Madison Rafah Journal

Gaza Water Project

We ask you to help us give the gift of

Clean WATER for Rafah’s Children

Children at the Tuyor Al-Jena Kindergarten in Rafah were excited to receive a Maia Project water desalination and filtration system provided by Madison-Rafah Sister City Project in memory of MRSCP member Ken Coffeen.

There is a growing water crisis in Palestine that affects the health of virtually every adult and child. In the Gaza Strip, poor sanitation and over-extraction have polluted the limited water supply. Israeli military attacks and the blockade have prevented repairs to water infrastructure. Water to Gaza is restricted and often too expensive for families to purchase from a safe source.

On July 28, 2010 the UN General Assembly declared that “Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights.”

The MAIA (Arabic for water) project began when children at a UN school in Gaza were given the opportunity to choose the one thing they wanted most for their school. They chose clean drinking water!

The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project has joined with the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) to provide water filter systems for schools in Rafah. We first raised $1,995 to install a filter for the Tuyor Al-Jena (Birds of Paradise) kindergarten, where children are now enjoying clean, safe water.

We next collected $13,700 for a second and much larger filter system at the UN Girl’s Elementary school in the Rafah Refugee Camp. This donation on June 7, 2011 helped supply 1,800 young girls with a very basic human right; something children and parents in Wisconsin take for granted.

Our current goal is to collect $11,500 to provide clean water to the Al-Shuka Preparatory Girl’s School in Rafah, with an attendance of 1,187 students. The total raised so far is over $4,000 or 35%.

Please help us provide clean, safe water for Rafah’s children. To donate please make checks to MRSCP, write WATER on the memo line and mail to:

MRSCP
PO Box 55371
Madison, WI 53705

If you wish to honor a friend or family member please include a note with their printed name and address. We will send a card to them to acknowledge your donation. As a 501(c)(3) organization all contributions to MRSCP are tax-deductible.

You may also donate on-line at the Madison-Rafah Maia Project page at MECA.

Pictures of the many Maia project filter installations can be seen here.

As always, thanks for your support.

Palestinian Water Rights
AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR JIM DOYLE

Dear Governor Doyle:

According to The Business Journal of Milwaukee, you plan to lead a trade mission to Israel this November on sciences, water technology and agriculture. You will speak at a water conference and are urging Wisconsin businesses to join you. You have directed the Wisconsin Department of Commerce to promote this trip.

Israel practices systematic, widespread racial discrimination in the allocation of water resources, both for human consumption and for agricultural use.

This is true inside Israel proper, where the 20 percent of citizens who are Palestinian Arab in origin are severely impacted by government water policies which discriminate against them in favor of Jewish citizens.

The situation is much worse in the West Bank and Gaza, where Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation are being deprived of their own water to the point where their lives and health are in jeopardy, in order to provide Jewish residents of illegal colonies built on Palestinian land with virtually unlimited water use.

The result is that the average Israeli uses 330 liters of water per day while Palestinians average 60 liters per day, below the minimum World Health Organization requirement of 100 liters per day.

This situation is in violation of many international laws, and of basic human decency. Wisconsin cannot “learn” anything of value from Israel regarding water use, nor should you be encouraging Wisconsin businesses to profit from the human suffering caused by such severe racism and discrimination. Please stay home.

Learn More