Update:
The tender announcement for rechargeable lamps has been published in Palestine newspaper on 11 Dec. The tender will close on16 Dec and we will announce successful bidder on 18 Dec.
We will then know the exact price of one lamp and calculate the no. of beneficiaries.
We will select a price of between USD17-19, God willing.
Funded By: Viva Palestina Malaysia
Implemented By: Dar Al Quran Al Karim Wa Sunnah - Gaza Palestine

This is a film festival for human rights issues.

The documentary Cinema of Jenin is the chosen film premiere, and will be shown at Cathay Cineplex, the Curve on Sat 14th . Its about a German film maker who wants to revive the cinema in Jenin but faces problems with the Israelis.

For more information on the film fest, please go to the link:
http://freedomfilmfest.komas.org/film/cinema-of-jenin/

Palestinian political leader and Chairman of the Hamas political bureau. Khaled Meshaal was in KL on 2 Dec 2013 and VPMers were very fortunate to have had the chance to meet and have short discussions with him.

In 1997, Mashal was the target of an assassination attempt carried out by the Israeli Mossad under orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet. Meshaal was involved in negotiating a prisoner exchange deal which released captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman listed Khaled Mashal at number 18 in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010". In 2012, he visited Gaza for the first time, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hamas.

Council of Dar Al Qur'an Al Karim Wa Sunnah (DQWS) sends their most sincere regards to Viva Palestina - Malaysia, and highly value your efforts in supporting Qurban Meat Project – 1434 A.H. which helped to put a smile on the faces of poor and needy family in these holy days.

God bless you,
Dar Al Qur'an Al Karim Wa Sunnah Chairman
Dr. Abdurrahman Yousof Al Jamal

VPM's contribution funded 2 cows which were acquired from The Islamic Institution – Jabalia (ISJ), each cow weighted about 480 Kilogram and cost USD3,000 per cow. The cows were carefully checked to make sure they match Islamic Shari'a Qurban rules.
The project targeted 300 Qur'an Memorizing Groups' teachers (Mohafiz) who come from needy families of some poor background. Meat shares were equally distributed between both genders around Gaza Strip to all 14 branches of DQWS. 300 Kilograms of pure meat were given away to beneficiaries each receiving 1.5 Kilogram.

Some of the most successful projects by VPM to create sustainability in Gaza are the micro-financing projects. VPM contributes between USD500-1,000 to eligible business owners for their start-ups. VPM's representative monitors these projects and so far, Alhamdulillah, most, if not all of these projects have been successful.

Below are some of the projects: Ahmed Abu Shaban with his Breeding and Sale of Poultry business, this business has enabled him to support a family of 10; Islam S. Dahman with his mechanic workshop, he is now able to get married after opening this business; Youssef A. Al Shrafi with his shop and he supports a family of 8 from this business; Fayzah A. Al Ashqar with her tailoring business, she is a widow and supports her family; Moneer. M Dahrooj with his sheep breeding business and he will start to sell the sheep for the upcoming Eid Al Adha; Mahmoud M. Abed Al Rhman with his blacksmith workshop, he is now able to support his family with this business.

Heartwarming stories from 2 of our beneficieries to show our kind donors how useful and effective their donations have been:

Project: Mobile shop

Name: Sameh F. Ziyarah

Amount of loan: $ 1000.

He is a young man in the beginning of twenties, he draw this cute smile in his face when he was seeing me entering his small shop, before I entered the shop, I saw 3 men were dealing to buy some accessories for mobiles, I introduced myself to him, then I started asking him some questions that will help me in evaluating and mentoring his micro project.

He told me that he knew about the project of “ Hallal loan “ from advertisement, he called the families development society (FDS)  and asked them how he can apply, I visited the FDS and I applied for loan by small project to developing mobile shop, after one month FDS called me and visited me in my shop, also they visited me in my home and checked my social and economic situation, I didn’t think they will call me again, but it is Allah wanting , they called me and told me that I got loan from kind people in Malaysia.

After I got the fund, I started in buying what I need for my shop ,now anybody want any accessory for his mobile he can find it in my shop, a lot of customers are dealing with me.

On other hand my family feel so happy now, because our income fairlyincrease, this will make me to pay for my family needing, also to pay for loan payments, and I think $ 50 is suitable amount for pay every month.

Project Name: sewing shop

Name: Faezah Al Ashkar,

Amount of loan: $ 800

She said “ I have been working on sewing machine since 36 years , I used to work in my house to help my husband in our house income, but after I became a widow the responsibility was increased, I have 5 sons with 2 daughter , the middle son has been traveling to Europe to work there, but unfortunately the news from him stopped and we didn’t know anything about him since 6 years “ she spoke with Shedding tears” , after than I forced to tack care of my son’s family “ his wife with his children “, I told myself if I will continue working in my house, my work and my income will still weak, so I thought to open small shop near my house by borrowing some money from some friends and relatives, I started my small project but it need raw material , so when I heard from my friends that there is women organization give you Halal loan without hard restrictions, I directly visited FDS, and they helped me in applying for my projects, they visited my home and evaluated me situation, after 1  month they called me to sign the agreement for receiving the loan.

