Christian Aid

Farmers in Gaza struggle to rebuild their lives

22 December 2003



Ahmed Said stands on the rubble of his demolished house, looking out over the wasteland that used to be his farm. He is one of many farmers in Gaza whose land has been bulldozed by Israeli forces since violence between Palestinians and Israelis escalated three years ago. Until August 2002, Ahmed made a living for his wife and eight children by cultivating olive and date trees on his three-acre plot in the central region of the Gaza Strip. But one night, his house and fields were bulldozed by Israeli forces. Since then, he has been living in his brother’s house. 

Divide and destroy

Alex Klaushofer 4 December 2003



Israel’s separation wall is creating a new kind of humanitarian crisis for the Palestinians who live in its shadow. Cutting into Palestinian lands by up to six kilometres, the barrier takes different forms along its length - here an imposing concrete construction, there a steel fence and a tangle of barbed wire. The new dependency emerging in the communities destroyed by the barrier is yet another example of how the poverty afflicting the Palestinians is a human creation. Christian Aid’s Alex Klaushofer witnesses the devastation of communities. 

Aid is not enough to tackle humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

11 November 2003



Christian Aid is giving evidence today to a Parliamentary inquiry into the humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Middle East expert William Bell, an advocacy officer at Christian Aid, is due to face MPs on the International Development Committee who are investigating the effectiveness of UK government assistance to the Occupied Territories. Mr Bell will be questioned on a 14-page Christian Aid submission which has already been handed to the committee. 

The humanitarian crisis and prospects for the roadmap to peace

28 July 2003

Since the publication of Losing Ground, Christian Aid’s investigation into the extent and causes of Palestinian poverty, in January 2003, the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has deteriorated sharply. Poverty levels and unemployment are now reaching crisis proportions creating a humanitarian crisis, the levels of which Christian Aid has not seen in fifty years of work in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

Walls of separation

Daleep Mukarji 18 June 2003

Christian Aid director, Dr Daleep Mukarji, has recently returned from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While in the West Bank town of Qalqilya he witnessed the construction of the Israeli security fence which will eventually surround the West Bank. 

British MPs in Gaza condemn Israeli missile strikes

Christian Aid 9 June 2003

MPs Ms Oona King and Dr Jenny Tonge are today in Gaza City with Christian Aid and local organisations to look at the humanitarian crisis and agricultural restrictions in the area. Following the Israeli attacks on Abdel Aziz Rantissi, Dr Tonge said: “I am gravely concerned that the Israeli government has launched an attack in such close proximity to Gaza’s main hospital.”