Solidarity Speaks! (No. 8)
We joined together on Wednesday, December 6th of 2023 for Solidarity Speaks, the eighth session of our emergency webinar series giving people around the world a forum to hear directly from Palestinians and Israelis calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to collective punishment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
We were joined by Ahmed Helou of Combatants for Peace, a grassroots movement of former Palestinian and Israeli combatants working together to end the occupation through civil resistance, education, and other means of creative nonviolence. Ahmed Helou is a second generation refugee whose great-grandparents left Gaza for Bir-Saba before being displaced to Jericho, and much of his family lives in Gaza now. He is a current resident of Jericho, a former political detainee, a former parliamentary aid in the Palestinian Authority, and worked as an ambulance volunteer with the Palestine Red Crescent during the 1996 clashes in Jerusalem. Since 2013 he has been active in Combatants for Peace promoting a future of collective dignity, freedom, and equality for all.
We were honored to speak with him about the events of the last weeks and about the ways the ongoing violence was impacting him, his family, and his community.
This recording of the webinar is free and open to the public, but you can become a member or contribute at the following link to sustain the Green Olive Collective and our work to challenge the violence of occupation and advocate for a democratic future.
