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!
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
