When Amber Williams lost her mother to cancer in 2020, she said from her deathbed: 'I'm going to die and Palestine still isn't free." In response, Amber co-founded the Nina Franklin fund and has organised sponsored walks in Bristol over the last three years to support building schools in Palestine.
Her mum Nina Franklin worked as a teacher for many years in Bristol before becoming the president of the former Nation Union of Teachers (NUT) and working full-time for the union. As an educator and activist she became deeply involved in the Palestinian cause.
Amber worked with others on fundraising events and by January 2023 the Nina Franklin Fund had raised £35,000. It was then that Amber went to Palestine for the first time and visited one of the schools they funded, which now has a plaque on the wall with her mother’s name on it.
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The children had previously been educated in a garage where they had to rotate classes. Although Amber was moved to meet people in the West Bank who had known her mum and was proud to see first hand the difference their funds had made to local people, she said she will not return.
Amber described travelling solo through Ben Gurion Airport in Israel as “a harrowing experience.” She said she left with a number six ‘threat level’ sticker on her passport after being interrogated and searched for over four hours at the airport. Ben Gurion Airport is known for its tight airport security and has been accused in the Israeli press of racial profiling.
Amber said: “I went to visit in January and going through Ben Gurion Airport was one of the most horrendous experiences for me as a solo traveller. I was detained, searched, I had devices taken from me and then got a number six stamped on my passport which means I’m a threat to Israeli national security.
“They lined me and other people of colour up and they didn’t let us leave until five minutes before our plane was due to take off. When I got on the plane, I told the stewardess what happened and she gave me a knowing glance as if to say, ‘you’re Black, this is Israel, of course it would take you this long’.
“There was an African man, and several Turkish people and we were all made to wait while everyone else passed by. You were petrified enough that no words were exchanged, everyone kept silent. I cannot go back now, I wouldn’t be able to get back in."
Last month, a school in Jubbet Al-Dib was demolished by Israeli security forces and several other schools are now ear-marked for demolition. In response, Amber has set up an emergency appeal.
The EU condemned the Israeli authorities for the demolition of the school which they had funded. But the Nina Franklin Fund in collaboration with a local charity had also contributed towards the school by providing tables and chairs.
In a statement regarding the recent school demolition, the head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Shlomo Neeman said: “Establishing dilapidated schools are in reality PA land-grab tactics of state lands, which actually put students at risk. There is still a lot of work to be done.”
However, Amber said: “They left nothing, not a pen or pencil. That’s when [the local charity] called on us to try and get the school back up and running. Children still have to go to school, education is a right.
“It is part of the UN rights of the child. When things like that are demolished and taken away we still have a responsibility and a duty to provide education to children, that’s why the emergency appeal has gone out now to try and raise funds to provide those children with an education.
“One of the most poignant moments that I saw on my trip, were tanks leaving after demolishing a house. They go in with the tanks, they demolish and they leave, then the family is homeless and left with no resources whatsoever.”
Amber is planning another sponsored walk in autumn and held a fundraising event at Tony Benn House earlier this month. Amber, now 32, has not only followed in her mother’s footsteps in her activism but is also an educator herself.
Speaking about why she co-founded the fund, Amber said: “My mum was somebody who dedicated her life to education internationally but also in Bristol. She was a staunch fighter against oppression and someone who on her deathbed still thought about the Palestinian cause, which is why we do what we do.“
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