LETTER: Local Support Group raises £80,000+ in the past 11 years for traumatised children and their families in Gaza

      

Dear Editor,

Brent Friends of Palestine (BFoP) was set up as a campaigning group for the rights of Palestinians in 2015 by a small group of like-minded people living in Brent. The group was very keen to support a project that worked with children in Gaza or the West Bank. They heard about the Palestine Trauma Centre (PTC UK) which was based in Nuseirat Refugee Camp south of Gaza City. It was founded by Mohamed Altawil who was born and grew up in Nuseirat and escaped via Egypt to begin studying for a PhD in the UK. With David Harrold, a university colleague, he set up the PTC UK. It has a team of workers in Gaza including family therapists, playworkers, sports trainers and clowns. The team seeks to meet the needs of children and young people traumatised by their experience of living continually under siege. Brent Friends of Palestine fundraises to support in particular the PTC UK Days of Joy project which provides fun and sports activities in a range of locations in Gaza on a very regular basis.

Although the outbreak of the Gaza-Israel war in October 2023 limited activities the PTC UK team has continued its Days of Joy activities but on a much smaller scale. It has also provided hundreds of food parcels to families and even tents, and the team has continued to be paid by money sent from the UK. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, the work of the Days of Joy team has expanded and more children, young people and their families are benefiting from this.

Brent Friends of Palestine, over the past 11 years, has held several fundraising events for the Palestine Trauma Centre UK. These include standup comedy, concerts, campaign meetings, street collections, the sale of original Christmas cards, and they have initiated many regular monthly contributions from supporters. Our last fund- raising event, a Jazz Evening, brought the total raised for the PTC UK by BFoP to over £80,000, an amount that the organisation is very proud of.

Your support for the Palestine Trauma Centre UK and Brent Friends of Palestine is very welcome. BFoP have a public meeting on Thursday November 19th with Richard Kuper speaking from Jews for Justice for Palestinians which could interest you.

For more details email: brentfop@gmail.com 

 

PTC UK website: www. palestinetraumacentre.uk

 

BANNED! Stall for supporters of the children's Palestine Trauma Centre in Gaza deemed too political for the organisers of Queen's Park Day

 

I was dismayed to receive the message below from Brent Friends of Palestine who support the charity Palestine Trauma Centre UK in raising funds for the clinician led Trauma Centre in Gaza.

It is shocking that in the middle of a conflict when so many children have died or been wounded, left traumatised by constant bombing and upheaval, that their work has been defined as too 'political' for the sensiblities of the good folk of Queen's Park.

Where is QPARA's humanity and empathy?

At a time when food and medical aid  is being denied to Gaza QPARA is, in its own small way, doing the same thing. Shame!

 

Brent Friends of Palestine stall panels about the work of the Trauma Centre

 

Dear Friends

 

I would normally write to you in early September to ask you to come to Queens Park Day and to visit the Brent Friends of Palestine stall. After running a stall at the event for the past two years, BFoP has been refused permission to have a stall this year.  Queens Park Area Residents Association (QPARA), which runs Queens Park Day, has refused a stall this year because they say the BFoP group is ‘political’.   BFoP acknowledges that without doubt there are political aspects to the Palestine/Israel conflict, but the purpose of the stall has always been humanitarian, to raise funds for a charity that does vital work supporting children and their families in Gaza, helping them to minimise the trauma so many experience from the Israeli occupation since 1967 and from past and present conflicts. 

 

This includes the loss of parents, brothers, sisters, close family members, and friends, together with the destruction of homes and other buildings.  This charity, as all of you will know, is the Palestine Trauma Centre UK, which was based in the Al Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza until its building was destroyed quite near the beginning of the Gaza war in November 2023. This charity we have been supporting since 2015 and some of the members of the team in Gaza are still supporting children in the camps if and when they can. 

 

QPARA organises Queens Park Day every year as a non-political event in line with the requirements of the City of London Corporation.  BFoP has pointed out that there are other charities and organisations running stalls that have a political aspect as well as humanitarian concerns, environmental issues, or trade. Despite appealing to the Queens Park Day organising committee, they did not change their decision regarding the BFOP stall.

 

The BFoP committee wanted its members and supporters, particularly those who live in the NW6 and NW2 area, to know of this decision. If you wish to comment on this to the Queens Park Day Committee, you can email the QPARA committee at qparainfo@gmail.com

 

 For more information about the Trauma Centre and the opportunity to donate go to: 

https://www.palestinetraumacentre.uk/

 

Fundraiser: Greek Music for Gaza March 2nd, Palestine Trauma Centre

 

Amazing line-up for 'Stand Up for Gaza' comedy evening March 20th

From Brent Friends of Palestine

We have about 80 tickets to sell for the comedy night we are organising on Friday March 20th at 7.30 pm at the Yaa Centre, W9 2AN. It will be a good evening out so PLEASE come and  buy your tickets as soon as you can. 

