I had the privilege of visiting Palestine in 1987. We landed the day the Intifada broke.

I was there working, researching with a UK theatre company who had commissioned the Egyptian writer Karim Alrawi, then resident in the UK, to write a new play about the Palestinian Israeli conflict.

I have never forgotten the people, the sights and the sounds.
The aroma of the food and the generosity of the Palestinian people.

That the atrocities, the systematic, violent and brutal erasure of the Palestinian people continues, is a constant pain in my heart.

There is so little that I am able to do in the face of such horror.
But writing this letter to you, showing my support and solidarity is one the things that I am able to do, and to let you know that you are not forgotten.

I hope that you are managing and coping as best you can whilst you are being held.

Know that so many across the globe are thinking of you.
So many are taking to the streets in protests supporting the Palestinian people, in spite of what their local or national governments say.

The world desperately needs artists and human beings such as yourself, now more than ever.

It is my deepest hope that you will be released.
That the People of Palestine will find freedom and peace.

With respect and love

Lucy Sheen UK actor, writer and displaced person.