Palestine Tag

John Paul II Foundation / Posts tagged "Palestine"

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Magazine, News
April 8, 2025

Not one, but multiple overlapping crises are gripping the Middle East, putting millions of people to the test. Famine, conflict and forced migration have made food insecurity chronic. In Gaza, 85 percent of the population struggles to feed itself; in Iraq, 40 percent of arable land is threatened by desertification. Political instability has made the Middle East the macro-region with the highest number of displaced people in the world. For example, Lebanon is home to more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees, despite its collapsing economy; in Palestine, 1.7 million people have lost their homes. In addition to the basic rights to nutrition and housing, the right to education has also taken a back seat. In Lebanon, many schools have closed, leaving 30 percent of school-age refugees uneducated. In Iraq, by contrast, a lack of teachers and funding makes access to schooling even more difficult. People with disabilities remain on the margins: less than 2 percent of...

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Magazine, News
April 8, 2025

With the "Christmas in Palestine" campaign we raised 40,000€, thanks to donations from our supporters. This sum will fund a new cycle of the "A Safe Place" project, with 3 workshops in theater therapy, drama therapy and music therapy at "House of Peace" in Bethlehem. In February alone, about 40 children from "SOS" Villages, including orphans from the Gaza conflict, participated in the activities. Involving both Gaza and Bethlehem children is a key achievement for us: thanks to our workshops, they are acquiring tools to cope with and overcome the traumas of war. Conscious breathing teaches the rhythm of music, but it also helps calm the anxiety that pervades them at the sound of sirens. Closing their eyes tightly before going on stage also helps them imagine a colorful world away from the rubble. Learning to express emotions such as anxiety, sadness and anger is the first step to coping with them and imagining a future of life....

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Magazine, News
April 8, 2025

Renovations at the "House of Peace" in Bethlehem are progressing at full speed! Thanks to the generosity of a loyal donor, we will soon have new spaces to accommodate even more Palestinian children. The structural intervention concerns a hitherto inaccessible area, which needed complete restoration to become a functional environment. Thus the John Paul II Foundation will be able to continue to ensure a better future for children and their families. The space will be dedicated to training and psychological support: a "Safe Place" where children will be able to express themselves and educators will be able to do their work better. We are counting on the work being completed as soon as possible to inaugurate a new phase of the "Peace House" at Easter time: a perfect time to celebrate the hope of a better future for children....

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by
Magazine
February 3, 2025

In the heart of Palestine, where agriculture represents both a resource and a challenge, "Jericho Vale!" comes to life, a project that looks to the future with roots firmly in the soil. The initiative, promoted by the City of Bergamo together with the John Paul II Foundation and funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), aims to transform the local agribusiness sector into an engine of growth and opportunity. Jericho is a city with a history dating back thousands of years, but its present is marked by structural, economic and political obstacles. Agricultural production, which once provided a significant slice of Palestinian GDP, now struggles to compete with international markets. Small producers often find themselves isolated, lacking the tools to improve the quality and marketing of their products. This is compounded by difficulties in accessing water resources and adopting innovative agricultural practices, making a targeted intervention that can meet the needs...

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by
Magazine
December 13, 2024

Since October 7, 2023, the situation in Palestine has changed dramatically, making it extremely difficult to operate on the ground. In fact, increasing instability has led over the past year to the repeated reorganization of activities of our Bethlehem Green City Project*, which aims to improve municipal solid waste management in the West Bank through separate waste collection and urban circular economy initiatives. One of the main goals of the project is to raise environmental awareness in schools that, due to the conflict, have suffered alternating periods of opening and closing. A situation that forced us to reschedule activities and proceed with caution. In fact, tensions arising from attacks-from Iran, Lebanon and Israeli incursions-have affected several areas of the West Bank, imposing continuous disruptions to daily life. Exchanges of experience between Italy and Palestine also varied from the initial schedule. The last visit to Italy, initially scheduled for early 2024, is...

