3 May 2018
MAP CEO Aimee Shalan introduces our latest Witness magazine, Seventy Years of Displacement:
Once again, I am writing at a critical time for Palestine and Palestinians.
In Gaza, thousands of Palestinian protesters have been killed or severely injured, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated to emergency levels and its health system is on the verge of collapse. We are deeply dismayed by the terrible loss of life and large number of injuries due to the use of live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas by the Israeli forces. Gaza’s hospitals have been overwhelmed and we are doing everything we can to support hospitals during this emergency.
In East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, settlement expansion is accelerating. President Trump’s stance on Jerusalem breaks with decades of international consensus and has galvanised the further dispossession of Palestinians. US cuts in funding to UNRWA are also weakening the already underfunded Agency’s capacity to deliver health and education services to Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and the refugee camps of Lebanon.
In our latest edition of Witness, we share a few examples of our work: combatting malnutrition in Gaza; providing healthcare to threatened Bedouin communities in the West Bank; and supporting people with disabilities in Lebanon. The projects we describe are entirely only made possible thanks to the generous support of individuals like you. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and supported our work over the past few months and I hope you will continue to do so.
During 2018, we are also raising the profile of health needs in Lebanon, as the world marks 70 years since the Nakba (the ‘Catastrophe’), when three-quarters of a million Palestinians were forced to leave their homeland. This issue helps commemorate that loss, and includes words from our colleagues, Dr Ali Dakwar in Lebanon and Amal Zaqout in Gaza – both from refugee families. The health and dignity of Palestinian refugees obstructed from returning to their homes must not be forgotten and MAP will continue to support the realisation of their right to return in line with international law.
You can read the latest version of Witness here.
