December news from ICAHD UK

Rebuilding campaign, advent stories and dates for your diaries...

We imagine many of you will be gearing up to spending some time with friends and family as this year ends and we move towards a festive period, perhaps looking forward to a moment of reflection or planning for the year ahead.

Here at ICAHD UK we are gingerly counting down the days – not of advent, Hannukah, or other religious celebration – but for our international campaign to raise enough money to rebuild a Palestinian home in Anata this winter. With only 28 days left and still under 10% of our target reached, we have a long way to go, and a lot depending on our efforts. From many months of discussion and plans made with the family (now living below the poverty level) we intend to make a 2 bedroom home spanning 72 square metres, fitted with lounge, dining area, kitchen and shower room.

What will your money go towards?

£5 will buy 10 bricks, with hundreds needed for the interior of the house, or could also pay for one of the 100 bags of cement to fix these together. £10 will pay for 10 concrete blocks, more than 1,000 of which are needed to construct the exterior walls of the house. £25 will buy a shower head, or £50 will pay for the kitchen taps. £100 will pay for a water tank, or the kitchen worktop, or fitting the kitchen sink. Or contribute £150 to pay for a toilet and plumbing, or £250 to add the kitchen cupboards.

On top of this we need to pay for many other materials, all transportation, wages for the skilled Palestinian labourers who will work tirelessly over a period of weeks to create and finish the building, plus of course meals for workers and volunteers. The foundation to the home has already been laid and paid for and now we need to ensure the rest of the house follows.

ICAHD is one of the few Israeli organisations that is respected by Palestinians because we are not considered to be working within terms of "normalization". We vocally and vehemently oppose the Occupation, and campaign for Israel to be held accountable to International Law, documenting and resisting its cruel policy of house demolitions. Although our rebuilding has a humanitarian aspect, it is also a powerful act of political resistance to the Occupation which we seek to end. And with the 2014 average of between 11 - 12 demolitions a week in East Jerusalem and the West Bank alone (see OCHAOPT ), this resistance is so clearly needed.

Can you help? Will you ask friends to donate? Have you spread the word yet via email or on social media? - This symbol of peace was created out of spent tear gas canisters.

From Richard Falk's addition: "nothing in our world is more universally hoped for than a life of freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people who have unjustly experienced the ordeal of prolonged occupation, decades of refugee internment, and a massive dispossession from their homeland."

This year has certainly been an eventful one. A huge thank you from all at ICAHD UK for your continued support. We look forward to working more with you in 2015!