In Gaza Strip the work is continuing in rehabilitation poor families' houses in order to protect them from winter rainfall.

Viva Palestina Malaysia working with our partner in Syria , the Charitable association for Palestinian Relief has supplied much needed hygiene kits, toiletries and diapers for the displaced children and people from Aleppo, alhamdulillah.

1- Jibreen area 300 hygiene kits + 400 bag of diapers
2- Neirab camp 300 hygiene kits + 335 bags of diapers.

VPM Project No: (25/2016)
Implemented by:The National Center for Community Rehabilitation (NCCR) and funded by us.

Viva Palestina Malaysia's project to provide formula milk to babies and toddlers living in camps in Syria continues.

We have delivered 150 cans of milk to Qudsaya a village area 8 km away from Damascus with 4000 Palestinian families , all of them originally from Yarmouk. Our partner ,the Charitable Association for Palestinian Relief , runs a service center there. Qudsaya was under heavy bombardment which destroyed the hospital and public facilities, and the siege had cut off food and medical supplies.

The weather in that area is very cold , at -3 degrees Celsius during the night.

We also received more photos of our milk project in Khan Elshayh and Neirab camps.

Syria update Part 1

Bless the children of Syria. Viva Palestina Malaysia distributed 900 cans of formula milk to babies and toddlers at AlNeirab camp ,east of Aleppo. Aleppo was one of the biggest industrial cities in Syria and in one of the photos you can see an aerial view of the warehouses that are now filled with refugees.

Our partner in Syria is the Charitable Association for Palestinian Relief - alkhayriah.

Syria update Part 2

Khan Al Shieh camp , west Damascus was under heavy bombardment of missiles and barrel bombs killing civilians including babies. The road to the camp was called Death Road due to the number of people killed on the road as they tried to leave the camp. Alhamdulillah Viva Palestina Malaysia received permission to enter and deliver 500 cans of milk to the residents. They have requested a medical week like we have done in Yarmouk , as they have had no access to doctors or medical facilities for a long time.

At Yarmouk camp ,with our partners the Charitable Association for Palestinian Relief and the Palestine Red Crescent we have held 4 medical clinic weeks which has helped a total of 5358 patients .

Thanks to the generous donation of ticket sales of Samah Sabawi's award winning play Tales of A City by the Sea, we are able to expand Viva Palestina Malaysia's Winter Relief program - today we visited the home of the AlShowbaki family in Khanyounis to distribute heaters and blankets and assess what improvements can be done to their home . Elsewhere in Gaza we have distributed blankets ,warm clothes , food and heaters while repairing homes to protect them from the wintry chill.

26 December 2016

Press Statement: Palestine 14 Israel 0

The chronic plight of the Palestinians has been largely overshadowed by the current massacre in Aleppo. Thus, Security Council resolution 2334 was welcome news to the cause of Palestine, and humanitarian causes around the world as a whole.

On 23 Dec 2016, 14 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council unanimously rebuked Israel's illegitimate settlements in occupied Palestine. Half a million settlers are now deemed as living illegitimately on occupied Palestinian territory on the West Bank and Jerusalem. The resolution demands Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard.”

US abstention on the Security Council vote was described as “an abandonment of Israel which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN.” In 2016 alone, the US armed Israel with at least USD 10.2 million military aid per day, and over the next 10 years, the Obama administration has pledged a further USD 38 billion.

President elect Trump, hell bent on the annexation of West Bank and Jerusalem failed to force a twitter veto or overturn the Egyptian vote, the second largest beneficiary of US assistance after Israel. His appointment of David Friedman, a far right pro-settler, as US ambassador to Israel, spells difficult times ahead for the Palestinian liberation movement. Friedman has directly raised funds to support illegal settlements in the West Bank, of which the Trump foundation are generous contributors.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has described the resolution as “shameful” and has vowed to defy the world body. This is hardly surprising, because they have out-rightly rejected the previous 77 UN resolutions against the state of Israel.

This symbolic victory on the global political stage has further isolated Israel as a pariah state internationally and reaffirmed her as a 21st century apartheid state as clearly described by Desmond Tutu "reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa."

Ronnie Kasrils, a Jew and former South Africa Minister of Intelligence described it as much worse than apartheid, “The Israeli measures, the brutality, make apartheid look like a picnic. We never had jets attacking our townships. We never had sieges that lasted month after month. We never had tanks destroying houses. We had armored vehicles and police using small arms to shoot people but not on this scale.”

Like it’s predecessors, Resolution 2334 lacks the political will and power to sanction Israel for failing to comply and Israel continues to seize Palestinian land and exponentially build settlements whilst the world body issue resolutions with no bite.

Despite this, the passing of this resolution brings hope to this long-standing cause and lays the ground for Palestinians to begin legal process against Israel’s flagrant violations of international law through the International Court of Justice.

It is no more business as usual because multi-national corporations are now more wary of doing business in Israel or linking with Israeli companies on occupied land. This has been further enhanced by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Major multinationals, including Veolia, Orange, G4S and Irish building materials corporation CRH abandoned their involvement in Israeli projects following unrelenting BDS campaigns

The BDS call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel is now mainstream and winning support from the European Union, governments of Sweden, Netherlands and Ireland, as well as from Amnesty International, the International Federation of Human Rights, political parties, trade unions and social movements across the world.

