Campaigns

 



Gaza Emergency Projects:

Launch of reach for thirsty in Gaza Campaign:

Arab Group for the Protection of Nature continued its relief projects in Gaza by launching “Reach Out for the Thirsty in Gaza” campaign on 2/11/2006. This campaign marks a prompt response to the emergency situation in Gaza following the ruthless Zionist military offensive on Bait Hanoun City which targeted the people, property and infrastructure leaving behind tens of deaths and casualties and acute shortage of food and drinking water.

APN is implementing this campaign in collaboration with PARC in Gaza and seeks to collect donations to cover the cost of providing 500 families in Bait Hanoun with 500 water storage tanks of 1mx1m cubic meter capacity. The project budget is US$ 50,000 and donation campaign is still going on to score the target budget.
 

   

 

  
   

Call for the Nation:

Donations required for a top emergency campaign " Reach Out for the Thirsty in Gaza”

 

Date : 8/11/2006

To : Friends of Arab Group for the Protection of Nature


Dear all,

In the light of the unprecedently drastic circumstances experienced by the residents of Gaza Strip following the ruthless Zionist military offensive on Bait Hanoun City which targeted the people, property and infrastructure leaving behind tens of dead and injured and acute shortage of food and drinking water.

Today, there is a pressing need to aid residents of Bait Hanoun/Gaza Strip who are deprived from drinking water as the Zionist forces destroyed at least 800 water tanks in the city. The emergency campaign “ Reach Out for the Thirsty in Gaza” aims to facilitate donations for the provision of 500 water tanks (of 1 cubic meter capacity) to 500 families in Bait Hanoun. The tanks shall be manufactured locally in Gaza at an estimated cost of US$100 per tank including manufacturing and fittings, total cost mounting to US$50,000.

We call upon all of you to contribute to this relief campaign by making prompt donations to the below shown bank account:

Arab Bank
Gardens Branch
Amman - Jordan

Account # :

  1. (Dollar Account) : 0128-258383-6-510
     

  2. (Jordanian Dinars) 0128-258383-6-500

SWIFT : ARABJOAX100


Thank you for your support to mitigate the suffering of Bait Hanoun.

Please accept my highest esteem


Razan Zuayter
Director
Arab Group for the Protection of Nature
 


Report on the Human Situation in Beit Hanoon:

You cannot smile at all. You are in Beit Hanoun:
The human situation in Beit Hanoun village north of Gaza city
Sunday 5th Nov. 2006

 Beit Hanoun is a crowded residential area. It is located a few kilometers to the north of Gaza city. It’s easy to reach there by car. It is also a few kilometers to the south of Sederot town in Israel. Historically speaking, in 1948 Sedrot was established on the remains and land of the Palestinian village of Semsem. It is worth noting that Beit Hanoun contains the Gaza Strip's most fertile land. Is that why it had to be wiped out? The World Bank has made approach and overtures to invest in the north of Gaza including Beit Hanoun in an attempt to improve and strengthen the Palestinian economy which has been totally devastated by the Israeli military incursions.

On Wednesday 1st Nov. 2006, the Israeli army with its highly sophisticated weapons and rich logistic support has started an attack on Beit Hanoun under the pretext of preventing militia men from launching the local-made rockets towards Sedrot. In few hours they tightened their siege on the village. We thought that the military activities are limited to time, place and against certain people as mentioned in the media, but the reality of the situation has proved that it is not only so. The military action has targeted everyone living in the village and every piece of cultivated land regardless of any consideration, and a real damage has been inflected upon the agricultural sector. Well, today is Sunday; it’s the fifth day of the ongoing Israeli military operation inside the border village of Beit Hanoun and around it. It is what the Israel army calls “Operation: Autumn Clouds.”

Up today, in Beit Hanoun and elsewhere in Gaza Strip a total of 48 men of different ages, and 2 women are killed and some 250 are injured with more than 50 people in serious and critical conditions in ICU of two hospitals in the area. This number includes those who were assassinated by attack of Israeli helicopters and jets launching missiles at their cars. Israeli officials declared their regret for killing innocent civilians in the operation. The Israeli chief of staff visited the troops in Beit Hanoun and expressed his admiration in their performance and gave praise to the leader of the operation as his units are looking for more weapon stores.

Moreover, after a military order by loudspeakers for the Palestinian men of the village to gather in a school yard, hundreds of the Palestinians between 16-60 years of age were rounded up and carried away in military trucks to an unknown destination; it could be to a concentration camp erected in the Negev desert to the east of Burij refugee camp in the middle area of Gaza Strip. Those detained men have been estimated as around 1500.

