chef Momo, great music - and great company. We raised £1,300, and along with the £300 we've already collected, it means we were able to send £1,600 to the Al-Mawasi community. It will go a long way to help repair the roof of their community health centre and pay towards vital equipment. Tour of the Al-Mawasi Safe Space.
Thanks to Chef Momo and his helpers Fatma and Roa Almadi, Jill and Jackie Collins; to Frank Moon playing the oud, and to Deniz Akdoğan playing the saz - who gave us a great rendition of Bella Ciao - with lots of lively and loud audience participation! And thanks to our great helpers, raffle prize givers, supporters who bought raffle tickets and to everyone who came to make the event such a success.
There's an article in the the Hastings Online Times: Aricle here.
Our Facebook post. Our Instagram post.
November 2022.
Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi stall at the Garden of Cultural Delights, St Leonards, August 2022:
Video here.
What a great day at the Goat Ledge. First class company, first class food. Celebrating the developing links between Hastings and the Palestinian coastal town of Al-Mawasi in Gaza. Thanks to Frank Moon (oud, violin, flute, percussion), Fatima for writing people's names in Arabic and doing henna tattoos, and the crew at Goat Ledge for their great hospitality.
We had a steady stream of visitors during the day including Deputy Mayor Councillor Margi O'Callaghan and Councillors Nigel Sinden and Maya Evans. Here's a short video of the day. June 2022
Our fundraising has helped the Al-Mawasi community centre to get a permanent internet connection installed (and paid for one year), and a new laptop and display screen for their classes and training.We wish the members of the Resilience Committee every success in their wonderful efforts to support local people.
April 2022: Since our first twinning meeting in October last year we have been getting to know people in Al-Mawasi through our weekly English lessons and shared photos and videos. We have met the inspiring organisers who run the community centre that local people built for themselves; we've met fishermen, nurses and bloggers, and students and graduates who are aspiring to be engineers and teachers; we've met parents and seen their children's art work and singing; we've seen pictures of their fishing boats and football teams and children's fun days.
 Short video of our fundraiser. |
We hope more people from Hastings will be able to join our twinning project to offer direct support and solidarity to this community which literally lives under siege. Most of the young people we talk to in Al-Mawasi have never left Gaza since a blockade was imposed 15 years ago. Everything and everyone coming in or out of this small area must get special Israeli permission which causes extreme hardship.
Twinning can involve any kind of link between our town and theirs - we hope some day we can visit each other in person but for now we can arrange for people to connect by email or zoom or on social media.
If you would like to befriend a person or a family in Al-Mawasi, or make a link between your school, community group, workplace, faith group, sports club, or business, and a similar group in Al-Mawasi, then please get in touch to find out more.We also need more volunteers to teach English, which can involve teaching a group of students in an online lesson, or can simply involve matching a volunteer here with one or two students to arrange regular conversations which give them a chance to practice their English. English can be a gateway to education and job opportunities for people in Al-Mawasi so this is a really valuable gift that anyone can offer.
As Palestine is in the news again right now, we are getting a glimpse of the violence and brutality that is part of life under Israeli occupation. And behind the headlines millions of Palestinians are struggling to live their lives in these conditions, where working and studying and raising families is an everyday act of resistance to that repression. Building friendships, and showing they are not forgotten by the rest of the world, is one way of strengthening their will to continue to resist. Please join us in becoming a friend of Al-Mawasi.
Solidarity Walk - Starting at Glyne Gap TN40 2JU 12 noon
Solidarity Cycle - 3 Stages starting from Lewes / Eastbourne / Bexhill
Finishing at 2pm The Stade, Hastings Old Town
Solidarity Cycle - 3 Stages starting from Lewes / Eastbourne / Bexhill
Finishing at 2pm The Stade, Hastings Old Town
We will be taking part in a fundraising cycle and walk to the Stade in Hastings old Town. We are raising money for the Safe Space community centre in Al-Mawasi in Gaza run by the local Committee for Enhancement of Community Resilience.
Cyclists will start at Lewes and cycle 40 miles via Eastbourne and Bexhill to the Stade - 40 miles is the length of the wall which Israel have built surrounding Gaza, blockading people in Al-Mawasi, and everywhere else in Gaza, from getting out or from getting basic supplies in.
We will walk and cycle in Palestinian colours to show our solidarity and we'll try to raise awareness as well as raising money by handing out leaflets along the route.
Sign up to walk or cycle however far you able - and download a sponsorship form to collect money from friends and family for your efforts!
If you can't take part but want to support, you can also please make a donation using the button above.
The Resilience Committee was set up in 2019 when local people got together and built their own safe space community centre to try to create better services and support for their own community.This is a short video message from our friends in Al-Mawasi. The chair of the committee shows us around the centre. Video here.
We have started online classes and conversations with students of all ages in Al-Mawasi who are learning English. If you want to find a way to offer practical solidarity and build friendship links with people in Gaza then why not volunteer to get involved?It is 17 years since Israel began its blockade of Gaza, stopping people and goods from getting in or out, and turning Gaza into an open air prison for 2 million Palestinians. The internet provides a lifeline to connect to the rest of the world but the electricity supply is unreliable and all kinds of basic equipment are restricted.
We are raising money to buy laptops and other equipment for the 'Safe Space' Community Centre in Al-Mawasi, to provide more opportunities for education and entertainment as well as international friendship and solidarity. All donations will go to the 'Committee for Enhancement of Community Resilience in Al-Mawasi.'
A group called 'Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi' has been set up to develop links between Hastings and the Palestinian town of Al-Mawasi in Gaza.We held an online meeting in October 2021 where members of the Resilience Committee in Al-Mawasi gave us a presentation about the history of their region and about how they have organised to survive under Israeli occupation, such as building their own community centre for vital education, training and medical services.
The video of that meeting is available here.
We are now looking to organise fundraising events to support these community projects. We have also launched a petition to call on Hastings Borough Council to formally twin Hastings with Al-Mawasi which would be a strong public message of solidarity with this embattled community, as well as helping us develop more cultural, business and educational links between our two towns. Sign and share the petition here.
If you would like to get involved in twinning activities such as fundraising, skill sharing, or taking part in exchange visits, please get in touch by email hastingsalmawasi@gmail.com or go to our facebook page.
