8/8/2019 meca news8-09

1/8

Homeward Bound continued on page 7

As soon as I arrived home, I feltgreat relief, if that is the right

word. I had been unable to re-urn home to Gaza since beforehe 23 days of bombing earlier his year, because of the ongoingiege. I am not sure that the wordelief summarizes my intensend con icting emotions. Mixedeelings of relief, happiness, butlso disorientation, continued toverwhelm me.

Gaza my beautiful home, yes,my beautiful home, my beautiful people, who are trying so hardo live. To continue from one day to another. Despite the odds,he hardships, the silence of the world.

The same day of my arrival home, July 9th 2009, I could see

rom my balcony the rubble of what had been at one time Ara-ats headquarters, The whole building was completely demol-shed, leveled to the ground, blowing out the windows on oneide of my apartment building. It is the same place where one of

my cousins was killed in the rst day of the attack assault againstGaza last December-January.

now see a different Gaza, and it is not the Gaza I have known; its like a city after an earthquake. Many of the historically impor -ant buildings were leveled to the ground. I decided to postpone

my eld visits to the different areas where the assaults were themost savage and brutal. I thought it might be a good idea to waitor the arrival of the delegation of US citizens who were due toross the border.

n the meantime, I met some dear friends and workmates whoame to say hello. All of them were loaded with war stories andhe panic they faced during the attacks against Gaza. One friend

who was a political prisoner, who spent 15 years in the Israeliails, said to me, I never felt afraid of anything there like theear I felt this time. I nd it strange to even write this sentence,ut while we Palestinians are determined to continue our strug-

gle, the reality is that this assault against Gaza was severe anderce and cannot be forgotten. We will feel its effects as a people

for a long time.

Our friends from the US were only granted visas to visit Gaza for24 hours. As I waited, I pondered How can we condense or be-gin to understand what children, women and men went throughduring 23 days of the assault in a 24 hours visit?

Upon the arrival of the Viva Palestina delegation, I sat at the bders to receive the delegation with some colleagues from PNGO(Palestinian Non Governmental Organizations Network). It wasa touching and affectionate moment for me, to see AmericanBritish and French activists of different ages and ethnicities unit-ed under one goal, voicing to the world Gaza, you are not alone;you are not forgotten, despite the shameful stand of the govern-ments of the world, we stand with you, the people of Gaza!

We had to get immediately to work and were fortunate to have asolid team of colleagues. I was accompanied by Barbara Lubin,Middle East Childrens Alliance (MECA) Director, Reem Salhi,an activist lawyer and human rights advocate, Danny Muller, afriend of MECA, Ehab Musalam, a MECA trainer and volunteer in Gaza, Travis Wilkerson, a lmmaker and professor, JaielKayed, a computer expert and Palestinian-American, Talal AbuShaweesh, Director of New Horizons, and Mohammed Majda

by Dr. Mona El-FarraMECA Director of Gaza Projects

FALL 2009

Chomsky in Oakland October 3! Get your tickets NOW! See back page.

Danny Mull

This young girl romNuseirat Re ugee Camp told

us about her mother andsiblings, who were killed bythe Israeli army in January.

8/8/2019 meca news8-09

2/8

MECA NEWS

Dear Friend,Last month I traveled to Gaza for the second time this year.MECA volunteer Danny Muller and I joined Viva Palestina , aonvoy of about 175 people and $1 million in aid, organized

by British MP Galloway. We ew into Egypt and Viva Pal-stina purchased forty-eight trucks and cars in Alexandria,

which we intended to drive into Gaza and leave for peoplehere. But the Egyptian authorities said there were problems

with the paperwork so the vehicles were left there until theext convoy. A lot of people dont understand that while mostf the Egyptian people support the Palestinians, the Egyp -ian

overnment is the number two recipient of US aid (after Is-ael), and Egypt is a police state that oppresses its own citizensnd helps Israel maintain the siege of Gaza. Finally, the hos-ital beds, refrigerators, wheelchairs, medicine and other aid

Viva Palestina had purchased was loaded onto trucks and our roup got onto buses and headed for Gaza.

About half the people in our group were Palestinian-Americans.ome had family they hadnt seen in years. Some were young

people who had never been to Palestine or met their relatives.was so impressed by these young men and women from allver the US. They will be the next generation of leaders who

will build a bigger, stronger movement in the US for justice inalestine.

