Humanitarian Grant Recipients

2000 Grantees  2001 Grantees  2002 Grantees  2003 Grantees  2004 Grantees  2005 Grantees
2006 Grantees  2007 Grantees  2008 Grantees  2009 Grantees  2010 Grantees  2011 Grantees
2012 Grantees

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2012 Grantees

Al Jenoub Society for Women's Health
Project: Assisting needy families during a power outage
Founded: 2005
Location: Rafah Gaza

The suffering of the Palestinian people has increased as a result of the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, especially after the recent war on Gaza which led to the interruption of continuous power.  Continuous cutting of power affects their lives and leads to an inability to study at home, especially during the night hours.  This brought the idea or providing poor families in the rural and marginalized areas in Rafah governorate with power chargers to provide light in case of power outages.  For the above mentioned reasons, the association distributed these chargers to 180 households in rural and marginalized areas in Rafah governorate.

Burj Al Luq Luq Social center
Project: Refurbishing the Faisal Husseini Library
Founded: 2009
Location: Burj Al Luq Luq Social Center

The project was to refurbish the Faisal Husseini Library with new books, CDs, DVDs and equipment, to sensitize inhabitants about reading books, and to organize cultural and social activities for children, youth and adults.

DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival (DC-PFAF)
Project: 2012 Annual DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival
Founded: 2011
Location: Washington, DC

This year’s events were hosted in a variety of venues to attract a variety of audiences just as was done last year, including the Landmark E St. Cinema, Busboys and Poets, and the George Mason University campus. Unlike in 2011, films were screened throughout the weekend this year, allowing the festival to attract more people and have multiple screenings throughout the day.

Hawwa Center
Project: Household Economy Project
Founded: 2002
Location: Nablus

The Nablus governate is suffering a great deal from the Israeli measures represented by the checkpoints and the imposed siege, which separate the villages from Nablus city, making it difficult for the farmers and inhabitants of these villages to get consultation, guidance, cultural, and marketing services. One of the major problems caused by the Israeli siege is the difficulty of transportation, a major obstacle facing agricultural development and related projects. This makes product marketing difficult, causing numerous projects to be shut down and leads to the misuse of the precious land and its natural resources.

These obstacles put the rural areas in a unenviable status, becoming fully dependent on the harvest season, which often ruined by the Israeli measures by denying them from accessing the market.

This project rehabilitates Palestinian families in selected areas in the Nablus governate to realize and achieve a well-managed household economy using available resources in efficient and hygienic ways. These include house gardens, food production and preservation, mushroom production, and raising and breeding livestock and honey bees to achieve food security and self-sufficiency.

Siraj Al-Quds School and Kindergarten of Nur Alain Society for the Blind
Project: Improving Siraj Al-Quds School infrastructure and educational environment.
Founded: 2004
Location: Jerusalem

The Siraj Al-Quds organization, like other organizations in Jerusalem, worked to improve its infrastructure and delivered services in order to meet the needs of its students and target groups. The project improved the learning and living environment of the students, improved the playground, renovated the bathrooms, outside stairs, and provided stationery and educational materials.

Edward Said National Conservatory
Project: Tunes of Hope musical program for Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon
Founded: 1997
Project location: Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon

The Conservatory works to sharpen the musical talent of children living in the refugee camps. They chose children to participate in a music workshop in collaboration with the National Lebanese Musical Conservatory. 65 students were chosen out of 300 to attend the music workshop in the Bermana Lebanese school. A grant from The Jerusalem Fund provided musical instruments for the workshop and also financial assistance to those in need. 45 of the students went on to join the Lebanese Music Institute. This allowed Palestinian children to experience a positive environment and provided an escape from the cruel conditions that rob them of childhood.
               
Water Resource Action Project, Inc. (WRAP)
Project: Pilot rain collection system and environmental dducation
Founded: 2009
Location: West Bank, Palestine

A grant from The Jerusalem Fund funded the installation of a rainwater collection system and a related environmental education program at the Walajeh Co-Educational Basic School. The Walajeh Co-Ed School is in the village of al Walajeh, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, in Area C.  It was built in 2007, has 319 students in grades one through nine, and 19 teachers.  While WRAP has successfully undertaken rain collection system installations in East Jerusalem, this was be WRAP’s first project in the West Bank.  The system is necessary since this school does not have sufficient water during parts of the year when there is little rainfall and alternative water sources are unreliable or expensive. 

Al Nahda Group
Project: Training Women to Make Clothes
Founded:  2007
Location: Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip

A grant from The Jerusalem Fund helped low income women who do not have a source of income to attend a clothes making seminar. This seminar may create jobs for those women to generate income by either making clothes of fixing clothes. Clothes produced in the training were distributed to local families at a discounted cost. The first phase worked with 20 low income women.

Al Quds Charitable Society
Project: Embroidery – sewing and handicraft
Founded: 2007
Location:  Shufat Camp, Jerusalem

This project brought together women in need of physical, mental and economic rehabilitation, to learn practical sewing and embroidery skills, to concentrate on simple manual work, to enjoy sociability, and to earn an income from selling their products.

Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
Project: Strategic policy analysis and outreach
Founded: 2009
Location: Washington, DC

This project enabled Al-Shabaka to produce strategic policy analysis on four issues of vital concern to the Palestinian people in 2012, and expanded its outreach to communicate Palestinian perspectives on strategy and policy to larger audiences in the West, within Palestine and in the Arab region.  The project has two main elements: strategic policy analysis based on exclusive research, and expanded outreach through a website upgrade.

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation- Habilitation Preschool
Project: Parent’s Information Booklet on autism
Founded: 1974
Location: Beirut, Lebanon

Parent’s Information Booklet is a project that publishes information booklets for families of children with a disability. It presents information in Arabic so that disability issues are accessible to parents and interested people. Booklets are published annually and distribute free of charge to parents. The present booklet talks about Autism, its definition, causes, symptoms and treatments. Habilitation Preschool has already published 13 information booklets in the past ten years.

Ibn Khaldoun Society for Community Development (IKSCD)
Project: Desalination plant; drinking water based on reverse osmosis for children in elementary school
Founded: 2012
Location: Biet Lahia, Northern Gaza

The Gaza Strip in general suffers from a scarcity of safe drinking water. Schools especially lack safe drinking water, which causes many diseases and health problems for children and students. This project sets up a desalination plant to produce 12 cubic meters of drinking water per day according to the health specifications of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Palestinian Friendship Center for Development (PFCD)
Project title: Children are the Future
Founded: 1996
Location: Gaza City

One of the programs is educational, primarily working with students that are struggling in school and come from disadvantaged families. The center has many programs geared toward improving the skills of young children in technology, Arabic language, mathematics, and physical education. The students were able to improve their mathematics skills and gain hands-on training in computer and internet use. The Jerusalem Fund grant allowed the center to extend its services to more students who are in need, enriching the Palestinian community as a whole by stressing math and science.

Antonian Charitable Society of Bethlehem
Project: Antonian Society emergency assistance
Founded: 2002
Location: Bethlehem

The Antonian Society brings together and serves senior citizens, men and women, in the Bethlehem governate and provides them with healthcare. Due to the need for a place for senior citizens to be comfortable, this project will provide the elderly with the essentials and healthy food. The project’s aim is to cover the expenses of the food and non-food items of the residents in order to cover their running costs during the three months of the project implementation. The project will cover the basic food items and energy for the radiators since the winter season is about to approach.


American Friends of UNRWA
Project: Emergency school aid in Gaza
Founding: 2005
Location: Khan Younis Elementary School, Gaza

UNRWA’s Gaza Emergency School Feeding Program (ESF) is part of UNRWA’s larger 2012 Emergency Appeal to protect and support the most vulnerable Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank and Gaza. In Gaza where the Israeli blockade has entered its sixth year, the economy has almost completely collapsed, fishing waters and agricultural land are nearly inaccessible, and 95 percent of water there is not clean enough to drink; the population has become severely malnourished. Many kids go to school hungry; some have headaches; others faint in class. Hunger has caused many students to miss school altogether. To mitigate the socio-economic circumstances that create barriers to learning, funding received through ESF was used to provide a daily meal to 3,859 students for 104 school days at Khan Younis Elementary School. The provision of a daily meal ensures that all students have had at least one nutritious meal per day, encouraging academic achievement, and alleviating the economic burden on families.

Boarding Section of Talitha Kumi
Project: Student and family joint Christmas party/ Provision of educational tools to the boarding section's students
Location: Beit Jala

Talitha Kumi strives to foster peace and mutual understanding. They believe education is key to overcoming conflict and violence, and hence crucial to peace-building. The project aims to give the students a future by providing a superior education.

