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Saif’s visit to England

“Was it really only two weeks?”

A report on Saif’s visit to London from the 14th to the 28th February, 2003.

Background

Saif Abu Keshek, a young man from Palestine came to London for two weeks, as part of a tour of Italy, France, Spain and Britain to raise awareness about Palestine in general and the work of the International Solidarity Movement.

Saif is a refugee from Jaffa near Tel Aviv, but grew up in Nablus in the Askar refugee camp.

Both his parents had spent time as political prisoners in Israeli jails before he was born.

Saif’s involvement with the ISM came out of his work as a volunteer with young children in Nablus and out of his own personal experience of the occupation, which no young Palestinian can avoid being touched by. When Saif was a few weeks off sitting for his final entrance exams to university he was shot by an Israeli soldier and spent the next several months in hospital. He missed his chance to go to university but after getting out of hospital, went back to work with young children who were suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.

While he was working with the children he was approached by people in the ISM to create a forum so that the children, originally hostile to anyone from the international community, could understand why internationals were coming to Nablus and to try and build links between the ISM and the community of parents and children. From spending a few hours a day with the ISM, Saif became a 24 hour fully committed co-ordinator for the ISM in Nablus. He is also now involved in the two day training that volunteers undergo in Bethlehem before they go out to various areas of Palestine and Gaza.

Where possible, the ISM is committed to getting their co-ordinators to Europe to raise awareness of the work of ISM and money for the various projects that are in desperate needs of funds. There is something very powerful about hearing a Palestinian talk about their recent experiences, and it can also be a very inspiring and motivating factor in getting people committed to go to Palestine.

Arrival

Saif arrived very late on friday the 14th, (well actually very early in the wee small hours of Saturday 15th) after an hours delay on his flight and a security holdup at Stansted. When John and I arrived to pick Saif up we were paged over the loudspeaker to go to information. There we were met by one very relaxed and most unsecurity looking security guy and another, not so relaxed, definitely could pick him a mile off as security, officer–a bit good cop/bad cop type of thing! They asked us a number of questions but the answer that hit the ‘open-sesame’ button was ‘yes, he already has a return ticket’.

Saif finally emerged about 1.00am a bit shell shocked by his incredibly warm welcome to Britain! It should also be mentioned that he had an incredibly difficult time even obtaining a visa to Britain, unlike his application for a Schengen visa to Italy which he had received immediately. Firstly Jeremy Corbyn had been approached to write him a parliamentary invitation, which he kindly and willingly did, and even armed with this invitation and several others from academics and trade unions, he was still forced to return 3 days running to the British consulate in Rome with no definite promise of a visa. Finally after Jeremy and several European members of parliament got on his case, the consulate issued Saif with a visa. (Well i guess the brits are taking security very seriously, after all Saif is a Muslim (read terrorist) and could turn into a refugee, the only crime worse than being a terrorist). and of course the whole journey to get out of Palestine was a story in itself.

Saif managed to get himself to Jericho and once there completed the rest of his journey into Jordan care of an ambulance. As there is a total travel ban on anyone under 35 leaving the occupied territorities, a young Palestinian literally has to be dying to be able to breach this ban. Iwill leave it to you to put two and two together.

It is a real testimony to the determination of the individuals working with the International Solidarity Movement, both in Palestine and around the globe that Saif managed, against all those obstacles to get out of Palestine to Europe, and in particular into fortress Britain.

Reception

Luckily, after his original airport and visa experiences, Saif did get a warm welcome on Saturday when he attended, alongside the other 2 million or so, the history making demonstration against war on february 15th. he helped person the ISM stall at the demo and managed to have some interesting conversations with people who approached the stall, including some Palestinian refugees living in London who were astonished to learn that Saif came from Nablus, not years ago, but was literally still living there! ISM London then gave Saif a day to recover and a welcome to London party on his first Sunday night. About 25 people attended and I think it is fair to say that a good time was had by all. Saif was overwhelmed by the generosity and warmth of people who came to the social, some of whom he had met in Nablus and Beth Sahour at the training, but some of whom he had never met before but had given up a precious (for those of us who do paid work in the 9- 5 arena anyway) Sunday night to meet this quite amazing young Palestinian man.

