Heed Palestine’s Call for Justice
Over the past days, we've been in direct contact with our partners on the ground in Palestine. They have conveyed devastation, trauma, steadfastness and hope in solidarity.
Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
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Webinar Discusses Root Causes, COVID-19 Responses and Next Steps for Social Movements
On May 14 over 110 Grassroots International supporters and activists joined a Zoom call to learn more about how social movements are organizing during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
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Say Their Names: Sajed Mizher, Presente
With a broken heart but whole spirit, I remember the names of some of our friends, colleagues, allies and partners who have left us all too soon. They join the host of ancestors urging me onward, because the journey toward justice is not yet finished.
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One Year after Assault, the Disaster in Gaza Continues
One year ago today, the 51-day campaign of bombing, tank fire and all-out destruction by the Israeli military on Gaza finally ended. The 51 days of darkness euphemistically dubbed “Operation Protective Edge” were the third and most deadly round in a series of violent assaults on Gaza.
It is truly difficult, perhaps impossible to imagine life in Gaza, then and now, for the 1.8 million people who live there. First of all, there is the trauma.
“This is not about people who were killed, it is about us who were waiting for death every minute,” said Dr. Mona El-Farra to Grassroots International supporter and author Alice Rothschild during her recent visit to Gaza. Dr. El-Farra is the director of the Red Crescent Memorial Hospital that was bombed during the attacks.
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Humanitarian Situation Deteriorates in Gaza
In the weeks of escalating violence in Gaza, updates from our partners on the ground there have become increasingly dire, desperate and sadly detailed in their listing of dead and displaced. The article below summarizes much of what we have heard.
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Support Emergency Relief Efforts in Palestine
Grassroots International has longstanding relationships with community-based organizations in the region, which can help get resources – such as medical supplies, food, and water – where they are most needed as soon as possible. Your gift now will help provide much-needed relief to the people of Gaza and the West Bank, and help them begin to rebuild.
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Celebrating Palestinian Land Day
At the rate the Separation Wall is being built, soon Palestinian Land Day (March 30) will need only a few hours. The Wall and the Israeli mandated buffer zones jut into the Palestinian territories by as much as 300 feet, gobbling up fertile agricultural land and precious water reserves, and make cool profits for companies like Elbit Systems Ltd. contracted to build the massive structure.
Because we believe in the human rights to land, water and food as fundamental rights, and because Elbit reaps massive profits from land grabs like the building of the Separation Wall, Grassroots International is asking TIAA-CREF to fully divest from Elbit Systems, Ltd. -
Health and Human Rights in Palestine
Today I attended a panel at Harvard featuring authors of the Lancet Special Series Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. They discussed and suggested reasons for the rapidly deteriorating health of those living in Gaza and the West Bank, including a lack of access to food and medicine. These vital resources remain blocked by obstacles such as the Wall in the West Bank and inaccessible borders in Gaza. Panelist Mitchell Plitnick, the U.S.
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Update from Gaza
With thanks in part to $80,000 dollars in generous donations made to Grassroots International in response to the Gaza Crisis, our partners in Palestine have begun the process of rebuilding their communities.
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A Psychological Siege
Israel's siege on Gaza, now in its 19th month, has wreaked havoc on all aspects of life and significant attention has been paid in particular to the economic consequences of border closures and the blockade. However, an overlooked epidemic threatens the social and familial ties that bond the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. Living under a constant state of crisis in which their livelihoods have been denied, the people of Gaza's once exemplary resilience and determination are giving way to an unfathomable sea of depression and psychological illnesses.
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Palestinian Medical Relief Society calls for an immediate end to the murderous siege of Gaza
People are dying in Gaza. Patients die in their hospital beds because they are denied permits to access life-saving treatments abroad. Patients with such permits die at the Erez crossing because the Israeli military denies them exit, despite their permits.
These are all avoidable deaths. These are patients diagnosed with a critical condition, seeking life–saving treatment. This is tantamount to murder. Premeditated murder. More than 29 Palestinians have already died in this manner so far. A further 900 are still waiting to permits to leave the Strip.
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Palestine: In Their Own Words
We returned a few hours ago from Bethlehem where we visited the Ibdaa Cultural Center in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. Unfortunately, our visit was cut short by the news of a nearby shooting. A young man was shot and killed by the Israeli Defense Forces near Rachel's Tomb. The man was from Dheisheh. The news of his death spread rapidly throughout the camp and the Ibdaa Cultural Center, usually lively and filled with kids, was empty. Only the dance troupe remained in the building, practicing for an upcoming tour. The people were angry and were anticipating the arrival of Israeli troops. It seemed wise to leave.
So, I'm exhausted after this day and rather than filling this page with my own thoughts, I decided to let the Palestinians tell a bit of their own story. I have pulled for you a number of quotes from people we've met. This is by no means meant to be a complete picture — it is intended solely to give you a flavor of some of what we are hearing.
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Business As Usual
Jerusalem and the surrounding towns were again quiet today. Outside of Gaza, there has been relatively little reaction to Yassin's assassination. Certainly not the firestorm that some were expecting. The general atmosphere is still very tense and one can see evidence of flare-ups. As we crossed the El Ram checkpoint on the outskirts of Jerusalem we saw the still smoldering remnants of fiery demonstrations. The smell of burning tires still lingered in the air. Later in the afternoon, we watched as about 20 youth threw stones and exchanged insults with 2 Israeli soldiers. The youth stood at a safe distance atop an embankment behind a barbed wire fence and the soldiers were standing below. Eventually the soldiers grew weary and fired their weapons into the air, letting the youth know that the game was over.