Projects

Children at a summer camp supported by Ameinu

08/21/2006

Report from the Ameinu Children's Solidarity Fund

Some 30 representatives of the Labour Zionist Movement, headed by Chairman Yigal Zahor and Secretary General Brigitte Bettane, showed their solidarity with the residents in the north on August 18th, two days into the ceasefire. We left in a bus filled with personal presents – study kits, hats and backpacks.

The first stop was at the Haifa municipality, where Mayor Yona Yahav received us and gave a review of the city's methods of work during the war. Haifa suffered direct hits, and on the third day of war paid the heavy price by the deaths of 8 Haifa Train workers. We were impressed by the way in which the affluent residents of Haifa got together during the war, and by the aid given to people in the city, most of who decided to remain for the entire duration of the war (approx. 80% of the residents). We also watched a presentation that showed the damage made by the Katyusha missiles and the rockets that landed in various parts of the city.

We can say that the Mayor's leadership and the co-existence between Jews and Arabs, which is based on mutual respect and regard, is the means for getting this city back on track.

We visited the Bnei-Zion hospital, and met with those wounded by the war, among which we visited a soldier who was saved from Hezbollah's attempt to capture him, as well as citizens injured by the Katyusha missiles.
We stopped at a shelter, which is situated in a school, in which activities for teens took place even after the ceasefire. We were glad to see that it was equipped to allow a wide range of activities, both social and artistic. We gave the teenagers personal kits, and left Haifa with the hope that it will return to everyday life.

From Haifa we continued to Carmiel, where Mayor Adi Eldar – who is also the Chair of the Israel Local Authorities Union - received us. If we thought that our purpose is to give relief, we found that we ourselves were relieved by what we found – a smooth running system that took care of the residents and of the new Olim in particular. The Mayor showed us a map of the damage in the city – the red circles indicating the missile hits showed up all over the city.

Adi Eldar moved us when he told us that he called all the residents that remained in Carmiel every day. He said that most of the Mayors of the cities and regional councils worked outstandingly, and stressed that the local leadership was dominant during the war rather than the government. We left kits for the children and underwear for the soldiers in the city.

From Carmiel we went to Mrar, a settlement made up of Druze, Christian Arabs and Muslim Arabs. We met with Mayor Ziad Dagash, who stressed Mrar's difficulties – lack of employment, poverty, enormous debts, low municipal tax collection and a feeling of detachment from the authorities. In Mrar a women and her daughter have been killed by a direct missile hit and the atmosphere is grave. Many residents serve in the security forces, but are not properly compensated by the government.

We promised to support Mrar in dealing with its problems, and left kits for the pupils there, too.

The work tour ended in Nazareth, where we were apprised by a member of the Histadrut Executive of the activities he is organizing in Beit Berl between Jews and Arabs. We noted the importance of aiding the Arab sector that was afflicted by the war, as well as the Jewish sector.

MK Nadia Hilo, former contact person to the Arab sector, accompanied us during the entire tour, and MK Collette Avital joined us in Mrar.

At the end of the work tour, one of the members noted:

"This was a commendable activity organized by the Labour Zionist Movement – we should organize such activities and meetings frequently, to remain a significant part of the Israeli society and of the connection between the Jewish communities in Israel and overseas".

Ameinu is proud to support the work of the World Labor Zionist Movement as it continues to support Israel's northern residents.