VOICES FROM PALESTINE – HERITAGE UPROOTED
Monday 11th July, 6pm
O’Reilly Lecture Room
Belvedere College, Great Denmark Street, Dublin 1
Entry to this event is free; donations welcome
“Keep hope alive – Plant an olive tree!”
Olive trees in Palestine are a symbol of resistance and resilience. They are often the unfortunate casualties of the occupation, but have come to encapsulate the strength of the Palestinian spirit.
Muhanad Qaisy, the Palestinian coordinator of the JAI Olive Tree Campaign, is travelling from the West Bank to Dublin to give a voice to the often-unheard stories of Palestinian farmers, their experiences under the occupation, and the ongoing confiscation of their land.
The JAI Olive Tree Campaign supports Palestinian farmers suffering from the various Israeli policies that place their land and property under the threat of confiscation. It also sponsors the planting of new olive trees compensating for those that were uprooted in confiscated lands. The campaign consists of education and lobbying to target the existing policies that adhere to the ongoing confiscation of Palestinian land.
“In spite of the destruction of the very foundations of their existence, and in spite of the ever-increasing violence in the Holy Land, Palestinian women, men and children are committed to rebuilding their society and its structures without the use of violence. They do need your support and involvement.”
Muhanad will also give a talk after the opening night performance of the ‘The Olive Tree’ (Tuesday 12th July, 7:30pm The New Theatre) on the significance the olive tree holds in Palestinian heritage, enterprise and culture.
IRELAND: BEACON OF BOYCOTT
Thursday 14th July, 6pm
The New Theatre
43 East Essex Street, Temple Bar
Tickets: €10 on the door
Come join a special guest Dublin Singer/Songwriter for an hour of music and talk and discussion on boycott, with Cathryn O’Reilly of the Dunnes Stores Strikers and Muhanad Al Qaisy from the Olive Tree Campaign in Bethlehem.
VOICES FROM PALESTINE – LIFE UNDER OCCUPATION
Friday 15th July, 5pm
The New Theatre
43 East Essex Street, Temple Bar
Entry to this event is free; donations welcome
Historian and Alternative Tourism Group Coordinator Ayman Abu Alzulof will give an insightful account into the everyday reality of life under constant occupation in Palestine, the history of the area and the importance of Alternative Tourism to Palestine.
Ayman Abu Alzulof works at the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), a Palestinian NGO specialising in 
tours that present a critical look at the history, culture and politics of Palestine and its complex relationship with Israel. Located in Beit Sahour, the ATG was founded as a non-profit tourist agency in 1995, when many Palestinians felt that their contemporary culture and the political realities they were living did not find adequate expression in conventional pilgrim-oriented tourism – often organised by Israeli tour companies hostile to the Palestinian experience.
Ayman will also speak after the screening of The Wanted 18 (Wed. 13th July @ 6:30pm, Lighthouse Cinema), as one of the activists involved in hiding 18 cows declared a threat to Israeli security, because of the free milk they provided for local Palestinian families.