September 2, 2005

Executive Secretary of the MECC/Department of Service to Palestine Refugees (DSPR), Dr. Bernard Sabella, informs us that the DSPR just finished an extensive evaluation of all programs and the evaluation report has appeared and was circulated to partners. The department is now actively engaged in working out Log Frames and Plans of Action based on the recommendations of evaluations. "We expect that within a couple of years, by end of 2007, some of the programs we are now conducting will be closed." The programs will focus in the future on Vocational Education, Health and Community Development and the target groups will be women and youth. "In community development" says Dr. Sabella, "we will strive to be away from infrastructure and more into capacity building of the various groups with whom we work. As to the process of Log Framing and developing Plans of Action, it has already started and all in DSPR are diligently working to implement the evaluation recommendations."

DSPR will be represented in the WCC Global Ecumenical Network for Uprooted People (GEN) 2005 meeting in Miami, Fla., by Dr. Bernard Sabella, who will be briefing the network on the Palestinians displaced or potentially displaced as a result of the construction of the Israeli separation wall.

We are also informed that the DSPR/ACT appeal MEPL51 was extended till the end of the year as a result of the still persistent needs of the Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip. The situation in the West Bank as well is quite difficult, especially for communities surrounded and engulfed by the separation wall.

Views on the Gaza Withdrawal

As to the withdrawal from Gaza, it is seen in mixed perspectives says Dr. Sabella. "On the one hand it is good that the settlers are gone; on the other, Israeli military authorities, as of this moment, are planning to keep control of the borders of Gaza Strip, thus making it difficult for thousands of Palestinians to move in and out of the Strip freely. As a result, there is a fear that Gaza would become a virtual big prison." DSPR/Gaza and the rest of the region are concerned about the possible adverse effects of the imprisonment of over 1.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and see it imperative that all partners, churches and all peace loving peoples worldwide would come together to demand open borders for the Gaza Strip with Egypt.

Middle East Council of Churches