It is worth noting that the two women were killed while marching with dozens of other women in a passive resistance attempt to protest against the atrocities of the Israeli soldiers. Women were in need of a space to move around to get food and other daily life need. It seems that what we anticipate is not the proper frame of the military activities, and accordingly, little can be expected from any future attempts to remedy its ailments. In self-defense, the Israelis keep bringing back the Palestinian farmer to zero point, thus he has to start again! Israeli policies and activities represent a slap in the face of the Palestinian civil service organizations including the agricultural communities in particular. They destroy everything in sight. For 5 straight days so far, Beit Hanoun was deprived from too many things like electricity, telecommunications, food and medical supplies. Moreover, the operation is meant to destroy the agricultural lands, livestock and crops particularly that Beit Hanoun area is rich in producing and it also produces other crops such as the strawberry, citrus, flowers, and other plants. It seems that the Israeli intention is to level the agricultural sector in the area. This is lucid evidence that Israel practices a collective punishment. In simple words, what’s going on is an organized destruction of the human life of the Palestinian villagers and all the supportive efforts and investments.

As from the first day of the offensive, a curfew was imposed on the village and the surrounding agricultural areas so as to secure movement of the army vehicles and tanks. Army bulldozers took a main part in the operation. Under cover from tanks and helicopters, the bulldozers uprooted trees and destroyed crops in hundreds of acres of land under different pretexts such as opening new roads for their military campaign and creating empty areas so as to prevent launching the local made missiles against Israel. Well, after five days those missiles are still launched and the vast military campaign did not stop them or change anything in their equation. The Israeli soldiers are conducting home to home search going into everywhere they could and search for arms and men. The search does not go smoothly, but rather it is embedded with harshness and harassment against the children and women who are supposed to have remained at home.

On the fourth day of the offensive, the Israeli army left the curfew for a couple of hours so as to give a chance for women only to move around for getting the necessary and basic life needs such as milk for the children and flour for making local made bread and the like. No shops or groceries are open so that women resort to their neighbors and other relatives in the same neighborhood seeking help with what could be extra food stuff or whatever needed and still available with some!

With this new situation, the people of Beit Hanoun have been stuck between a stone and a hard rock. They lost wide areas of cultivated land; their plants, tress and greenhouses have been intentionally targeted. Accordingly, there is no wonder that their agricultural land and their economy are still going down with everyday the offensive continues. Worse is that those government employees have not received except some 20% of their salaries for seven month so far, let alone the high employment rate in the area. All those factors are destructive to the economic, social, and cultural tissues of the village. Then, the incursion has added salt to the injury; the military operation has worsened the human situation and took it form bad to worse. In simple words, the people have lost hope in almost everything around them and their children are really starving. They have been deprived of the basic need of normal life. Children have been terrified by shooting, shelling, explosions, and blasts. The current military operations have worsened the human situation to the extreme. It’s taking the whole area form bad to worse. Two days back UNRWA was permitted to go into Beit Hanoun but it is still that people are hungry and starving and death is taking its toll.

Those two photos can speak for themselves. A moment of peaceful demonstration and protest has turned into a moment of death for two civilian women and injuries for others! Protestors were calling upon the Arab leaders and the world community to intervene to stop the Israeli operation. Just imagine the situation.
 

Cooperation & External Relations Department.
Agricultural Development Association (PARC)-Gaza

"from the Besieged Farmer to the Needy Family" Campaign

Maintain the Steadfastness of Palestinians on their National Soil by Buying the Agricultural Products in Gaza
As a Result of the Israeli Military aggression, Public Health in Gaza has been Drastically Affected by the Following:

  • Over 90,000 families have no safe drinking water supplies.

  • Damage to infrastructure and pollution and destruction of agricultural lands

  • 80,000 children may have psychological problems as a result of fear of bombing

  • power cuts in 200,000 houses, including in 22 hospitals

  • Over 30,000 Palestinians live in inhuman conditions at the Rafah crossing.

More than 30 thousand children are suffering from chronic malnutrition due to shortage of food stuff and the pollution of their water sources.

70% of civilians in Gaza are unable to provide their daily food without the aid of others.

How to Support?
The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN), in participation with the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, have come together to form urgent “From the Poor Farmer to the Poor Family” campaign. This project uses your donations to buy the agricultural products of 300 small production farmers in order to distribute the products among 1500 affected and needy families in the area.

