The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature launched the project “Empowering Those Injured in the Great March of Return” in partnership with the Palestinian Farmers Association in the Gaza Strip, on Monday (September 9, 2019), as part of its mission to plant its third million trees in Palestine.

The first of its kind, the project supports the resilience of the injured and their families by providing a source of income and enhancing food security in the villages of Al-Wusta Governorate. The project includes planting fruit trees and vegetable seedlings, providing irrigation networks, and distributing flocks of birds (poultry and pigeons) to beneficiary families.

The project targets 39 of those injured (supporting a total of 210 people), is planting 5 dunums of land, and distributing 700 pigeons and 2,050 chickens.

Mariam al-Jaajaa, director of the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, says the project serves dozens of families whose injuries impede sons and daughters from continuing to work, particularly as most of those injured in the Great March of Return are youth, as the occupation targets the next generation to break its resolve. 

Al-Jaajaa notes the project is not only aimed at economic aspects of the situation, but at other important social and physociogiclal dimensions as well. In particular, the project increases the capacity of injured youth and brings green space to create a comfortable and therapeutic atmosphere to recover in. The project is also the first to provide poultry incubators, which will be a source of healthy food and reduce Gazan dependence on frozen poultry imported from the occupier.

The Great March of Return is an effective, peaceful, and ongoing event organized by a coordination committee in the Gaza Strip. It was started in conjunction with the 42nd anniversary of Land Day (March 30, 2018), after setting up tents around 700 meters from the border with the Israeli entity. 

The occupation army deliberately shoots at those involved in the peaceful marches, leaving many injured, which is illegal and constitutes a crime against humanity according to various human rights organizations.