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100 Palestinian Youth from West Bank, Israel Participate in Special Summer Camp |
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Written by Irene Lucisano
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Monday, 11 August 2008 |
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Palestinian youth participating in the 4th annual summer camp organised by the Alternative Information Center (AIC) and the Nidal and Jadal Centres of the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC) -- Photo: Cosimo Caridi, AIC
100
Palestinian youth are participating in the 4th annual summer camp
organised by the Alternative
Information Center
(AIC) and the Nidal and Jadal Centres of
the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC). Held under the slogan Normalization
With the Occupation Contradicts the Right of Return, the camp is attended by Palestinian girls and boys aged 16-19, many of
them from refugee camps and refugee families from throughout the West Bank and Israel. “We have been organizing summer camps since
2004 and every year we try to increase our work,” notes Ahmad Abu Haniya,
Coordinator of the AIC youth group, “The first year we had youth from the local
area and year by year we succeeded in involving people from all over the West Bank and lands of 1948. Unfortunately, this year we
did not receive permits for youth from Gaza
to participate. Abu Haniya adds that “Our youth project is named Connections,
and that’s our principal aim, to create real communication and contacts amongst
Palestinian youth, generally unable to meet due to travel and other Israeli
restrictions. We want to break through the walls built by the Israeli
occupation. No less importantly, however, we want to keep our memory and our
cultural identity, and that is why this year’s camp focuses on the 60 years of
Naqba and our history.”
The
one week summer camp, held on the camping grounds of the YMCA in Beit Sahour,
features a full schedule of interactive socio-political workshops, theatre and
music, films, swimming and cultural evenings, as well as other special events, including
as a hiking tour along the Green Line around Bethlehem.
The AIC and the
UHWC began work on the summer camp four months ago, holding comprehensive training
sessions for the 22 female and male camp counsellors selected for the event. The
counsellors run the camp democratically, with an emphasis on participation and
consensual decision making.
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