Directly I bought the needed raw material,I started my work by “ renewing the old dresses and selling it again or designing and sewing for customers, and Al Hamdulelh my work developed and I pay the loan payments in progress way, the only problem that I faced is the cutting off the electricity, but it is public problem in Gaza so Allah Al mustaan.

I would like to thank all brothers and sisters who donated for this charity project in Malaysia, and may Allah accept from them “.

VPM has disbursed USD 75,000 (or EURO 56,300 equivalent to RM238,000) enough to fund 1,500 food baskets. To ensure a more equitable distribution, VPM had asked that the food baskets be distributed to various charities throughout Gaza as follows: 

• • • • • • IS of Khan Younis
          • Al Mujama Al Islami
          • IS of Gaza
          • Multaka Rahma
          • Salam Society
          • Palestinian Welfare House
          • Islamic Society Jabaliyah

Thank you to all our generous donors. May every sen you contributed bring joy to the famalies in Gaza and abundant reward to you from the Almighty.

The Form 4 Students from Sekolah Sains Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Pekan donated to VPM for the 'Back to School Project'. The donation ceremony was held on 9 September 2013 at the school and the donation was presented by YM Tuan Zakaria Tuan Muda on behalf of the Principal, Encik Addullah Musa. The Form 4 students had conducted various inhouse activities to raise the funds. These activities included sales of food and drinks, recycled papers, Merdeka sales, selling of book marks and so on. VPM would like to thank the students and may the Almighty reward them for their efforts and generosity.

VPM is helping poor children go back to school by funding their schoolbag with stationary and notebooks and their uniform and shoes. Please help us to help them. See attached poster for details.

As at 6 September, VPM has sent a total of USD 13,500 to fund 300 school bags complete with stationaries, notebooks, shoes and unifroms. They have been bought and distributed. Thank you to all the generous donors and may you be blessed by the Almighty. Please watch the short video clip of the children thanking you for your generosity with such joy on their faces.

We are still in need of more funds for more bags as our target is for 1,000 school bags.

UPDATE

VPM had raised funds through collections at Mutiara International Grammar School and others and had used the fund to purchase emergency rechargeable lamps to be distributed to poor families in Gaza. VPM had sent USD8,000 for the rechargeable lamp project in Khan younis for 450 poor families. Our coordinator in Gaza managed to negotiate a good price and we had a balance of USD 1165 so we bought another 75 lamps and distributed to poor families in 2 other areas called Shaik Ridwan and Beach Camp.

 

   

The Miko Peled talks attracted a colourful audience and wide press coverage. If you missed I am afraid you missed big time. Many were touched and moved and some shed a tear or two of his personal journey to unravel the politics in Palestine, its people and its stories.
Myths and lies were debunked and he laid bare the hypocrisy and misinformation prevalent in the Zionist controlled western media.
Truly a courageous and brave man to pursue the truth despite being brought up in a dense "Zionist ambience" – his granddad a co-signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948 and his dad a general in the 1967 war when Israeli invaded and annexed Gaza, West Bank, Golan Heights and Sinai. And his quest for authenticity persisted despite losing his niece to suicide bombings in 1997.
His book the The General's Son was sold out – autographed personally by Miko.
"The World will never be FREE until Palestine is FREE" – Nelson Mandela
Dr Musa MN
Chairman VPM

Ramzy Baroud ran the Seattle Marathon on 25 November 2012 on behalf of Viva Palestina Malaysia to raise funds for our women's micro financing project in Gaza.

21 Families have benefited from this USD20,000 donation drive. which was disbursed to various Micro Financing Projects in Northern Gaza Strip.

On 2 June 2013 the Family & Development Society held a course to 21 beneficiaries on how to make their micro Finance Projects a success.

Dear all my friends,
It was my pleasure coming to Malaysia. Meeting you , all the members of Viva Palestina. I was excited to meet the people in Malaysia. Here is the first camera I get from you. I give it as gift from Viva Palestina, the Malaysian people to this Hamza Burnt. Hamza started to shoot the demonstrations in the village and other villages before, more than one year. He shoot still picture , but he was arrested, because he was taking pictures of the Israeli army using violence against Palestinians, he spent 9 month in jail, after 9 month he was released to his home in my village Bil'in. I meet him I told him don't give up, it important we continue our struggle and your part is to keep filming, so I promised him to give him video camera. So with your support Viva Palestine, we got the camera and I gave to him. We need your support Viva Palestina to continue our projects in the village and Palestine.

Emad Burnat
Producer and co-director of 5 Broken Cameras
24 May 2013

The recently concluded Kuala Lumpur Palestine Film Festival (17-19 May @ GSC Pavilion) was a success by any measure. The movies screened over the three days left an indelible impression on its viewers.

"Five Broken Camera" & "Lemon Tree" which depicted day light robbery of Palestinian lands, burning of olive trees, chopping of lemon trees, killings, arrests and intimidations were clear favorites leaving many patrons shaken by its inhumanity and cruelty but determined to do more for the victims.

KLPFF met its two objectives; raising awareness regarding the Palestinian struggle and much needed funds for our projects. All the kind contributions in making this event a success cannot be overstated and we would like to record our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who contributed and helped in some way or another.
The funds raised during this festival we hope will in some way alleviate the harsh and dire living conditions in Palestine.