|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Home | Contact | Links | Feedback |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 Home Overseas Projects The Middle East Region Strategy
Middle East Strategic Plan 2012-201515 February 2012Since we were established by ACTU in 1984, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, has supported development and relief programs with the Palestinians via in long-term partnerships with local non-government organisations
Background - Program Context In September 2000 a new round of confrontations began in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, ending the hopes invested in a decade of peace negotiations. The closure of borders and check points has cut the incomes of Palestinian workers, and Palestinian communities are under siege, resulting in over 2 million people living in poverty. Recently, there have been new moves towards peace, with Israel undertaking a withdrawal of settlements from the Gaza Strip, however, this has been offset by the consolidation and expansion of other settlements, particularly around East Jerusalem.Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA believes that both countries, Israel and Palestine, have the right to live in peace within internationally defined and secure borders. Both peoples have the right to national self-determination. Since 1948 only one of the two nations has been able to exercise this right. A political solution to the conflict is imperative, and both peoples should turn away from violence and force as a way of achieving security and independence. Israel must renounce state-terrorism against Palestinians, while all Palestinian organisations must renounce suicide bombings and actions against civilians in Israel as a means of ending military occupation and of winning independence and statehood. The United Nations Resolutions (including UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338) must be respected. Israel must cease its military occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and return to live within its pre-1967 borders, in exchange for peace. International Humanitarian Law (the Geneva Conventions) should be respected by all parties to the conflict, particularly in relation to allowing medical, emergency and relief workers to reach those in need unimpeded. The dispossession of Palestinians of their land in order to construct illegal settlements must cease. There needs to be a just solution for the Palestinian refugees in accord with international law and United Nations resolutions. We believe that sustainable peace in this region is central to global peace. The continued cycle of violence and terrorism is creating terrible suffering for both Israeli and Palestinian non-combatants, and traumatising whole communities. Positive humanitarian and peace-building efforts are urgently required. Union Aid Abroad and our Palestinian partner organisations are committed to promoting the international humanitarian law and international conventions against terrorism. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA's work in the Middle East Our humanitarian support has been in response to ongoing violations of the basic human rights of Palestinians, and their limited access to services and economic opportunities as refugees and/or under occupation. Persistent violence, intimidation, restriction of employment opportunities, and decreasing access to health and education facilities, make living conditions in both the Palestinian Territories and the refugee camps in Lebanon extremely harsh. Since 1984 Union Aid Abroad has assisted refugees in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza Strip through training projects in partnership with non-politically aligned and non-sectarian Palestinian humanitarian organisations in areas of:
Our current strategic plan is under review and will be available on this site when complete. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
| Home | Contact | Links | Feedback | Privacy |  |
| ©
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003. |  |
