Palestine Twinning?
The Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign (HRPSC) are proposing that Hastings should enter into a new twinning arrangement with Al-Mawasi, a town on the southern coast of the Gaza strip in Palestine.
Advocates suggest that the two towns have experience in common as “coastal communities”, and that other links should be forged by exchanging ideas and knowledge from respective cultures, with resources or skills potentially sharable around fishing, education, crafts, art, heathcare or languages.
Those interested in the idea can find a Zoom link on the HRPSC Facebook page to join discussion this Sunday (17th) from 9am. Speakers from Al-Mawasi will talk about the history of their region, their culture, and their efforts to look after the educational, health and welfare needs of their own community under Israeli occupation and blockade. An organiser of twinning between the city of Sheffield and Nablus on the Palestinian West Bank, Julie Pearn, will also speak.
Hastings is already twinned with four towns in northern Europe – Bethune in France, Dordrecht in Holland, Oudenaarde in Belgium and Schwerte in Germany – plus its namesake Hastings in Sierra Leone.
• Further information can be found here hastingspalestinecampaign.org
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