FALL 2009
This young girl from
by Dr. Mona El-Farra
MECA Director of Gaza Projects
As soon as I arrived home, I felt
a great relief, if that is the right
word. I had been unable to re-
turn home to Gaza since before
the 23 days of bombing earlier
this year, because of the ongoing
siege. I am not sure that the word
relief summarizes my intense
and conflicting emotions. Mixed
feelings of relief, happiness, but
also disorientation, continued to
overwhelm me.
Gaza my beautiful home, yes,
my beautiful home, my beautiful people, who are trying so hard
to live. To continue from one day to another. Despite the odds,
the hardships, the silence of the world.
The same day of my arrival home, July 9th 2009, I could see
from my balcony the rubble of what had been at one time Ara-
fat’s headquarters, The whole building was completely demol-
ished, leveled to the ground, blowing out the windows on one
side of my apartment building. It is the same place where one of
my cousins was killed in the first day of the attack assault against
Gaza last December-January.
I now see a different Gaza, and it is not the Gaza I have known; it
is like a city after an earthquake. Many of the historically impor-
tant buildings were leveled to the ground. I decided to postpone
my field visits to the different areas where the assaults were the
most savage and brutal. I thought it might be a good idea to wait
for the arrival of the delegation of US citizens who were due to
cross the border.
In the meantime, I met some dear friends and workmates who
came to say hello. All of them were loaded with war stories and
the panic they faced during the attacks against Gaza. One friend
who was a political prisoner, who spent 15 years in the Israeli
jails, said to me, “I never felt afraid of anything there like the
fear I felt this time.” I find it strange to even write this sentence,
but while we Palestinians are determined to continue our strug-
Chomsky in Oakland October 3! Get your tickets NOW!
Nuseirat Refugee Camp told
us about her mother and
siblings, who were killed by
the Israeli army in January.
Danny Muller
gle, the reality is that this assault against Gaza was severe and
fierce and cannot be forgotten. We will feel its effects as a people
for a long time.
Our friends from the US were only granted visas to visit Gaza for
24 hours. As I waited, I pondered “How can we condense or be-
gin to understand what children, women and men went through
during 23 days of the assault in a 24 hours visit?”
Upon the arrival of the Viva Palestina delegation, I sat at the bor-
ders to receive the delegation with some colleagues from PNGO
(Palestinian Non Governmental Organizations’ Network). It was
a touching and affectionate moment for me, to see American,
British and French activists of different ages and ethnicities unit-
ed under one goal, voicing to the world “Gaza, you are not alone;
you are not forgotten, despite the shameful stand of the govern-
ments of the world, we stand with you, the people of Gaza!”
We had to get immediately to work and were fortunate to have a
solid team of colleagues. I was accompanied by Barbara Lubin,
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) Director, Reem Salhi,
an activist lawyer and human rights advocate, Danny Muller, a
friend of MECA, Ehab Musalam, a MECA trainer and volun-
teer in Gaza, Travis Wilkerson, a filmmaker and professor, Jaiel
Kayed, a computer expert and Palestinian-American, Talal Abu
Shaweesh, Director of New Horizons, and Mohammed Majda-
Homeward Bound continued on page 7
See back page.
Dear Friend,
Last month I traveled to Gaza for the second time this year.
MECA volunteer Danny Muller and I joined Viva Palestina, a
convoy of about 175 people and $1 million in aid, organized
by British MP Galloway. We flew into Egypt and Viva Pal-
estina purchased forty-eight trucks and cars in Alexandria,
which we intended to drive into Gaza and leave for people
there. But the Egyptian authorities said there were “problems
with the paperwork” so the vehicles were left there until the
next convoy. A lot of people don’t understand that while most
of the Egyptian people support the Palestinians, the Egyp-
tian
Letter from Barbara
government is the number two recipient of US aid (after Is-
rael), and Egypt is a police state that oppresses its own citizens
and helps Israel maintain the siege of Gaza. Finally, the hos-
pital beds, refrigerators, wheelchairs, medicine and other aid
Viva Palestina had purchased was loaded onto trucks and our
group got onto buses and headed for Gaza.
About half the people in our group were Palestinian-Americans.
Some had family they hadn’t seen in years. Some were young
people who had never been to Palestine or met their relatives.
I was so impressed by these young men and women from all
over the US. They will be the next generation of leaders who
will build a bigger, stronger movement in the US for justice in
Palestine.
The Egyptian authorities allowed us to go to Gaza for just 24
hours. This was devastating to the people who had waited so
long and come so far, and expected to have at least a few days to
visit their home and their families.
When we arrived, we were immediately surrounded by hun-
dreds, maybe thousands, of people who came to greet the convoy
or meet someone in particular. For the Palestinian-Americans it
was an emotional homecoming. Some kissed the ground; many
cried. Then we became a big crowd chanting “Viva Palestina.”
At that moment I realized that the aid is important—even though
a million dollars of aid barely makes a dent in the enormous
need—but just as important is the solidarity, showing that people
from the US are determined to stand with Palestine and break the
siege of Gaza.
I had been to Gaza in January, right after three weeks of Israeli
attacks, to bring in several tons of food, medicine, and medical
equipment. It was amazing to see that some kind of normality
has returned after the unbelievable horror that Israel inflicted.
The Palestinian people have an incredible ability to keep rebuild-
ing their lives again and again. Of course life is not really normal
in Gaza. Five thousand homes were completely destroyed, leav-
2 MECA NEWS
by Barbara Lubin
MECA’s Executive Director
Danny Muller
Barbara Lubin at the municipal park and accessible playground
in Gaza City—one of three MECA helped build in the 1990’s. We
brought children’s architectural specialists Moore, Iscafano, and
Goltsman from Berkley to develop designs based on the ideas
gathered from children and adults in each community.
ing 20,000 homeless. The Israelis won’t let cement and other
materials in, so people are talking about rebuilding their homes
with mud.
My friend Dr. Mona El-Farra, MECA’s director of Gaza projects,
had arrived just a few days before. (See page 1) Mona had left
Gaza last year to visit her children in England and she had no idea
when or if she would be allowed back in. That one day in Gaza
with friends and colleagues from the US and Gaza was very ex-
citing for me because we spent the day visiting MECA projects
and seeing firsthand the difference we are making in the lives of
so many children. We first visited Afaq Jadeeda at the end of one
of many summer camps that was part of “Let the Children Play
& Heal,” an ongoing psychosocial program through central and
southern Gaza. (See page 4.) Then we saw the two water treat-
ment systems MECA helped build in Gaza schools. (See page 5)
The two systems provide clean, safe drinking water—which is
normally a luxury in Gaza—to thousands of children. You’ll be
hearing a lot more about this water project in the months ahead.
Our goal is to raise enough money to build water treatment sys-
tems in 60 more schools in the next two years—and eventually
in hundreds of schools and villages throughout Gaza.
Over and over again, the people I met told me how much they
appreciate MECA’s work—the support for community projects,
the food and medical aid—but also our solidarity. It is so im-
portant that they know there are people who have not forgotten
them, who care about their daily struggles just to survive and
their ongoing struggle for justice.