The Egyptian authorities allowed us to go to Gaza for just 24ours. This was devastating to the people who had waited soong and come so far, and expected to have at least a few days toisit their home and their families.

When we arrived, we were immediately surrounded by hun -reds, maybe thousands, of people who came to greet the convoyr meet someone in particular. For the Palestinian-Americans it

was an emotional homecoming. Some kissed the ground; manyried. Then we became a big crowd chanting Viva Palestina.

At that moment I realized that the aid is importanteven thoughmillion dollars of aid barely makes a dent in the enormous

eedbut just as important is the solidarity, showing that peoplerom the US are determined to stand with Palestine and break theiege of Gaza.

had been to Gaza in January, right after three weeks of Israelittacks, to bring in several tons of food, medicine, and medicalquipment. It was amazing to see that some kind of normalityas returned after the unbelievable horror that Israel in icted.

The Palestinian people have an incredible ability to keep rebuild-ng their lives again and again. Of course life is not really normaln Gaza. Five thousand homes were completely destroyed, leav-

ing 20,000 homeless. The Israelis wont let cement and othermaterials in, so people are talking about rebuilding their homeswith mud.

My friend Dr. Mona El-Farra, MECAs director of Gaza projects,had arrived just a few days before. (See page 1) Mona had leftGaza last year to visit her children in England and she had no ideawhen or if she would be allowed back in. That one day in Gazawith friends and colleagues from the US and Gaza was very exciting for me because we spent the day visiting MECA projects

and seeing rsthand the difference we are making in the lives ofso many children. We rst visited Afaq Jadeeda at the end of of many summer camps that was part of Let the Children Play& Heal, an ongoing psychosocial program through central andsouthern Gaza. (See page 4.) Then we saw the two water treat-ment systems MECA helped build in Gaza schools. (See page 5)The two systems provide clean, safe drinking waterwhich isnormally a luxury in Gazato thousands of children. Youll behearing a lot more about this water project in the months ahead.Our goal is to raise enough money to build water treatment sys-tems in 60 more schools in the next two yearsand eventuallyin hundreds of schools and villages throughout Gaza.

Over and over again, the people I met told me how much theyappreciate MECAs workthe support for community projects,the food and medical aidbut also our solidarity. It is so im-

portant that they know there are people who have not forgottenthem, who care about their daily struggles just to survive andtheir ongoing struggle for justice.

L er fom B rb ra by Barbara LubinMECAs Executive Director Danny MullerBarbara Lubin at the municipal park and accessible playgroundin Gaza Cityone o three MECA helped build in the 1990s. Webrought childrens architectural specialists Moore, Isca ano, andGoltsman rom Berkley to develop designs based on the ideasgathered rom children and adults in each community.

8/8/2019 meca news8-09

3/8MECA NEWS

We Wont be Divided Ziad Abbas, MECA Education Coordinator

The Palestinian people are facing one of the harshest situationsin their history. Whether living in the West Bank or Gaza, insidethe boundaries of 1948 (Israel), or in the large and widespreadPalestinian Diaspora, the Palestinian people are facing hardshipsfrom both external and internal sources. In many cases, thesehardships are connected.

With the recent elections in the US many people thought thatreal change would come from a more liberal US government. Infact, the government promised it. While some sit and hope, theundeniable reality is that nothing has changed in the US MiddleEast policya policy of empty words and endless negotiations.The goal of the European Union and the US is to bring the twosides together for negotiations, so they appear to be peacemak-ers. Israel uses these empty negotiations to con scate more

land, build more settlements, and to continue construction of thewall, knowing that in the end the US will support Israel uncon-ditionally. The Palestinian people hear words and more words asthey continue to watch their land disappear before their eyes.

A time of famous words was the 1993 Oslo Accords whichdid little for the Palestinians except to continue the polarizationof the Palestinian population. The goal of the Oslo Accords wasto divide the Palestinian people into two classes. One class, theOslo class, received their own bene ts and interests from theAccords, elevating themselves in status. The second class, themajority of the Palestinian people, received nothing but more

suffering and oppression. It became evident from these Accordsthat during these times of peace and negotiation, the Palestin-ian people have lost more land than during times of war. Whilethere has been a lot of talk about peace, for the past 61 years,the Western governments have, in reality, done nothing to endthe suffering the Palestinian people endure in their daily lives.

