TWO community events in Skibbereen and Kinsale on Saturday September 27th will demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians.

At the beginning of the month, Saturday September 9th, 220 people set out to walk 41km, which is the equivalent length of the Gaza Strip.

Twelve hours later, the group reached Mizen Head, having raised an extraordinary €40,000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

At about 12.30 on Saturday at the Maid of Erin Statue in Skibbereen’s town centre, Dr Swee Ang, the co-founder of MAP, will be presented with the cheque.

Dr Swee has confirmed that she will join the weekly solidarity march in the town and meet with local supporters.

As a newly qualified orthopaedic surgeon in 1982, Dr Swee volunteered in Beirut to treat Palestinian civilians.

During her time there, she witnessed the Sabra and Shatila massacres, in which thousands of refugees—mostly women and children—were killed.

The experience shaped the doctor’s lifelong commitment to Palestinian human rights and she later documented these events in her renowned book, copies of which will be available on the day.

More than four decades later, Dr Swee continues her surgical work with the NHS in London, alongside her work as an advocate for justice in Palestine.

Dr Swee has just returned from Lebanon, where she took part in commemorations of the camp massacres.

Following the Skibbereen event, Dr Swee will speak at a public meeting at the Friary in Kinsale on Saturday evening. There, she will be joined onstage by Dr Ali Khashan of UCC, whose family was dispossessed from their Palestinian village.

Together, they will offer their first-hand testimony and insights into the ongoing struggle for Palestinian rights.

Those wishing to attend the relatively small Kinsale event should email: [email protected].