Urgent Action for Palestinian Human Rights

Thanks to your support, our Advocacy Team just wrapped up a successful trip to Washington, D.C. to mark International Peace Day, culminating in our Congress-wide “Pinwheels for Peace" briefing on September 16th. Our briefing, which took place in a wonderful Rules Committee Room in the Dirksen Senate Building, was sponsored by California Senator Alex Padilla.

This was Rebuilding Alliance’s 9th annual “I Care About Peace” Congressional Briefing, and this year we brought forward the ‘Pinwheels for Peace’ project, a psychosocial support and art project that was developed by two teachers in Florida. This project has children writing down what peace means to them and drawing what peace looks like. This was the backdrop for our briefing, which consisted of three guest speakers who talked about what peace means to them, and brought forward their experiences in Gaza and the West Bank.  

We wondered how we could talk about peace at a time like this: our briefing took place just as the invasion of Gaza City was getting underway, as we were learning about the mass displacement orders that the Israeli Military posted for the entire population of Gaza City, this just weeks after famine was declared there. Rebuilding Alliance’s teachers in Gaza City and Khan Younis, who have done ‘Pinwheels for Peace’ in the past, approached Rebuilding Alliance and asked us to do the project with them– this was the impetus behind the framing of our Congressional briefing. 

Remarkably, our teachers in Gaza City gathered students in one of the last schools still standing, and worked with them on this project. The pinwheels that the students made were incredibly powerful, and sometimes heartbreaking. Our briefing featured videos from both Khan Younis and Gaza City, made by our amazing filmmaker Nour, that included interviews with the students discussing what peace meant to them. For many, peace meant safety, being able to live in their home, having enough food to eat, and an end to the bombing.

Our distinguished guest speakers presented to the audience between showings of these videos. 

The young Palestinian American Georgetown student, Noor Zaareir, talked about what peace meant to her, reminding us that, “peace without justice is not peace.” She also powerfully and poetically stated that peace is a human right, and that “peace is the right of a child to wake up to birds instead of bombs.” 

Dr. Yahya Shaikh is a local doctor who has been on medical missions to Gaza to support the healthcare system there and treat children at pediatric Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Dr. Shaikh has also published his research case study on preventable and treatable conditions in the Gaza Strip that are resulting in death due to the lack of treatment and medicine available there. Dr. Shaikh’s presentation brought forward the voices of many of the children that he treated in Gaza, ensuring that they will not be forgotten. Dr. Shaikh reminded us all of the impact of this war on children, and on the necessity of ending it because of the lifelong scars it will leave on the most vulnerable children. 

Closing out our briefing was Jenna Fischer, an incredible activist with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence who spent several months this year as a protective presence in the South Hebron Hills Village of Um Al Kheir. Her briefing detailed her experience there, and also paid tribute to the young Palestinian teacher Awdah Hthaleen, who was killed there earlier this summer by an Israeli settler. Her work, and that of other activists serving as a protective presence in West Bank villages, is a powerful reminder that solidarity and community are essential components of peace. 

Our team also held individual meetings with Congressional offices while we were in D.C. for this briefing. We had some very good conversations with staff about what interventions their offices can make to assure safety for children and families in Gaza and the West Bank. 

We asked them to make two calls to the U.S. State Department and to the Israeli Embassy to:

• Press for the State Department to expedite the review process for the Gaza Medical Evacuation Program to the U.S., after visas were halted in August; in addition, push for the reopening of the humanitarian corridor to the East Jerusalem Hospital Network for medical evacuations. These hospitals have been funded by the U.S. in the past and they are ready and willing to take patients. With nearly 16,000 patients waiting for evacuation, according to the W.H.O., the need is great.
• Urge the Govt. of Israel to remove the settler caravans inside of the village of Um Al Kheir. After the death of Awdah Hthaleen, settlers cut the water supply and quickly set up caravans. This is a dangerous provocation, and this outpost is illegal under both international and Israeli law.
• Press for Israel to uphold its obligation to assure the military accompanies and protects Palestinian communities harvesting their olives in the West Bank. The olive harvest plays a significant role for Palestinians, not only culturally and nationally, but financially. The harvest must start on time and harvesters must be allowed access to their land, free from settler harassment and violence.

Rebuilding Alliance will continue to bring forward the voices of Palestinian communities in Gaza and the West Bank, and we hope to bring these issues forward with Congress on our next Leadership Learning Mission.

Links:

• Hear Gaza's Children Speak for Peace, International Peace Day
• Children in Gaza City Make Pinwheels For Peace
• Children in Khan Younis Make Pinwheels For Peace

Thanks to your support, these past few months Rebuilding Alliance’s advocacy team has been meeting with Congress and the Biden administration’s State Department including US Embassies in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Amman, USAID, and the National Security Council to press for action to:

• Ensure that Families in Gaza are provided access to medical care — including food, clean water, medicine, fuel, medical evacuations, and extending the polio vaccine medical truces
  
  
• Intervene so that Farmers and shepherds in the West Bank are able to harvest their olives and herd their sheep in safety

Counting just the State Department and National Security Council meetings alone, our teams met with some 22 officials in the past two months — and officials were deeply moved, some in tears by the end of our meeting.

PRESSING TO EXTEND THE POLIO MEDICAL TRUCEIN GAZA

On 16 July, the Ministry of Health of Gaza announced poliovirus had been detected in six wastewater samples collected in late June

Rebuilding Alliance immediately launched a Contact Congress Campaign ‘Eradicating Polio in Gaza’ advocating for “Days of Tranquility” which are the medical truces historically negotiated to immunize children. RA met with Congressional offices, both in-person and over Zoom along with constituents in efforts to ensure that these negotiations take place to inoculate the 600,000+ children in Gaza.

