Simone Susskind

I have been engaged since a few years now in close relationship with some Palestinian-Israeli NGOs such as the Mossawa Center, the Advocacy Center of Arab Citizens in Israel, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote equality for the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. (http://www.mossawacenter.org/).

This time I visited a major Palestinian-Israeli organisation: the Galilee Society: The Arab-National Society for Health Reseach and Services which strives to achieve equitalbe health, environmental and socio-economic conditions for Palestinian Arabs in Israel. (http://www.gal-soc.org/en/)

Beside their high level Health, urban development and women’s centers, I was amazed to discover the way the Galilee Society has developed a Regional Center for Research and Development, a scientific-strategic project founded in 1995. Palestinian scientists at the R&D center conduct independent basic and applied research. Projects are typically community centered and are designed to study issues that arise from community needs in order to benefit the Arab community. The Center provides also scientific educational opportunities for Arab students. Research is undertaken in cooperation with local, regional and international research institutes and universities on issues related to water conservation, environmental health, agriculture and medicinal herbs.

I invite you to visit their website.

The Galilee Society will come soon to Brussels to present its activities and plans.

A word now on the situation of the Bedouins in the Neguev.

More than ever, they are subjected to discriminatory measures, one of them being to uproot them from their villages which are not recognised. We should always remember that the members of this community are Israeli citizen!

You should read this appeal issued a few days ago by the New Israel Fund to draw the attention of the public on the destruction of one the villages: http://www.nif.org/issue-areas/stories/unrecognized-bedouin-village.html