Eight HAFSA members visited Sabastiya and the West Bank last 29th April until 9th May 2013. HAFSA organises regular visits to Palestine to foster the links we have built with the village of Sabastiya.
By visiting Palestine you will gain an understanding of the situation, you will experience wonderful hospitality and eat the best falafels in the Middle East!
We will shortly be posting the schedule for this upcoming visit so you can see what our delegation will be getting up to.
Interested in visiting?
HAFSA will hopefully be running another tour next spring, but if you cannot wait until then Zaytoun runs an annual Olive Harvest Tour which this year will take place from October 27th to November 2nd 2013. During the tour, three nights will be spent in the Sabastiya guest house and one of the guides is the HAFSA chair.For more details on the schedule please e mail Andree, [email protected]
The new guest house run by Women in Sebastiya.Posted in NewsEdit
On April 3rd the flow of sewage that had been contaminating farmlands around Sabastiya was shut off, marking a successful end to a campaign organised by the people of Sabastiya.
After repeated appeals to authorities, the villagers formed a committee to deal with the sewage dumping problem. They organised a series of demonstrations to garner support and news coverage for their plight.
Tear gas is fired at the demonstrators
Three peaceful demonstrations took place over the last two months, attended by Palestinians, Israelis and international observers who walked towards the settlement and its sewage pipe carrying placards. They were met on their route by Israeli troops who attempted to disperse them using tear gas. Ultimately though, their voices were heard and the sewage was turned off just before the fourth demonstration was due to take place.
HAFSA congratulates the people of Sabastiya for their successful and peaceful protests and would also like to thank all those who attended the demonstrations and all those in the UK who lobbied their MPs and wrote to the Consul in Jerusalem.
Get the sh*t out of here says Sabastiya
You can read more in these two articles:
- Sabastiya: A Happy Ending – an article by an Ecumenical Accompanier who was going to attend the fourth demonstration as a protective presence.
- Palestinian village succeeds in campaign to stop Israeli sewage dumping on their land in The Council for the National Interest