 

Tickets are £18 for adults and £12.50p for students. 

Tickets are not available on the door but can be purchased from https://www.wegottickets.com/brentpal

Comedians taking part , who are all giving of their time and comedian skills free are:-

 

Nish Kumar from BBC's The Mash Report and Radio 4 News Quiz:

Angela Barnes from BBC's Mock the Week and Radio 4 News Quiz:

Daphne Baram from Laughing for Palestine:

Michelle de Swarte who has a range of TV credits as a comedian on a number of different channels

MC: Ian Saville ; socialist magician, ventriloquist and comedian

PLEASE come if you can .. and bring a friend..Buy tickets in advance from the above website

 

Its probably suitable for children over 14 as some comedians do seem to swear at times from our experience !

Cracks in the Wall - Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel - November 20th 7.30pm Granville Centre - with Ben White

Unmissable 'Stand Up for Gaza!' May 18th

Brent Friends of Palestine have done amazingly well to secure such a top group of comedians for this event for a really worthwhile cause. Do please buy a ticket.

STAND  UP  FOR  GAZA

4 comedians, Alexie Sayle, Francesca Martinez, Jeremy Hardy and Sarah Pascoe, will be providing the entertainment for this fundraising event.

When:  Friday May 18th; doors open 7.15 and comedy starts at 7.45.

Compere: Ian Saville, the socialist magician. 

Venue: YAA Centre, 1, Chippenham Mews, Marylands Rd, London W9 2AN ( Nearest tube; Westbourne Pk or Warwick Avenue 10 mins walk: Buses; 18,36, 6 187 all stop nearby; Street parking after 6.30. step free access )

Tickets: £17.50; £14 concessions; Available from https://www.wegottickets.com/event/435208  NOT available on the door

Wine/ Beer/ Soft drinks and Light snacks will be available from 7.15 pm

ALL PROFITS will go to the Palestine Trauma Centre's Fridays of Joy Project in Gaza: See info@ptcuk.org

Palestine Trauma Centre fundraiser: Music to ‘Create Joy Amongst the Debris’ October 1st

Tickets should be booked in advance by e-mailing brentfop@gmail.com

Brent Friends of Palestine continue to raise funds for an imaginative play project run by the Palestine Trauma Centre.  The opportunity to do something positive for children in Gaza has captured our imagination.

Children's story teller.  The banner shows Brent Friends of Palestine amongst the sponsors

 Life in Gaza continues to be extremely grim for the population.  Rebuilding of houses, schools and work places destroyed in the attacks on Gaza in 2008, 2012 and 2014, has not occurred. Promised aid has not been delivered.  Israel controls all the crossing points and prohibits imports of key building materials and equipment.  Electricity and water infrastructure has been badly damaged and supplies are increasingly scarce.  There is no movement of people between the Palestinian West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  Food production is very limited.

The UN Secretary-General has found that the blockade and related restrictions contravene international humanitarian law as they target and impose hardship on the civilian population, effectively penalizing them for acts they have not committed. All this has considerable impact on the long term physical and mental well- being of children in Gaza and the West Bank.

Two major international events this summer have highlighted obstacles faced by Palestinians wanting to travel outside Gaza. This year a team of 6 athletes went to the Rio Olympics despite the enormous difficulties of training in Palestine. For example, Mary Al-Atrash, a swimmer has had to train in a half sized pool despite there being several Olympic sized pools in Israel. The head of the Palestinian team, Issam Qishta, was not given a permit to leave Gaza and so the team had to leave without their leader. Also those who went had to buy their kit once they reached Brazil.

In July the 80 strong Palestinian Youth Orchestra toured Britain giving concerts in several British cities including London.  Again, two members of the orchestra living in Gaza were not allowed to leave.

The Palestine Trauma Centre provides therapeutic support to families and children whose lives have been devastated by the bombings and the harshness of life in Gaza.  It was founded by a clinical psychologist from Gaza.

The Centre aims to do both reparative and preventative work with children and families. One aspect of this work is the Fridays of Joy sessions when teams of play workers, story tellers, clowns and play therapists visit villages and refugee camps in Gaza and run imaginative sessions which involve hundreds of children, giving them some fun, which is, in itself, therapeutic, and on a regular basis can have a long term benefits for the children. One of their slogans is ‘Create Joy Amongst the Debris.

Brent Friends of Palestine are holding a fund raising concert in Central London on Saturday October 1^st with singer-songwriters Frankie Armstrong, Janet Russell, Leon Rosselson, Palestinian oud player and singer Nizza al-Issa and professional violinist Simon Hewitt Jones. Simon travels to Palestine to work with young violinists in Ramallah. The MC will be Ian Saville, socialist conjuror, just returned from the Edinburgh Festival.


More information can be found at Brent Friends of Palestine on Facebook