Travel journal of FIEL Secretary General to Palestine

RAMALLAH: On July 21, after arriving at Amman Airport in Jordan and going through police checks, Secretary General of FIEL, Leonardo Gastón Herrmann passed through five checkpoints for ten hours during which he first experienced the brutal conditions to which thousands of Palestinians who want to enter their land are subjected by Israel’s occupying army.

At the end of the odyssey, he arrived in Ramallah where he was welcomed with immense affection by Murad Sudani, Secretary General of the General Union of Palestinian Writers (GUPW), Juma Rifai, member of the institution’s Directive Commission, Munjed Salah former Ambassador of Palestine in Mexico and Responsible for International Relations with Latin America at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Palestine during the Government of Arafat, and Nasser Abu Baker, the President of the Association of Palestinian Journalists.

On their second day, Gastón Herrmann and Sudani, met with the Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture of the Palestinian National Authority Mohammed Ayyad.

They discussed the role of cultural workers in resistance and in building a better world. They exchanged projects and strengthened the bond of brotherhood between both organizations and the Palestinian National Authority and its people.

On the third day of the activities, he met with the Director General of the official media of the Palestinian National Authority, Minister Ahmed Assaf who was accompanied by Salah and Sudani.

The meeting discussed how imperialism uses misinformation, censorship and the fabrication of fake news as the central weapon of its fourth-generation hybrid wars.

In this framework, the democratization of information and culture are fundamental tools for the peoples who fight against Imperialism.

The fourth day was a long and emotional day. Interviews were held with PLO and Fatah leaders and two museums were visited: that of Arafat, historical revolutionary leader, architect of present-day Palestine and President of the Palestinian National Authority, and that of the National poet Mahmud Darwish.

The talks were a fundamental piece to understand the spirit and national feeling of a people that, despite the asymmetric correlation of forces and military development, continues to resist the unjust occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Israeli army.

In the afternoon, an emotional tribute was made that included the signing of the joint work agreement between the General Union of Writers of Palestine and the International Federation of Writers for Freedom.

Next, Sudani, together with the Head of the Department of Popular Organizations of the PLO, Dr. Wasel Abu Youssef, and Ayyad presented a distinction to Leonardo Herrmann responsible for the International Federation of Writers and Writers for Freedom for their constant support to the struggle of the Palestinian people.

During this event, he was presented a plaque made in Palestine and a coin with the image of the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, which has a phrase inscribed declaring the Argentine poet a friend of the Palestinian people.

During the next few days, the tour continude alternating literary quotes and readings with writers from different parts of Palestine such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nablus, as well as lectures at universities and interviews with the media.