Current News

What is happening in Sabastiya given the worsening situation in the West Bank?

Click here to see short videos from recent  HAFSA  Sabastiya Updates which take place online each month. They show the steadily worsening situation in Sabastiya. See also these reports from Al Jazeera, Haaretz, Politico, RAI News24 and RT .

For more information, please click here to see the recent most recent HAFSA news update we sent out by email – and if you wish, subscribe to our mailing list. 

What is needed in Sabastiya?

To see the information on our our latest campaigns click here.

HAFSA started the project Schools Sustaining Sabastiya: Feeding Children, Empowering Women in October 2025  (Our initial target is £4,000).  At the moment schools in and around Sabastiya are involved in this project, which began life with UN funding a decade ago. It had been self-financing but due to the current situation it is needs our support in order to keep going.  A team of over 25 local women prepare food which is sold at break-time to the pupils in a dozen local schools – thereby creating a very valuable source of income for their families.  Please click here see details of how to donate.

The price of food has risen sharply and there is still a serious need for food staples. Hence this is still a  priority for donations. HAFSA has embarked on a project to provide means of power generation in the village independent of the unreliable electricity from the grid.  A first generator has been bought and is working well.  Even more gas masks and first-aid kits are  needed due to increasing incursions with tear gas used along with sound and light bombs as well as live bullets being fired.  Children are under severe stress and so HAFSA is also funding projects to bring them some support and light relief  with games, arts&crafts to help develop other skills. HAFSA has recently invested in a first rotavator to help cultivate the small plots of land and areas close to houses more productive for growing food to eat.   

What about HAFSA events?

• Sabastiya Update  Wed, June 24th (6pm in UK, 8pm in Palestine,1pm EST). Click here to register now for our next 30 minute session with Abu Yaser in Sabastiya.  
• HAFSA at Hanwell Carnival  Sat, June 20th (12-5pm) If you are local do support our fund-raising stall  – and stock up with Zaytoun products from Palestine.
• HAFSA Hafleh  Sat, Aug 16th (5-8pm) Join HAFSA and friends at our ever-popular, summer celebration beside the river Brent.

 Visit Palestine with HAFSA – when possible! 

HAFSA plans to organise a visit to Sabastiya and other parts of Palestine for friends when we can. Dates will be confirmed nearer the time. If you are interested please contact us and we will invite you to a planning meeting when a visit looks feasible. We usually visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem as well as other places of particular interest to our group. 

If you are keen to visit Palestine at a different time then Travel2Palestine,  Amos Travel  and Green Olive Tours are options to consider.

Have you seen, read about or heard these?

• This article by BBC special correspondent, Jeremy Bowen, is pertinent reading – as is this podcast from the satirical UK publication Private Eye.
  

HARDTalk BBC interview with Farah Nabulsi  – listen on BBC iPlayer.  Farah’s latest film The Teacher was shot in the Nablus area and partly in Sabastiya. To see the film trailer and find cinemas where it is being screened click here. 

* NO OTHER LAND – recent film release – For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight. To see the trailer, and where to watch the film click here.  You can read the Guardian newspaper review here.