Giving Talks

Over the two weeks of his stay, Saif did talks for a variety of different groups including the Palestinian Solidarity Committe (PSC) branch in Leicester, Jews for Justice for Palestine (JFJP), the Westminster branch meeting of the National Union of Teachers and several student groups from the Imperial College, London School of Economics and Sussex university.

Saif also attended a training evening held by the ISM on the 19th of march. Nancy from Bristol who had been out to Jenin last August with the ISM, also organised 2 days in Bristol including speaking events and interviews with the Bristol media. Saif spoke to a variety of media in London, including independent journalists, Red Pepper and the Militant newspaper, the Australian Broadcasting Commission radio, BBC Arabic radio service and Indymedia radio. In fact by the end of his two weeks he was begging for a holiday!!!

Many, many people gave generously after hearing Saif speak, including a £100 donation from Leicester branch of the PSC, £80 from the NUT, and about £150 collected from an open meeting in Bristol. Other groups and individuals also generously donated money. This money was used to support Saif in London and to help pay back Palestine ISM who funded his ticket on the condition that he raise the money for it in Europe.

Acknowledgements

It is not possible to mention everybody who donated money, time, or both, towards ensuring that Saif reached as wide an audience as possible in such a short time. But I think it is important to mention because it shows the committment of individuals involved in the ISM and other groups, committed to working towards a just peace for Palestine. It also showed how powerful it was to listen to a young man who had experienced the horror of the occupation, no- one can escape being touched by this, but who was totally committed to working towards the end of the occupation and for a just peace through non-violent means.

Despite his own terrible experience of being shot and the fact that this meant he was not able to further his education; despite the hardship of the everyday experience of refugee camps and in general in the occupied territories- the ordinary stuff of life like no access to hot water or electricity for days on end; despite being harrassed at the checkpoints, being denied access to travel in the land of his birth, being tear gassed and shot at (which in fact becomes the stuff of ordinary life in Palestine) he has managed in his still young life to develop a clarity about the difference between anti-semitism and anti-zionism and an absolute committment to non-violent resistence.

During the many meetings I attended with Saif who told the story of his life, his experiences in trying to get out of the occupied territories, the difficulties of getting into Britain and about the work of the International Solidarity Movement, I witnessed people from 18 to 80 from a variety of ethnic, class and religious backgrounds being moved and touched by his stories but it would be a wrong impression to say that Saif’s visit was all work and no play. Many people also generously gave of their time and money to ensure that Saif also got to see a bit of London, eat a few good Lebanese meals in Edgeware Road, experience the culture of the club scene (he is only 21 and half as he kept reminding us) and generally have a bit of a break from his hectic schedule.

And finally...

It also has to be said however that there were times I could have happily wrung Saif’s neck while he was staying with me because, amazing young Palestinian or not, he was still at the end of it all a young man who didn’t seem to be able to find his way to the kitchen sink! (I can’t possibly write this report and not mention what went on behind the scenes!! after all he has his good points and bad points like the rest of us!) BUT I also have to admit that I personally gained a lot of hope out of his visit and Iwould like to mention why, to those of you who didn’t get to meet Saif or hear him talk while he was here, or know that he chose to stay with an older, secular Jewish woman. It made me feel that if a young Palestinian man and an older Jewish woman could develop a relationship of deep trust and solidarity working alongside each other in Nablus for such a short time, overcoming differences in age, gender, culture and religion, then anything is possible. even the dismantling of the (new) ‘Berlin’ wall! (just maybe sadly this one won’t be dismantled in my lifetime but...)

A final foot note to the story which brings me back from my hopes for the future to the reality of life. Saif missed his plane! With the deepest respect and fondness for him, I have to say that the thought of another night with Saif at my flat had me imagining fantasy headlines along the lines of ‘Jewish woman kills occupying Palestinian in her home’ !!!! Without going into the gory details of the missed flight saga, suffice to say that Ewa got to say her final goodbyes in a hurried 5 minutes and Mark and I managed to get him on a flight to Venice, (which was lucky for him because at that point we would have been happy to put him on a flight to anywhere!) which seemed close enough–well it was Italy anyway! For those of you who missed his first tour, you might be lucky enough to catch him in concert again as it seems likely that he will be returning to London sometime in May, so watch out for details. Any offers of accomodation would be most welcome!!!

Carolyn Gelenter