Then there is Israels new extreme right-wing government thatnot only continues its policy of denying rights to Palestinians,

but has increased the harassment, land theft, checkpoints, and ar-rests which plague Palestinians daily. And the siege of the GazaStrip continues. One and a half million Palestinians live as pris-oners on this narrow strip of land, slowly starving to death.

While dividing and isolating Palestinians in the West Bank andGaza, Israel is putting huge pressure on the Palestinians livinginside Israel to assimilate and live as a silent underclass. Forsixty-one years Israel has failed to erase the Palestinian identity, but now the government is stepping-up pressure. Mentionof the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) will be forbidden in schools;and more and more names of Arab villages and cities are being

Barbara Lubin

Your One Stop Shop for Thousands of Great ProductsNo Sweat!

Made in the USA, Union, Sweatshop Free, Green.

Alliance Graphics contributions cover most of MECAsoverhead. By giving your business to Alliance Graphics,

you are giving more to the children.

Alliance Graphics received the US Commerce Asso-ciation 2009 Best of Berkeley Award in the Silk Screen

Design cat egory

Although some sense o normality has returned in Gaza,ou cant go more than one block without seeing thempact o Israels brutal war against the people in Gaza.

Now onLook for the Middle East Childrens Alliance Group and our

Cause, MEDICAL AID FOR GAZA

We Wont Be Divided for Long, continued on page 6

8/8/2019 meca news8-09

4/8

MECA NEWS

Viva Palestina-USAfter meeting with British MP George Galloway in May, MECA

ecided to join this aid and solidarity effort. For the month of une we became home to the Northern California Viva Pales-ina organizing committee to raise funds for the convoy to

Gaza. Committee members held events, sold T-shirts at com -munity gatherings, got donations from local businesses. Throughhese efforts, a contribution from MECA general funds, which

was matched by the Alalusi Foundation, we donated a total of 70,000 towards the medical aid the convoy brought in. MECA

Director Barbara Lubin, and long-time volunteer Danny Muller oined the convoy. (See page 2).

Let the Children Play and Heal

This psychosocial support program was initiated by our partner Afaq Jadeeda (New Horizons) to address childrens psychologi-al needs after the New Years assault on Gaza. Let the Childrenlay & Heal is giving tens of thousands of children and youthpportunities to express themselves though art, dance, music,tory-telling, theatre and puppetry; to get support from the larger ommunity; and to have fun and just be children. In addition,undreds of mothers have been trained to help their extendedamilies cope with the aftermath of the attacks, and a psycholo-ist identi es and refers children who need individual counsel -ng. All programs are free, thanks to the support of MECA do -ors.

Your MECADollars at Work AID & PROJECT UPDATE

Barbara Lubin and Danny Muller in Egypt gettingready to board a Viva Palestina bus. The convoybrought in fve truckloads o aid to the people o Gaza.

Barbara Lu

Barbara Lub

Barbara Lu

As part o Let the Children Play and Heal, 120,000 childrenattended two-week summer camps throughout Gaza, whichended with music and dance per ormances.

MECA volunteers Mohammed Al-Majdalawi and Danny Mullerwith two young people, at the massive exhibit o art created bychildren at one o the Let the Children Play and Heal summercamps.

8/8/2019 meca news8-09

5/8MECA NEWS

Clean Water for GazasSchoolchildrenLack of access to clean, safe water is one of the worst features

f the Israeli Occupationcausing major health problems. Israeliverts water for its own use, while denying materials, fuel, andermits to sustain and expand Palestinian water systems. Mili -

ary attacks predictablyand often deliberatelydestroy wells,water tanks, pipes, treatment plants, and sewage systems. Pov-rty prevents people from purchasing clean water or repairingheir water tanks and plumbing.

