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Finegan & Son café in Newry is to host a free public talk next week focusing on the erasure of Palestinian identity and culture, featuring a speaker who has spent decades working with children in one of the most conflict-affected areas of the West Bank. The event takes place on Wednesday 20 May at 7pm at Finegan and Son, 9 Kildare Street, Newry.
Dr Abdelfattah Abusrour founded the Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society in 1998 in the heart of the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, described as the most tear-gassed place in the world. He established the centre with the aim of giving young people resilience and self-expression in the face of Israeli occupation. He was prompted by the number of children in Aida who told him they wanted to die because nobody cared about them.
Raids by Israeli forces on the Aida camp are a frequent occurrence. A spokesperson for the event said: "For decades, Israel has targeted Palestinian culture and identity as a means of suppressing Palestinian resistance. Despite increasingly brutal raids on the Aida Camp, the Alrowwad Centre continues to offer hope to children there and organises international tours to bring Palestinian culture to wider audiences."
Dr Abusrour will be joined at the Newry event by journalist and author Fintan Drury, whose book 'Catastrophe: Nakba 2' is described as a call to understand the unique suffering of the Palestinians.
Admission is free and donations to the Alrowwad Centre are welcome. Those wishing to attend are asked to register their interest by emailing info@sethlinder.co.uk