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by
Magazine
December 13, 2024

Last August we kicked off the 2024-25 school year with much hope and courage. Surprisingly, and despite often impassable roads, all the pupils returned with renewed joy and enthusiasm. They were tired of being locked within the walls of their villages because they were distressed by grueling military checks, not only in their towns but even in their homes! The return to school represented for them a reunion with friends and classmates, but above all it was a moment to rediscover their dignity-a real breath of fresh air. They finally felt welcomed again and "free" to move, talk and be together after months of loneliness and marginalization. A serenity unfortunately only apparent: on the evening of October 1, in fact, we experienced a dramatic moment never seen before. The sky, which in another context would have seemed full of shooting stars, was instead lit up by rockets that passed quickly over our heads. Thanks to the...

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by
Magazine
December 13, 2024

After the fateful October 7, 2023, I was repatriated to Italy and continued to manage the Jericho Vale* project (on date production in Palestine) from afar. I would like to share some aspects of this decidedly unique experience. Living there for two years allowed me to create very strong bonds with both my colleagues in the Foundation and local partners. Despite language barriers-I do not speak Arabic, and others speak little English-we always managed to maintain contact, both for professional matters and for personal support. The trust and bonds built over the years have helped us overcome the obstacles imposed by the conflict in Gaza and subsequent distance. These solid, yet flexible relationships have enabled us to cope with even the most critical moments, despite the difficult circumstances. You can imagine, therefore, the enormous happiness I felt when, last October,...

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by
Magazine, News
November 15, 2024

With the intensification of the conflict in Gaza and the increasing difficulties of operating in Palestine, the Foundation chose to stay and intervene alongside children. Our primary thought has been to safeguard the little ones, creating a safe place for them to find relief. Even in the West Bank, children live in fear and anguish aware of the difficulties their parents have in providing for their families. Several scientific studies regarding the consequences that war has on young children have caught our attention. Children respond to the stress of armed conflict with increased anxiety, isolation, sleep disturbances and nightmares, poor appetite, learning disabilities, developmental delays and aggressive behavior. Because of the developmental stage a child is in, exposure to war-related stressors affects the formation of a personal identity and personality, the notion of what is right and...

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by
Magazine, News
November 8, 2024

  Father Ibrahim, it has been a year since Hamas' attack on Israel and the beginning of the war that has devastated Gaza. Did you expect such a long and devastating war? The tragic attack on October 7, 2023 unleashed a spiral of violence that still envelops the Holy Land today. In Gaza, the numbers of dead and wounded, the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, churches and mosques have soared, and a year later they do not stop: it is a continuous war bulletin that is shockingly updated by the hour. Never would I have imagined that the war would last so long, but what worries me most is its extension to an ever larger area of the region. The war has spread from south to north; for months the West Bank and Jerusalem have been suffering from heightened tensions and the terrible consequences of violence. They have increased...

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by
Magazine, News
October 21, 2024

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A partire da ottobre 2023, le tensioni lungo il confine libanese con Israele hanno scatenato un conflitto aperto, con conseguenze devastanti per la popolazione. I bombardamenti israeliani hanno causato 589 morti e 2.000 feriti, distrutto oltre 4.000 abitazioni civili e danneggiato seriamente altre 20.000. Più di 1 milione di persone sono state costrette a lasciare le loro case e le loro attività lavorative, cercando rifugio in aree del Libano ritenute più sicure, come riportato dalle Nazioni Unite e dalle autorità libanesi. La popolazione del sud del Libano e della valle della Beqaa vive nel terrore degli attacchi e nel disagio economico dovuto alla chiusura delle attività produttive. La Fondazione, che opera nel sud del Libano dal 2016 con un progetto finanziato dall'AICS (Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo), sostiene le famiglie di piccoli contadini e lavoratori agricoli, puntando a rafforzare le coltivazioni di agrumi e frutta tropicale per promuovere l'economia...

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