Although some sense of normality has returned in Gaza,
you can’t go more than one block without seeing the
impact of Israel’s brutal war against the people in Gaza.
Barbara Lubin
Now on
Look for the Middle East Children’s Alliance Group and our
Cause, MEDICAL AID FOR GAZA
Your One Stop Shop for Thousands of Great Products
No Sweat!
Made in the USA, Union, Sweatshop Free, Green.
Alliance Graphics contributions cover most of MECA’s
overhead. By giving your business to Alliance Graphics,
you are giving more to the children.
Alliance Graphics received the US Commerce Asso-
ciation 2009 Best of Berkeley Award in the Silk Screen
Design category
We Won’t be Divided for Long
Ziad Abbas, MECA Education Coordinator
The Palestinian people are facing one of the harshest situations
in their history. Whether living in the West Bank or Gaza, inside
the boundaries of 1948 (Israel), or in the large and widespread
Palestinian Diaspora, the Palestinian people are facing hardships
from both external and internal sources. In many cases, these
hardships are connected.
With the recent elections in the US many people thought that
real change would come from a more liberal US government. In
fact, the government promised it. While some sit and “hope,” the
undeniable reality is that nothing has changed in the US Middle
East policy—a policy of empty words and endless negotiations.
The goal of the European Union and the US is to bring the two
sides together for negotiations, so they appear to be “peacemak-
ers.” Israel uses these empty negotiations to confiscate more
land, build more settlements, and to continue construction of the
wall, knowing that in the end the US will support Israel uncon-
ditionally. The Palestinian people hear words and more words as
they continue to watch their land disappear before their eyes.
A time of famous “words” was the 1993 Oslo Accords which
did little for the Palestinians except to continue the polarization
of the Palestinian population. The goal of the Oslo Accords was
to divide the Palestinian people into two classes. One class, the
Oslo class, received their own benefits and interests from the
Accords, elevating themselves in status. The second class, the
majority of the Palestinian people, received nothing but more
suffering and oppression. It became evident from these Accords
that during these times of “peace” and negotiation, the Palestin-
ian people have lost more land than during times of war. While
there has been a lot of talk about “peace,” for the past 61 years,
the Western governments have, in reality, done nothing to end
the suffering the Palestinian people endure in their daily lives.
Then there is Israel’s new extreme right-wing government that
not only continues its policy of denying rights to Palestinians,
but has increased the harassment, land theft, checkpoints, and ar-
rests which plague Palestinians daily. And the siege of the Gaza
Strip continues. One and a half million Palestinians live as pris-
oners on this narrow strip of land, slowly starving to death.
While dividing and isolating Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza, Israel is putting huge pressure on the Palestinians living
inside Israel to assimilate and live as a silent underclass. For
sixty-one years Israel has failed to erase the Palestinian iden-
tity, but now the government is stepping-up pressure. Mention
of the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) will be forbidden in schools;
and more and more names of Arab villages and cities are being
We Won’t Be Divided for Long, continued on page 6
MECA NEWS 3
Your MECA
Dollars at Work
AID & PROJECT UPDATE