Future Association for Culture and Development
Project: A big charger lights
Founding: 2005
Location: Al Shoka Area, Gaza

This project focuses on helping people in Rafah area because most of the families of the Gaza strip suffer from difficult economic situations and long periods of power outages. The project helps distribute large charger lights for needy families.

Visualizing Palestine (VP)
Project: Water (animation)
Location: West Bank Palestine

VP’s Water animation aims to bring together the facts on injustices imposed on Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. The water animation length, visual/storytelling strategy and use of audio will be capped at 4-5 minutes. Visualizing Palestine’s mission is to create visual stories for social justice based on data from globally respected Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations, academic institutions and other official sources. It works on a range of topics such as education (the impact of the Gaza siege on education), prisoners and administrative detention, child injustices, economy of aid, and water to name a few. Each theme is developed into infographics and Animations published on Visualizing Palestine’s website (www.visualizingpalestine.org) and social media. The infographics are licensed as Creative Commons and have been republished by sites such as Electronic Intifada.

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2011 Grantees

Arab Women's Union of Ramallah
Project: Renovation of plumbing of nursing home for the elderly
Founded: 1956
Location: Ramallah

The nursing home for the elderly in Ramallah was in desperate need of significant renovation. Faulty pipes leaked, flooding contaminated waste water throughout the building and the street. The Jerusalem Fund extended a grant to undertake the renovations, providing a safer and healthier environment for the nursing home’s residents and neighboring community. This new plumbing system has prevented unnecessary exposure to contaminated waste water among elderly residents and has helped reduce illnesses in this already at-risk population.

El-Nahda Association for Development and Growth (NADG)
Project: Locally Grown Produce for families in need
Founded: 2007
Location: Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip

El-Nahda has implemented a program to counter food uncertainty by providing locally grown vegetables (tomatoes, eggplants, lemon, cabbage, carrots, onions and potatoes) to families in need. The Jerusalem Fund's partners at El-Nahda have identified 100 low-income families numbering over 1,000 people to receive this crucial aid. This project also helps the local farmers by purchasing their produce on a weekly basis, and directly benefits the local economy by keeping the flow of money locally in the community.

Siraj Al-Quds and Nur Al-Ain
Project: Developing the Resources Center for the Blind and Special Needs Students
Founded: 2004
Location: East Jerusalem

Nuralain School developed its infrastructure to deliver services to this targeted group of under-serviced students. The school needed to expand and improve its Resource Center to be able to introduce new services and accommodate more blind students in need. Through your donations, The Jerusalem Fund aided in the renovations of the school by purchasing new assistive tools, furniture and computers which enabled them to offer new rehabilitation courses, therapy sessions and computer training to their students. Such improved services will enhance the school's capacity and ability to deal with the many educational and behavioral challenges that its students encounter.

The Palestinian Solar & Sustainable Energy Society (PSSES)
Project: The PSSES uses solar power systems to provide electricity to rural schools
Founded: 2008
Location: Al-Fakhit - Hebron

Al-Fakhit is a Palestinian village located at the southern tip of the West Bank. The village falls in Area C, an Israeli-administered area hardest hit by the occupation, and is left off of electric and water grids. This particular area has been declared a closed military zone, so even fewer resources reach the villagers. The solar power systems will provide electricity for isolated schools in the village and improve the learning environment for its children. These systems will save up to 70 megawatt/hours per year and will decrease the 45 tons of carbon per year released into the atmosphere through generators.

Ayyam Zaman Center
Project: Youth Development program “Scout Group Development"
Founded: 2004
Location: Kufr Ni’mah, Ramallah

Ayyam Zaman’s Scout group was established in 2008 and registered at Palestinian Boy Scouts & Girls Guides Association in 2009. Starting with 25 boys and girls, its members now total 120. This project provided the scout group with much-needed instruments that will enable this sole scouting group to strengthen and increase its capacity to carry out more activities according to scout law and methods, and reinforce positive roles for youth living under occupation.

El-Lid Charitable Society
Founded: 1998
Project: Informal Education Summer Camp
Location: Nablus and North West Bank

A grant from The Jerusalem Fund Humanitarian Link enabled El-Lid Charitable Society to conduct its informal community classes for students who need more assistance and support in school. 150 young high school students, both boys and girls, met at least twice a week at El-Lid Training & Human Capacity Development Center in order to take important classes (such as English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry) and discuss  how to improve their future academically. Such tutoring allows students who come from low income households to pass their final general examination with higher grades that qualify them for better colleges.

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation - Habilitation Preschool
Project: Occupational Therapy Workshop: Administrative & Kitchen Appliances. Habilitation: Educational Kit
Founded: 1974
Location: Mar Elias Camp, Beirut- Lebanon

The Carpentry Workshop is open 6 days a week and during regular and summer vacations. Due to overuse, there was a need for newkitchen appliances to keep the workshop functioning. In addition, a need arose for a computer set to enable the Carpenter to archive all his work – from financial matters to the stock and design of the Assistive Devices. In the Habilitation Section of the Preschool, the Speech Therapy section is in need of an assessment and educational kit that provides computerized learning for children with learning and perceptual difficulties. With interactive activities with sound, animation and video, the kit contains practice quizzes, worksheets, writing activities and games in several languages. Through a grant from The Jerusalem Fund, the GKC was able to continue a long- standing educational program to provide assistance to refugee families with children who continue to suffer from cerebral palsy and other muscular disabilities.

Burj Al Luq Luq Social Centre
Founded: 1991
Project:  Refurbishing the library with books, tables, chairs.
Location: Jerusalem-Old City

Burj Al Luq Luq Social Centre library offers about 3000 books mostly in Arabic, making it the city’s most accessible library. The newspapers and magazines attract many adults, especially women. The library’s after-school educational support program is very successful and popular with the city’s youth, with the grades of those students participating improving dramatically. Many children and youth participate in art and competitive activities. However, as demands for services grow, the need to expand the library and provide more chairs is great. Your support to the Jerusalem Fund encouraged us to extend a grant to this library and allow the youth to spend their leisure time in a constructive, healthy and positive way. 

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy-MIFTAH
Founded: 2003
Project:  Developing Public Services at Palestinian Marginalized Areas.
Location: Village of Jiftlek in the Jordan Valley

Due to its location in Area C – amidst the Separation Barrier, checkpoints, and settlements – Jiftlek is an isolated community vulnerable to displacement; the village is also deprived of services and economic livelihood. Very few interventions in similar target communities have been registered.  This project was implemented in concert with the local committee composed of the local residence of the village of Jiftlek. The community saw that there’s a need for a public park that will serve the majority of the Jiftlek residents, especially the children and women, who face difficulty in accessing safe, open public areas. Thus, The Jerusalem Fund funded MIFTAH to launch this project that will help make life easier for residents of this marginalized community. 

Burj Al Luq Luq Social Centre
Founded: 1991
Project:  Refurbishing the Faisal Husseini Library.
Location: Jerusalem-Old City

Refurbishing the Faisal Husseini Library with new books, CDs, DVDs and equipment, sensitizes inhabitants about reading books and organizing cultural and social activities for children, youth and adults. This project ameliorates the social and living condition of Bab al Hutta neighborhood and the old city of Jerusalem through cultural and socio-educative activities. The goal is to involve the local community in the activities of the center. Focusing on reading and learning, refurbishing the library with new books, magazines  and DVDs, as well as introducing various activities, will rise their interest in literature, the arts and theatre. This project was funded by the Jerusalem Fund because it strengthens the sense of personal identity and helps people to express and release themselves from the violent situation that characterizes east Jerusalem.

The Committee for the Advancement of Arab Education- Haifa
Project: "A Dignified Start"- supplying school bags for disadvantaged Palestinian children in Haifa.
Founded: 2001
Location: The city of Haifa

The Committee for the Advancement of Arab Education in Haifa (CAAEH) proposed to purchase new backpacks and distribute them to 250 children from low-income families in Haifa. As a result of ongoing discrimination and disregard at both the state and municipal levels, more than 60 percent of Arab children are living in poverty in Israel; moreover, 50% of Arab children in the city of Haifa are poverty-stricken. The backpacks will contain essential, age-appropriate school supplies for students entering the first through eighth grades. This charitable assistance program not only extends local Palestinian families a helpful hand-up at a challenging time of the year, but also provides the staff and board of the CAAEH an important opportunity to engage parents and students at the outset of the fall semester. This allows students and parents to better ascertain their needs so as to formulate effective strategies needed to advocate their rights throughout the academic year. A Jerusalem Fund grant supplied 250 Palestinian pupils an equal starting point for this school year, providing school bags, uniforms and other basic accessories.

