Author Pamela Olson to discuss life in Palestine, conflict

In 1997, Nelson Mandela declared, “we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Seventeen years after his plea it is apparent that the freedom Mandela was talking about is still incomplete.

More than 6,500 Palestinians have been killed since 2000, 1,400 of which were children. There are more than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in captivity by the Israeli government, thousands of Palestinian homes demolished, and  hundreds of roadblocks and check points restricting free movement by Palestinians, including 61 checkpoints staffed by parliament military.

Numbers often desensitize and misrepresent the urgency of a humanitarian crisis such as the one occurring in Palestine right now. It is difficult to portray the impoverished conditions that Palestinians live in using numbers alone.

It is also difficult to gain proper insight of this situation without dependable reporting from the media. Due to this scarcity of coverage on the condition of Palestine, we must rely on sources with first-hand experience to provide us with reliable commentary regarding this issue.

It is with this purpose in mind that the UK Students for Justice in Palestine invited Pamela Olson, author of the award-winning book, “Fast Times in Palestine: A Love Affair with a Homeless Homeland,” to speak at Memorial Hall.

Olson lived in Palestine for two years during and after the second Intifada. She has worked as a journalist and served as the foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate.

She will be speaking about her experiences and about life under occupation. The talk (and her award-winning book) focuses not only on violence, terror and politics, but also on daily life in Palestine.

UK Students for Justice in Palestine was formed to help raise awareness about the Palestinian struggle for independence. We as UK students see it as our purpose to educate our peers about the atrocities that have occurred, and continue to occur, in the occupied territories.

We strive to provide an alternative to the dominant media narrative that casts a blind eye on oppression.

We invite everyone to attend this event regardless of prior knowledge about the issue. It will be a valuable experience for all who are interested in learning about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.