Please Send your Donations to:
Fund’s Bank Account 258383/6/510
Swiftcode: ARABJOAX
Arab Bank- Gardens

Or write a cheque in the name of “Arab Group for the Protection of nature-poor to poor campaign”

Phone: 5673331 E-mail agpnature@go.com.jo  Website: www.apnature.org
Fax: 5624424 P.O. Box 811815Amman 11181 Jordan


Campaign Progress

The project was successfully completed for the present season during the period from 1/8/ to 30/8/2006. The implementing party distributed 1640 food baskets to 1640 needy families. The basket contained fresh locally produced vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumber, potatoes and eggplants; fruits like grapes in addition to olive oil, egg, cheese, thyme, dried spiced thyme (dokka) and maftool

The activity, which combined the sincere efforts of the institutions and committees of the civil community, covered all the governorates of Gaza Strip. The campaign reinforced the principles of social integration and self sustainability in face of the severe impoverishment suffered by the majority of Gaza population due to the siege and war waged against them. Also, the campaign contributed significantly to raising the farmers’ morale and strengthened their productive role in mitigating the citizens’ agony.
 


APN would like to thank the donors who supported the Palestinians in this campaign, who are the following:

  1. Arab Engineering Studies Centre

  2. Next Step Engineering Consultancies Co.

  3. Gerard Larose

  4. Jamal Al Budiri

  5. Aragon CO. – Hazim Malhas

  6. Jerusalem Forum - Jerusalem Day Committee

  7. Mohanmad Saqer

  8. Tibah Consultants ARCHS, ENGS

  9. Researches and Design Partnership

  10. International Poultry Co.

  11. Moa’ataz Al Qawasmi

  12. AL Jazeeral Agricultural Co.

  13. Sa’ed Abbas Hamdan

  14. Faisal AL Sa’adoun

  15. Majed Barhoush

  16. Emad Fakhouri

  17. Warba Agricultural Co.

  18. Arab Company for Trading and Food Industries

  19. Dar Al Omran – Anas Sinno

  20. Fosroc

  21. Adnan Halawa and Partners

  22. Al Neser Electrical and Mechanical Co.

  23. Hammam Abu Al Naser

  24. Ramzi Ibrahim Al Zain

  25. Mo’ataz Ahmad Abu Afeef

  26. Ne’amat Saleh Bsiso

  27. AWAR Establishment – Ghassan Hasan

  28. E Construct FZ LLC

  29. Noor Othman

  30. Yusuf Al Ramahi

  31. Rima AL Masri

  32. Mai Al Nashashibi

  33. Basima Al Ramahi

  34. Tagrid Aref Al Najjar

  35. Al Qaser Residential Hotels Co.

  36. Sami Al Nabilsi

  37. Al Qaser Tourism Investment

  38. Basem Farraj and Partners

  39. Mediterranean Industry Co.

  40. Amin Qawar

  41. Al Wathba Investment Co.

  42. General Software Co.

  43. Al Manshor for Technical & Media Services

  44. General Computers CO.

  45. Technical Services Co. - TESCO

  46. Sanabel for Agriculture and Consultancy

  47. No'aman Jadalla


    APN will continue support our people in Palestine and Lebanon or in any Arab country.


Greenhouses Project

The implementing party initiated the project in Gaza Strip and has finalized the preparation phase which included coordination with other local agricultural institutions to define the beneficiaries in the targeted area, prepare list of the farmers and a relevant questionnaire. An invitation to tender was announced for the purchase of the palm tree seedlings, and field visits and investigation of the current greenhouses were conducted.
 

With the donation provided by the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN), the Union of the Agricultural Work Committees (AUWC) has completed the rehabilitation and plantation of the damaged agricultural greenhouses in Gaza Strip.

A total of 38 greenhouses were rehabilitated and planted with seedlings of tomato, cucumber and green pepper. The greenhouses are owned by the farmers who sustain the devastating impact of the Israeli shelling and encroachment on the lands of Gaza adjacent to the green light. They belong to the poor families that can not afford buying the seedlings needed for planting their greenhouses.

The campaign targeted 38 male and female farmers in Al Braij (6 farmers), Beet Hanoun (10) and Beet Lahya (22).

The donation granted by APN contributed to saving 125 dunums of the agricultural lands planted with seedlings of fruits and vegetables from aridity. The plan included the reinstallation and rehabilitation of the irrigation networks that were destroyed during the Israeli recurrent incursions. These agricultural lands provide for 20 Palestinian families that depend on farming as their sole income source under the present drastic circumstances.

The collaboration between APN and AUWC is in line with APN mission that considers the overstrained farmers in Palestine as one of its targets and seeks to mitigate the suffering they endure under occupation.
 

   

 

  
   

 

  
   

 

  
   

 

  
     

Back
 

Copyright © 2003 APN   All Rights Reserved.