The Hope Flowers School
Project: Equipping the Occupational Therapy and Physio-therapy rooms to serve children with disabilities at Hope Flowers School
Founded: 1984
Location: The city of Bethlehem

Having successfully integrated students with learning disabilities since 2005, Hope Flowers School (HFS) is looking to extend and develop its integration program by bringing in students with physical disabilities and promoting their rights in society. The school is also looking to be a center of excellence for supporting students with physical and learning disabilities. To make this possible, the school needs to necessary educational, rehabilitation and sport resources and must develop a physical environment that serves to integrate students with disabilities. Funds from the Jerusalem Fund helped build an extra wing to the school building, complete with a large new elevator.

MÉDITERRANÉE SOLIDARITÉ
Founded: 2008
Project:  Joinery courses & creation of a joiner’s workshop.  Occupational integration of young adults in trouble (unemployed, disabled…).
Location: Khan-Younis Gaza Strip

The training aims to give the basic techniques in joinery, to open a joiner’s workshop and to hire a young adult. The program is planned in the following way:  a theoretical part and a practical part on how to make furniture. Participants must be unemployed, have a physical handicap, live in the governorate of Khan-Yunis, be more than 16 years old and have a diploma of first degree. The training teaches participants how to find work within small firms producing wooden articles or  any other  product that requires the skills developed during this training. At the end of the training, a person will be hired, for a year, to create a joiner’s workshop in the MAMED center and complement the offer of existing services. Funding from the Jerusalem Fund went toward the purchase of a set of tools: hand tools (measuring & control instrumentation, surfacing & emery tools, sawing & cutting tools, trimming and chiseling tools, screwing tools, hammering & dislocating tools…) and carpentry electric devices (portable electric carpentry devices, fixed electric carpentry machines).

The Beit Ommar Center for Freedom and Justice
Founded: 2010
Project:  Computer Lab for the Beit Ommar Library and Youth Center
Location: Beit Ommar, Hebron

The Beit Ommar Library and Youth Center provides a needed service in the village. However, as every- day needs require a computer and internet connection, patrons of the library –mostly students working on research – are in need of computers. The rural students in the Hebron and Bethlehem districts of the West Bank lack internet access in agricultural communities. This lack has caused rural students to fall behind their urban peers, putting them at a severe disadvantage when forced to compete for college admission and the local job market. The Jerusalem Fund secured a grant to help the youth fulfill their academic potential. The computer lab will give them tools to overcome the obstacles they face, and to break the cycle of rural disadvantage.
   
American Friends of UNRWA
Founded: 2005
Project:  Emergency School Feeding in Gaza
Location: Gaza Strip

This project will support UNRWA’s Gaza Emergency Program, which provides the poorest and most vulnerable Palestine refugees in Gaza with essential humanitarian assistance, most notably through life-sustaining food aid.  The project will specifically address the needs of Gaza’s school children, who continue to suffer from a deteriorating socio-economic environment characterized by poverty and conflict.  In the children’s daily life, this translates to acute food insecurity, lack of material resources to support their education, and often times a difficult learning environment at home which can contribute to poor academic performance.  This project will provide daily meals to 3,859 students for a period of 104 school days. The Jerusalem Fund supported this project because the provision of a daily meal ensures that all students have had at least one nutritious meal per day, encouraging academic achievement, and alleviating the burden on families suffering from the negative impact of deepening poverty.

Sunbula
Founded: 1996
Project:  Capacity Building Support for Small-scale Craft Producers in Palestine
Location: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah

This project will provide small-scale craft producer groups with various equipment for improving their production and operational capacity. Small-scale craft producer groups in Palestine serve the most economically marginalized, such as women, refugees, and people with disabilities.  Based in local communities, these groups provide some of the most accessible income-generating opportunities for those without employable skills, particularly women who, often times having married young and who are now responsible for large families, can’t afford education. Small-scale craft producers usually operate on a shoe-string budget that is barely enough to cover their day-to-day operational needs. The Jerusalem Fund believes in Sunbula’s mission: working as a fair trade organization with the mandate to support small-scale producers, working to respond to this challenge by offering training and, on occasion, obtaining grants on their behalf.
 
Teach for Palestine
Founded: 2011
Project:  Capacity Building Support for Small-scale Craft Producers in Palestine
Location: Nablus and surrounding areas

Teach for Palestine (TFP) is a project that will address the educational needs of the poorest and most at-risk youth in Nablus and the surrounding areas in the West Bank. There will be six locations for the project; these locations have been chosen based on community demand for classes, availability of dedicated partner organizations, and the explicit marginalization of the community within Nablus as a whole. All classes will be centralized primarily in the community centers within the six locations. 

Teach for Palestine will place native English speakers at teaching sites throughout the Nablus governorate and will provide teaching experience and one month of in-depth TFP training. Teachers will be expected to stay with the organization for the full academic year. In addition to teaching, it will be their responsibility to assist with ongoing projects at there respective sites. The Jerusalem Fund supported this project because of its multiplier affect.

WATER RESOURCE ACTION PROJECT, INC. (WRAP)
Founded: 2009
Project:  Expansion/Completion of the Rainwater Collection System at Sur Baher Girls School, East Jerusalem
Location: East Jerusalem

WRAP, in cooperation with partners, finished construction of its first rain collection system at the Sur Baher Girls School in East Jerusalem last year. The system includes 1 collecting tank and 9 (1,500 liter) storage tanks which serve the bathroom on the opposite side of the building.  The system collects rainwater that runs off the roof and sidewalks of the school into the 9 tanks, and has the capacity to collect and store 13,500 liters of water that is used for flushing toilets (the largest use of water in a school), greatly reducing the school's municipal water usage and the costs to it.  The current system, however, does not cover the entire roof, so a significant amount of rainwater is lost. Furthermore, it does not serve all of the bathrooms.  The Jerusalem Fund grant will help add three more storage tanks (making the total capacity 18,000 liters) and two more collecting barrels with submerged pumps; this will include water lines and labor to provide water to the toilets in two additional bathrooms. 

Cultural Projects

Promoting Palestinian culture is essential to maintaining ownership over our narrative and breaking down stereotypes. Our programs and partnerships raise awareness and reach out to the global Palestinian community, while keeping the culture alive for generations to come.
This year, The Jerusalem Fund sponsored the DC Film Festival and the Boston Film Festival, showcasing the very best Arab and Palestinian films. We were thrilled to support The Edward Said National Conservatory Orchestra and the Danadeesh Dance group in their six-city American tour.

The Fund also sponsored "Tears of Gaza," a heart-wrenching film about the Israeli military’s offensive on Gaza. In Texas, we sponsored the first Houston Palestine Cultural Festival, where locals enjoyed discovering the wonderful variety that Palestinian culture has to offer.
In Olympia, Washington, we helped make the "Break The Silence" mural a reality. This was part of a sister city project between Rafah, Gaza and the city of Olympia, the home of late American activist Rachel Corrie.

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2010 Grantees

Nurseen, Society for Women and Children Development
Project: Vocational Training for Marginalized Arab Women, Residents of East Jerusalem
Founded: 2009
Location: East Jerusalem

Due to elevated Israeli harassment of the Arab residents of the city and circumstances beyond their control, the socio-economic conditions of Arab residents of East Jerusalem have been deteriorating while unemployment is on the rise. While it is becoming increasingly acceptable and feasible for women to work vocationally from home and sell their products to earn some income, not all women have the resources they need to do so.

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation- Habilitation Preschool
Project: Habilitation Preschool Maintenance
Founded: 1986
Location: Mar Elias Camp, Beirut- Lebanon

Having a safe and a healthy space where disabled children learn to cope with their condition is crucial to the work of Habilitation Preschool. The old building foundations lacked basic and necessary measures that will ensure a safe and good living environment. Although maintenance was carried on in previous years, little can be done about water leakage, wall cracks, humidity, electricity shortages and ventilation have not been treated well. Creating unsafe environment for the children and staff due to the high humidity rate, which materialized in “water pools” forced the staff to stop implementing interventions programs and techniques for lack of space and the wearing of the material. Basic maintenance to address the building problems were made possible by a grant for the Jerusalem Fund and the preschool now is able to carry out its mission in serving children.

Donkey saddle projects
Project: Global Theatrical Call to Action: There is a Field
Founded: 2008
Location: Cities all over the world, including but not limited to: Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Toronto, London, Jerusalem, Haifa, Boston, Melbourne, Beirut.

This October marks the ten-year anniversary of what Palestinians inside Israel refer to as “Black October.” As the second Intifada erupted in the West Bank and Gaza, demonstrations also began in Arab villages inside Israel. In October 2000, twelve Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in these demonstrations by Israeli security forces. One of those killed was a seventeen-year old boy named Aseel Asleh. Aseel had been a participant in a peace program called Seeds of Peace. He was wearing his Seeds of Peace t-shirt at the time of his killing and was buried in it. A play called There is a Field, about Aseel’s life and his death, through the perspective of Aseel’s older sister, Nardeen. The play also addresses the larger issues facing Palestinians inside Israel, which are rarely addressed or acknowledged. With a combination of fully mounted productions, staged readings, and “living room readings.” Donkeysaddle projects' combats inhumanity through exposing the humanity of those who have been marginalized and oppressed, through platforms such as writing, film and theatre.