A few years ago, children at the UN school in Bureij RefugeeCamp, Gaza voted on what they wanted most for their school

nd they chose drinking water. MECA helped build a water pu -i cation and desalination system for the school in 2007 with arant from the Alalusi Foundation, and a similar system at the

UN school in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, with proceeds from aundraiser organized by the Arab-Jewish Partnership for Peacend Justice in the Middle East. Recently, MECA received re -uests for water systems in community centers with pre-schoolsnd kindergartens, and ten elementary schools throughout Gaza.

These projects will begin as money is raised.

MECA is making water systems a major program priority. Our wo-year goal is to provide funds for systems in sixty schools,

with a long-term goal of providing clean, safe drinking water for choolchildren in hundreds of Gaza refugee camps and villages.

The sign reads Started by A aq Jadeeda in NuseiratRe ugee Camp and unded by the Middle East Chil-drens Alliance, December 2007

8/8/2019 meca news8-09

6/8MECA NEWS

rased and changed to Israeli names written in Arabic. For exam -le, Al-Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, would be writtenn Arabic as Yerushalaim. While Palestinian history is beingrased, the ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem escalates. Morend more homes are demolished or occupied by settlers yingsraeli ags. More and more Palestinian Jerusalemites have their dentity documents con scated and lose the right to live in, or ven visit, Jerusalem.

As the Occupation increases the daily suffering for Palestinians,here is also a terrible internal division that Israel strengthens andxploits. The Palestinian community is divided politically intowo main factions: Fatah , the party that runs the Palestinian Au-hority in the West Bank, and is supported by the US, the EU and

many Arab countries; and Hamas , the party that has authority inGaza, and is supported by Iran, Syria, and a few other countries.srael is deepening this division by giving some privileges tohe Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, while continuing theiege of the Gaza. Europe and the US are taking sides by provid -ng political and nancial support to the Palestinian Authority inhe West Bank, while remaining silent about Gaza. The aim iso dilute the Palestinian struggle and shift the Palestinian focusrom resisting the Occupation to defending the interests of thewo governments. For example, before the division of the twoolitical factions, the Palestinian people were united in ghtingor the release of all political prisoners10,000 held inside Is-aeli jails. Now some are ghting for the Hamas prisoners heldn Fatah jails, others are ghting for the Fatah prisoners held in

Hamas jails.

The internal con ict strains the Palestinian national spirit and

dvances Israels main goals of shutting down the Palestinian re-istance and breaking down national unity. The Palestinians areery aware of these divisive political games. While the peopleontinue to suffer under the Occupation, they watch the negotia-ions, and see the political divisions in the leadership tearinghe struggle apart. But suffering itself is a uniting force, so theeople will not stay divided for long.

The feeling today is reminiscent of the stage before the secondntifada . During the Oslo Accords the people watched the ne-otiations and heard about the peace process, but they did notelieve the political games being played. They became increas-ngly unsettled. It was like a volcano bubbling under the surface,ot yet showing its true anger but building up silently. Such werehe emotions brewing within the Palestinians. Everyone couldeel that something deep inside was moving, before it eruptednto an explosion of resistance.

The world should expect another massive political eruption inalestine. The Western countries and Israel persist in ignoring

he political rights of the Palestinian people and try to divide the

Palestinian community internally, but they will not succeed inshutting down the voice of the Palestinian political resistanceThe only thing that they are willing to agree to is a sort of statenext to Israel that they design with no controllable borders, nomilitary, no weapons, no capital in Jerusalem, and no right ofreturn for Palestinian refugees from 1948 and 1967. The Pal-estinian people will not accept compromises on their politicalrights, and eventually their collective suffering will bring them

back together.

Ziad Abbas in Dheisheh Re ugee Camp beside a one-room build-ing like the one he was born in. People in Dheisheh are still strug-gling to return back to their original villages. These were the frsthouses the UN built in 1952 to replace the tents people lived ina ter the 1948 Nakba. A amily o six lived in one room.

Pablo Pit

We Wont Be Divided for Long, continued from page 3

8/8/2019 meca news8-09

7/8MECA NEWS

awi, a Gazan student and MECA volunteer.

n Nuseirat Refugee Camp, we were invited by Afaq Jadeeda New Horizons) to see the activities of their project, looselyranslated as Let them Play and Heal, a program treating child-ood trauma and sponsored by the Middle East Childrens Al -iance. We had the chance to see hundreds of childrens happyittle faces, singing along with the debka performance, which

was one of many activities working to help the children recover fter the war trauma. There were around 500 kids, 6-12 years old,oys and girls with their mothers, as the project targets mothersnd their children.

