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From: Madison-Rafah Sister-City Proj <[log in to unmask]> 06/04/04 12:12AM >>>
Dear Friends of MRSCP,

Two Reminders:

(1) Don't forget that this Sunday, June 6, at 7 pm at
the Crossing, 1127 University Avenue, Madison, MRSCP
will present the "MOSAIC COMMUNITIES" Israeli
integrated housing cooperative speakers.

Yasser Akawi, Board member, and Fred Schlomka,
Executive Director. will talk about the philosophy and
work of Mosaic Communities, including
details of the pioneering project in the town of Ramle
in Central Israel. This pilot project is planned to be
a model for other similar facilities around Israel,
thereby bringing hope to all residents of the country
at a time when hope is in short supply.

The program will also feature an update on the housing
crisis in Rafah brought about by the massive Israeli
home demolitions of the past three years including the
past month when thousands more people were made
homeless in Rafah, bringing the total to well over
14,000.

We hope to see you there!

(2) Attached is the latest report from the UN on the
devastation in Rafah.  We are still collecting
donations for emergency relief.  Thanks to your
generosity, we were able to send $3,600 almost
immediately.  But more is needed.  Please send checks
payable to MRSCP marked "emergency relief", to MRSCP,
6666 Odana Road #505, Madison WI 53719.   

Just this past week, we received the following report
from Rafah:

Another 60 Families Homeless

"Last week, during Operation Rainbow, the whole
world's media jumped up and down practically each and
every time a house was destroyed in Rafah.
There were debates in the Knesset, The US abstained in
a security council ruling against Israel and the TV
news managed to find Rafah on the map and
send its correspondents there. On Saturday...more
houses (were)demolished. In one dawn raid heavy
military vehicles, reinforced by helicopters, moved
approximately 300 meters into Block J and, under cover
of intense shelling, began to demolish a 
number of Palestinian houses, without allowing
residents to retrieve their possessions.

According to PCHR by 05:00 on Sunday twenty three
houses were demolished completely and two others
partially. As a result, 352 people (60 families) have
been rendered homeless. Thats half as many houses
again as was destroyed during the whole of Operation
Rainbow and it hardly seems to have registered on the
media's news radar. There are dozens of photos 
on the PCHR site of the destruction in Brazil and Tel
Sultan. I know both places but especially with Brazil
I fear I would not recognise the area anymore.
Nothing looks familiar, everything looks broken. And
the media have all gone home."

(From the "Rafahkid" website; there is a link to it at
our website, Madison-Rafah.org.)

Thank you for your support,
Barb O.
MRSCP
 
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UNRWA LAUNCHES $15.8 MILLION CRISIS APPEAL FOR RAFAH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BY UNRWA, MAY 31, 2004

Jerusalem - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) today launched an appeal to the international community for $15.84 million to meet the immediate needs of the people of Rafah. The appeal follows weeks of the most intense destruction in Gaza since the start of the intifada. UNRWA needs the funds to provide emergency cash, food and housing assistance to the hundreds of families who have lost their homes, had a breadwinner killed or wounded, or who are in need of ongoing medical care.

Under this appeal UNRWA would provide cash assistance to 760 families who need urgent help coping with the aftermath of the latest Israeli incursions.. UNRWA is the only place most of these people can turn to for help. The Agency requires $228,000 to fund this programme.  Included in this group are around 560 refugee families eligible to be re-housed under the Agency's emergency shelter scheme. In the short term they will need grants to help with renting accommodation. This will amount to 672,000. In the longer term the Agency will need the funds to build new shelters. UNRWA estimates it needs almost $11.5 million to meet the permanent accommodation needs of these families. This also covers the repair of 244 shelters that sustained varying degrees of damage during the incursions.

As of May 30 a total of 21,142 people have now lost their homes in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA has been able to build new shelters for less than one third of them. To rehouse all of those still needing shelter in Gaza, UNRWA would need to receive $38.5 million. UNRWA is currently providing daily meals to around 2,500 people taking shelter in three of its schools in Rafah. To provide for them for at least two more months, and to supply the homeless with new household equipment, will require a further $842,000. An additional $110,000 is needed to replenish the Agency's medical stocks in Rafah and to provide wheelchairs and prosthetic devices for injured refugees.

UNRWA will also seek funds under this appeal to repair the damaged infrastructure of the Tel Es-Sultan quarter of Rafah where damage to sewage and water networks and other infrastructure poses a serious health hazard. The infrastructure component of this appeal will reach around $928,000. Additional funds will also be required to cover UNRWA's operational costs. 

Launching the appeal, Peter Hansen, UNRWA's Commissioner-General, said: "In the hardest-hit place in the Gaza Strip there are few places to turn for assistance.  Rafah was always a poor place. It is now a devastated place. Hundreds of destitute families are relying on UNRWA and the international community to come forward and help them cope with a very grave humanitarian crisis."

The overwhelming majority of those affected in Rafah have been refugees
registered with UNRWA. The Agency, which chairs the Operational Coordination Group of UN agencies, NGOs and Palestinian ministries, has formulated its appeal in coordination with the other main relief actors in the Gaza Strip.

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