Burj Alluqluq Social center
Project: Refurbishing the Faisal Husseini Library
Founded: 2002
Location: Burj Alluqluq Social Center

The Faisal Husseini Library was established in 2003 and to date, the library has approx 3000 books mostly Arabic. Since there are very few libraries in the Old City of Jerusalem is an important source for city residents especially children. Though the city’s population is rather large, the library patrons are mostly young we also need to attract all people. The library needed to expand its shelve space and study area as the interest grows. The library’s drive to double the number of books and recruit new members has been successful. The Jerusalem Fund helped Burj Alluqluq, one of the few Palestinian charities in Jerusalem to expand their library and acquire a copy scan machine. Therefore we have a need to increase the number of shelves tables and also we need a copy/scan machine and recruit new volunteers and learners.

Ahali Rafah Charitable Association
Project: Winter warm campaign
Founded: 2000
Location: Rafah, Gaza
This project focuses on helping affected people in Rafah area at the beginning of the winter season as most of the Palestinian families suffer from dire economical situation, frequent power outage and fuel shortage. Making winters cold brutal especially on children. The project will help bring some warmth to a number of families that has lost their homes. The Jerusalem Fund grant will distribute blankets on more than 100 poor families who affected in the last war in Gaza strip.

Al Nahda Association for Development and Growth (NADG)
Project: To provide food packages for poor families
Founded: 2007
Location: Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip

With the continuing Israel siege on Gaza and increased economic hardship, high unemployment and crumbling economy. The project will achieve many goals which will provide for poor families suffering from the blockade imposed on Gaza. During this military campaign, many families could not provide for their children. The recent statistics of the United Nations reports 80 percent poverty rate in the Gaza Strip—the highest it has ever been. The Jerusalem fund gave a grant to distribute food packages on the poorest families as identified by our local partners. Each family received a package of flour, cooking oil, canned meat, chicken stock, rice and tea to help alleviate some of the suffering.

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation - Habilitation Preschool
Project: Family Intervention Program: Information Booklets
Founded: 1974
Location: Mar Elias Camp, Beirut- Lebanon

The goal of this project was to provide strategies and assistance to families struggling to care for their special needs children and to impart knowledge to their community about children living with special needs. The Jerusalem Fund has a long-standing relationship with the Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation. Since the habilitation preschool is the sole center of its kind within the Palestinian communities in Lebanon, education plays a significant part in promoting healthy families and training new physical therapists and specialists to treat children with a wide variety of special needs. Through a grant from The Jerusalem Fund, the GKC was able to continue a long- standing educational program to provide assistance to refugee families with children who continue to suffer from cerebral palsy and other muscular disabilities.

Jabalia Rehabilitation Society (hereinafter referred as JRS)
Project: Activities for Disabled Children at Northern Governorate
Founded: 1995
Location: Northern Governorate

The aftermath of the war saw a dramatic increase in the number of children with physical and mental disabilities and a continued lack of resources to treat and rehabilitate Gaza's youngest victims. Through a grant from The Jerusalem Fund, the Jabalia Rehabilitation Society was able to hold its "Smile of Hope" summer activities camp. During the summer, the Jabalia Rehabilitation Society provided hundreds of disabled children ages 6-16 with space, equipment and the opportunity to play. Through various activities, The "Smile of Hope" summer camp focused on highlighting the children’s' abilities and not disabilities. The camp offered the children a chance to enjoy being in a social environment where they could meet new friends suffering from similar problems and fears, while equipping them with functional skills to increase their self-sufficiency. One of the most valuable benefits of the camp, however, was the increased awareness in the local community of these children with disabilities.

Break the Silence Mural and Art Project
Project: A Tale of Two Cities: The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project, The Legacy of Rachel Corrie
Founded: 2006
Location: Rafah, Gaza, Palestine and Olympia, Washington, USA and online

“A Tale of Two Cities~ The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project- The Legacy of Rachel Corrie” is an inter-disciplinary, interactive public art project that builds community and illustrates the interrelatedness of oppressions that are usually seen as disparate. The project aims to make visible how the occupation of Palestine is not an isolated anomaly; but rather plays a pivotal role globally and is a product of the same forces that have created other oppressions and inequities worldwide. “A Tale of Two Cities” builds and develops the theme of “Polyphony and Counterpoint” a Break the Silence Project funded by the Jerusalem Fund in 2008. “A Tale of Two Cities” consists of two sister city murals: One in Olympia WA where Rachel Corrie was born and the other in Rafah where she was crushed to death by an Israeli driven bulldozer while trying to protect the Gaza home of a Palestinian doctor and his family. The project in part will be an exploration of the relationship between these two locations, which are now inextricably linked.

The Committee for the Advancement of Arab Education- Haifa
Project: "Every Child Deserves to Start the School Year Respectfully"- supplying school bags for disadvantaged Palestinian children in Haifa.
Founded: 2001
Location: The city of Haifa

The Committee works to advance the Arab education in Haifa. As a result of an ongoing discrimination and disregard at both the state and Municipality levels, more than 60 percent off Arab children are living in poverty in Israel; moreover 50% of Arab children in the city of Haifa are poverty-stricken. The children's poor conditions drastically affect their schooling, their inability to afford basic school supplies prevent them from fully participating in school and suffer from the stigma of being different than other well-to-do students. This project was initiated in 2006 and the Jerusalem Fund has given to this project in previous years. This year is no different, A Jerusalem Fund grant supplied 200 Palestinian pupils were given an equal starting point for this school year, providing school bags, uniforms and other basic accessories.

Ibn-Khaldoun Society For Community Development
Project: Capacity building for kindergarten governess
Founded: 2002
Location: Northern Gaza District

No one discredits the importance of education for children, and further, the significance of providing a solid educational foundation especially during the formative years. Many Gaza kindergartens, however, are not meeting the needs of their students and cannot provide the resources the teachers need to adequately provide a foundational education for the children.

El-Lid Charitable Society
Project: Students Awareness, Educational & Training Courses
Founded: 1998
Location: Nablus, West Bank

A grant from the Jerusalem Fund Humanitarian Link enabled El-Lid Charitable Society to conduct its informal community classes for students who need more assistance and support in school. Tutoring was offered to 5th -12th graders at the El-Lid campus three times a week by 20 teachers from the local community who were seeking more experience and covered such subjects as English, Math, Chemistry, Physics, and Arabic. Food and refreshments were provided daily, and because the children came from different regions of the governorate, transportation was provided for all. El-Lid also offered many field trips for the students and classes in computer proficiency. The high school students also met twice a week to discuss their academic futures with advisors and all participating children were offered professional, psychosocial support. The grant from the Jerusalem Fund also gave local women in the community the opportunity to learn invaluable computer skills.

El-Nahda Association
Founded:
Location: Northern Gaza District

The goal for El-Nahda Association was to identify 150 low-income families with toddlers. A grant from The Jerusalem Fund allowed for the purchase and distribution of health kits which included four cans of baby formula, shampoo, baby powder, diapers, ointment for skin treatment and a toy. Initiatives such as these increase the capacity of local organizations to meet the needs of the people of Gaza, especially the children.

Ayyam Zaman Center
Project: Supporting Ayam Zaman Social Activities "Capacity Building"
Founded: 2004
Location: Kufr Ni’mah, Ramallah

The Ayam Zaman Center, based in a village outside of Ramallah, provides social and cultural activities for youth in the region. They lacked the capacity to expand much needed programs that work to protect Palestinian cultural heritage and create safe activities for children. A grant from The Jerusalem Fund allowed the center to expand their reach and increase their activities within their village and accommodate more Palestinian children in their activities. They seek to fulfill an expansion plan in 2010 to increase its membership and serve more people in suburban Ramallah.

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2009 Grantees

El-Lid Charitable Society
Founded: 1998
Project: Informal Education Summer Camp
Location: Nablus and North West Bank

A grant from The Jerusalem Fund Humanitarian Link enabled El-Lid Charitable Society to conduct its informal community classes for students who need more assistance and support in school. Tutoring was offered to 5th -12th graders at the El-Lid campus three times a week by 20 teachers from the local community who were seeking more experience and covered such subjects as English, Math, Chemistry, Physics and Arabic. Food and refreshments were provided daily, and because the children came from different regions of the governorate, transportation was provided for all. El-Lid also offered many field trips for the students and classes in computer proficiency. The high school students also met twice a week to discuss their academic futures with advisors and all participating children were offered professional, psychosocial support. The grant from The Jerusalem Fund also gave local women in the community the opportunity to learn invaluable computer skills. 