Barbara Lubin

Barbara Lubin and Danny Muller in Egypt getting

ready to board a Viva Palestina bus. The convoy
brought in five truckloads of aid to the people of
Gaza.

Viva Palestina-US
After meeting with British MP George Galloway in May, MECA
decided to join this aid and solidarity effort. For the month of
June we became home to the Northern California Viva Pales-
tina organizing committee to raise funds for the convoy to Barbara Lubin

Gaza. Committee members held events, sold T-shirts at com-

munity gatherings, got donations from local businesses. Through As part of “Let the Children Play and Heal,” 120,000 children
attended two-week summer camps throughout Gaza, which
these efforts, a contribution from MECA general funds, which
ended with music and dance performances.
was matched by the Alalusi Foundation, we donated a total of
$70,000 towards the medical aid the convoy brought in. MECA
Director Barbara Lubin, and long-time volunteer Danny Muller
joined the convoy. (See page 2).

“Let the Children Play and Heal”

This psychosocial support program was initiated by our partner
Afaq Jadeeda (New Horizons) to address children’s psychologi-
cal needs after the New Year’s assault on Gaza. “Let the Children
Play & Heal” is giving tens of thousands of children and youth
opportunities to express themselves though art, dance, music,
story-telling, theatre and puppetry; to get support from the larger
community; and to have fun and just be children. In addition,
hundreds of mothers have been trained to help their extended Barbara Lubin
families cope with the aftermath of the attacks, and a psycholo-
gist identifies and refers children who need individual counsel-
MECA volunteers Mohammed Al-Majdalawi and Danny Muller
ing. All programs are free, thanks to the support of MECA do- with two young people, at the massive exhibit of art created by
nors. children at one of the “Let the Children Play and Heal” summer
4 MECA NEWS camps.
Clean Water for Gaza’s
Schoolchildren
Lack of access to clean, safe water is one of the worst features
of the Israeli Occupation—causing major health problems. Israel
diverts water for its own use, while denying materials, fuel, and
permits to sustain and expand Palestinian water systems. Mili-
tary attacks predictably—and often deliberately—destroy wells,
water tanks, pipes, treatment plants, and sewage systems. Pov-
erty prevents people from purchasing clean water or repairing
their water tanks and plumbing.

A few years ago, children at the UN school in Bureij Refugee

Camp, Gaza voted on what they wanted most for their school
and they chose drinking water. MECA helped build a water pu-
rification and desalination system for the school in 2007 with a
grant from the Alalusi Foundation, and a similar system at the
UN school in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, with proceeds from a
fundraiser organized by the Arab-Jewish Partnership for Peace
and Justice in the Middle East. Recently, MECA received re-
quests for water systems in community centers with pre-schools
and kindergartens, and ten elementary schools throughout Gaza.
These projects will begin as money is raised.

