Twinning with Palestine Conference - London November 2006

The Britain - Palestine Twinning Network - "promoting twinning and friendship links"

Chair’s Report for the AGM at Birmingham on Sunday 30/9/2007

1. Britain Palestine Twinning Network Committee

The Current committee was elected at the last UK Twinning Conference, November 2006.
Chair: Kamel Hawwash
Secretary: Nandita Dowson Treasurer: Dave Barnes

And two other members
Caroline Johnson
David Ash

The objective of setting the committee up was to coordinate the work of twinning groups and to facilitate the sharing of good practice. It also coordinates such activities as conferences and visits.

The Committee works to implement the decisions agreed at the Network Coordinating Meetings, which take place periodically.

We have set up a bank account, with three signatories and two signatures are needed for moving money. We are very grateful to Dave for his work.

The network has a website: www.twinningwithpalestine.net. We are very grateful to David Ash for his excellent work.

Our thanks also go to Nandita Dowson and Caroline Johnson for their excellent work.

2. Number of Twinning Links

The number of links has now grown to 50 at various stages of development and there are 19 university links.

3. Fourth Twinning Conference in Ramallah, Palestine

Some 30 British delegates met with 90 Palestinian delegates from the West Bank. The conference included a speech from Janet Michael, Mayor of Ramallah, a presentation from Stop the Wall by Jamal Juma, a performance by children from Beit Surik and a series of workshops. People came away with different views about the extent to which the conference was successful. It is important to take account of the various issues raised before embarking on a future event in Palestine.

4. Leaflets and Banner

A Twinning with Palestine banner was made in 2006 and each twinning group has had the opportunity to have their logo or a square of their choice sown onto it.

The Network has also printed leaflets for distribution at appropriate events.

5. Links with other organisations

The Network is a member of the ENOUGH campaign and took part in the June rally to commemorate 40 years since Alnaksa in 1967.

Kamel Hawwash (Birmingham) and Miriam Scharf (Camden) stood for election to the PSC Executive and were elected.

6. Social event to commemorate International Women’s day 2007

The Network held a highly successful fundraising social event to celebrate International Women’s day in March 2007. The event was well attended and raised money for the work of the Network. Our thanks go to Sabrina and all who made it such a successful event.

7. Future activities

The next Network coordinated visits to Palestine will be in October 2007 and April 2008.

The next Twinning Conference will take place on the 25th of November and twinning groups will be bringing Palestinian visitors to the UK for this event and for the lobby of Parliament on the 28th of November.

I want to thank the twinning groups for their excellent work and the committee for their hard and effective work.

Kamel Hawwash

To register by post send a cheque made out to "Britain Palestine Twinning network", P.O. Box 34265 London NW5 2PD

Want to attend? The cost is just £10 to help us cover the cost of the event.