The achievements of BDS in 2016 is noteworthy, considering Israel’s all out war to crush the Palestinian led BDS global movement, deploying massive financial assets, intensive espionage, Zionist propaganda, cyber sabotage and legal warfare.

It signals the continuous shift in the narrative of this conflict and the world's frustration and abhorrence of Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid.

The strength of the Palestinian cause lies in its moral and humanitarian appeal, and this must always be protected! Like the peaceful and non-violent BDS movement, we need to be more creative in mainstreaming effective peaceful initiatives for Resistance to invite the progressives of the world to join the Resistance. Resistance is a right, a duty and an expression of our human dignity. International law grants a people fighting an illegal occupation the right to use “all necessary means at their disposal” to end their occupation.

Israel's position continues to weaken and its belligerent ways are not unstoppable. But it needs the international community and civil societies to come together and pressure this rogue nation into a genuine and just solution.

The words of Nelson Mandela ring true. "The world will never be free until Palestine is free."

We can and we must win. Viva Palestine

Dato’ Dr Musa Mohd Nordin, Chairman, Viva Palestina Malaysia
Prof Dr Mohd Nazari Ismail, Chairman, BDS Malaysia
Assoc Prof Dr Hafizdi Mohd Noor, Chairman, Humanitarian Care Malaysia

4th medical week for the besieged residents of Yarmouk camp in Syria- photos from the first day.

Alhamdulillah despite the sensitive situation due to ongoing negotiations between the Assad government and the opposition fighters within the camp, Viva Palestina Malaysia working together with the Charitable Assoc for Palestinian Relief (CAPR) and the Palestinian Red Crescent received permission to hold a weeklong clinic enabling the Yarmouk residents to receive medical treatment , medicines and the children receive milk supplies.

"For VPM fund we are going to buy Formula milk due to the big number of kids under 2 years . the situation is very bad with snowing weather over there ."

This project was implemented by Asslamah society in Gaza Strip.

Below is a short video showing some of project's activities.

Viva Palestina Malaysia is helping the people in Syria through working with the Charitable Association for Palestinian Relief, our partner NGO in Aleppo and Yarmouk- please donate to our fund for Syria at www.vpm.org.my.

Here is their report received last night :

BACKGROUND
There are two Palestinian camps near Aleppo:

1) Neirab Camp:
Its area is 3 km square. This Camp shelters 28,000 people , majority are Palestinian . To be more precise, 23,000 residents are Palestinian, 20,000 had settled there from the beginning while the other 3,000 are displaced from the other camp (Handarat Camp). More over, 5,000 are Syrians displaced from Aleppo.

2) Handarat Camp:
It is a small Camp in Aleppo. It used to shelter 6'000 Palestinians but not anymore, the Camp has been demolished. Some of its residents moved to settle in Neirab Camp.

CURRENTLY:
There are two centers for those who trying to escape the ongoing war situation in east Aleppo, they are located near Neirab Camp. Both centers are unprepared for refugees (old warehouses.)
- Firstly Jibreen district, it contains 6'000 individuals most of them are children and women.
- Secondly Duwayrinah district, it contains 24'000 individuals. The number is not stable, it goes up and down. People are trying to flee from east Aleppo to this area.

CRITICAL NEEDS:

Due to this huge number, we will be focusing on specific needs and we will not be able to cover all their needs. Our priority will go to:
1- Formula milk: especially for infants and children below two years old which expected to be 3000 children
2- Food: especially canned food and pre-cooked meal because refugees do not have any facility to cook or prepare a meal.

NOTE:
The prices in Aleppo is way more expensive than Damascus.

Update on Viva Palestina Malaysia's micro financing projects in the West Bank and Gaza:

1. West Bank ( Hebron)
Under the Islamic Charitable Society Hebron, 4 projects were selected - hair and beauty salon, party and event planner, clothing and houseware shop, and a photography studio in old Hebron.
The first three were successful and loans repaid in full totalling USD6,500. However the photography studio failed due to loss of audio equipment as a result of " spiteful settlers" activities as the area is under Israeli occupation.

2. Gaza
New group of beneficiaries from the project of *Empowering Poor Palestinian Families* thorough providing micro loans to enable them start or develop their micro projects, in order to increase their incomes"

1. Mr. Fasel Al Juab - Small Shop for selling electrical tools - (USD 2500) - Rafah.
2. Mr. Ali Al Zaygh - Small grocery for selling food. - (USD 2500)- Gaza.
3. Mr. Mohammed Barakah - Samll grocery for selling fruits and vegetables - (USD 2500) - Khanunness.
4. Ms. Heba Al Attar - Educational Center - (USD 2500) - Khanunness.

We started a new project last Saturday to provide emergency relief to people who have arrived at Neirab camp after fleeing East Aleppo . Please continue to donate so we can provide them with food, milk and blankets to face the winter.