MECA is making water systems a major program priority. Our

two-year goal is to provide funds for systems in sixty schools,
with a long-term goal of providing clean, safe drinking water for
schoolchildren in hundreds of Gaza refugee camps and villages.

The sign reads “Started by Afaq Jadeeda in Nuseirat

Refugee Camp and funded by the Middle East Chil-
dren’s Alliance, December 2007”

MECA NEWS 5
We Won’t Be Divided for Long, continued from page 3
erased and changed to Israeli names written in Arabic. For exam-
ple, Al-Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, would be written
in Arabic as “Yerushalaim.” While Palestinian history is being
erased, the ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem escalates. More
and more homes are demolished or occupied by settlers flying
Israeli flags. More and more Palestinian Jerusalemites have their
identity documents confiscated and lose the right to live in, or
even visit, Jerusalem.
Palestinian community internally, but they will not succeed in
shutting down the voice of the Palestinian political resistance.
The only thing that they are willing to agree to is a “sort of” state
next to Israel that they design with no controllable borders, no
military, no weapons, no capital in Jerusalem, and no right of
return for Palestinian refugees from 1948 and 1967. The Pal-
estinian people will not accept compromises on their political
rights, and eventually their collective suffering will bring them
back together.

As the Occupation increases the daily suffering for Palestinians,

there is also a terrible internal division that Israel strengthens and
exploits. The Palestinian community is divided politically into
two main factions: Fatah, the party that runs the Palestinian Au-
thority in the West Bank, and is supported by the US, the EU and
many Arab countries; and Hamas, the party that has authority in
Gaza, and is supported by Iran, Syria, and a few other countries.
Israel is deepening this division by giving some privileges to
the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, while continuing the
siege of the Gaza. Europe and the US are taking sides by provid-
ing political and financial support to the Palestinian Authority in
the West Bank, while remaining silent about Gaza. The aim is
Ziad Abbas in Dheisheh Refugee Camp beside a one-room build-
to dilute the Palestinian struggle and shift the Palestinian focus ing like the one he was born in. People in Dheisheh are still strug-
from resisting the Occupation to defending the interests of the gling to return back to their original villages. These were the first
two “governments.” For example, before the division of the two “houses” the UN built in 1952 to replace the tents people lived in
political factions, the Palestinian people were united in fighting after the 1948 Nakba. A family of six lived in one room.
for the release of all political prisoners—10,000 held inside Is-
raeli jails. Now some are fighting for the Hamas prisoners held
in Fatah jails, others are fighting for the Fatah prisoners held in
Hamas jails.

The internal conflict strains the Palestinian national spirit and

advances Israel’s main goals of shutting down the Palestinian re-
sistance and breaking down national unity. The Palestinians are
very aware of these divisive political games. While the people
continue to suffer under the Occupation, they watch the negotia-
tions, and see the political divisions in the “leadership” tearing
the struggle apart. But suffering itself is a uniting force, so the
people will not stay divided for long.

The feeling today is reminiscent of the stage before the second

Intifada. During the Oslo Accords the people watched the ne-
gotiations and heard about the “peace process,” but they did not
believe the political games being played. They became increas- Pablo Pitcher
ingly unsettled. It was like a volcano bubbling under the surface,
not yet showing its true anger but building up silently. Such were
the emotions brewing within the Palestinians. Everyone could
feel that something deep inside was moving, before it erupted
into an explosion of resistance.

The world should expect another massive political eruption in

Palestine. The Western countries and Israel persist in ignoring
the political rights of the Palestinian people and try to divide the