We then visited Al-Bureij School, where MECA has implement -d water puri cation and desalinization systems to provide cleanrinking water for schoolchildren. This is one of two water treat-

ment projects MECA has recently implemented in the refugeeamps, and we aim to build many more with the help of our riends and allies. We then moved to the north and while the van

was going on, we could clearly see many demolished homes ev-rywhere, and tent cities around the homes where families nowived.

We could not miss the Zaytoun area, where one of the manyragic events of the war occurred at the home of the Samoni fam-ly. The van went through neighborhood after neighborhood,hrough areas of vast destruction. How can I convey to you whathave seen in the little faces, eyes of sadness mixed with hopend excitement? On top of that, some of the kids who had brokenr missing arms and legs, post operative scars, who are living in

1101 8th. St. Berkeley, Ca 94710

A Life-Saving Gift for the ChildrenYES! I want to do what I can or the injured and terrifed children in Gaza. Hereis my special contribution to help MECA deliver medicine aid, support mentalhealth intervention, and build water treatment sytems in schools

[ ] $250 [ ] $100 [ ] $50 [ ] $25 [ ] $ ____________

[ ] My check payable to MECA is enclosed. [ ] Please charge my credit card in the amount indicated above.

Card #: _______________________________________ Exp: _____________________

Signature: _____________________________________________________________

Name: ________________________________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________

City, ST, Zip: ____________________________________________________________

Email: _________________________________________________________________MECA is a 501(c)3 exempt organization. Your gi t is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution.

the rubble of their former homes, with their little voices, theytried to tell us their stories.

I listened to their stories. I stopped writing about the rest of ouractivities, the rest of our day, the rest of my return home. At thatmoment I felt, and still feel, I dont want to hear or listen, I justwant to cuddle these children and help them to forget.

But I want the world to remember what was done here in Gazaand that those of us who are picking up the pieces, as hard as wetry, we cannot forget.

Homeward Bound continued from page 1

These boys have been living in this tent since January when theirhome was destroyed and several members o their amily werekilled. They are starting to build a new home with mud and pieceso their demolished home because Israel wont allow building ma-terials into Gaza.

Barbara L

8/8/2019 meca news8-09

8/8

101 8th. St. Berkeley, Ca 94710

The Middle East Childrens Alliance presentsNOAM CHOMSKY:

Obama, the Middle East, and the Prospects for PeaceSaturday, October 3, 2009 - 7:30 pm sharp The Paramount Theatre, downtown Oakland2025 Broadway, adjacent to the 19th street BARTFor directions, parking, and other in o:www.paramounttheatre.com

ALL TICKETS

ORDER FROM WWW.TICKETMASTER.COM or PURCHASE FROM PARAMOUNT THEATRE BOX OFFICE Questions? Call 510-548-0542

$250: Seating in rst two rows o Orchestra Pit

Post-Event Mezzanine Receptionwith Pro essor Chomsky Special Chomsky Gi t

$100: Front Orchestra seating Post-Event Reception with Pro essor Chomsky

$ 50: Orchestra middle or ront side seating

$ 32: Orchestra center/rear and Balcony * ront seating

$ 22: Low-income, Balcony * rear seating

Wheelchair Seating (2 seats together) and ASL seating in ront o theatre$32($22 low income) Please purchase these tickets in advance rom the Box Ofce.

*We regret that Balcony seats are not wheelchair-accessible & there are noelevators in the theatre. I you need disability seating, please contact

the Paramount Box Ofce

Special Reception with Pro essor Chomsky a ter his talk,in the Mezzanine - $250 and $100 tickets onlyWe regret that the Reception is not wheel-chair accessible

Please note: No service charge if you purchase

through Paramount Box O ce Box O ce does not take checks and

requires photo ID Box O ce hours: 11am-3pm Tuesd All Seats are Reserved, and lost

tickets are not replaceable The Balcony is NOT wheelchair ac Sorry, but no children under 3 allow

ORDER TICKETS TODAY at www.ticketmaster.com.

We expect this event to sell out! Co-sponsored by KPFA , 94.1 m