17 September 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deepening health inequalities between Palestinians and Israelis. Despite living under Israel’s perpetual occupation, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have been excluded from Israel’s world-leading vaccination programme. Home demolitions, the illegal closure of Gaza, settlement expansion and attacks on health workers continue unabated. Palestinian refugees, denied their right to return, exist in a perpetual humanitarian crisis.
On Monday, 27 September, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) will join Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME) at the Annual Labour Party Conference in Brighton, to discuss the impact of systematic discrimination and deepening fragmentation of the Palestinian people on Palestinians’ right to health and dignity.
If you have a pass for the party conference, please join us for the following events:
Date: Monday, 27 September
Time: 10:30am-11:30am
Location: Ambassador Room, Hilton Brighton Metropole
We will be joined by:
Mark McDonald (Chair) is a barrister primarily focusing on criminal defence and human rights, and a founder of LFPME.
Dr. Yara M. Asi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida, where she has taught in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics for more than 6 years, and is also a policy member at Al-Shabaka: the Palestinian Policy Network and a Non-resident Fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC.
Dr Andy Ferguson is a General Practitioner and the UK Director of Programmes at MAP.
Dr Aimee Shalan is the Chair of the British Palestinian Policy Council and a policy member at Al-Shabaka: the Palestinian Policy Network. She was formerly Chief Executive of MAP and Director of Friends of Birzeit University (Fobzu), a UK-based charity supporting the right to education for Palestinians.
We will also have a short update from Aisha Mansour, MAP’s Director of Programmes in the West Bank, on the impact of systematic discrimination on Palestinian health in the West Bank.
Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location: Cambridge Room, Hilton Brighton Metropole
Following the expert panel, LFPME, supported by MAP, will host the Annual Palestine Reception, where we will be joined by:
Louise Haigh MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Vice Chair, Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (Chair)
Sir Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Opposition (invited)
Lisa Nandy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
H.E. Ambassador Husam Zomlot, PLO Mission to the UK
Rohan Talbot, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager, Medical Aid for Palestinians
Naz Shah MP, Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion (invited)
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MAP will also be attending the Scottish National Party (SNP) Annual Conference, online, in November 2021. Keep an eye out for further announcements!
Photo: A Palestinian woman flies a kite on Gaza's coastline, June 2021. (Credit: Mohammed Zaanoun).