6 MECA NEWS
Homeward Bound continued from page 1 the rubble of their former homes, with their little voices, they
tried to tell us their stories.
lawi, a Gazan student and MECA volunteer.
I listened to their stories. I stopped writing about the rest of our
In Nuseirat Refugee Camp, we were invited by Afaq Jadeeda activities, the rest of our day, the rest of my return home. At that
(New Horizons) to see the activities of their project, loosely moment I felt, and still feel, “I don’t want to hear or listen, I just
translated as “Let them Play and Heal,” a program treating child- want to cuddle these children and help them to forget.”
hood trauma and sponsored by the Middle East Children’s Al-
liance. We had the chance to see hundreds of children’s happy But I want the world to remember what was done here in Gaza,
little faces, singing along with the debka performance, which and that those of us who are picking up the pieces, as hard as we
was one of many activities working to help the children recover try, we cannot forget.
after the war trauma. There were around 500 kids, 6-12 years old,
boys and girls with their mothers, as the project targets mothers
and their children. These boys have been living in this tent since January when their
home was destroyed and several members of their family were
killed. They are starting to build a new home with mud and pieces
We then visited Al-Bureij School, where MECA has implement-
of their demolished home because Israel won’t allow building ma-
ed water purification and desalinization systems to provide clean terials into Gaza.
drinking water for schoolchildren. This is one of two water treat-
ment projects MECA has recently implemented in the refugee
camps, and we aim to build many more with the help of our
friends and allies. We then moved to the north and while the van
was going on, we could clearly see many demolished homes ev-
erywhere, and tent cities around the homes where families now
lived.

We could not miss the Zaytoun area, where one of the many
tragic events of the war occurred at the home of the Samoni fam-
ily. The van went through neighborhood after neighborhood,
through areas of vast destruction. How can I convey to you what
I have seen in the little faces, eyes of sadness mixed with hope
and excitement? On top of that, some of the kids who had broken
or missing arms and legs, post operative scars, who are living in
Barbara Lubin

A Life-Saving Gift for the Children

YES! I want to do what I can for the injured and terrified children in Gaza. Here
is my special contribution to help MECA deliver medicine aid, support mental
health intervention, and build water treatment sytems in schools
[ ] $250 [ ] $100 [ ] $50 [ ] $25 [ ] $ ____________

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

Card #: _______________________________________ Exp: _____________________

Signature: _____________________________________________________________

Name: ________________________________________________________________ 1101 8th. St. Berkeley, Ca 94710

Address: ______________________________________________________________

City, ST, Zip: ____________________________________________________________

Email: _________________________________________________________________
MECA is a 501(c)3 exempt organization. Your gift is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution. MECA NEWS 7
1101 8th. St. Berkeley, Ca 94710

The Middle East Children’s Alliance presents

ORDER TICKETS TODAY
NOAM CHOMSKY: at www.ticketmaster.com.
“Obama, the Middle East, and the Prospects for Peace” We expect this event to sell out!
Saturday, October 3, 2009 - 7:30 pm sharp Co-sponsored by KPFA , 94.1 fm

The Paramount Theatre, downtown Oakland

2025 Broadway, adjacent to the 19th street BART Special Reception with Professor Chomsky after his talk,
For directions, parking, and other info: in the Mezzanine - $250 and $100 tickets only
www.paramounttheatre.com We regret that the Reception is not wheel-chair accessible

ALL TICKETS
ORDER FROM WWW.TICKETMASTER.COM or PURCHASE FROM PARAMOUNT THEATRE BOX OFFICE
Questions? Call 510-548-0542
$250: Seating in first two rows of Orchestra Pit t Post-Event Mezzanine Reception
with Professor Chomsky
t
Special Chomsky Gift
$100: Front Orchestra seating Post-Event Reception with Professor Chomsky Please note:
$ 50: Orchestra middle or front side seating r
/P

TFSWJDF
DIBSHF
JG
ZPV
QVSDIBTF




UISPVHI
1BSBNPVOU
#PY
0îDF
$ 32: Orchestra center/rear and Balcony* front seating r
#PY
0îDF
EPFT
OPU
UBLF
DIFDLT
BOE

$ 22: Low-income, Balcony* rear seating


SFRVJSFT
QIPUP
*%
r
#PY
0îDF
IPVST
BNQN
5VFTEBZ'SJEBZ
Wheelchair Seating (2 seats together) and ASL seating in front of theatre
$32($22 low income) Please purchase these tickets in advance from the Box Office. r
"MM
4FBUT
BSF
3FTFSWFE
BOE
MPTU




UJDLFUT
BSF
OPU
SFQMBDFBCMF
*We regret that Balcony seats are not wheelchair-accessible & there are no r
5IF
#BMDPOZ
JT
/05
XIFFMDIBJS
BDDFTTJCMF
elevators in the theatre. If you need disability seating, please contact
r

4PSSZ
CVU
OP
DIJMESFO
VOEFS

BMMPXFE
the Paramount Box Office