UPDATE Tuesday 7pm This action has been postponed due to the current situation in Nablus.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
In the second action of the ‘Thirty Days against Checkpoints Campaign’ a youth band will perform the popular Russian folk song ‘Katyusha’ at Huwwara checkpoint on Wednesday 24th January at 12 noon.
‘Katyusha’, a popular Soviet Second World War love song, was composed and written by two Russian Jewish musicians. The song was popular among Russian Jews who settled in Israel after the Holocaust in the late 1940s and 50s as it reminded them of their homeland.
With their performance of ‘Katyusha’ the band draws parallels between the persecution and ghettoization suffered by Jews in Eastern Europe under the Nazi regime and the current suffering of Palestinians.
Mohammed Dweikat, HASM Coordinator states: “We are doing this as Nablus is the most imprisoned city in the West Bank. Since 2002 it has only been possible to enter through six checkpoints on foot. It is even more difficult to exit. Men between 16 and 45 (it varies from day to day) can only exit their city with a special permit that can be obtained only outside Nablus. Almost nightly its citizens are the victims of violent military raids and their lives have not been peaceful, or normal for years.”
In the first action at Huwwara checkpoint on January 14th Palestinian youth dressed up as Native Americans and displayed banners linking the fate of the indigenous peoples of America and Palestine.
Contact info:
Mohammed Dweikat (HASM) – 0599355286
ISM media office – 02 2971824, 0599943157