Derry welcomes Nawal Slamiah from Palestine

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, Derry welcomed Nawal Slamiah to the city from her home in Idna - a village of 35,000 in Hebron, in the West Bank.

Nawal travelled here with her daughter Haifa, to talk about her work with the Idna Co-operative Association for Embroidery and Handicrafts and the reality of life for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

A young widow, Nawal is a mother of three children - two daughters and a son.

Mayor Patricia Logue presents a gift to Nawal Slemiah, founder and director of the Women in Hebron Women's Cooperative at a reception held in the Mayor's Parlour. (Photo - Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)

Speaking to Derry Now, she said the people of Idna are supposed to be farmers but had lost their land as a result of Israel building “apartheid walls” on Green Line villages all over Palestine, in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Green Line is the name for the border separating pre-1967 Israel from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“Our people lost their lands with the wall,” said Nawal. “This is how Israel carried out the occupation. Our people went to work in Israel building houses. They pay good money, that’s why people go there. People need money. You can’t blame them.

“However, the last two months proved that it was occupation politics because now there are no jobs. All the Palestine workers have left Israel. They can’t work there anymore, and there is no work in the West Bank for anybody. There is no work, no jobs, no money. There are no salaries in our Government. Everything has stopped in Palestine.”

Nawal explained she was a co-founder of the Idna Co-operative Association, which is known internationally as ‘Women in Hebron’.

“The co-op has 150 women from eight villages around Hebron, mainly Idna,” said Nawal. “We do  traditional cross stitching work.

“The women learned how to do it from their mothers and grandmothers. We were thinking about how we could start a business using their skills. So, at the end of 2005, we started the Idna Co-operative Association for Embroidery and Handicrafts.

“The brand is well known now. We have a website and we have Facebook. People can order from the website. It is very easy.

“The problem for us is payment and shipping because under the occupation it is hard to send one piece. Shipping is very expensive for people so we need bulk orders. Customers can order together. Customers in America can order from our partner there.

“In Britain we have a friend in London. We send him some orders and he helps us ship these orders to people there and in Ireland. Customers pay him and he gives the money to us.”

Due to the Occupation, Nawal explained the Co-operative was still struggling to have a bank account in Britain, “or somewhere to enable us to use paypal to solve the problem we face in Palestine receiving payment for our goods”.

She added: “We have a bank account in Palestine but it is hard to get an international one because of Israel. They want to control everything. Our government has a problem with that too.

“This means the women are not getting paid for their work. Our sales really need to be international because local people don’t need to buy embroidery. We have tried to find a special niche, which is why I was pleased to be able to come to Derry and speak and sell our products.”

Turning to the current situation in Palestine, Nawal said there “were no words” to explain what was happening in Gaza and the West Bank at the minute.

“Derry knows better than me what occupation means,” said Nawal. “The attack in Gaza killed more than 20,000 people in 10 weeks, mostly women and children. More than 10,000 of the dead were children and women, who did nothing. They did nothing.

“The people in Gaza are under occupation, in a great prison. They couldn’t move. They couldn’t get any help. They wanted to break the silence.

“They also wanted to tell Israel, ‘We can enter your houses and go and fight’. They did not kill any civilians, that was a lie. The people killed were women soldiers. They entered the military settlement, not civilian houses.

“The people in Gaza have paid a high price and I wish they would get something for that. I wish it was in my hand, I would say, ‘Free Gaza and free the West Bank’ but it is not in my hand and it is not in their hand anymore. At least they need to free the prisoners and free Gaza from the settlements around and stop attacking Gaza all the time.”

Nawal called on the governments of Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Qatar to intervene to stop the fighting in Palestine.

She added: “I hoped they would get behind Gaza but instead they are negotiating with Israel. 

“This is not what Gaza started and they don’t want it to end this way. They want to get something after all this high price they paid. They want to free Gaza from the settlements around. They want to free all of the prisoners, leave no-one

“They also want to free Jerusalem and the West Bank. They want to stop the occupation and say, ‘That’s enough’. We have been under occupation for 75 years. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will do it this time.

“We have seen the rallies all over the world and we have seen the truth is out now. They haven’t been able to cover it with lies as they did in the past.

Mayoral reception for Nawal Slemiah 1 - Mayor Patricia Logue with Nawal Slemiah, founder and director of the Women in Hebron Women's Cooperative at a reception held in the Mayor's Parlour. Included are members of the Bloody Sunday Trust and the Museum of Free Derry. Seated on left, Maeve McLaughlin and on right Robin Percival. Standing, from left, are Paul Loughlin, Tony Doherty, Daisy Mules, Haifa Slemiah, Colr. Aisling Hutton and Adrian Kerr. (Photo - Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)

“People have seen what’s happening and millions of people are demonstrating. It made us very happy that at least we have support from the people,” she added.

“We know the governments all support Israel and we don’t blame the West if they support Israel. If the Arab countries and the Muslim countries are with Israel. They are in negotiations after Israel killed more than 20,000 people and damaged the whole of Gaza.

“They are killing the people in west, south and north Gaza. They are killing them. They are demolishing their houses. How can they go back? They don’t want them back but they will be back.

“How will they survive their lost families? They want to go back home to try and find their homes or, at least, where they used to live. They want to visit the people they lost. But, I don’t think they will be able to visit anyone because the bodies were all buried together in mass graves,” said Nawal.