Advocacy in times of extreme crisis
Thanks to your support, these past few months Rebuilding Alliance’s advocacy team has been meeting with Congress and the Biden administration’s State Department including US Embassies in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Amman, USAID, and the National Security Council to press for action to:
Ensure that Families in Gaza are provided access to medical care — including food, clean water, medicine, fuel, medical evacuations, and extending the polio vaccine medical truces
Intervene so that Farmers and shepherds in the West Bank are able to harvest their olives and herd their sheep in safety
Counting just the State Department and National Security Council meetings alone, our teams met with some 22 officials in the past two months — and officials were deeply moved, some in tears by the end of our meeting.
PRESSING TO EXTEND THE POLIO MEDICAL TRUCEIN GAZA
On 16 July, the Ministry of Health of Gaza announced poliovirus had been detected in six wastewater samples collected in late June
Rebuilding Alliance immediately launched a Contact Congress Campaign ‘Eradicating Polio in Gaza’ advocating for “Days of Tranquility” which are the medical truces historically negotiated to immunize children. RA met with Congressional offices, both in-person and over Zoom along with constituents in efforts to ensure that these negotiations take place to inoculate the 600,000+ children in Gaza.
RA mobilized a public awareness initiative, holding six public health webinars in a series “Stopping Polio in Gaza, for Us All” to educate and engage the public health community, pediatricians, and congressional offices and press for what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres coined “Polio Pauses.” The webinar series, done in partnership with the International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health (ISSOP) featured global polio expert doctors involved in the administration of the polio vaccine in Gaza, infectious disease experts, and medical experts/logistics coordinators on the ground including:
Nisreen Malley, the Rebuilding Alliance Director of Advocacy
Dr. Asnakew Tsega— UNICEF’s Regional Polio Coordinator for the Middle East North Africa Region
Dr. Irfan Akbar, Polio Country Support Team Leader, World Health Organization (WHO)
Dr. Jeff Goldhagen, pediatrician and President of the International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health (ISSOP)
Donna Baranski-Walker, Founder and Executive Director of Rebuilding Alliance
Despite many challenges, two rounds of polio vaccinations were administered by the Ministry of Health (MoH), WHO, UNICEF, and UNRWA — reaching 556,774 children. However, because the Israeli authorities denied a medical truce in northern Gaza, 7,000-10,000 children remain unvaccinated. RA’s Advocacy team is currently advocating for the vaccine to reach every child but time is running out.
Some may ask, "Why a medical truce for vaccination when children face more immediate threats to their lives?" Any form of truce can give breathing room to send aid and assistance. Start here.
SENATE BRIEFING ON GAZA PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGES
On September 12th, Rebuilding Alliance organized and hosted the Senate-side companion to Congressional briefing on healthcare access, “Gaza Public Health: Ensuring Safety and Healthcare Access.” The event was also live-streamed. The panel addressed challenges related to 1) Medical Evacuations, 2) Medical Missions, 3) Polio Vaccine Rollout, and provided 4) policy recommendations for congressional offices. To speak on this, RA’s panel featured 3 doctors who served on medical missions in Gaza, Kinder Relief’s Case Manager for Gaza medical evacuations to the US, and Major Harrison Mann, former U.S. major and executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Middle East/North Africa Regional Center.
INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY YOUTH DELEGATION
In honor of International Peace Day, Rebuilding Alliance brought its sixth ‘I Care About Peace’ Delegation to Washington DC, comprising four Palestinian youths, two from the West Bank and two from Gaza, to present their visions of peace at a briefing on Capitol Hill. The delegation spoke of ongoing challenges faced by their communities, including settler violence, home demolitions, and restricted access to essential resources such as food and medical care. They held over 15 meetings with Congressional offices, the State Department, USAID, and the National Security Council. The delegation included:
Lama: In 2019, Lama was selected as the best 14-year-old English speaker in Gaza's UNRWA schools, so Rebuilding Alliance brought her to Washington DC for RA's fourth 'I Care About Peace' youth delegation to Congress.
Ahmed, Lama's brother, helped manage their kitchen providing meals to 700 -1000 displaced children each day in Rafah. Ahmed was studying web design and engineering when his university was destroyed, and he hopes to be able to continue his studies someday soon.
Sadin is a 16-year-old high school student in Umm Al Kheir Village in the South Hebron Hills. When she was eight, Sadin met with Congressional offices on Rebuilding Alliance's first 'I Care About Peace' briefing in 2016. Senator Feinstein hugged her and initiated a remarkable correspondence with the Prime Minister of Israel to keep Susiya and Umm al Kheir standing.
Ahmed from Susiya Village, is 17 years old. Ahmed came on Rebuilding Alliance's fourth "I Care About Peace" youth delegation in 2019. He is interested in history and the study of languages.
The youth made inspiring presentations. In times of crisis and mass destruction, these presentations helped put across the experiences and challenges of the visiting youth.
Sadeen shared the immense loss she faced when her home was demolished this summer. “My home was everything to me. All my memories with my family over the past 16 years were tied to my home.” After the demolition, her family was forced to live in a shed and struggled to eat, shower, and manage daily life. When asked about her experience in DC, Sadeen said: "Standing before an audience and sharing my story felt empowering. It was uplifting to see people listen and understand my experiences. I hope they will put an end to settler attacks and home demolitions in the West Bank."
Ahmed, from the West Bank, shared that because of surrounding settlements, he faces a lot of hardships in his daily life. Life has become even more difficult for the locals since October 7th, and for two months, he was unable to attend school. Before a trip to the US, Israeli soldiers raided his home, with one pointing a gun at him and searching his house, including his elderly grandfather. At the Capitol, Ahmed expressed his vision of peace which is being able to attend school safely and live without fear. Reflecting on his trip, he described it as a wonderful experience, where he met kind and supportive people who embraced the Palestinian cause.
Lama, 20, and Ahmed, 22, are sister and brother who fled with their entire family to Egypt from Gaza this April. The siblings operated a kitchen for Rebuilding Alliance in Rafah, where they served 700 to 1,000 hot meals each day to hungry children and families. They emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian aid, calling for essential supplies such as food, soap, and shelter to be permitted into the region.
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