Al-Khader Charitable Child Care Society
Founded: 1999
Project: Summer Camp for Children with/without Special Needs
Location: Al-Khader Old City

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, Al-khader Society was able to hold an integrated summer camp for children with and without special needs, to give them the opportunity to meet, play and share activities together. This kind of annual summer camp helps to integrate children with special needs in schools and in their community among their peers. The activities the kids participate in include art, music, sports, drama and children's rights education.

Al Basma Club for Disabled
Founded: 2005
Project: Engage Women and Children with Disabilities in Recreational Activities
Location: Gaza Strip

The Jerusalem Fund was happy to continue supporting the Al Basma Club for the Disabled [ABCD] this year as it became an oasis for many disabled people – particularly women and children – after the war on Gaza. It is clear that the number of persons with disabilities has been notably increased. The ABCD set a strategic plan to include women with disabilities in its activities because there is not a place for these women to take part in recreational activities. In addition, children with disabilities are given an environment to relieve stress and play sports with other children experiencing the same trauma.

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation - Habilitation Preschool
Founded: 1974
Project: Purchase Tricycles to Encourage Children with Multiple Disabilities to Exercise
Location: Lebanon

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation - Habilitation Preschool offers daily motor skills exercises to children with multiple disabilities (mainly those with cerebral palsy) to keep the muscles elastic and to decrease spasticity in their muscles. Children usually dread physical therapy and may learn to avoid it but this center finds a motive for the child to enjoy their treatment through play.  The Jerusalem Fund helped provide tricycles which are the best mode to encourage motor activities for children with cerebral palsy.  It enhances their equilibrium, moves the joints of the upper and lower extremities and teaches them how to maneuver into space thereby developing their praxis (motor planning) and the relation of their body to the space surrounding them. These tricycles have been specially designed for children with disabilities and can be adjusted according to the condition of the children worked with.

Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation
Founded: 1998
Project: Train Nurses to Study Midwifery
Location: Bethlehem

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Holy Family Hospital will be able to send four nurses to attend the University of Bethlehem on a four-year program of study in midwifery. The Direct Entry Midwifery Program leads to an undergraduate degree in midwifery that will qualify the students to practice their specialty either in the Holy Family Hospital or elsewhere in the region. Midwives are major healthcare workers in the Holy Family Hospital and are the primary health care providers for patients that do not require the care of an obstetrician.  Unfortunately, there is a longstanding shortage of qualified midwives in the West Bank.  The Holy Family Hospital has begun to remedy the shortage through its collaboration with the University of Bethlehem.

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2008 Grantees

Al Basma Club for the Disabled
Founded: 2005
Project: Engaging Persons with Disabilities in Sports
Location: Gaza Strip

Due to the increasing number of persons with disabilities in the Gaza Strip, the Al Basma Club board set up a new strategy to include the maximum number of persons with disabilities in recreation and sports. The new strategy includes designing new sports such as sitting volleyball and power-lifting to allow more people with disabilities to take part in an active lifestyle. With the help of The Jerusalem Fund, this project will help those who already participate and encourage new ones to take part in the sports rehabilitation program.

Al-Shorok Association
Founded: 2001
Project: Assist Students with Learning Disabilities
Location: Gaza Strip

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Al-Shorok initiative developed the capabilities of 168 students between first and sixth grade in three fields:  Arabic, Mathematics and English.  Most of the students who enrolled in the initiative currently have learning difficulties and score academically behind their peers. Each student was offered three therapeutic sessions a week per course and every session lasted 40 minutes.  This project is in response to recent UNRWA statistics that revealed that the percentage of kids with learning difficulties has reached an alarming rate.

Burj Al Luq Luq Social Centre
Founded: 1991
Project:  Psychological, Social and Cultural Support for Youth.
Location: Jerusalem-Old City

This project’s objective is to form a supportive framework for children and youth on a psychological, social and cultural level. It targets youth anywhere between seven and 24 years of age. The project seeks to empower youth from poor socio-economic backgrounds with psychosocial counseling, but also helps them discover their creative talents through cultural and artistic courses.  It encourages them to spend their leisure time in a constructive, healthy and positive way.

Committee for the Advancement of Arab Education in Haifa
Founded: 2001
Project: School Supplies for Palestinian Children in Haifa
Founded: Haifa

The Committee for the Advancement of Arab Education in Haifa supplied disadvantaged students with school supplies.  As a result of an ongoing discrimination and disregard at both the state and municipality levels, over 60 percent of Arab children are living in poverty in Israel.  Moreover 50 percent of Arab children in the city of Haifa are poverty-stricken. The children's poor conditions drastically affect their schooling and their inability to afford basic school supplies prevents them from fully participating in school. The Jerusalem Fund grant equipped 200 Palestinian pupils with an equal starting point for this school year providing school bags, uniforms and other basic accessories. 

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation- Habilitation Preschool
Founded: 1974
Project: Conducting Occupational and Physical Therapies Training
Location: Lebanon

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation- Habilitation Preschool continued to train staff as part of its strategic plan. Staff training promotes sustainability and ensures that quality service is provided for all its beneficiaries.  The preschool is specialized in education and therapy intervention for children with disabilities and their families in the Palestinian communities in Lebanon. During the current year, the director conducted a specialized training course in therapeutic techniques for intervention with children with Sensory Integration disorders. Fifteen participants from six NGOs working in the Palestinian communities attended the course. Other NGOs requested to re-conduct this course for professionals (Occupational & Physical Therapists) who weren’t able to attend. The grant from The Jerusalem Fund made it possible to offer such training that was conducted between September and November 2008 for around 20 therapists. This gave a chance for participants to have a practical insight in the implementation of the techniques that the preschool has been using since 1994.

Ibn Khaldoun Society for Community Development
Founded: 2002
Project: Renovate and Upgrade Four Gaza Kindergartens
Location: Gaza Strip

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund the Ibn Khaldoun Society for Community Development project to renovate, maintain and upgrade four Gaza kindergartens was completed.  Needs assessment and priorities were identified by the local partners’ on-site engineers and coordinators.  Letters of needs and priorities were exchanged with UNRWA, UNICEF and local institutions concerned with children. Most of the work was concentrated on improving both internal and external issues.  The properly designed and developed play areas with appropriate facilities for children will soon be in place. The children and parents feel that the quality of their educational environment has been improved.

Al-Mashghal – The Factory: Arab Centre for Arts and Culture
Founded: 2007
Project: Music and Art workshops
Location: Haifa

This project provided music and movement workshops in Arabic by a professional early childhood music educator for 24 Palestinian children between two and six years of age in Haifa. Using music elements such as rhythm, melody and movement, the workshops give the children a basic knowledge and starting point for playing different musical instruments in the future, especially traditional Arab instruments such as the qanoun and the oud. During the workshops the children gain the opportunity to express their feelings, increase self-confidence and improve their concentration. The workshops encourage social interaction between the children, their parents (strengthening the parent-child bond) and the teacher and promote extracurricular activities for children who have no other venue for pre-school, arts-based education near Haifa.

Ayam Zaman Center
Founded: 2004
Project: Ramallah Summer Camp
Location: Ramallah

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Ayam Zaman Center offered a summer camp for 150 children age seven to fourteen years-old. This summer camp included many activities like theatrical performances and educational trips to ancient places in the vicinity. They also offered cultural education by teaching dabka, singing and painting.  Ten young people age 15 to 20 attended as trainees under the supervision of camp supervisors to prepare them with the necessary skills to engage and manage children’s activities. This camp supported the children by identifying their interests and skills and encouraging them to pursue these gifts while giving them a safe environment to do so.

Beit Al Musica
Founded: 1999
Project: Arabic Music Festival
Location: Shefa-Amr

Beit Al Musica was able to continue its tradition of holding its annual music festival which was launched in 2000 as part of its Community Enrichment Program. This festival is a large-scale event that reaches more than 4,500 people yearly. It contributes to the revival of the local musical heritage and to revitalizing the cultural life of the Palestinian community through a series performances open to local and international ensembles.  The festival opens up opportunities for various musical styles, such as classical music, classical Arabic music, jazz and ethnic music. The festival annually showcases a culture that all attendees are proud of and helps refine the image of the community. 

House of Grace
Founded: 2001
Project: Tutoring for Students in Haifa
Location: Haifa

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, House of Grace’s initiative “Education for Change” targeted Arab youth who come from very deprived social backgrounds, and thus unfortunately underachieve in their academic studies. With lack of attention to their schooling from the local government and discrimination practices against them, local NGOs such as the House of Grace step in to fill in the gap. The program provides these youth with English tutoring to three groups of ten to twelve students. Tutors are students of the subject in higher education who work part-time as volunteers with their volunteer hours matched with a financial grant. This encourages responsibility, giving back to their community and volunteer values. This program also deals with other, real-life circumstances, such as drugs and physical and emotional abuse, which are dealt with by their well-qualified social worker.