RA mobilized a public awareness initiative, holding six public health webinars in a series “Stopping Polio in Gaza, for Us All” to educate and engage the public health community, pediatricians, and congressional offices and press for what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres coined “Polio Pauses.” The webinar series, done in partnership with the International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health (ISSOP) featured global polio expert doctors involved in the administration of the polio vaccine in Gaza, infectious disease experts, and medical experts/logistics coordinators on the ground including:

• Nisreen Malley, the Rebuilding Alliance Director of Advocacy
• Dr. Asnakew Tsega— UNICEF’s Regional Polio Coordinator for the Middle East North Africa Region
• Dr. Irfan Akbar, Polio Country Support Team Leader,  World Health Organization (WHO)
• Dr. Jeff Goldhagen, pediatrician and President of the International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health (ISSOP) 
• Donna Baranski-Walker, Founder and Executive Director of Rebuilding Alliance

Despite many challenges, two rounds of polio vaccinations were administered by the Ministry of Health (MoH), WHO, UNICEF, and UNRWA — reaching 556,774 children. However, because the Israeli authorities denied a medical truce in northern Gaza, 7,000-10,000 children remain unvaccinated. RA’s Advocacy team is currently advocating for the vaccine to reach every child but time is running out.

Some may ask, "Why a medical truce for vaccination when children face more immediate threats to their lives?"  Any form of truce can give breathing room to send aid and assistance. Start here.

SENATE BRIEFING ON GAZA PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGES

On September 12th, Rebuilding Alliance organized and hosted the Senate-side companion to Congressional briefing on healthcare access, “Gaza Public Health: Ensuring Safety and Healthcare Access.” The event was also live-streamed. The panel addressed challenges related to 1) Medical Evacuations, 2) Medical Missions, 3) Polio Vaccine Rollout, and provided 4) policy recommendations for congressional offices. To speak on this, RA’s panel featured 3 doctors who served on medical missions in Gaza, Kinder Relief’s Case Manager for Gaza medical evacuations to the US, and Major Harrison Mann, former U.S. major and executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Middle East/North Africa Regional Center. 

INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY YOUTH DELEGATION

In honor of International Peace Day, Rebuilding Alliance brought its sixth ‘I Care About Peace’ Delegation to Washington DC, comprising four Palestinian youths, two from the West Bank and two from Gaza, to present their visions of peace at a briefing on Capitol Hill. The delegation spoke of ongoing challenges faced by their communities, including settler violence, home demolitions, and restricted access to essential resources such as food and medical care. They held over 15 meetings with Congressional offices, the State Department, USAID, and the National Security Council. The delegation included:

1. Lama: In 2019, Lama was selected as the best 14-year-old English speaker in Gaza's UNRWA schools, so Rebuilding Alliance brought her to Washington DC for RA's fourth 'I Care About Peace' youth delegation to Congress.
2. Ahmed, Lama's brother, helped manage their kitchen providing meals to 700 -1000 displaced children each day in Rafah. Ahmed was studying web design and engineering when his university was destroyed, and he hopes to be able to continue his studies someday soon.
3. Sadin is a 16-year-old high school student in Umm Al Kheir Village in the South Hebron Hills. When she was eight, Sadin met with Congressional offices on Rebuilding Alliance's first 'I Care About Peace' briefing in 2016. Senator Feinstein hugged her and initiated a remarkable correspondence with the Prime Minister of Israel to keep Susiya and Umm al Kheir standing.
4. Ahmed from Susiya Village, is 17 years old. Ahmed came on Rebuilding Alliance's fourth "I Care About Peace" youth delegation in 2019. He is interested in history and the study of languages.

The youth made inspiring presentations. In times of crisis and mass destruction, these presentations helped put across the experiences and challenges of the visiting youth.

• Sadeen shared the immense loss she faced when her home was demolished this summer. “My home was everything to me. All my memories with my family over the past 16 years were tied to my home.” After the demolition, her family was forced to live in a shed and struggled to eat, shower, and manage daily life. When asked about her experience in DC, Sadeen said: "Standing before an audience and sharing my story felt empowering. It was uplifting to see people listen and understand my experiences. I hope they will put an end to settler attacks and home demolitions in the West Bank."

• Ahmed, from the West Bank, shared that because of surrounding settlements, he faces a lot of hardships in his daily life. Life has become even more difficult for the locals since October 7th, and for two months, he was unable to attend school. Before a trip to the US, Israeli soldiers raided his home, with one pointing a gun at him and searching his house, including his elderly grandfather. At the Capitol, Ahmed expressed his vision of peace which is being able to attend school safely and live without fear. Reflecting on his trip, he described it as a wonderful experience, where he met kind and supportive people who embraced the Palestinian cause.

• Lama, 20, and Ahmed, 22, are sister and brother who fled with their entire family to Egypt from Gaza this April. The siblings operated a kitchen for Rebuilding Alliance in Rafah, where they served 700 to 1,000 hot meals each day to hungry children and families. They emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian aid, calling for essential supplies such as food, soap, and shelter to be permitted into the region.

Thank you for supporting this critical advocacy work. 

Links:

• Stopping Polio in Gaza, for Us All - A Public Health Webinar
• Senate Briefing: US Doctors on Gaza Public Health Challenges
• *Stopping Polio in Gaza for Us All -Public Health Webinar Nov 13