PEACE CYCLE FOR MOBILE EYE CLINIC IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE October 10, 2009
by George S. Rishmawi, Siraj Center, Beit Sahour - Palestine News Network - 9 October 2009
Cyclists from across the world will today arrive in Amman to take part in the 4th international Peace Cycle to Jerusalem.
Among the group are Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Tony Blair, and her daughter Alexandra.
As ex-PM Blair becomes favorite for first President of Europe, his 8-year old niece will take a fortnight off school to cycle through the occupied Palestinian territories.
She will stay with Palestinian families and learn what life is like under Israeli occupation.
Mr Blair has not publicly commented on his niece’s planned trip, which will take her to a refugee camp in Amman, home to Palestinian families made homeless in 1948, and unrecognized Arab villages within Israel.
Then, together with her mother and people from six countries, Alex will cycle the length of the West Bank where travel is severely restricted due to Israeli checkpoints, road blocks, curfews and closures.
Journalist Lauren Booth says the Peace Cycle is a chance for Alex to express her friendship and hopes for peace with her Arab, Palestinian peers.
She said: The question I have always been asked on previous trips to Gaza and the West Bank is: when can we meet your children? I have no doubt that Alex’s presence will lift morale both for those cycling and, more importantly, for the families cut off from the world’s children by walls and checkpoints.
As well as hoping to raise awareness of the issues around the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and calling for a just peace in the region, the Peace Cyclists are raising funds to support the establishment of a mobile eye clinic in the occupied territories.
The project is called Oyooni, Arabic for “My Eyes”, and will enable Palestinians with diabetes and glaucoma to receive treatment they otherwise can not obtain because of restricted movement in the Palestinian territory.
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