Research Journalism Initiative International (RJI)
Founded: 2007
Project: Establish the Nablus Open Media Center
Location: Denver, CO

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, RJI established the Nablus Open Media Center (NOMC), a permanent media training and production resource for Palestinian journalism students. The NOMC features equipment and technical resources, production facilities, advanced media production workshops and professional career development resources for Palestinian university students.  Palestinian multimedia projects are made available to U.S. educators at no cost through RJI’s online multimedia library. Media produced at the NOMC is Palestinian student-driven, combining international best practices in journalism with personal, creative expression.  The goal is not to be a “first-to-print” newswire service, but rather to promote the educational value of honest, individual perspective and experience.

Zakira or “Memory”
Location: 2007
Project: Photography by Children of the Refugee Camps.
Location: Beirut

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, Lahza is a project in which Zakira worked with 500 children in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon creating an anti-war billboard photography campaign for the 33rd anniversary of the Lebanese civil war.  They also sponsored photo exhibits by aspiring photographers and organized archives of leading photographers in Lebanon. The kids took most of the pictures of their refugee camp as they see it and all photos were then included in a beautiful book.

Al-Quds Open University /Hebron Educational Region
Founded: 1991
Project: Training Lab for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Location: Hebron

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, Al-Quds Open University launched its blind and visually impaired training lab in the Hebron Educational Region.  Al-Quds Open University has set the precedent for the students who have visual impairments. It aims to create a new service in Hebron in order to enable the students from Al-Quds Open University and the local community to participate with their sighted peers in the field of computer technology and to benefit from the capabilities that this field offers to this sector of students.

Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF)
Founded: 1991
Project: Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF)
Location: Boston

The Boston Palestine Film Festival was able to showcase the diverse and creative work of all filmmakers (of any nationality) exploring both historic and contemporary themes related to Palestinian culture, experience and narrative. This festival features a range of compelling and thought-provoking documentaries, dramatic features, rare early works and new films by emerging artists.  These films from international directors bring an honest, self-described and independent view of Palestine and its diasporic society, culture and political travails.

Break the Silence Mural and Arts Project
Founded: 1969
Project: Public Art Project
Location: Birzeit

The Jerusalem Fund supported Polyphony and Counterpoint, which is a collaboration between the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (Palestine) and Break the Silence Mural and Arts Project (United States). For the past year the ESNCM and BTS have been planning this public art project/ mural on the façade of the ESNCM in the West Bank town of Birzeit.  The intent is to bring together an international ensemble of artists to paint in solidarity with Palestine, and in so doing, embody and envision Edward Said's ideas regarding relationships of radical humanism and music.

Chicago Palestine Film Festival
Founded: 1991
Project: Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival
Location: Chicago

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Chicago Palestine Film Festival was held in Illinois and generated media attention to the Palestinian cause. The film festival is dedicated to presenting a film festival that is open and reflective of the culture, experience and vision of the filmmakers and Palestinians.

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation- Habilitation Preschool
Founded: 1974
Project: Purchase New Tools to be used by Children with Disabilities.
Location: Lebanon

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Occupational Therapy Workshop uses material and tools in its two sections, upholstery and carpentry. Usually the foundation would buy upholstery material and keep it in stock for two years maximum for padding purposes and accessories. The grant made it possible for the foundation to purchase the necessary material. A portion of the grant was used to purchase new carpentry tools to replace the old ones. The new tools were needed to enhance the quality of the work. Most of the children with disabilities, who access the OT Workshop services, come with their families. Material used in the upholstery is usually not paid for in return. The workshops are also available to children from other local NGOs.  Training children with special needs is important for their self-esteem and their worth as their skills will help them earn a living.

Handicap & Libertés (HAL)
Founded: 1990
Project: Set up Repair Workshops for Medical Devices.
Location: France

The Jerusalem Fund supported the project "MAMED Palestine" to set up repair and maintenance workshops for medical devices such as wheelchairs, crutches and devices for hygiene. The project trained and employed excluded people (exclusion due to their disabilities and/or social and cultural origins) in the field of medical material maintenance and dispersed good-quality, second-hand medical devices to disabled people and/or organizations working with the disabled. Since there are no facilities providing repairs and maintenance of medical devices in the Gaza Strip, many medical institutions and NGOs have expressed their interest in holding such a workshop.

Hebron Youth Club
Founded:
Project: Provide a Library Where Children can Spend Leisure Time
Location: Hebron

The Jerusalem Fund supported the Hebron Youth Club [HYC] to provide a library with a good collection of books and equipment in the club.  The HYC’s mission is to help the youth in Hebron by providing them with a cultural space they can spend free time in and by providing constructive activities to engage the youth in positive thinking.  The library encourages youngsters to think about their education and a better future for themselves.

Playgrounds for Palestine
Founded: 2003
Project: Establish Ten Playgrounds in the West Bank
Location: Philadelphia

With a grant from The Jerusalem Fund, Playgrounds for Palestine was able to achieve its primary objective by working with local Palestinian municipalities and NGOs in order to establish ten playgrounds in Doma, Beit Iksa, Al-Arroub Refugee Camp, Bani Zaid, Yatta, Jerusalem, Balata Refugee Camp, Askar Refugee Camp, Jenin and Qalqilya. Playground sites are chosen on the basis of community need and feasibility. While precedence is given to those areas hit hardest by violence and oppression, actual site location is determined by where it is believed that the largest amount of children will be able to access the playground's premises safely. The goal is to provide Palestinian children residing in these areas of the West Bank with safe playgrounds where they may escape the harsh realities of their lives and play.

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2007 Grantees

Al-Quds Open University /Hebron Educational Region
Founded: 1991
Project: Library Improvements
Location: Hebron

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund the university was able to improve the library to meet the needs of the students, professors and researchers from regions all across Palestine.  This project provided the library with a good collection of books and references related to academic programs at Al-Quds Open University, in addition to other subjects of interest.

Burj Al Luq Luq Social Centre
Founded: 1991
Project: Support Program for the Developmentally Challenged
Location: Jerusalem- Old City

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, Burj Al Luq Luq Social Centre continued its service project for individuals with special needs which originally launched in 2001. This program has four main goals: First, it helps parents of the challenged to cope with their child's disability.  Second, it ensures the safety of all children in their programs and offers them a normal life.  Third, it integrates them with their community by showcasing their different abilities, and fourth, it builds up their self-confidence by bringing out some of their hidden abilities through playing sports, music, painting, dancing, and performance. This project has been well-received by the individuals with special needs and their families.

The Palestinian Friendship Center for Development
Founded: 1996
Project: Furnish and Equip Gaza kindergarten classrooms
Location: Gaza Strip

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Palestinian Friendship Center for Development [PFCD] – a youth, non-profit, community-based association – was able to use toys and playground equipment as educational tools for disabled children in three kindergarten classes at Nussirat, Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps in the Middle Area. The three refugee camps were known areas with disabled children and a lack of resources.  The PFCD conducted two workshops (the first as an inception workshop and the second as an evaluation) as well as inauguration and closing ceremonies with families and children from the community and partner kindergartens.

Union of Palestinian Women Committees
Founded: 2001
Project: Computer Training for Palestinian Women
Location: Ramallah

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, this project started a women's computer center at the Union of Palestinian Women Committee [UPWC] to train women from refugee camps in computer skills.  Many women could not continue their university studies because of financial difficulties so these courses are at a very low cost or free to the students, depending on the case.  The project also focuses on advocacy campaigns towards gender issues and helps the women find jobs after their participation in the courses.    The gender and leadership courses held by the UPWC empowered the women to take a more active role in their society and the computer classes gave them new skills to find better jobs.

Wi’am Centre for Conflict Resolution
Founded: 1949
Project: Income Improvements and Civic Awareness
Location: Bethlehem

A grant from The Jerusalem Fund helped launch the Palestinian Apprenticeship Project to increase the income of impoverished Bethlehem families through development of new skills, the creation of new jobs in the short term and the matching of individuals with potential employers in the long term.  Moreover, the project was able to strengthen civil society by providing public and private social institutions with volunteer labor to help rebuild and clean dilapidated facilities, particularly hospitals, schools, and community centers. Additionally, the project created a level of civic awareness and involvement, not only among citizens, but more importantly, among government officials.

Arab Women's Union of Ramallah
Founded: 1956
Project: Maintenance for Home of Arab Women Union of Ramallah
Location: Ramallah

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Arab Women’s Union of Ramallah was able to add an additional floor to the old building that hosts the senior home and begin needed maintenance work on the building.  The home belongs to the Arab Women's Union of Ramallah and serves senior citizens in the area — a service that few Palestinian organizations offer.

The Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation- Habilitation Preschool
Founded: 1974
Project: Purchase Sound Therapy Equipment
Location: Lebanon

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the Foundation obtained some basic administrative and training equipment that was needed for the preschool. The preschool uses sound therapy for therapeutic intervention on children with communication needs. The grant helped the school purchase two discmen, three high-quality pairs of headphones, a digital camera, a personal computer, an LCD projector and a projection screen. This equipment is used in training, which is an ongoing activity at the preschool.  This includes staff training, university student training and training of community workers from other projects working in the Palestinian community.

Popular Theatre Society for Performing and Training Arts
Founded: 2005
Project:
Location: Ramallah

The grant from The Jerusalem Fund helped fund the production activities and rehearsals that took place in the Ramallah Al-Amary refugee camp.  The play “Gravedigger” presented a point of view rejecting hostility and aggressive wars and encouraged discussion on the value of life. It also allowed creative and talented individuals from Palestine a chance to gain new performing skills through a training workshop for both amateurs and professionals.  The Popular Theatre Troupe was finally given the chance to present a theatrical work that derides wars and gratuitous killing, to be presented in most Palestinian cities at regional and international festivals.

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Founded: 2001
Project: Major Mobilization to Protest Israeli’s Illegal Military Occupation
Location: Washington, DC

With the support of The Jerusalem Fund, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice sponsored a major mobilization to protest U.S. support for 40 years of Israel’s illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip on June 10-11, 2007 in Washington, DC.  The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a national coalition of more than 200 organizations working to challenge U.S. foreign policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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2004 Grantees

Peacefund Canada

Peacefund Canada's goal is to encourage and support adult peace educators and other learners in their efforts to build a more humane, non-violent and de-militarized world. The Jerusalem Fund supported the International Women's Peace Service - Palestine Project (IWPS), an international team of 16 women who work with the media and attorneys to document human rights abuses and encourage non-violent direct action. Located in Salfit, the organizers train and support an international team of volunteers to work throughout Palestine to provide written and photographic evidence of human rights abuses, develop village profiles, and challenge the destruction and confiscation of property and cultivated lands throughout the West Bank and Gaza.  The group operates under the guise of international law and consistently calls upon civil society to censure Israeli actions against the occupied population.

Birzeit University Library

Birzeit University - Palestine.  Birzeit University, which began as an elementary school in 1924, faces great obstacles in carrying out its mission in spite of the Oslo peace agreements between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Violations of human rights continue unabated and students are often arrested and detained sometimes for being members of the student council. Student from Gaza are often barred to travel to the West Bank to enroll at Birzeit. Moreover, the University is facing prolonged financial crisis due to the stalled peace process and the resulting poor economic situation. Despite such hardships, the University continues to expand in new and creative ways in order to better meet the needs of the Palestinian society. Currently 53 percent of the student body, which totals over 7,000 students, is female; 15 percent are pursuing graduate or post-graduate degrees.

An annex to the University Library is currently under construction to provide greater space for books and student patrons. The Birzeit University Library provides vital access to information on academic, scientific, technological, cultural and social issues to students and faculty. In addition, the library serves students from other Palestinian universities, high school students from private and public schools, and individuals and local institutions in the community. The Jerusalem Fund is one of the financiers of the automation process of the library, which will link the main library to the new annex, as well as to specialty libraries.

Palestine Media Watch

Palestine Media Watch - USA. Anti-occupation activism on US campuses is vibrant; however, the media aspect of the movement is often an afterthought, when in fact media is the heart of any successful campaign. Palestine Media Watch (PMWATCH) is a network of 42 chapters in US cities that identify students interested in media activism.  PMWATCH provides and trains the students with the tools and expertise to build chapters in their respective universities. The aim is to link a network of sophisticated media campus activists who can help various anti-occupation groups effectively get their message to fellow students as well local media outlets.  The Jerusalem Fund provided a seed grant for PMWATCH-CAMPUS, which is the mechanism to support this cross-sharing of techniques and lessons learned.

Ramallah Friends School - Playcenter

The Ramallah Friends Schools have served the youth of Palestine and witnessed to Quaker values in the midst of conflict and adversity for more than a century. Today, on the Schools' campuses in Ramallah and el-Bireh more than 950 students from kindergarten through grade twelve receive a rich and rigorous education in Arabic and English. During the 2003 Israeli incursion on the Ramallah area, the both campuses suffered tremendous and unprecedented physical damage. The Jerusalem Fund helped to rebuild the Playcenter on the el-Bireh campus, which included the repairs to the damaged structure, purchase of destroyed furniture, toys and books.

U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation was created in 2001 to hold the US government accountable for its policies towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of US support for military occupation, the US Campaign seeks to promote the application of human rights and international law as a viable road to resolution.  The coalition's diverse membership is united by a passion to see justice and peace in the region.  The group is rich in its ties to a range of communities, its levels of expertise, and the resources of member groups.  The Jerusalem Fund provided a grant to support the US Campaign's annual strategy meeting, which was held at George Washington University. 
 
BADIL

The BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights aims to provide a resource pool of alternative, critical and progressive information and analysis on the question of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons.  The organization was established to support the development of a popular refugee lobby for the right of return through professional research and partnership-based community initiatives. BADIL ('badeel') is an Arabic word that means 'alternative'. BADIL's alternative approach to the question of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons is based on international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the participation of refugees themselves.  The Jerusalem Fund provided BADIL with a grant to perform a study on refugee compensation and the right of return.

Atta Services to the Aged

Atta Services seeks to address issues affecting elderly Palestinians, including their mental and physical health as well as social well-being. Atta Services' Meals on Wheels Program, for example, provides hot meals to the aged in the Ramallah area at least three times a week. This program is an integral part of Atta's outreach program, which also facilitates doctor visits, house cleaning, and visits by Atta Services' staff. In the midst of the harsh Israeli occupation regime, Atta proposed an emergency relief program to alleviate the critical conditions that Palestinians have had to face.  Re-starting its Outreach Community Services after the invasion of the Israeli army into the already occupied West Bank, Atta focused on a triad of activities: (1) medical and psychological support; (2) food and sanitation; (3) home repairs and care. The Jerusalem Fund supports the breadth of its programs, but in particular, the Meals on Wheels program to at least 300 beneficiaries on a monthly basis.

The American Society of the Order of Saint John Eye Hospital - Jerusalem

The American Society of the Order of Saint John Eye Hospital - Jerusalem.   The principle aim of the priory in the United States is support of the Ophthalmic Hospital of Saint John in Jerusalem, which mainly serves the Palestinian Arabs living in the Israeli occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Because of health conditions in the Middle East, they are particularly susceptible to eye disease. Following in the traditions of the Hospitaller Knights, the hospital aims to fulfill an important and historic responsibility towards the people of the Holy Land, whom it continues to serve without reference to race, religion or ability to pay. 45, 000 patients are seen annually in the Outpatient Department, and 4,000 major operations are performed. 25 percent of the patients are children and many of those suffer from congenital eye diseases such as Cataracts and Glaucoma, as well as a large number of trauma cases caused by domestic accidents in the home, and more recently from the civil and military disturbances in the area.

The development of the Pediatric Ophthalmic department is a recent achievement and deals with over 11,000 patients each year, most of whom have serious and complicated eye conditions. Many of our patients are Diabetics, and require sight-saving laser or Vitro-Retinal surgery, and our specialist Vireo-Retinal surgeon performs an average of 10 major operations per week. The community at large is well served by St. John. The Outreach mobile Eye Clinic tours the length and breadth of the country twice weekly, setting up clinics in the most remote and disadvantaged areas - many of which are refugee camps. 5,000 patients are seen annually in this way, and some 1,000 with serious eye diseases, are referred to the main hospital. Gaza has many particular problems, not least of which is its isolated geography. Consequently, in 1992, St. John opened an Eye Clinic with an operating facility in order to do Cataract surgery on a day-by-day case basis. This is now well-established, seeing some 6,000 patients per year, and performing over 400 cataract operations.  The Jerusalem Fund supports the breadth of the hospital's programs.

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2003 Grantees

Summer 2003 Jerusalem Fund Observation Trip to Palestinian Grantees

Headquarters of the late Yasser Arafat (Ramallah, Palestine)

The Jenin Charitable Society

Located in a large building on the outskirts of the city of Jenin , in close proximity to the Jenin refugee camp, the Jenin Charitable Society (JCS) boasts a wide variety of services and facilities. All of these are provided to the needy populations free of charge. The JCS is the sole provider of many specialized services for the 200,000 residents of the northern West Bank .

One of the original projects the JCS operated was a program of loans for University students. These were to be eventually paid back at little or no interest by the students according to their ability, however since the beginning of the intifada, none of the JCS's outstanding loans have been repaid, leading to a net outlay of over 140,000 Jordanian Dinars (over $220,000).

