Buncrana’s ‘Weekender4Palestine’ helps raise €3,500 for farmers in the West Bank

An international aid worker and journalist, who gave a talk at a fundraiser for Gaza in Buncrana recently, has said he was “blown away by the scale of the effort” that people have put into organising events locally to support farmers in the West Bank and Gaza.

The talk in St Mary’s Hall on Saturday, July 26 was by Ollie Moore, of Talamh Beo, an Irish organisation for small farmers, which supports a farming organisation in the West Bank called the Union of Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC).

The event was organised by ChangeMakers Donegal at the Inishowen Development Partnership, in collaboration with the IPSC Inishowen Branch.

The event was well-attended, with up to 80 in the room, and featured a stall by Mary Kay Mullan selling Zaytoun Fairtrade goods from Palestine.

Miriam Killeney, of IPSC Inishowen Branch, also spoke and encouraged local people to become active members of the group.

The Food Farming and Solidarity community conversation was one part of a hugely popular ‘Weekender4Palestine’ initiative, organised by Joanne Fullerton, of Changemakers. Well-attended fundraising evenings in Rodden’s Bar on both Friday and Saturday featured local bands and DJs, and a fundraising raffle was sponsored by many local businesses, which donated raffle prizes.

Mr Moore said the weekend of events was so impressive that he got directly in touch with UAWC and asked them if they could join the Saturday afternoon event live from Hebron in the West Bank.

“It was really nice for people to experience, and it was really nice for Fuad, the manager there, to see a roomful of people cheering him on, and hearing from him as well. Having all those stalls and all those organisers was very heartwarming for UWAC.”

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Fuad Abu Saif, speaking directly from Hebron, told the group that "every possible way for the Palestinians to have access to food has been destroyed."

He told them "without your support, without this kind of solidarity, I think the situation would be much worse."

“It’s powerful for people to hear from people over there directly, live,” added Mr Moore.

“People didn’t just go away feeling despair, but made plans to take action, such as boycotting goods that support colonisation,” he said.

“And then we also spontaneously decided to do a march up the town with pots and pans after the event as well, and there was a very good response from people on the streets,” said Mr Moore.

Mr Moore said he plans to return in a few months.

Joanne Fullerton thanked Rodden's and staff and all those who so generously gave of their time and contributed in any way to the success of the events.

Meanwhile, supporters in Ireland of the Union of Agricultural Work Committee, (UAWC), were shocked to hear this week that Israeli military forces have carried out a violent raid on the group’s seed bank in Hebron, comprehensively destroying the facility.

You can donate by following the links from the idonate page or using this link: https://www.idonate.ie/crowdfunder/BuncranaFundraiser4Palestine