An ongoing project that JCS provides to the community of Jenin is remedial classes for students studying for the tawjihi matriculation exams. Due to the disruptions in schooling caused by Israeli attacks and military closures, many students have been prevented from completing their full school programs. The JCS remedial classes, both in Jenin and a nearby location, seek to make up for the class time and educational opportunities lost at the hands of Israel's occupation forces. Classes are free, with teachers' salaries paid by the JCS, and feature all of the major subjects of the tawjihi. Approximately 200 students come to the JCS location in Jenin for this service. There is another location that serves more than 60 students who are unable to regularly attend classes in Jenin.

Sewing machines provide vocational training at the Jenin Charitable Society

The Jenin Charitable Society's beauty school

In addition, the JCS hosts supplemental classes in English, French and Hebrew as well as vocational instruction in sewing and hairdressing. The JCS has a fully-equipped beauty salonthat is enjoyed by many students seeking to expand their career opportunities. To reiterate, all of these classes are provided free of charge.

The only center for hearing and speech-impaired children in the Northern West Bank is located at the JCS. Currently the facility is in the process of being transformed into a boardingschool, to alleviate the difficulties that the children face travelling to school from various increasingly isolated villages and towns in the area.
 

Testing room for hearing-impaired children

One of the upcoming projects for the JCS is opening a computer center to service the greater Jenin area. Once again, this would be the first and only such facility in the area. Currently the JCS has obtained 5 computers for its lab, but has outfitted adequate facilities to accommodate 20-25 computers. The JCS has specially wired labs waiting for computers to fill them.

Another nascent undertaking is a library suitable for students, from the youngest up to University level, and open to the public. Currently the library's holdings amount to only a few shelves of mostly children's books. But the JCS is seeking additions to the collection.

View of the Jenin refugee camp. The central area contained more than 600 homes leveled by the Israeli army in 2002.

During the 2002 Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp, the JCS was uniquely suited to provide emergency aid to the residents of the camp whose homes were attacked, and many destroyed, by the occupation army. For nearly a month almost 1000 newly homeless refugees took shelter in the JCS building, and were provided with the basic necessities and emergency aid despite the fact that the JCS itself had no electricity or water for more than three weeks.

Baladna

Baladna was formed to compensate for the lack of organizations specifically directed towards Palestinian youths growing up in Israel. Though the founders of Baladna saw many Zionist youth organizations designed to instill a sense of identity and purpose in Jewish Israeli youths, Palestinian citizens of Israel were deprived of a similar service. Consequently, no unified Palestinian identity has taken root in the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Most identify themselves either with their local community or with their religion, but the lack of a unified national sentiment is apparent. Baladna hopes to rectify this situation.

Palestinian icon Handala on the wall at the Baladna office.

The problem begins in the Israeli educational system. Although there are separate facilities for the education of Israel's Palestinian minority, even these are not controlled by Palestinians. Palestinian children are not allowed to learn about any Palestinian nationalists or nationalist literature. According to Nadim Nashaf, Director of Baladna,

Nadem Nashef, Director of Baladna

the Palestinian teachers in the Israeli school system are scared. They are concerned for their jobs and will not exceed the limits placed on them by the oppressive Zionist ideology Israel's schools push. Although private schools are better, most students can't afford them. Altogether, there is more freedom of thought in the Jewish Israeli school system than for the Palestinians. For instance, Jewish Israeli students might be allowed to discuss Palestinian nationalist poetry, but Palestinian children would not.

The Israeli government delayed the registration of Baladna for 14 months , eventually prohibiting them from officially using the name Baladna. The organization is legally known in Israel as the Association for Arab Youth.

Baladna is pursuing many projects at this time. One of their most important is a three-month training session provided to potential youth leaders. Youths are selected from all over the territory of what is now Israel and given a scholarship and a training course focusing on instilling values of national identity in their peers. Each year the courses extend to more villages and cities, with the hopes of covering as much of Israel as possible. This program has been very successful and Baladna is hoping to expand the scope of the training sessions.

The grant provided to Baladna by the Jerusalem Fund was used to buy a projector and other equipment to show films directed toward an Arab and Palestinian audience. At one film festival of Jordanian and Palestinian films from the West Bank Baladna drew almost 700 people, largely university students, to see the films. In giving these films a wide public viewing, Baladna is performing a service that is invaluable to the Palestinian citizens of Israel. This same audio-video equipment has been used to lend out to other organizations with similar goals and projects, thus further expanding the usefulness of the grant.

Some upcoming projects for Baladna include a large summer concert featuring Arab music and a Palestinian book fair. In the book fair Baladna will offer more than 5,000 books obtained from various sources but all concerning Palestine to the public. And finally, in November there will be a 5 day conference in Nazareth featuring Palestinian and European organizations and activists meeting to discuss a whole range of topics.

Baladna hopes in the near future to be able to implement a student exchange program with American and European students. The aim will be to bring students who are either Arab, Muslim, or from other minority groups, like African-Americans, to travel to 1948 Palestine and to experience life in Israel as an ethnic minority.

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2002 Grantees

Charitable Societies

The Right to a Home ...and a Homeland - Redwood City , California

Middle East Children's Alliance - Berkeley , California

Clinics and Health Projects

Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association - Nablus

Patient's Friends Society - Hebron

Taha Hussein Association for the Blind - Um El-Fahem

Atta Services: Aide to the Aged - Jerusalem

Community Resources

Hanitzotz Publishing House - Jaffa

International Jewish Peace Union - Tel Aviv

Palestine Happy Child Center - Ramallah

Baladna :Association for Arab Youth - Haifa

Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute - Ramallah

Legal Resources

Badil Resource Center - Bethlehem

Schools and Universities

Sameh Zoabi's Film Project - Columbia University , New York

Prof. May Seikaly - Wayne State University , Michigan

Ramallah Friends School  - Ramallah

Birzeit University - Birzeit

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2001 Grantees

Charitable Societies

Beit Jala Charitable Society for the Aged - Beit Jala

Palestinian Youth Women Society - Gaza

Save the Children Foundation - Gaza

Clinics and Health Projects

Augusta Victoria Hospital  - Jerusalem *

Palestinian Counseling Center  - Jerusalem

Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association - Nablus

St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital  - Jerusalem

Union of Health Work Committees - Gaza City *

Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees - Jerusalem *

Al-Amaree Women's Programme Center , Al-Amaree Refugee Camp - Ramallah *

Community Resources

Arab Cultural Association - Nazareth

Arab National Club - Jaffa

Hanitzotz Publishing House - Jaffa

International Palestinian Youth League

Palestinian Working Women Society - Nablus *

The Social Development Committee - Haifa

Yoad Foundation for Development of Local Art - Rama

Legal Resources

Badil Resource Center  - Beit Jala

Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group - Jerusalem

Schools and Universities

Al-Anwar Library for Children - Hebron

Ramallah Friends' School - Ramallah *

Society of Remedial Education Center

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2000 Grantees

Charitable Societies

Atfaluna Society for the Deaf - Gaza City
Atta Services Aid to the Aged - Jerusalem
Committee for the Development of Social Services - Nazareth

Clinics and Health Projects

Augusta Victoria Hospital - Jerusalem
Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation - Beit Jala
Palestinian Children's Relief Fund - Kent, Ohio
Patient's Friends Society - Hebron
Psycho-Social Counseling Center for Women - Bethlehem
Union of Health Work Committees - Gaza City
Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees - Jerusalem*

Community Resources

Al-Amaree Women's Program Center - Al-Amaree Refugee Camp, Ramallah
Al-Baqa Children's Center - Jaffa
Al-Funoun Dance Troupe - Ramallah
Association for Educational and Social Initiatives - Negev
Ibda' Culture Center, Deheishe Refugee Camp - Bethlehem
Jabalia Rehabilitation Society - Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza City
Jalazone Youth Activities Center - Jalazone Camp, Ramallah
Palestinian Working Women Society - Nablus
Palestinian Youth Exchange Center - Beach Refugee Camp, Gaza City
Wadi Joz Community Center - Jerusalem

Legal Resources

Association of Forty - EidHod
Badil Resource Center - Beit Jala
Christian Peacemaker Teams - Hebron
LAW Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights & the Environment - Jerusalem
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group - Jerusalem
Palestinian Center for Human Rights - Gaza City

Schools and Universities

Arab Evangelical School - Ramallah
Azzoun High School - Kalkiliya
Beit Leid Secondary Girls' School - Tulkarem
Birzeit University Library - Birzeit
Bureen Secondary Boys' School - Nablus
Dar Salah Boys School - Bethlehem
Girls School - Mazra'a al-Sharqiyya
Ithna Boys School - Hebron
Ni'lin High School - Ramallah
Ramallah Friends' School - Ramallah

Computer labs
* Multiple Grants Awarded